Abstract
Sport coaching has traditionally been seen as a techno-rational activity. In recent years, there has been a ‘subjective turn’. Intuitive, as well as situation-specific interpretations are today perceived as necessary to handle complex, dynamic and often unpredictable sport environments. While a considerable body of research has attempted to understand coaching practice, research on intuitive and situation-dependent praxis is only emerging. Phronesis ‒ mostly defined as practical wisdom or practical rationality ‒ has been put forward as a useful theoretical concept to frame such coaching practice. In this contribution, we employ phronesis as part of sustainability science to consider the coaching of one top-level middle-distance running coach. Observations, informal talks and semi-structured interviews produced the empirical materials for this analysis. The results suggest that the coach’s practice was guided by both techno-rational and phronetic knowledge. While techno-rational knowledge manifested itself in a focus on time and control, the latter was reflected in a concern for impact, focus on community, authenticity and modesty. From a phronetic perspective, these characteristics can be seen as morally just and important precursors for sustainable sport.
Acknowledgement
This research was partly funded by the Swedish National Centre for Research in Sports.
Notes
1. The conceptualisation model builds on a heuristic that Wals and Jickling (Citation2002) and Jickling and Wals (Citation2008) have developed in their pursuit to develop sustainable education.