Knowledge, nutrition and coaching pedagogy: a perspective from female Brazilian Olympic gymnasts

Abstract

It is acknowledged that knowledge and knowledge bases are an important part of coach and athlete learning and that the coach – athlete relationship is crucial to knowledge created, shared and used. This said knowledge about nutrition as constructed by elite gymnasts would seem particularly important in a culture long associated with weight control practices and disordered eating. This paper provides an insight into the ways that 10 Brazilian Olympic gymnasts construct ideas pertaining to nutritional knowledge across generational periods (between 1980 and 2004) where significant organisational change in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in Brazil occurred and included the introduction of dieticians. Drawing upon different knowledge types and paying attention to the coaching context, the life histories of 10 Olympic gymnasts were used to open a window on knowledge construction pertaining to nutrition by three generations of gymnasts. The findings draw attention to two main illustrative themes. Firstly, coaches’ personal knowledge, whilst perceived as incomplete by gymnasts, reinforced a narrative of weight loss for gymnasts regardless of generation. Secondly, the younger generations of gymnasts perceived that the introduction of dieticians into structured provision enabled them to use better structured knowledge, and with it a sense of increased autonomy and corporeal learning via the construction of tacit embodied knowledge leading to healthier practices. Reflections are given to the role of the coach, dieticians and pedagogical actions, and the continued reshaping of knowledge in elite gymnastics.

Keywords:

• Nutrition
• Knowledge
• Tacit
• Gymnastics
• Coaching
• Culture

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor Robyn Jones for his comments on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. From here on in we will refer to structured knowledge only to represent this type of knowledge explained by Eraut (2009) as codified and by De Long and Fahey (2000) as structured.

2. The gymnasts have given their informed consent to allow the use of their real names in association with the research but we have chosen to keep specific moments from their stories relatively anonymous, and instead refer to them by virtue of their grouping.

3. The larger research project aimed to generate the life histories of gymnasts who had represented Brazil in the OG over a period of time, in order to gain some insight to reflect upon and inform the development of education in Female Artistic Gymnastics. A range of themed areas were represented in an interview guide. These included: socialisation into gymnastics, training structure and organisation, family and participation, infrastructure (support/resources), Olympic experience and preparation, perceived career influences, coach/athlete relationship, and retirement.

4. Currently, travel to the USA, for Brazilians, is not an uncomplicated process due to visa requirements. Travel within Brazil can also be difficult due to its vast expanse and territorial dimensions.

5. We would like to have had the opportunity to spend an extended amount of time over a series of interviews with the gymnasts or to conduct follow-up interviews face-to-face. Additionally we recognise that unstructured or less structured interviews might have given us different life history data where the gymnasts may have had more scope to address different aspects of their lives, but was beyond the scope of the research aims.

6. For example, training organisation, financial support, resources for International competitions and others aspects of the historical, social and political set-up.

7. Replacement in nutritional terms refers to nutritional supplements or complements used to replace fuel during practice.

8. On one reading of the stories, the introduction of dieticians seems to be a positive thing for an argument for increased ‘technical’ nutritional knowledge for gymnasts. The gymnasts appear to feel that they have become more in control and more autonomous learners, addressing a concern with the lack of autonomy gymnasts have in general. We remain thoughtful about the extent to which increased agency might be a false consciousness, as introducing increased levels of support in this way might be read as an even more elaborate process of corporeal discipline, of withdrawing their options further and giving them less control. Still, it seems this level of control is needed for ‘good practice’ knowledge in terms of nutrition and may be a necessary springboard to allow experiential learning to occur and for ‘healthier’ stories to be told and passed down generations in the future.