Geneviève Rail

Physical Contact in Women's Basketball: A Phenomenological Construction and Contextualization

This study focused on the phenomenon of physical contact, as experienced by female basketball players (N=14) on a Canadian varsity team. In this article are presented the results of the construction and contextualization phases of the social phenomenological method (Denzin 1984) used in the study. In the construction phase, elements of the physical contact phenomenon are interpreted and used for its construction. Emotions and the self are considered as foundations and upon them are laid three basic structures which provide a skeleton of the phenomenon: the phenomenological field, the body, and the symbolic interaction. In the contextualization phase, the constructed phenomenon is put back in the lives of the women basketball players. It is shown how a player particularly feels her emotions in basketball situations and how emotionality transforms her in a way that few other lines of action can. In conclusion, it is argued that physical contacts, as expressions of a wide variety of emotions, provide occasions for the unfolding of a players real self and meaning and represent experiences through which a player may learn not only who she is, but who she can be.