Kinesiology & Health Science
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Browsing Kinesiology & Health Science by Author "Alixandra Nastassia Krahn"
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Item Open Access Exploring the Work and Professionalization of University Sport Coaching(2022-12-14) Krahn, Alixandra Nastassia; Safai, ParissaThe terms work, professional and occupation (to name a few) are often used when describing the practice of university sport coaches. However, there is a lack of research investigating the nature of university sport coaching as work or as a profession and even less research on the nature of sport coaching as work or as a profession for women. As such, this study critically examined sport coaching as work within the university sport context, whether and if university sport coaches are considered professionals, as well as the conditions, which frame the daily practices of sport coaches in relation to and within their university (academic and athletic) settings and finally, the gendered and/or gendering nature of university sport coaching. Embedded in feminist political economy, this study employed institutional ethnography as its methodology, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. The results showed that university sport coaching work is qualified, boundaryless, and precarious in nature; And, that while the coaching professional project is in motion, coaching has not been regulated by the Canadian government, and/or accepted by the Canadian public as a profession. Additionally, as a result of being qualified, boundaryless, and precarious and unregulated, coaching as work is even more precarious and/or uncertain for women working in university athletics departments as coaches. Collectively, these insights, in addition to the narrowly defined margin of success for sport coaches (i.e., winning) have created unstable conditions for coaches working in university sport.