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Becoming a good coach: Coaching and phronesis

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... While the idea of phronesis originated with Aristotle, Joseph Dunne's (1997Dunne's ( , 2005 work has made the concept accessible for modern audiences (see Arnold 2001;Barker-Ruchti, Barker, and Annerstedt 2014;Cooke and Carr 2014;Jones 2017;Standal and Hemmestad 2011). Like others (Polanyi 1969;Ryle 2009), Dunne (1997) was dissatisfied with modern ways of conceptualising knowledge. ...
... The concept of phronesis and the behaviour analytic conception of PCK emphasise the meaning of context in different ways. Dunne (1997), like Jones (2017) and Standal and Hemmestad (2011), stresses that phronesis is concerned with the combination of knowledge of particular situations and general principles. Following the behaviour analytic discourse of CK and PCK, it seems to emphasise that knowledge of particular situations is separated from general principles (see assumption three). ...
... In this paper, we have proposed that PCK should involve more. Using strategies of theory building (Shoemaker, Tankard, and Lasorsa 2004;Thomas 2007;Whetten 1989) and drawing on the concept phronesis (Dunne 2005;Cooke and Carr 2014;Jones 2017;Standal and Hemmestad 2011), we have claimed that PCK could also involve actions such as identifying contextual characteristics for 'new' and integrative movement cultures in physical education; interpreting students' actions and reactions; identifying and acting on diversity during physical education teaching; developing a sensitivity for what is morally 'right' to do in a certain situation; and accepting and managing the uncertainty of not knowing in advance what a 'correct' action is. These knowledgeable actions are not easy to teach (or assess), however, this does not mean that they are not a part of PCK for physical education teachers. ...
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Background: In this conceptual paper, we contribute to the discussion of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in physical education and physical education teacher education (PETE). There are two main limitations in the work inspired by Shulman’s [1987. “Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform.” Harvard Educational Review 57 (1): 1–21] concepts content knowledge (CK) and PCK. First, CK is exclusively interpreted as knowledge in and about movement, and excludes knowledge through movement. Second, contemporary understandings of CK and PCK have been mainly from a behaviour analytic perspective. By only adopting a behavioural perspective of CK, i.e. a perspective which aims to change students’ behaviours without necessarily changing knowledge or understanding, pre-service teachers are unlikely to reflect on context and culture or how these affect the students with whom they will work. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to add a new perspective to the contemporary discussion of PCK in physical education and PETE through elaborating on how PCK could be conceptualised ‘phronetically’. We believe that contextual and situational foci of a phronetic approach constitute an important dimension of teacher knowledge, and that this dimension is not captured or made visible by behaviour analytic discourse of PCK in movement cultures. Method: For the conceptual task of expanding our understanding of PCK, we have been inspired by Thomas [2007. Education and Theory: Strangers in Paradigms. Berkshire: McGraw Hill], Shoemaker, Tankard, and Lasorsa [2004. How to Build Social Science Theories. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage], and Whetten [1989. “What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?” Journal Academy of Management Review 14 (4): 490–495] and their ideas of building theory through borrowing, reflective thinking, and metaphors. Results: We outline four major assumptions made about PCK in the behaviour analytic research on physical education and PETE: 1. Physical education teachers must know how to perform activities with the correct technique, know the tactics and have knowledge about rules and etiquette; 2. Physical education teachers must know how to detect errors and design task progressions. 3. Physical education teachers must know how to select and modify appropriate tasks as well as give feedback. 4. Physical education teachers’ level of CK and PCK can be quantitatively measured. Conclusions: From a phronetic perspective, we suggest that PCK could also involve: contextual characteristics for ‘new’ and integrative movement cultures; interpretation of students’ actions; identification and action on diversity during physical education teaching; development of a sensitivity for morally ‘right’ actions; and management of uncertainty involved in physical education teaching.
... To meet these aims, we applied a qualitative methodology of interpretive description (Thorne, Kirkham, & O'Flynn-Magee, 2004), which is a perspective that acknowledges the constructed and contextual nature of human experience and allows for shared realities (Thorne, 2008). In order to achieve this, we used ethics of care (Noddings, 1986) and practical wisdom (Flyvbjerg, 2004;Standal & Hemmestad, 2011) to reflect on coaches' caring as a sustainable practice in high-performance sport. ...
