Skip to main content

The Sports Monograph

Image
By
  I have been lucky enough to be able to collaborate in the writing of a chapter in this book, due for publication on the 31st July and available for order on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0956627064/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE.

My chapter is entitled 'Understanding parental influence on child athletes : from fanatical to disinterested parents'.  The chapter considers the relative power relationship of the coach, athlete and parent, and how it can affect the athlete's development.  It draws on some examples from gymnastics, both in Russia and America, as well as from other sports, and considers some of the guidelines developed by sports governing bodies to try to encourage best practice.

My co-authors (Butler, Hedge and Cunliffe) are all students on the sports management programme at the University of Central Lancashire, and the book is edited by Dr Clive Palmer.  Regular readers of this blog will recognise him as the author of the PhD thesis on gymnastics judging.  It is an eclectic collection of work that will be of interest to students of sports studies, management and coaching,  and anyone with an interest in sport.

Clive's description is as follows:

'With over 120 contributors across 60 chapters, their ages ranging from 6 months to 60 years, the Sports Monograph represents a compendium of voices; telling experiences and rich perspectives, all stimulated by personal involvement in sport, Physical Education and sports culture. Consequently, the volume has a broad remit but a common theme. This has permitted a refreshing degree of freedom for people across a wide spectrum of education to register their thoughts and feelings about physical culture as they may have experienced it. Chapters are generally of two styles; first, academic essays of sporting interest with critical and factual discussion, and second, creative stories, poems and other biographical reflections which bring to the fore the realities of sport and PE. The latter conspicuously holding up a mirror to those theorised experiences, revealing quite vividly the primacy, sensuality and emotional importance of being physically educated, but through the medium of literature.'

'
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Paseka for Russia in Berne

By
Barely two weeks will elapse before the WAG European Championships begin in Berne, Switzerland, and the news we had been fearing has been confirmed : world vault gold medallist Maria Paseka is  off the Russian team while she nurses a back injury.  This leaves Russia significantly weakened for the coming competition, with co-star Viktoria Komova also missing from the line-up.  It is a little disappointing, but it seems the right decision to rest the gymnasts so that they can be at their best when and where it really matters. Who will replace Paseka?  Valentina Rodionenko says that the youngster Natalia Kapitonova, who trains in Penza, has been chosen on the basis of her solid performances at national championships.  Well, we will have to wait and see - these announcements often turn out to be unreliable.   I personally would prefer to see the dynamic Seda Tutkhalyan be given a chance at this level, but Kapitonova has certainly shown herself to be more reliab...
41 comments
Read more

WAG Senior start lists are out - Afan does one, Mustafina three

By
Start lists are now available for tomorrow's senior team and event quals.  At present, the Russian roster  looks like this - Beam - Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Mustafina Floor - Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Mustafina  Vault - Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Afanasyeva  Bars - Melnikova, Spiridonova, Mustafina  Things can still change, dear reader, but this is the most reliable official news we have.    It will be good to see all five members of the team compete - I am relieved that Mustafina isn't doing all four but worried for her legs on floor; delighted to see Melnikova and Tutkhalyan making such a strong contribution; and pleased that Afanasyeva is having a chance to try out her training, despite what might be a small injury.  Spiridonova is also looking good for bars, in fact to me she is underused here.   Good luck!  Udachi!  To all the team.  We are very excited to see you compete and do well! The start lists can be found here - http:/...
34 comments
Read more

The State of the Art - Gymnastics in 2013

By
Just picked up Peter Aykroyd's 1987 book  International Gymnastics: Sport Art or Science?.  Seeing it reminded me that gymnastics is in a constant state of flux and change; its identity has been subject to debate and conflict since the earliest days of competitive gymnastics, well before it existed in the form we recognise today.  I want to try to talk about the state of the sport today, how it compares to past models, how it arrived at this point, and what are the questions arising. I make no apologies for publishing the picture comparisons on this page, which were created by Lifje.  Some have seemed to find them rather challenging in the past, but they are not airbrushed or altered in any way.  Yes, the pictures are purpose selected for the sake of comparison, but they express a truth about the direction the sport has taken over the past few years.  They are not so much about Russia versus America as artistry versus athletics.  I do not pretend...
41 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more