DISCIPLINARY POWER AND COACHING IN WOMEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS: A FOUCAULDIAN ANALYSIS OF THE COACH-GYMNAST RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Based on Foucault's theoretical framework, the aim of this study was to analyze the coach-gymnast relationship from both gymnasts’ and coaches’ perspective, in a Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) training center. The data were produced through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 4 coaches and 15 gymnasts. Through Reflective Thematic Analysis, we found three themes: (1) Productivity and control, in which we demonstrated how coaches use disciplinary techniques in the gym; (2) The "counter-productivity" of disciplinary power, in which we discussed how the authoritarian actions of coaches could harm the teaching-learning process; (3) Where there is power there is resistance? The gymnasts' perspective, in which we explore the gymnasts' reactions to the coaches' actions. In sum, the three themes indicate that if disciplinary techniques are justified because they produce sporting results, sometimes they are pedagogically "counterproductive". Thus, coaches should rethink their coaching practices based on these disciplinary techniques.

Keywords
Women’s Artistic Gymnastics; Foucault; Sports Coaching; Sociology of Sport