Gender and Performance in Sports Coaching: Exploring an Intangible Cultural Heritage

Eady, Jenna and Neville, Jodie (2024) Gender and Performance in Sports Coaching: Exploring an Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Hive Journal (1). pp. 41-51. ISSN 2977-3954

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Abstract

The dominance of men in sports coaching roles is widely reported and discussed (LaVoi, 2018; Norman, 2021). Contemporary sporting literature, however, has not explored how performative methodologies can contribute to an understanding of this gender disparity in sports coaching. By using one postgraduate researcher’s knowledge of performative methods and the other’s in sports coaching history, as well as their shared interest in gender studies, original insights on the interplay between traditional coaching gestures and gender stereotypes can be made. Coaching is a good example of a social practice that can be regarded as an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) which has been shaped and preserved by dominant male groups within British sporting contexts. For example, coaches will have their own forms of folk speech, depending on what sport or country they are in. Coaches also have their own rituals and customs that they adopt and encourage in others, such as group huddles or taking the knee. A fist bump, shaking hands, applauding, cheering, badge pointing, or waving can all be observed as traditional gestures or postures used by coaches. Performing these gestures and postures will allow an assessment to be made on how this research contributes to three main areas. Firstly, it will exemplify the social practice ICH features of coaching. Secondly, it will indicate the repertoires of inclusion and exclusion embedded in these features of sports coaching. Finally, by using gender as an organising principle, it will produce reflections on the experience of performing a coaching role from different perspectives. This article is an extended version of an award-winning presentation script delivered at the 10th Annual Postgraduate Arts and Humanities Centre Symposium at Manchester Metropolitan University. It is an exploration of not only what is communicated in the academy, but the ways in which it is communicated.