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Poststructural, Foucauldian-informed scholarship has shown the invisible consequences of how coaches use knowledge through various disciplinary techniques, which has prompted a need for coach development to bring awareness of such effects. However, a lack of literature exists on how coaches come to understand Foucauldian-informed coaching. This study explored how three strength and conditioning coaches learned to problematize disciplinary practices, how they rationalize their (un)intended effects, and why specific less disciplinary practices are produced and implemented, whereas others are left unattended. The findings include how the coaches engaged epiphanic contradictions, contemplated new and creative practices, and interacted with catalytic mediators to understand Foucauldian-informed coaching. Facilitators and barriers to Foucauldian thinking provide further insight into how the coaches’ thinking was accelerated or halted in the learning process. The findings are discussed in relation to literature on coach learning and recent scholarship on coaches’ exposure to poststructural, Foucauldian-informed coaching.

Strength and conditioning (S&C) practitioners need to know and apply varying and diverse psychosocial competencies in their practice. The definitions of psychosocial coaching competencies are poorly understood and multiple interpretations exist. The purpose of this study was to define psychosocial S&C practice terms (i.e. pedagogical, philosophical, psychological, sociocultural) from the perspectives of S&C researchers and practitioners. Using a participatory action research approach, qualitative data were collected from 13 researchers and 30 stakeholders with the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA). A qualitative summative content analysis was used to analyze the researchers’ and UKSCA stakeholders’ definitions of psychosocial competencies. Pedagogical competencies were defined related to the themes of instruction, learning, skill acquisition, feedback, and design structure. Philosophical competencies were defined related to themes of beliefs, values, and style. Psychological competencies were defined related to communication, mindset, relationships, motivation, emotions, learning, and behavior. Sociocultural competencies were defined related to sport norms, understanding differences and different backgrounds, adapting to culture, and coaching behavior and biases. Significant differences existed between researchers’ and practitioners’ definitions of these terms, particularly with pedagogical, philosophical, and sociocultural competencies. Practitioners often associated psychological coaching competencies with subject matter outside of biophysical knowledge or many aspects spanning diverse social and behavioral sciences.

Emotions are an essential feature of social life. They are the glue that can bind people together or, instead, drive them apart. In recent years, sociologists have increasingly considered (1) how emotions such as guilt, joy, anger, and pride are enacted, embodied, and produced in, as well as through, relations with others, and (2) the consequences of emotional experience for individual and group life. Unfortunately, there has been a paucity of corresponding inquiry within the sociology of sport. This chapter considers some of the ways in which the subdiscipline might productively engage with emotions in the sporting milieu. In order to achieve this goal, the chapter is divided into three sections. The first section addresses foundational issues regarding the sociological study of emotion. The second section provides an overview of several theoretical approaches that have been used to advance our understanding of emotion. The final section considers some of the ways in which this theorizing could be utilized to frame and enrich research in the sociology of sport subdiscipline.