... Practical wisdom entails acting conscientiously which, in elite sport, means that a coach cannot follow predetermined, universal rules of "correct" actions. Instead, coaches who use practical wisdom approach situations by balancing universal (performance and competition) principles and situational characteristics such as health and welfare (Standal & Hemmestad, 2011). A coach who uses practical wisdom has the ability to think and act in relation to values and to deliberate about doing the "right thing, at the right time, in the right way with the right feeling" (Jones, 2015, p. 8). ...
... The moral and ethical dilemmas in coaches' practice must be handled in such a way as to ensure longterm well-being based on the individual athlete, rather than a focus on fixed results. Coaches using practical wisdom have the means to balance the expectations and consequences of elite sport (Standal & Hemmestad, 2011), which can be comparable to the different characteristics between commodity-and community-based sport . Caring as a sustainable practice in elite sport has to have an ends and a means to caring, with deliberate caring decisions and actions that focus on the virtues of care for athletes rather than commodity-based outcomes. ...
Article
Coaches in elite sport must ensure a balance between performance, high pressure and well-being. A caring approach, based on a coach’s commitment to caring for athletes, has the potential to create such a balance and sustainability. The aim of this study was to identify coaches’ caring and problematise their ethics of care in relation to sustainability. We draw on and integrate the theoretical concept of caring into a conception of (un-) sustainable sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Swedish elite athletics coaches. Results show that coaches’ ethics of care is important for creating sustainable elite athletics practices, but that caring also conflicts with sustainability thinking if coaches do not base their actions on practical wisdom and moral and ethical dilemmas.
... Thus, a coach employing phronesis might be guided by a desire for athlete's flourishing (not necessarily evidencebased)-a sense of what is right or best for the athlete's development. Nevertheless, a science-driven technical approach to practice and the conception of good coaching as being synonymous with success and results (rather than virtuous actions) prevail (Standal & Hemmestad, 2010). ...
... Coaching science and how to coach (recipelike) approaches downplay the contextual contingencies of coaching and the inherent uncertainties of human interactions (Standal & Hemmestad, 2010). For instance, Curzon-Hobson, Thomson, and Turner (2003) described how the rise of biomechanics within New Zealand cricket had radically altered the demands on, and expectations of, coaches and marginalized certain coaching qualities associated with care and trust. ...
... In contrast, coaches who exhibit phronesis may be better equipped to deal flexibly with the messy world of practice (Standal & Hemmestad, 2010). Hence, Standal (2008) suggested that we should celebrate the insecure practitioner who balances knowledge of universals against understanding the particularities of situations encountered in exercising judgements. ...
Article
This paper presents and interprets a narrativized coaching life history of the Australian athletics coach Percy Cerutty (1895-1975). Through a relational process of self-improvement and practical wisdom sometimes called phronesis, Cerutty exemplifies an intimate interconnectedness with his own and others’ experiences, with the natural environment, and with the transformative capacities of such influences, as often highlighted in transpersonal literature. Three potential themes are offered from the resultant meaning-making: a feel for the game, phronesis, and the coach as a paradoxical figure. Those themes are also interwoven with a consideration of how Cerutty’s story and practices might link to aspects of the transpersonal approach, using the motifs of redemption, transformation, and transcendence, as well as to elements of coaching theory. The paper concludes by evaluating Cerutty’s influence and legacy, and their broader implications.
... Informal and experiential knowledge has been considered in phronetic approaches to coaching theory (Hardman, Jones, & Jones, 2010;Hemmestad et al., 2010;Loland, 2011;Standal & Hemmestad, 2011). The term 'phronesis' refers to practical knowledge that is imperative for context-specific judgements. ...
... Aristotle used the term to refer to the wise application of knowledge in everyday living Reflective Practice 55 (Hemmestad et al., 2010). It involves virtues, including justice, courage, wisdom and temperance (Arnold, 2001;Standal & Hemmestad, 2011) and has been described in more contemporary language as prudence, or a habit of attentiveness (Dunne, 1993;Flyvbjerg, 2001). Aristotle (1976Aristotle ( , p. 1140) thought of phronesis as the ability to think and act in relation to values and to deliberate about 'things that are good or bad for humans'. ...
