Learning in landscapes of professional sports: transnational perspectives on talent development and migration into Danish women’s handball around the time of the financial crisis, 2004–2012

Abstract

This article contributes to breaking down the methodological nationalism in sport through which talent development is perceived and organized within a nation’s borders. It develops an alternative transnational perspective on learning conditions in professional sport by using Etienne Wenger’s concept landscape of practice. Wenger draws attention to the options for learning across communities and to the learning assets of boundary encounters. This approach will be deployed in a case study of the fluctuations in sport labour migration into Danish women’s handball around the time of the financial crisis. Media reports and interviews with handball coaches suggest perceptions that changed from considering migrant athletes as barriers to domestic talent to migrant athletes becoming useful for enhancing local and national talent development. The article ends with a discussion about the options for and challenges in breaking down the methodological nationalism in sport governance.

Notes

1. http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/flere-udenlandske-haender-tager-fat-paa-danske-arbejdspladser.

2. http://politiken.dk/debat/profiler/hummelgaard/ECE2431735/vi-skal-satse-mere-paa-vores-laerlinge-end-udenlandsk-arbejdskraft/.

3. Movements, which involve the country of origin as well as country of destination, are particularly apparent among national team players, who regularly travel back and forth to participate in national team camps and tournaments.