Paul Potrac

Understanding Power and the Coach's Role in Professional English Soccer: A Preliminary Investigation of Coach Behaviour

The purpose of this study was to analyze the coaching behaviours of top‐level professional English soccer coaches within the practice environment. The Arizona State University Observation Instrument (ASUOI) was used to compile data on four coaches during three phases of a given season. The results indicated that the categories of ‘pre‐instruction’, ‘concurrent instruction’, and ‘post instruction’ represented 54.45 per cent of all the recorded behavioural intervals. In addition, the data indicated a substantial praise to scold ratio (approximately 23:1). While ‘praise’ represented 15.44 per cent of the total coded behaviours, ‘scold’ accounted for only 0.67 per cent. The overall trends and variations in coaching behaviour between the observed coaches are primarily discussed in relation to existing sociology research.

Power, consent and resistance: an autoethnography of competitive rowing

This study builds upon existing socio-cultural work into sports coaching by probing the meanings and varieties of the shared coach–athlete experience. Specifically, the paper utilises an autoethnographic approach in an attempt to chart the complex and dynamic relationship that existed between me, the principal author, as a rowing coxswain and my coach during the preparation for a national rowing championship. Data were drawn from a training diary, emails (both sent and received) and memories during the six months I spent with Coach. The data are presented through three separate yet inter-related stories. Here, the plot of the tale hinges on the tension between my personal perceptions of effective coaching and those employed by Coach. The findings are principally theorised through Nybergs and Giddens’ concepts of power and resistance, as a fruitful relationship between Coach and me (and the crew) soon turned into a dysfunctional one. The conclusion emphasises the importance of recognising the power-ridden nature of coaching and the value of the autoethnographic genre in exploring it.