... We would argue that on the one hand, Chris' caring efforts were implemented to produce top-level performers. They reflect an instrumental rationality that has the competitive running 'market' at its core and it is hoped that caring efforts will stimulate performance enhancement and top competitive results (see also Flyvbjerg, 2004;Standal & Hemmestad, 2011 consequences, and how some of these methods are more suitable for athletes' abilities, needs and motivations than others. Such deliberations highlight the importance of improvement, rather than competitive results. ...
Article
Sport coaching has traditionally been seen as a techno-rational activity. In recent years, there has been a ‘subjective turn’. Intuitive, as well as situation-specific interpretations are today perceived as necessary to handle complex, dynamic and often unpredictable sport environments. While a considerable body of research has attempted to understand coaching practice, research on intuitive and situation-dependent praxis is only emerging. Phronesis ‐ mostly defined as practical wisdom or practical rationality ‐ has been put forward as a useful theoretical concept to frame such coaching practice. In this contribution, we employ phronesis as part of sustainability science to consider the coaching of one top-level middle-distance running coach. Observations, informal talks and semi-structured interviews produced the empirical materials for this analysis. The results suggest that the coach’s practice was guided by both techno-rational and phronetic knowledge. While techno-rational knowledge manifested itself in a focus on time and control, the latter was reflected in a concern for impact, focus on community, authenticity and modesty. From a phronetic perspective, these characteristics can be seen as morally just and important precursors for sustainable sport.
... The enactment of virtues takes practical wisdom (phronesis), which can be described as a practical rationality between theoretical knowledge (episteme) and skills (techne) (for an extended analysis of this, see Aggerholm 2015, 65-74;Standal and Hemmestad 2011). This approach involves both deliberation and doing, the result of which is the ability to see situations correctly by encompassing the virtuous in one's action. ...
... This role of the coach transcends technical or instrumental instructions and aims, as well as the principled guidelines described earlier. Good coaching in this perspective requires practical wisdom (Standal and Hemmestad 2011), which is personal and situated, and concerns what otherwise could be. Hence, it rests on a good character, ability to make judgments in individual cases, and flexibility, as well as sensitivity regarding human relationships, expressed, for example, by being authentic, courageous, kind, protective, trustworthy, caring, and supportive and by showing sympathetic understanding. ...
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... Educated in an environment in which the technical aspects are highlighted, coaches might lack 'practical wisdom,' or phronesis, i.e. the lived experience of doing what is ethically right and virtuous. 51 An explanation for why these coaches did not remember having any moral or ethical education during their certification might be the way moral content was presented to coaches. Following Cushion and colleagues, 43 coaches' education mainly lies upon linear technical models in which coaches' creative and critical thinking or problem solving are not aimed at. ...
... Following Cushion and colleagues, 43 coaches' education mainly lies upon linear technical models in which coaches' creative and critical thinking or problem solving are not aimed at. As such, in lack of the presence of a phronetic socio-educational approach that prepares coaches to face a complex domain that entails both an individual and social process of interaction, and reflection about context-related situations, and where critical decisions have to be taken, 42,51,52 coaches are cautious to both describe their moral behaviours and approach athletes' moral development because they might not be fully prepared to do it in a confident manner. Thus, before providing any moral-related response, these coaches are used to engaging in an in-depth reflective self-guided process that both considers in-depth available options as well as justifies a decision taken based on pre-existing personal values. ...
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Literature in the field of sport has noted that coaches can be major contributors to the moral tone held in the sport environment and athletes are receptive to the moral frame provided by the coach. At the same time, coaches' perspectives of morality have been associated with the way coaches face moral issues that arise in the field. Therefore, the present study aimed at extending previous research seeking to illuminate the coach's perspectives of morality by (a) exploring coaches' perspectives of morality; (b) analysing coaches' responses in light of previous evidence; and (c) discussing the theoretical and practical implications of evidence. The present pilot study was designed as a qualitative multiple case study. Participants were six coaches (Mage = 46.5; SD = 7.6), who had extended sport involvement, underwent required coaching education and were coaching at the time of the interview. Case 1 was represented by three females coaching an artistic individual sport and case 2 was represented by three males coaching an interactive team sport. Thematic data analysis was conducted. Results indicated that coaches found it difficult to articulate a definition of morality; though they did describe it as an ongoing learning process, context-related, that entailed reciprocity, and therefore, required permanent interchange, co-creation, negotiation and adjustment. The coaches also identified two main perspectives of morality: the moral perspective (i.e. being able to differentiate what is right from what is wrong, doing what is right and considering self-related wellbeing) and the social perspective (i.e. sport involvement and team dynamics). Extrapolating the evidence from this study may suggest that coaches could benefit from moral education interventions, which may then translate to a reduction in or prevention of undesired consequences associated with encompassing moral behaviour.
