Traditional coaching communities: “It’s not what you know but who you know”.

Day, Dave (2008) Traditional coaching communities: “It’s not what you know but who you know”. [Conference or Workshop Item] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper arises from ideas gathered from personal experiences as a coach and coach educator as well as my research on coaching lives and practices in Victorian and Edwardian England. It considers the nature of coaching communities of practice during that period and then illustrates, through the biographies of coaching practitioners, the impact of the creation of amateur controlled governing bodies of sport. I conclude with comments on the current “professionalisation” of coaching, drawing particular attention to the marginalisation of the social aspects of coaching resulting from an instrumental approach to coaching education and a standardisation of coaching practice.