I am fast but I do not fit: an autoethnography of a swimmer’s experiences of ‘competitive performance’ stigma in two sporting contexts

Abstract

Given that research outside of sport and exercise has found that stigma may cause severe consequences (e.g. depression), it is important to explore the concept in regard to its connection to socio-cultural issues in the development and persistence of stigmatisation in sporting contexts. Analytic autoethnography and Goffman's theory of stigma was used to explore one female swimmer's experiences of 'enacted' and 'felt' competitive performance stigma occurring in elite swimming and a masters swimming context. Competitive performance stigma has not been conceptualised or explored as a stigma type in sport research, however through the presentation and analysis of two vignettes and the use of Goffman, this is achieved. The social agents that contributed to both 'enacted' and 'felt' competitive performance stigma and the consequences/effects (e.g. withdrawal from sport, feelings of shame) for this swimmer are highlighted. Our analysis further highlights the role of particular cultural insiders (e.g. coaches, team managers and other swimmers) in the reproduction of competitive performance stigma through acts of labelling, discrimination and social isolation. These acts positioned the female swimmer as an 'outsider' because of her competitive performance which in turn led to her withdrawal from these two sporting contexts highlighting the implications for recipients of stigmatisation.

Examining coaching practices and philosophy through the lens of organizational culture in a Danish high-performance swimming environment

“…first, and other life issues second. [9][10][11] The aforementioned authors studied Australian competitive swimming culture but, based on the reflections of the Club's coaches, the same could be observed at national team camps and other clubs in their country. It is important that, despite not supporting the traditional elite swimming culture with relevant coaching practices and philosophy, the Club is a successful ATDE with a respectable high-performance record.…”

“…Previous research on elite swimming highlighted mainly instrumental and authoritative coaching with too much focus on athletes' weight, shape, body fat, and performance. [9][10][11] In Danish swimming, the clubs are managed by volunteers (e.g. parents), and usually only head coaches possess sport-specific coaching knowledge and skills.…”

“…(pp. [8][9]. This definition of orchestrating is closely associated with the basic assumptions of the Club's culture, especially with ''coaches and swimmers learn from each other'' and ''swimmers' autonomy is a basis for progress''.…”

An application of activity theory to the “problem of e-books”

“…Autoethnography is “the ultimate participant in a dual participant-observer role” ( Merton, 1988 ) and enables focus on identifying the factors relevant to the problem space through the informed position of the researcher ( Cunningham and Jones, 2005 ; Reed-Danahay, 1997 ). In an investigation into the stigma experienced in the social environment of competitive swimming in Australia, McMahon et al. (2019) utilised analytic autoethnography to facilitate access to the social environment as lead researcher/subject.…”