... The coaching process is evolving (Salmela, 1995). The necessary skills to coach have become more complex, relational, and contextual Cushion et al., 2003;Jowett, 2017;Standal & Hemmestad, 2010), growing concern over the last few decades as "the term sport coaching may be overgeneralized" (Gano-Overway, . ...
Thesis
Although coaching has a long history guided in the apprenticeship or mentorship model (Taylor & Garratt, 2013), research has primarily focused on the athlete, rarely on the coach, and almost never on whom the coach is serving as an apprentice to, or being mentored or supported by. Internationally, this role has been termed a ‘coach developer,’ but the formalized title and role of the coach developer is still a rather new concept (ICCE, 2014), with most research focused on the coach developer working at elite levels. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the roles and responsibilities of a coach developer in the United States youth soccer sport context, specifically within a single organization. Using a two-round modified Delphi approach, six panelists agreed 108 of the 184 tasks were the responsibility of the regional coach developer, 131 tasks were important to the role of the coach developer, and 51 tasks were completed at least weekly by the coach developer. Of the 184 tasks, 48 were agreed to be the current responsibility of, and important to, the weekly coach developer role. This is an increase from the 22 tasks that were identified in the organization’s onboarding materials. Furthermore, one task reached a consensus for responsibility but not importance, while 20 tasks reached a consensus for importance but not responsibility. The discrepancies demonstrate an opportunity for growth within the coach developer role at the organization. This study echoes Cale and Abraham (2016) and Harvey and colleagues (2021) recommendation’s regarding the need for the identification of more specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes for coach developer positions in order to better inform professional development opportunities, especially for those functioning in the youth sport context.
... In our opinion, the pedagogy of ignorance would claim that future PE teachers interested in critical pedagogy cultivate the virtues of phronesis and caring (Jones 2017;Standal and Hemmestad 2011). In their decision-making, the practical wisdom (or phronesis) of the teacher should be guided not by technical knowledge (techné), but by an ethics of care that aspires to the emancipation of their students. ...
Article
Background Education is increasingly a bureaucratized, standardized and regulated service in which everything is decided by the ‘experts’. There is an abandonment of the concept of education centred on the subject, social progress and collective transformation. Thus, education in general and teacher-training in particular, need innovative approaches that question the role of schools with regard to the social reproduction and neoliberalism. Critical pedagogies must develop practical propositions for transformation beyond theoretical criticism. In this sense, one of these possibilities is the philosophy of emancipation, which demands that students participate in their own education to recognize themselves as active social agents in the process of transformation and as authors in the construction of their own world. Purpose This study is an outline and an evaluation of an experience that was based on the main objective of emancipating the students of a Master’s degree in Physical Education in Secondary Education Teaching in order to carry out their own Action Research (AR) projects. Methods The study was carried out through the planning of three cycles of AR, and a teaching role closely associated to the pedagogy of ignorance. Data from the study was collected through reflective journals from the teachers (n = 2) and the participating students (n = 90). Added to this were two discussion groups, developed for the purpose of giving the students a more active voice. Findings The results show, on the one hand, how the combination of the pedagogy of ignorance and the cycles of AR required students to act with autonomy and responsibility; however, although they valued this precept in the end, they asked for more intervention by teachers. Their overriding feeling of needing to ‘be taught’ made the study, unexpectedly, resemble a simulation. On the other hand, the methodology demanded that the authors of the study to not only maintain distance and not intervene but also to continually reconsider their role and authority in the classroom. Conclusions Based on this study, the conclusions are that the course was designed too extensively planning fewer cycles might have resolved the sensation of the emotional distance that was perceived by the students. Reflection on the dynamics of the course also bred a feeling that the objectives of the study could have been shared with the students sooner to have obtained more accurate results. Despite these complications, it was a process of intense reflection and pedagogical learning, and a valuable experience on many levels.
... Many sports federations provide formal education for coaches with a focus on technical and tactical approaches in the given sport (Nash & Sproule, 2012;Werthner & Trudel, 2006). However, an increasing number of scholars suggest that formal education programmes insufficiently address social, pedagogical and holistic approaches, and that formal education ignores the increasingly complex site-based work of elite coaches (Hardman & Jones, 2011;Hardman, Jones, & Jones, 2010;Standal & Hemmestad, 2011). ...
