Version 2 2024-05-31, 01:33Version 2 2024-05-31, 01:33
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chapter
posted on 2024-03-22, 05:31authored byJim Denison, Zoë Avner
Abstract
For any coach, a daily concern is always: What should I have the athletes I coach do in practice to achieve our performance objectives? While seemingly straightforward, what can make this question difficult for coaches to answer is the entangled multiplicity of forces and “knowledges” that shape coaches’ decision-making. As a result, what coaches have their athletes do in practice was more accurately described by Foucault, as “a series of discontinuous segments whose tactical function is neither uniform or stable … but can come into play in various strategies.” And it is the “effects” that these various strategies can have on athletes’ performance capabilities which are the focus of this chapter. More specifically, the chapter argues for the importance of coaches questioning many of their “normal” training practices in an effort to enhance their athletes’ performances.