"Good Athletes Have Fun": a Foucauldian reading of university coaches' uses of fun

("Gute Sportler haben Spaß": ein Foucaultsches Verständnis des Einsatzes von Spaß durch Trainer an Universitäten)

Fun is deeply ingrained in the ways we talk about and understand sport: Having fun is what makes sport positive and healthy. Drawing on a Foucauldian perspective, we problematize how fun, a psychological construct, informs coaches` practices. Interviews with 10 varsity coaches from a Canadian university indicated that the coaches used fun to overcome the `grind` of physical skill training. In addition, fun was used to develop and naturalize a need for athletes` positive psychological traits and skills. In their training contexts, thus, the coaches clearly employed fun to reinforce their use of a number of dominant disciplinary training practices. As a result, instead of operating as a positive force for athlete engagement, the incorporation of fun further legitimized and perpetuated coaches` `normal` training practices.
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Schlagworte: Trainer Coaching Motivation Training Fertigkeit Fähigkeit Theorie Sportpsychologie
Notationen: Ausbildung und Forschung
DOI: 10.1080/21640629.2017.1400757
Veröffentlicht in: Sports Coaching Review
Veröffentlicht: 2019
Jahrgang: 8
Heft: 1
Seiten: 43-61
Dokumentenarten: Artikel
Sprache: Englisch
Level: hoch