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In this paper, we investigate how elite coaches reflect on their practice and interact with each other, as part of their informal professional development. We use observations of 14 coach meet-ings, over a period of two years, where coaches came together to share their experiences of coaching elite athletics, and to discuss ways for continuous professional development. Through an action research approach, data collected included notes and audio- recorded conversations. The theory of practice architectures was employed as a theoretical tool to frame the analysis of the data in order to understand the meeting practices and how these prac-tices were enabled and constrained. The research revealed how conversations led to awareness, which became turning points for new practices. Specifically, the coaches became aware of the importance of belonging to a community, their lack of knowledge and understanding of inequality, and the complexity of coaching. The meetings, as forums for dialogic practice, were enabled by open-minded collaboration, a willingness to share experiences, and a mutual understanding of the coaching context, but they were also constrained by the structures of coaches’ athletics clubs and federations, that do not fully support coaches’ meetings as an informal educational practice for professional development.
... ). 몇몇 학자들은 상황이 너무 복잡해 실용적 지혜를 가진 이 마저 결정하기 어렵다면 보다 일반적인 철학이론도 도움 이 안 될 것이라고 주장한다(Hardman & Carwyn, 2011;Launder, 1993;Simon, 2013;Standal & Hemmestad, 2011). 요컨대, 실천지혜 관점에서 코칭윤 리는 개인적이고 합리적인 도덕적 숙고나 원칙 중심의 윤 리를 적절하게 설명해 주지 못하는 측면이 있겠으나, 이는 칸트의 의무윤리를 통해서 보완될 수는 있을 것이다. ...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this study lies in: 1) clarifying what constitutes coaching ethics; 2) providing a theory to set up a coaching ethics in Korea; 3) and offer a direction to coaching ethics based on its normative traits. Methods In order to achieve this purpose, the following has been done: 1) a review of existing literature has been done to analyze the relationship between professionalism and ethics in coaching and explicate the concept and necessity of coaching ethics; 2) an effort has been made to answer such questions as “why and how much should a coach be ethical?”; “How should a coach be ethically evaluated?”; 3) An analysis of ethical responsibility embedded in coaching has been done, focusing on four ethical theories: Kantian categorical imperative, Aristotelian phronesis, Simon’s broad internalism, and Morgan’s conventionalism. Results This study reviews prior literature considering the relationship between professionalism and ethics in coaching and offers theoretical evidence to explain coaching ethics and its normative aspect. This will help resolve complicated ethical predicaments arising in the field. Conclusions This study emphasizes the role of coaches to improve fairness and wholesomeness in the field of sport, as well as suggests a coaching ethics required of a profession with internal regulations. Coaching ethics not only increases a sense of responsibility on the part of coaches but helps create a virtuous circle in which coaches’ ethical sensibility is reproduced in athletes as well. All in all, coaching ethics can stop important qualities of sport from deteriorating due to commercialism and the winner-takes-all attitude prevalent in sport today and contribute to a fair and wholesome sporting culture.
... Mary's statement is not an isolated quote about fair play and moral standards; the women coaches clearly outlined that they stand for fair play in general and do not want to risk players' health. Mary's integrity exemplified an ability to think and act in relation to particular values (e.g., working hard but fair) and caring at the right time, for the right reasons, and with the right feelings (Standal & Hemmestad, 2011). In other words, Mary's perspective serves as an example of taking on responsibility to foster player morals, and can be interpreted as modelling, where the coaches show in their own behaviour what it means to care (e.g., Noddings, 2012aNoddings, , 2012b. ...
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how an exclusive sample of women’s national football team coaches described how they implement careful coaching while facing social and organizational pressure to win medals. Method: To consider coaches’ negotiations, we drew on Noddings’ concept of caring. Using an interpretive research paradigm, we conducted in-depth interviews with five Swedish women’s national football team coaches. An abductive approach was used to simultaneously process the theoretical framework of “ethics of care” and the empirical data. Results: The coaches unanimously adopted a holistic perspective to coaching. The coaching strategies they described included promoting players’ development, well-being, and sustainable elite performance; listening to the players’ voices and engaging in dialogue; and creating a positive environment and promoting fair play. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the women coaches, despite performance pressure, adopt caring coaching in the form of Noddings’ pedagogical modelling, dialogue, and confirmation strategies, and provide an example of how coaches can adopt caring, holistic, and athlete-centred coaching while working at the highest level of competitive sport and achieving competitive success.
