Chris Zehntner

Mentoring in coaching: the means of correct training? An autoethnographic exploration of one Australian swimming coach’s experiences

This paper reports on research that identifies the disciplinary mechanism of surveillance and power at work within pathways for coach education in the Australian swimming culture. Utilising autoethnography and Foucault, one Australian swimming coach’s experiences are explored, particularly his experiences within the mentor–mentee relationship of the Australian swimming coaching culture. It is contended that mentor coaches act as intermediaries of the wider sporting organisation and apply mechanisms to that are perceived as encouraging conformity and obedient, docile bodies within the mentor–mentee relationship. This research investigates the mentor–mentee relationship that one coach was immersed in and seeks to understand the complex interrelationships central to the development of an individual coach’s practice.

The impact of a coaching/sporting culture on one coach's identity: how narrative became a useful tool in reconstructing coaching ideologies

In this research, the use of narrative accounts is investigated as the catalyst for the evolution of one coachs identity. Unable to sustain a coaching identity that was deemed to be appropriate by my coaching mentors, I (Author 1) disengaged from the swimming culture. This was due in part to the expression of power within the mentor–mentee relationship embedded in the coach development pathway, as well as within the wider sporting culture. By utilizing a narrative approach; writing and deconstructing my own narratives in relation to coach identity development within the mentor–mentee relationship, I developed an alternative approach. I established a sustainable coaching identity that demonstrated evidence-based judgement and reflective consideration of actions rather than the obtuse reproduction of mentor coach practice. This research suggests that the use of narrative as an integral element in coach education can be powerful in terms of deconstructing cultural ideologies and in the construction of a sustainable coaching identity. The combination of these two components is powerful in terms of enabling a coaching identity to evolve. It is therefore suggested that the development of a sustainable mentor–mentee relationship is inextricably linked with the expression of narrative and the critical reflection on the same.

Fleshy, female and forty: A docudrama of a former elite swimmer who re-immersed herself into elite swimming culture

Abstract This film is presented as a docudrama, where video diaries and other elements of film production capture the six-month journey of a former elite swimmer who re-immersed herself into an elite swimming culture as a 40-year-old woman. Over a six-month period, the former swimmer subjected herself to the same training schedule and coaching practices that current Australian elite swimmers undertake, capturing video diaries of her experiences during this time. Her re-immersion in this culture was a conscious decision, undertaken in order for her to identify whether body practices that she was subjected to 16 years earlier were still occurring in the present day. Previous research on elite swimming culture has revealed how body practices which centre on attaining the ideal body for competitive performance cause detrimental effects for swimmers in both the short and also long term. This research provides a first-hand athlete perspective of elite swimming culture in the present day and whether these detrimental ways of approaching the swimmer body for the sake of competitive performance are still occurring. Two parts make up this research which include a brief written section which accompanies a 25-minute film. An evocative stance is adopted throughout the research where the audience is invited to draw their own conclusions from the lived experiences presented and whether or not detrimental body practices are still occurring in this culture in the present day.

Power and knowledge in a coach mentoring program

ABSTRACT In order to broaden our understanding of beginner (mentee) coach learning, we must consider how coach education, in particular prescribed mentoring programs may come to influence what is and what is not taken up by mentee coaches. In this article, narrative ethnography is used to explore six beginner (mentee) coaches’ learning experiences in a prescribed mentoring program within a coach education pathway. A Foucauldian perspective, specifically the concept of panopticism is used to analyse the beginner coaches’ experiences. Special attention is paid to the systems of oppression that beginner coaches may be subjected to along with the complex power relationships that may exist between mentor and mentee coaches in prescribed mentoring programs. This article illustrates how within the mentor-mentee coach relationship, subordination of beginner coaches occurs. In particular, beginner coaches are subtly disciplined and controlled so their coaching practices and ideas align with mentors and the culturally accepted coaching model.

Control, consent and complicity in the coaching of elite women’s cycling in Australia: a media analysis

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to extend understanding of how athletes and coaches in a women’s cycling talent development and selection programme negotiate and normalise athlete abuse in the media. A thematic analysis of six online cycling magazine articles and their representations of the Australian women’s elite cycling development camp was analysed to explore athletic abuse and the (re)production of coaching practices using Bourdieusian theory. The findings revealed a link between the expression of coaching practice and the maltreatment of athletes. Analysis of these articles also revealed that athletes were complicit in the normalisation of coaching practices through the misrecognition of social power embedded in the coaching intervention. The representations by athletes within the articles contributed narratives related to the reproduction and proliferation of abusive coaching practices. This study extends understanding of how taken for granted and power laden aspects of coaching practices can be presented in the media and highlights the implications for coaches, athletes and the general public that consume online cycling media content.

I am fast but I do not fit: an autoethnography of a swimmer’s experiences of ‘competitive performance’ stigma in two sporting contexts

ABSTRACT Given that research outside of sport and exercise has found that stigma may cause severe consequences (e.g. depression), it is important to explore the concept in regard to its connection to socio-cultural issues in the development and persistence of stigmatisation in sporting contexts. Analytic autoethnography and Goffman’s theory of stigma was used to explore one female swimmer’s experiences of ‘enacted’ and ‘felt’ competitive performance stigma occurring in elite swimming and a masters swimming context. Competitive performance stigma has not been conceptualised or explored as a stigma type in sport research, however through the presentation and analysis of two vignettes and the use of Goffman, this is achieved. The social agents that contributed to both ‘enacted’ and ‘felt’ competitive performance stigma and the consequences/effects (e.g. withdrawal from sport, feelings of shame) for this swimmer are highlighted. Our analysis further highlights the role of particular cultural insiders (e.g. coaches, team managers and other swimmers) in the reproduction of competitive performance stigma through acts of labelling, discrimination and social isolation. These acts positioned the female swimmer as an ‘outsider’ because of her competitive performance which in turn led to her withdrawal from these two sporting contexts highlighting the implications for recipients of stigmatisation.

Learning through shared note-taking visualisations in the classroom

School classrooms are seeing an emergence of ubiquitous display technology in the form of devices like personal laptops and shared classroom displays. These devices form a solid foundation for technology-assisted collaborative learning. We present a field experiment (N=66) that investigates whether a shared wall display that provides real-time note-taking visualisations is able to increase student interaction and learning/information retention. We compare this first experiment condition of laptops and a shared-display (C1) to the use of just pen and paper (C2) and just a laptop (C3). Our results from a between-subjects study with high school students indicates that interaction is significantly increased in condition C1 compared to C2 and C3, and that student learning favours C2 and C1 over C3. This indicates that although technology can be used to enhance learning, personal laptops are not by themselves a precursor to increased learning, and that consideration is needed for whole-of-classroom solutions in order to enhance student interaction and learning.

The way that things are done around here: An investigation into the organisational and social structures that contribute to structural power within the Australian swim coach education pathway

What is an appropriate structure for reporting a study of relational structures in a coach education pathway, following social constructivist and critical enquiry perspectives, and adopting narrative and auto-ethnographic approaches.

Using Stories to Investigate, Reflect on and Raise Social Conciousness in a Sporting Culture

This chapter describes the qualitative approach utilised to investigate relationships of power experienced within formal and informal mentee-mentor relationships associated with the education programme of a sports coaching culture. Denison and Avner (2011) and Cassidy (2010) suggest that power relations within a culture can contribute to conformity, stifle creativity and lead to apathetic, docile practice.