Tim Elcombe

Sport, Aesthetic Experience, and Art as the Ideal Embodied Metaphor

Despite a prevalence of articles exploring links between sport and art in the 1970s and 1980s, philosophers in the new millennium pay relatively little explicit attention to issues related to aesthetics generally. After providing a synopsis of earlier debates over the questions ‘is sport art?’ and ‘are aesthetics implicit to sport?’, a pragmatically informed conception of aesthetic experience will be developed. Aesthetic experience, it will be argued, vitally informs sport ethics, game logic, and participant meaning. Finally, I will argue that embodying pragmatic conceptions of art as its ideal metaphor re-opens space to best realize the deep potential of sport as a meaningful human practice.

Expert coaches' perceptions of athlete performance optimization.

The purpose of the study was to engage expert coaches in a reflective process exploring their perceptions of distinguishing features of athletes they consider optimal performers. Fifteen national and/or Olympic level coaches were interviewed. Developed through a content analysis of the data, elite coach descriptions provided a preliminary profile of elite athlete performance optimization centred on five main themes: a rational approach to training and performance; exhibiting sustained passion and commitment to details; ownership of the elite athletic experience; embracing challenge and complexity of elite athletic contexts; and employing a big (moral) picture view of sport and life. Discussion focuses on highlighting the features of performance optimizing athletes using the proposed concept of ‘mature competitiveness’.

Sport Philosophy Inquiry in 3D: A Pragmatic Response to the (Sport) Philosophy Paradox

Abstract A paradoxical attitude exists toward professional philosophy: philosophical inquiry is considered important and complex, but professionals are deemed irrelevant and unnecessary. This paradox doubly affects sport philosophy as evidenced by the field’s marginalization in higher education and sociopolitical discourse. To counter the sport philosophy paradox, I present a pragmatically oriented three-dimensional approach to inquiry that turns the field “inside-out”. A community of engaged, melioratively oriented sport philosophy inquirers in this 3D model collectively conducts theoretical (horizontal dimension), applied (vertical dimension), and instrumental (depth dimension) inquiry. Each dimension is outlined in detail from a professional sport philosophy perspective, and implications are considered relative to the field’s future endeavors.

Beyond ‘crude pragmatism’ in sports coaching: Insights from C.S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey: A commentary

Simon Jenkins importantly, and with great care, brings the work of Classic Pragmatists such as Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, to the attention of coaching scholars. Reacting to ‘‘crude’’ renditions of ‘‘pragmatism’’ presented in previous coaching applications (and socio-political practices more generally), Jenkins seeks to provoke discussion on more nuanced accounts of classico-pragmatism—and subsequently more fruitful uses of the work of this cohort of scholars in the coaching realm.

John R. Wooden, Stephen R. Covey and Servant Leadership

INTRODUCTION Simon Jenkins’ stimulus article compares and contrasts the key elements of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success with Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, particularly against the conceptual backdrop of servant leadership. In the article, Jenkins provides detailed summations of both Wooden’s and Covey’s respective leadership frameworks, identifies key influences on both accounts, and considers the significant role Aristotelian virtue theory plays in the formation of Wooden’s Pyramid and Covey’s Seven Habits. In the concluding sections, Jenkins critically examines classifications of Wooden as, akin to Covey, a “servant leader”; Jenkins counterclaims Wooden functioned as a “paternalistic leader”, citing examples distinguishing his leadership style from characteristics commonly identified in servant leaders. Jenkins’ summaries of Wooden and Covey, their respective leadership accounts, and varieties of leadership styles in the literature, as well as his conclusion that Wooden be best classified as a paternalistic leader, leaves little to critique. His treatments of both Wooden’s and Covey’s principled, virtue-based approaches to leadership are detailed and fair— evidenced by Jenkins’ inclusion of criticism levied against both Wooden and Covey.1 Furthermore, Jenkins’ case for Wooden as a paternalistic figure, rather than a servant leader, is convincing. Consequently, in this commentary I will focus less on Jenkins’ analysis and more on the bigger questions raised by the leadership ideologies crafted and advanced by Wooden and Covey—particularly the principled, virtue theory account which underlies both approaches. Furthermore, I will challenge the pragmatic value of these leadership theories to address complex problems facing coaches in applied sporting contexts, and conclude that Wooden exhibited pragmatic tendencies himself when confronted by hard cases.

Reformist America: ‘The oberlin experiment’ – The limits of jack scott's ‘athletic revolution’ in post-1960s America

Oberlin Colleges hiring of self-proclaimed ‘athletic radical’ Jack Scott in 1972 symbolizes two significant shifts in American culture and politics. First, Scotts appointment signaled Americas transition out of the ‘Vietnam Era’ as counterculture figures moved from outside the dominant power structures into formal positions of influence. Second, the turmoil marking Scotts brief tenure at the small-town Ohio school illuminates the origins of a political divide between old guard liberals who fought for reform and reconstruction and a new generation of leftist radicals who accepted nothing less than revolution-leading to, philosopher Richard Rorty argues, a ‘splintered’ and ‘spectatorial’ Left.