... Og hvordan traeneren kan henholdsvis fremme og haemme udøver-oplaering i en traeningsgruppe?Ifølge idraetsforskeren Lars ToreRonglan (2009b) indtager traeneren, på trods af at denne ofte bevaeger sig på sidelinjen af praksis, en laeremesterrolle, der går udover det rent faerdighedsmaessige, idet traeneren eksemplificerer en stil for, hvordan man taler om og forholder sig til sporten og hinanden. En stil, som traeneren kan eksemplificere, er den systematiske og målrettede tilgang til traeningstilrettelaeggelse, der kan betegnes som teknisk rationalitet(Standal & Hemmestad 2011).Denne tilgang består af klare og eksplicitte procedurer og etablerer derfor entydige kriterier for succes:The idea of technical rationality finds a clear expression through the so-called linear model of professional practice, where the coach first explicitly specifies the goals and then selects a strategy for his/her intervention. Preferably this choice is made on the basis of scientific evidence for what works. ...
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Mange elitesportsudøvere træner sammen med andre elitesportsudøvere, enten på klubhold, landshold eller lignende. På sådanne hold vil der som regel være nogle udøvere, som er mere erfarne end andre, og udøverne vil hver især have deres spidskompetencer. I den daglige træning med hinanden er der således grobund for, at udøverne kan lære af hinanden i mesterlære-lignende-interaktioner, og at dette spiller en vigtig rolle i udviklingen af elitesportsudøvernes ekspertise. Denne daglige sparring og oplæring mellem udøvere på træningsbanen har dog ikke været genstand for megen dybdegående forskning. Dette aspekt virker således underbelyst i den videnskabelige litteratur om ekspertiseudvikling i elitesport. Her har fokus især været rettet imod individuelle faktorer eller trænerens rolle. Derfor er målet med denne afhandling at undersøge og sætte ord på den oplæring som finder sted mellem elitesportsudøvere med udgangspunkt i casestudier af tre elitesportskontekster.
... Experienced coaches knowing their sport have what Polanyi calls 'tacit knowledge'. They are experts in the execution of their practice and combine a systematic and critical approach with the ancient Greek ideal of phronesis; practical wisdom and good judgement [36]. Good coaches are 'enlightened generalists' [37]. ...
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New insights into the genetics of sport performance lead to new areas of application. One area is the use of genetic tests to identify athletic talent. Athletic performances involve a high number of complex phenotypical traits. Based on the ACCE model (review of Analytic and Clinical validity, Clinical utility, and Ethical, legal and social implications), a critique is offered of the lack of validity and predictive power of genetic tests for talent. Based on the ideal of children's right to an open future, a moral argument is given against such tests on children and young athletes. A possible role of genetic tests in sport is proposed in terms of identifying predisposition for injury. In meeting ACCE requirements, such tests could improve individualised injury prevention and increase athlete health. More generally, limitations of science are discussed in the identification of talent and in the understanding of complex human performance phenotypes. An alternative approach to talent identification is proposed in terms of ethically sensitive, systematic and evidence-based holistic observation over time of relevant phenotypical traits by experienced observers. Talent identification in sport should be based on the primacy of the phenotype.
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Despite the global appeal of game-based approaches (e.g. Teaching Games for Understanding, Game Sense), there is a notable lack of evidence regarding target sport coaches' perceptions and applications of these pedagogies. Using multiple qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews, video observations, coaching plans, reflections and visual images, this qualitative case study investigates a golf coach's (i.e. David) perception and application of a game-based approach. Through qualitative content analysis, four overarching themes were developed concerning David's perception and application of a game-based approach: 1. Biographical context; 2. Technical skill focus integrated with tactical concepts; 3. Pedagogic strategies to support learning; and 4. The joy of a game-based approach. The findings, presented as a narrative, indicate that while certain pedagogical features commonly associated with traditional game-based approaches were evident-such as the use of modified games to enhance understanding and skill development-others, like effective questioning, were less prominent. Nevertheless, the narrative suggests that David's adept application of the GBA cultivated a positive and joyful learning environment. His ability to adapt the approach fostered enjoyment not only for his learners but also for himself as an educator. This highlights the potential of a well-executed game-based approach to create a fulfilling educational experience in the context of target sports.
