ABSTRACT

The impacts of professional sporting culture and institutional discourse on coaching practices and ideologies have largely been unconsidered and undiscussed. Understanding coaching practice from a social perspective can provide insights into the prevailing culture that coaches are immersed within, pointing to patterns of discourse, norms and values that govern coaches’ actions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for (mis)alignment between coaches’ ideological beliefs and the instituted philosophy of the professional football academy at which they worked. Thirteen male football coaches (M = 36.23 years) were observed coaching on three separate occasions, equating to 2584 min of footage (M = 66.26 min). Each recorded session was analysed using a computerised version of the Coach Analysis Intervention System (CAIS). All participants were interviewed twice (before first observation and after final observation). Coaches were questioned about the academy philosophy and their personal behavioural profiles. Data were subjected to thematic analysis and placed within a theoretical framework utilising concepts of Pierre Bourdieu. Findings highlighted that coaches’ interpretations of the academy philosophy were impacted by their prior socialisation and position within the status hierarchy. The data also demonstrated ‘philosophy’ being used as a ‘buzzword’ throughout the academy, derived from loose interpretations, but offered few specific suggestions regarding how coaches ‘should’ behave. Coach interactions were used as forms of social control rather than addressing pedagogical concerns, with coaches’ personal dispositions proving extremely strong and ultimately prevailing. It is worth questioning, therefore, the extent to which the academy ‘philosophy’ can be displaced, and the mechanisms required to ensure collective acceptance to an instituted coaching approach.

摘要

职业体育文化和机构话语对教练实践和意识形态的影响在很大程度上未被考虑和讨论。从社会角度理解教练实践可以提供对教练沉浸其中的主流文化的洞察，指出指导教练行为的话语模式、规范和价值观。本研究的目的是调查教练的意识形态信念与他们所工作的职业足球学院的既定理念之间（错误）对齐的可能性。观察到13 名男足球教练（M  = 36.23 岁）在三个不同的场合执教，相当于 2584 分钟的镜头（M = 66.26 分钟）。使用教练分析干预系统 (CAIS) 的计算机化版本对每个记录的会话进行分析。所有参与者都接受了两次采访（第一次观察前和最后一次观察后）。教练们被问及学院哲学和他们的个人行为特征。对数据进行主题分析，并利用皮埃尔·布迪厄的概念将其置于理论框架内。调查结果强调，教练对学院哲学的解释受到他们先前的社会化和在地位等级中的地位的影响。数据还表明，“哲学”在整个学院中被用作“流行语”，源于松散的解释，但很少就教练“应该”如何表现提出具体建议。教练互动被用作社会控制的形式，而不是解决教学问题，教练的个人倾向被证明非常强烈并最终占了上风。因此，值得质疑的是，学院“哲学”可以在多大程度上被取代，以及确保集体接受既定教练方法所需的机制。