Planning for distance running: coaching with Foucault

Abstract

demonstrated how overly controlling and disciplining training practices can objectify athletes' bodies and, as a result, limit and constrain their development. In this paper, we draw on Michel Foucault's (1995) analysis of anatomo-political power, or disciplinary power, to illustrate how distance running coaches could begin to problematize the effects that the use of various disciplinary techniques and instruments can have on athletes' bodies through their everyday planning practices.

Engaging with uncertainty in athlete development – orchestrating talent development through incremental leadership

“…However, training processes cannot be planned fully in advance, and athletes and coaches must respond and adapt to the dynamic changes of context and people (Saury & Durand, 1998). Incremental planning could provide a way to continually and constantly disrupt the general training prescriptions typically used by coaches, that can limit individualisation, adaptation and innovation in athlete development (Denison & Mills, 2014). Clearly, what coaches and athletes need is a general plan that can be adapted continuouslythrough incremental changesto the changing needs of both the teams and athletes involved.…”

There’s more to coaching than the context: a Bourdieusian account of an embodied athlete

“…"I need to run every day… I get tired and sometimes I don't want to go out for a run, but at the same time I do it… People try to encourage me to eat fatty foods and stuff, you have to be strict with yourself… I know that I have to buy apples and crackers to make sure I keep my weight low… The reason is because my performance… I think you need to be pushed through the pain barrier, otherwise you're not going to achieve anything" Her running project, presupposes the metaphor of her "body as [a] machine" (Shilling, 2012: 40); her explicit goal was to become a 'machine', a running machine. This is not an uncommon discourse, or desire in sport (Shilling, 2012), not least in distance running (Denison & Mills, 2014). Faye embodied this metaphor, at times suppressing emotions and physical pain to adhere to it.…”

“…In spite of such developments, Denison and colleagues (Denison, 2007(Denison, , 2010Denison & Mills, 2014), largely based on empirical work in collegiate distance running, have repeatedly argued that dominant mechanistic models of coaching are still pervasive. Here, we tend to agree with Denison and Mills (2014), and hold that (distance running) coaches and scholars should become reflexive of "long-held and entrenched rational and instrumental understandings of the sporting body as a machine" (p.2). With bio-mechanistic discourses and metaphors prevailing, athletes' bodies continue to be treated as something to be dissected, manipulated, measured, and performance enhanced.…”

Avaliação e controlo do treino: Informação ou ruído?

“…Infelizmente, a aplicação de testes físicos e fisiológicos no desporto segue, habitualmente, sem se preocupar com estas questões. Contudo, o desconhecimento destes valores limita fundamentalmente a interpretação dos dados obtidos (4,12) . Ademais, é sabido que a responsividade a qualquer estímulo (incluindo testes!)…”