Football academies in the UK have been under critical scrutiny by many researchers. Described as hierarchical, short-termist and embodying hegemonic notions of masculinity, it has been argued that they often contribute to identity foreclosure in young players. But are these academies addressing these problems and working towards supporting a more balanced development? Tim Jones, a coach, coach developer and researcher, visited the Meaningful Sport podcast to share his thoughts on these issues.
I was delighted to visit Tim’s podcast in the summer 2020 to talk about the question about meaning in coaching and my work on existential learning (link at the end of this page). Now it was my turn to ask the tricky questions and find out more about the important work Tim is doing in researching coaching and coach development in the UK.
While football academies have been a subject of critical scrutiny (and some of my work at Liverpool John Moores University contributed to this), can we also find something more positive to say about development and learning in these context? Is there a shift towards more healthy, athlete-centred cultures?
What about social and emotional learning, life skills, and other types of personal development beyond football skills: do coaches support these types of learning and how do they do that? Tim’s research has explored these questions.
Part 1 here:
The second part moves on to explore Tim´s MSc research in detail, and a broader discussion on some debates in the field:
# It is well-established that sport participation involves many other forms of learning beyond sports skills. But are these learning experiences exclusively ‘positive’?
# Is social-emotional learning in sport mainly ‘caught’ or ‘taught’?
# Should coaches intentionally introduce ‘trouble’ in athletes’ pathways to foster learning and application of social and emotional competencies?
Part 2 here:
im Jones is a researcher, coach and creator of the ‘Developer Tribe’ who has spend extensive time thinking through these questions in his work. He is currently a PhD researcher at University of Stirling and the head coach for University of Stirling Women’s Football Club.
Tim’s Developer Tribe work includes education and mentoring for sports coaches and teachers as well as a podcast with researchers and practitioners working in the area of coach development.
You can follow Tim’s work on Twitter @coachtimjones and @developer_tribe
Our podcast where I had the pleasure to be the guest is available here.