Petr Krol, Dana Štěrbová, Zbyněk Svozil
Touch as a mediator of relationships in the sports coaching profession
Číslo: 1/2024
Periodikum: Acta Gymnica
DOI: 10.5507/ag.2024.004
Klíčová slova: coach, athlete, touch, relationship, sexuality
Pro získání musíte mít účet v Citace PRO.
Anotace:
Background: Based on the theories of interactional touch and interpersonal relationships, touch can be an important part of the coaching profession.
Objective: The research aimed to identify and describe what touch means in the coach-athlete relationship from the coach's perspective. There is widespread ignorance of the law and a lax approach to intimate contact with athletes in the sport environment. The main research question was formulated as follows: What does touch mean in the coach-athlete relationship from the coach's perspective? Methods: This is qualitative research conducted in the form of a multiple case study, whose unit is the case - the coach and their perception of touch in the coaching profession. Five coaches were selected and interviewed in depth in semi-structured interviews. Three men and two women coached floorball, weightlifting, handball, ice hockey and basketball. Three were head coaches, two were conditioning coaches, and their average age was 39. The coaches work in the Czech sports environment and four of them have an average of 8.5 years of experience with national teams. The coaches' statements were analysed using data coding, clustering and pattern capture methods.
Results: Two main categories were identified: risk-safety, and intimacy. Both main categories are characterised by the dimension of measure. Risk-safety includes the subcategories: coach self-reflection, form of touch, pressure of touch and location of the touch on the body. Intimacy contains the subcategory of the level of the coach-athlete relationship. A "touch-based coach-athlete relationship model" was created to express the hierarchy and relationships between the main categories and subcategories.
Conclusions: The results demonstrated that touch and self-reflection in the coaching profession are important mediators of the coach-athlete relationship. Specific forms of these mediators can be observed in the risk-safety dimension, and the intimacy dimension in the coach-athlete relationship.
Zobrazit více »
Objective: The research aimed to identify and describe what touch means in the coach-athlete relationship from the coach's perspective. There is widespread ignorance of the law and a lax approach to intimate contact with athletes in the sport environment. The main research question was formulated as follows: What does touch mean in the coach-athlete relationship from the coach's perspective? Methods: This is qualitative research conducted in the form of a multiple case study, whose unit is the case - the coach and their perception of touch in the coaching profession. Five coaches were selected and interviewed in depth in semi-structured interviews. Three men and two women coached floorball, weightlifting, handball, ice hockey and basketball. Three were head coaches, two were conditioning coaches, and their average age was 39. The coaches work in the Czech sports environment and four of them have an average of 8.5 years of experience with national teams. The coaches' statements were analysed using data coding, clustering and pattern capture methods.
Results: Two main categories were identified: risk-safety, and intimacy. Both main categories are characterised by the dimension of measure. Risk-safety includes the subcategories: coach self-reflection, form of touch, pressure of touch and location of the touch on the body. Intimacy contains the subcategory of the level of the coach-athlete relationship. A "touch-based coach-athlete relationship model" was created to express the hierarchy and relationships between the main categories and subcategories.
Conclusions: The results demonstrated that touch and self-reflection in the coaching profession are important mediators of the coach-athlete relationship. Specific forms of these mediators can be observed in the risk-safety dimension, and the intimacy dimension in the coach-athlete relationship.