Orientation of sports sciences for overcoming violence in coaching

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to clarify the significance and boundaries of sports sciences as a way of overcoming violence in coaching. Here, the term "overcoming violence in coaching" means that coaches reach a state that obviates the use of violence in the coaching practice and besides enriches their coaching. In order to achieve the study objective, this paper adopts the theoretical framework of Karl Jaspers' existential philosophy. Using Jaspers' existential philosophy as a reference, which suggests that sports sciences have different meanings between a) when coaches use them as a coaching technique for guiding players to a predetermined result and b) as a way of reflecting or considering goals/objectives and judgements in terms of their own coaching practices. This paper, therefore, examines the significance and boundaries of sports sciences for overcoming violence in coaching after due consideration of both these meanings of sports sciences, and the following conclusions were obtained: a) When sports sciences are used by coaches solely as coaching techniques to guide players toward predetermined results, their applications cannot become a way of overcoming violence in coaching. This is because sports sciences and violence in coaching cannot simply replace each other in relation to the ends and the means for accomplishing them and that the application of sports sciences does not, in itself, make violence in coaching unnecessary. On the other hand, in case b) when sports sciences are applied by coaches for reflecting or considering goals/objectives and judgements in terms of their own coaching practices, the application of sports sciences becomes a way to avoid violence in coaching causing by dogma or knowledge of appearance. This is because sports sciences can serve as a control mechanism that prevents both coaches and players from developing extreme conviction in their own beliefs and straying from a path that they walk together to reach their goal.