ABSTRACT

Background and Purpose: Participation rates in many organised sports are stagnating, yet a rapid growth in participation, commercialisation and institutionalisation has been observed in self-organised sports such as surfing, snowboarding skateboarding, BMX racing and rock climbing over the past five decades. These sports are continuously attracting attention both in commercial and academic domains partially attributable to their inclusion in global mega events such as the Olympic Games. The continued inclusion in the programme provides opportunities for the sports to maintain their route to professionalisation, and for professionals (i.e. athletes, coaches) to explore their learning within newly emerging contexts. Despite the mainstreaming of many action sports and their inclusion in the Winter and Summer Olympic programmes, the learning of action sports athletes within the high performance context has rarely been studied. Particularly scarce is research considering the athlete’s voice. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to explore the learning experiences of elite action sports athletes in high-performance environments.

Data collection and analysis: A qualitative multiple-case study approach was chosen so as to gain an in-depth understanding of the athletes’ learning experiences in ways that captured the highly idiosyncratic nature of learning. The cases were four senior elite BMX Supercross (SX) racers from a successful national team. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, online and face-to-face observations, and document analysis. Data were collated and thematically analysed to support rich and in-depth accounts of each of the cases. Findings from this research were discussed adopting a theoretically eclectic approach.

Findings and Discussion: Findings from this study indicate that BMX SX athletes (re-)learned, through engagements with the head coach, how to be independent learners. In addition, experiences in high quality performance hubs tended to proffer some of the most valued learning opportunities for elite BMX SX riders. Here, the athletes learned to become accustomed to the performance environment and continued to fine-tune their race craft. Finally, findings from this study suggest that BMX SX athletes learned with and from their social relationships, however, not all social engagements resulted in valued learning. This research extends an understanding of learning in action sports, taking into consideration learning as idiosyncratic, socially and contextually situated, and ongoing, as a basis for further inquiry into learning in high performance action sports.

摘要

背景和目的：许多有组织的运动的参与率停滞不前，但在过去的五年中，冲浪、单板滑雪、滑板、BMX 赛车和攀岩等自组织运动的参与、商业化和制度化迅速增长。这些运动在商业和学术领域不断受到关注，部分原因在于它们被纳入奥运会等全球大型赛事。继续纳入该计划为体育运动提供了保持其职业化道路的机会，并为专业人士（即运动员、教练）在新兴环境中探索他们的学习提供了机会。尽管许多极限运动已成为主流并被纳入冬季和夏季奥运会项目，很少有人研究在高性能背景下对极限运动运动员的学习。考虑到运动员声音的研究尤其稀缺。因此，本研究的目的是探索精英极限运动运动员在高性能环境中的学习体验。

数据收集和分析：选择了一种定性的多案例研究方法，以便深入了解运动员的学习经历，从而捕捉到学习的高度特殊性。这些案例是来自一支成功的国家队的四名高级精英 BMX Supercross (SX) 赛车手。数据是通过半结构化访谈、在线和面对面观察以及文件分析生成的。对数据进行了整理和主题分析，以支持对每个案例的丰富和深入的描述。采用理论上的折衷方法讨论了这项研究的结果。

调查结果和讨论：这项研究的结果表明，BMX SX 运动员（重新）通过与主教练的接触学会了如何成为独立的学习者。此外，在高质量性能中心的经验往往会为精英 BMX SX 车手提供一些最有价值的学习机会。在这里，运动员们学会了适应表演环境，并继续微调他们的比赛技巧。最后，这项研究的结果表明，BMX SX 运动员通过他们的社会关系学习并从他们的社会关系中学习，然而，并非所有的社会参与都会带来有价值的学习。这项研究扩展了对极限运动学习的理解，考虑到学习是特殊的、社会和情境定位的、持续的，作为进一步探究高性能极限运动学习的基础。