Young athletes and their coaches: disciplinary processes and habitus development

Abstract

Sport scholars have paid relatively little attention to meanings that participants in recreational youth sport may give meanings to their participation and how those meanings are informed by coaching practices. In this study, we draw on Bourdieu’s notions about the development of the habitus, symbolic capital and the positions youth take in the field of sport, and on Foucault’s understanding of disciplinary power to explore meanings 29 children, aged 7–18 years, participating in tennis, soccer, swimming or hockey in Dutch sport clubs assigned to their experiences with their coaches. The data from the semi-structured interviews show how the dispositions these youth developed during their sport participation shifted as they gradually became involved in a disciplinary process directed towards improvement, success and winning. When these youths joined a sport club their goal was to learn how to play the game and have fun. As they participated in organised practices over time, they learned that in order to have fun they had to conform to informal rules about behaviour during the practices. Specifically, we show how the logic of discipline, as described by Foucault, shaped this learning process, and contributed to the development of the habitus of these young athletes.