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Abstract
This essay addresses the belief that the performances of champions are attributable to either the genetic make-up, or to some notion of genius of athletes. Individualistic and/or behavioural explanations tend to dominate. Yet, such explanations provide a very limited grasp of the genesis of performances and reveal nothing about the stage on which the ‘act’ is performed, the theatre in which the ‘play’ takes place or the impact that sport has on society. In emphasizing the cultural making of sport, this is not to dismiss the notion of genius, or overlook the creativity, expressiveness and existential experiences that are part of sport. In fact, champions of sport perform powerful functions for the societies they represent. This essay, then, seeks to capture both the construction of genius and what it tells us about the societies which such champions represent.
Notes
1 CitationWolff, Social Production of Art, 1.
2 CitationElias, Mozart, 14.
3 CitationMaguire, ‘Challenging the Sports-Industrial Complex’.
4 CitationPyne, ‘Designing an Endurance Training Program’; Australian Coaching Council Inc., cited in CitationSmith, ‘A Framework for Understanding the Training Process’.
5 For further discussion see CitationGreen and Oakley, ‘Elite Sport Development Systems’.
6 These clusters have been identified by CitationHoulihan and Green, Comparative Elite Sport Development.
7 CitationHoulihan and Green, Comparative Elite Sport Development
8 See CitationMaguire, Global Sport and Power and Global Sport.
9 CitationUK Sport, Annual Report, 3.
10 CitationUK Sport, Annual Report, 10.
11 CitationUK Sport, Annual Report, 7.
12 CitationUK Sport, Annual Report, 29.
13 CitationUK Sport, Countdown to Athens, 10.
14 CitationUK Sport, Countdown to Athens, 10.
15 See CitationPyke, Better Coaching.
16 For further discussion see CitationPyke, Better Coachingibid.
17 CitationPyke, Better Coaching
18 For further discussion of sporting heroes see CitationGilchrist, ‘Local Heroes or Global Stars?’; CitationHughson, ‘On Sporting Heroes’; CitationTännsjö, ‘Is our Admiration?’.
19 CitationHauser, Muhammad Ali.
20 For general discussion of the role of play, games and sport in civilization see CitationHuizinga, Homo Ludens; CitationCaillois, Man, Play and Games.
21 CitationAlgozin, ‘Man and Sport’.
22 CitationMaguire et al. , Sport Worlds.
23 CitationSmart, The Football Star, 199.
24 CitationStone, ‘Wrestling’.
25 CitationCashmore, Beckham.
26 Books abound on sporting champions: see CitationMcGovern, Amazing Athletes.
27 Maguire et al., Sport Worlds.
28 CitationElias and Dunning, Quest for Excitement.
29 CitationNixon and Frey, A Sociology of Sport.
30 CitationMaguire and Tuck, ‘Making Sense of Global Patriot Games’.
31 CitationPowell, Bobby Moore.
32 See CitationMorgan and Meier, Philosophic Inquiry in Sport.
33 CitationAshworth, ‘Sport as Symbolic Dialogue’.
34 CitationCoakley, Sports in Society.