Sport coaching scholars have increasingly utilised the work of Erving Goffman to theoretically interpret and understand the complexities of coaching practice from a dramaturgical perspective. While this area of scholarship has advanced our sociological understanding of sport coaching, there remains a paucity of literature addressing how coaches…

Environmental sustainability in sport is an increasingly important issue. In this paper, we want to highlight a specific phenomenon, namely artificially constructed landscapes and the outdoor sport activities that take place therein. More specifically, we are interested in the logics that govern peoples' practice of sport in such artificial…

From the theoretical perspective of ecological dynamics, skilful behaviour in performance contexts like sport and education is predicted on the establishment of a functional relationship between an individual and the environment. The strength of this functional relationship is shaped over time by everyday behaviours, values, and customs…

Talent identification and development systems (TIDS) adopt a deterministic perspective (i.e. athletes' future state/performances can be predicted by observations of their initial state/performance), which encourages early identification and specialisation in sport. In this framework, the main aim of sport systems is to enhance predictability and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how social and physical environments interact to cultivate improvisational creativity. This was achieved by qualitatively reviewing the developmental backgrounds of some of Australia's most creative rugby players. A deductive reflexive thematic analysis was applied to data collected from primary sources…

In the present study, post-partum embodied subjectivity of five competitive recreational mother runners of children under 6 years of age, was explored using narrative inquiry from a story analyst and a story teller position. This focus expands understanding of sport, embodiment and good mother ideals using narrative inquiry as a novel theory to…

Research has shown how social and cultural factors continually shape an athlete's development journey. For example, the types of practice designed, in which individuals are identified as talented and the characteristics that distinguish a good coach, are continually shaped by sociocultural constraints. This potential for a myriad of possible…

Surf lifesaving in Australia is an iconic community volunteer service. Surf lifesaving members must attain their bronze medallion, which includes fundamental first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques in order to patrol the beaches. Each year thousands of rescues and first aid procedures are conducted on the beaches of Australia…

The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of a wheelchair tennis program from the perspective of youth athletes, their caregivers and coaches through the lens of the social-relational model of disability. Data collection included field notes, focus group interviews and semi-structured individual interviews with six wheelchair tennis…

Feeling at home on the field of play offers insights into sport as a social experience between humans and the non-human world. Players, in whatever sport, but especially outdoor team sports, engage with each other and their environment. Take soccer, for instance. Beyond the mercenary dominance of FIFA and the competitive machismo of many player…

This paper addresses the social and relational dimensions of player transitions in professional football. Data were generated through a total of 24 cyclical, in-depth interviews with three former players. The interview transcripts were subjected to emic and etic readings, with Bauman's metaphors of liquid modernity, hunters and pointillist time,…

In the literature on Dual Careers (DC) there has been an ongoing debate on whether there is a trade-off between being an elite athlete and achieving academically. Is the time needed to compete at the highest level a barrier to academic achievement? Or can knowledge and expertise obtained from an elite sporting career be transferred into academic…

Research shows that athletes across levels and sports have been subjected to maltreatment with non-sexualised forms such as psychological abuse and neglect found to be the most common. With the normalisation of many of these forms of abuse occurring in sports, researchers have called for the 'safeguarding' of athletes to focus on prevention…

Utilising novel ways of knowing, aligned with an ecological approach, the Learning in Development Research Framework (LDRF) has been introduced as a different way to guide research and practice in sport. A central feature of this framework is an appreciation of researcher embeddedness; positioned as an inhabitant who follows along with the…

Despite burgeoning literature on the agency of sports coaches and the nature of coaching fields, scant attention has been paid to the process through which coaches' identities are socially constructed. Informed by Goffman's concept, "total institution," and Scott's "reinventive institution," this article explores how coaches'…