Elite cricket coach education: a Bourdieusian analysis

Abstract

The social structures within coach education have been largely unexplored, undiscussed, and treated as unproblematic in contributing to coach learning, both in research and practice. The study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 elite cricket coaches to gather their perceptions of an elite coach education programme. In particular, this research attempted a more nuanced critical inquiry into the impact of culture on coach learning, habitus on knowledge production and the extent to which capital structures practice within the field of cricket coach education. Data analysis followed abductive reasoning, combining inductive thematic analyses of the data, with a deductive abstraction of these themes within a Bourdieusian framework to provide a level of explanation to the data. The findings present coach education as a complex social field in which coaches were active social beings in the (re)production of coaching knowledge. The culture of cricket was found to perpetuate a powerful doxic system that highlighted the tensions and conflict between an accepted model of coach education with a singular and prescribed body of knowledge and a strong underlying sporting culture and individuals hierarchically placed within it. This data further highlighted how coach education contributes to the (re)production of power within the field of cricket coaching.

Keywords:

• Coaching
• Coach education
• Cricket
• Bourdieu
• Habitus
• Doxa
• Power

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Many governing body programmes are UKCC endorsed—The UKCC is managed by Sports Coach UK and is a framework for developing, endorsing and continuously improving sports coach education programmes in line with an industry agreed set of standards. The Level 4 award was accredited by the governing body and delivered in partnership with a University. Successful completion incorporated a postgraduate diploma in Personal and Professional Development.

2. First-class county cricket is a form of distinction, and is a mark of the highest domestic standard played. First-class cricket is played professionally by 18 counties across England and Wales, competing in three summer competitions; County Championship, T20 and one-day cricket. Some university centres of excellence have also been granted first-class status. Non first-class cricket comprises all non-professional cricket, including Minor Counties, county academies and county age groups.