Editorial

Welcome to the first issue of Movement Matters.

“Why Did I Really Want to Coach? To Help Girls”:

The purpose of this study was to investigate women coaches’ experiences in high-performance rugby union. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four women who had experience coaching at the representative, university, and/or international level. Informed by a Foucauldian feminism, the analysis revealed how disciplinary power, the formation of dominant knowledges, and the pervasiveness of surveillance operated in a deeply masculine environment of high-performance rugby. This study provides an in-depth examination of femininity, masculinity, and what it means to be a woman leader in the world of high-performance rugby union.

Screendance for Adult Dancers:

The purpose of this research creation project was to engage in and analyze a process of creating a digital contemporary dance composition. To do this, the researcher completed a choreographic process with a video component for a live performance at a theatre. Observational field notes were collected and analyzed through an interpretive lens to identify the unique challenges that arose during this process. The findings provide insights into the choreographic process, the challenges of navigating technology use within a limited budget, and the uncertainty inherent in a creative process. Furthermore, the project sought to provide an alternative to the weekly technique class in order to further engage adults and the audience in the art form.

Athlete-Centred Coaching in University Sport:

The purpose of this study was to investigate how, and to what extent, athlete-centred coaching practices were utilized in a university sport context. This project was informed by sociocultural coaching research that has demonstrated the potential negative consequences of disciplinary coaching approaches and in what ways, if at all, an athlete-centred coaching approach can address some of these concerns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight varsity head coaches and then analyzed through a Foucualdian lens. The findings suggested that the successful delivery of athlete-centred coaching in university sport is made difficult by ingrained power relations and forms of knowledge which have traditionally made the coach the primary decision maker.

Acting Accordingly or Authentically:

The purpose of this study was to investigate how holistic sport psychology consultants can begin to think with concepts from sport sociology to enhance the provision of their services to athletes. More specifically, this study explored the ways in which various dominant practices within sport can affect holistic sport psychologists’ efforts to help athletes act authentically. Empirical material included observations of athletes and coaches, who were all part of the Gold Medal Soccer Academy, along with a series of interviews with four athletes. The results indicated the importance of holistic sport psychology consultants taking into consideration a variety of social influences that can limit and restrict athletes’ opportunities to develop their authentic selves through their sport participation.