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Despite increased recognition that a higher education sports coaching qualification plays an important role in shaping coaches’ ethical decision-making, few scholars have considered what ethics to teach and how best to deliver such curriculum. Examples of actual ethics courses are particularly amiss. This article furthers scholarship on ethics education by introducing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), a pedagogical perspective and approach that is employed to teach quality of mind competences considered necessary to make ethical decisions. To demonstrate how ESD can be translated into ethics curriculum, we present the university course “IIG206 Sustainable Sports Coaching”, which the authors delivered to coaching students, and outline how the course offered students’ opportunities to develop quality of mind competences, including “thinking on their feet”, complexity thinking, working interdisciplinarily, creativity, and “thinking outside the box”. Practical recommendations for scholars keen to create and deliver ethics education in coaching education conclude the article.
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The purpose of this paper was to clarify the significance and boundaries of sports sciences as a way of overcoming violence in coaching. Here, the term “overcoming violence in coaching” means that coaches reach a state that obviates the use of violence in the coaching practice and besides enriches their coaching. In order to achieve the study objective, this paper adopts the theoretical framework of Karl Jaspers’ existential philosophy. Using Jaspers’ existential philosophy as a reference, which suggests that sports sciences have different meanings between a) when coaches use them as a coaching technique for guiding players to a predetermined result and b) as a way of reflecting or considering goals/objectives and judgements in terms of their own coaching practices. This paper, therefore, examines the significance and boundaries of sports sciences for overcoming violence in coaching after due consideration of both these meanings of sports sciences, and the following conclusions were obtained: a) When sports sciences are used by coaches solely as coaching techniques to guide players toward predetermined results, their applications cannot become a way of overcoming violence in coaching. This is because sports sciences and violence in coaching cannot simply replace each other in relation to the ends and the means for accomplishing them and that the application of sports sciences does not, in itself, make violence in coaching unnecessary. On the other hand, in case b) when sports sciences are applied by coaches for reflecting or considering goals/objectives and judgements in terms of their own coaching practices, the application of sports sciences becomes a way to avoid violence in coaching causing by dogma or knowledge of appearance. This is because sports sciences can serve as a control mechanism that prevents both coaches and players from developing extreme conviction in their own beliefs and straying from a path that they walk together to reach their goal.
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The purpose of the present paper was to lay the groundwork for a “coaching philosophy.” In the first section, the article analyzes the term “coaching philosophy” from a linguistic perspective. The second section aims to clarify the definition by critical examination of the literature. The third section explores the reasons why coaches need a “coaching philosophy”. Through these processes, the proposed definition of “coaching philosophy”is presented as a “comprehensive statement of the ends aimed at as coaching principles, the basic guidelines that give coaches direction, and the values set by coaches in practice to develop, improve, and realize the excellence of athletes and teams”.
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Ethical challenges in sports occur when the practitioners are caught between the will to win and the overall task of staying within the realm of acceptable values and virtues. One way to prepare for these challenges is to formulate comprehensive and specific rules of acceptable conduct. In this paper we will draw attention to one serious problem with such a rule-based approach. It may inadvertently encourage what we will call loophole ethics, an attitude where every action that is not explicitly defined as wrong, will be seen as a viable option. Detailed codes of conduct leave little room for personal judge-ment, and instead promote a loophole mentality. We argue that loophole ethics can be avoided by operating with only a limited set of general prin-ciples, thus leaving more space for personal judgement and wisdom.
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There has been little critical exploration of the ethical issues that arise in professional practice common to adapted physical activity. We cannot avoid moral issues as we inevitably will act in ways that will negatively affect the well-being of others. We will make choices, which in our efforts to support others, may hurt by violating dignity or infringing on rights. The aim of this paper is to open a dialogue on what constitutes ethical practice in adapted physical activity. Ethical theories including principlism, virtue ethics, ethics of care, and relational ethics provide a platform for addressing questions of right and good and wrong and bad in the field of adapted physical activity. Unpacking of stories of professional practice (including sacred, secret, and cover stories) against the lived experiences of persons experiencing disability will create a knowledge landscape in adapted physical activity that is sensitive to ethical reflection.
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