Voices: para athletes speak

Abstract

Qualitative researchers in the social sciences have been benefitting from using poetic forms to analyse and represent their research findings for about two decades now and, while still not common, recently noted that sensory research has made a debut in sport. In line with Fitzgerald’s recommendation that voice be given to young people living with disabilities, the following poems were co-constructed from the words of 15 parasport athletes from 10 sports (individual and team) combined with the researchers’ interpretation. As participants in sport for persons with physical disabilities, the athletes were asked to talk about the characteristics of a successful coach. The poems touch on traits such as empathy, understanding of disabilities, good listening skills and trying to put oneself in the shoes of the athlete. Rather than telling, the poems hope to show readers what is important for coaching disability sport. Following the poems, a reflective note is offered for each poem. While couched in the literature related to coach development and not disability studies, the poems help fill a hole in the literature about the experiences of the agents at the centre of a social relational model perspective of parasport coach development.

Keywords:

• Disability sport
• coaching
• effective coaches
• athlete preferences
• poetic representation