'Coaches, coaching and emotional labour: The performance and price for excluding athletes'

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to build upon existing socio-cultural research into sports coaching by exploring the complexities involved when coaches exclude athletes from competitive sporting events. Data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with four football coaches who operated at the university/semi-professional level. Arlie Hochschild’s (1983) work on emotional labour was used to interpret the data in an attempt to further illustrate the complex and dynamic relationships that need managing within sports coaching. In adopting this theoretical framework, the findings enhance previous research by continuing to place the person back into the practice of coaching (Cushion & Jones, 2006; Jones, 2009; Potrac & Jones, 2009; Purdy, Potrac, & Jones, 2008). Specifically, the findings illustrated that coaches engage in considerable performative and emotional labour when excluding athletes; a performance designed to portray the appropriate emotional state to keep athletes ‘on side’ despite their exclusion.

Keywords: Coaching; Emotional labour; Performance; Sociology