The Unholy Alliance of Sports Performance and Education for Apprentice Golfers Within an Academy Structure
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DAZZLING DREAMS, DAWNING REALITY: THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE OF SPORTS PERFORMANCE AND EDUCATION FOR APPRENTICE GOLFERS IN AN ACADEMY STRUCTURE by JONATHAN WRIGHT A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences University of Birmingham June 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This research followed the journey and experiences of twenty-four apprentice golfers on an academy programme of sports performance and education delivered via a college-based system in England. Apprentice golfers were followed through a two-year programme linked to the England talent pathway, with the intended outcome of propelling them on a journey of golfing achievement, but with the back up of academic qualifications. A key aim of this piece of work was to understand the expectations of the apprentice golfers on joining the programme and to trace how these, as well as anticipated exit routes from the programme, developed and were shaped by their experiences. There are innumerable factors that mediate the journey of individuals through sport, and it is clear that this development is not experienced in a linear fashion (Bailey et al 2010). The study was carried out from an interpretivist standpoint, using an ethnographic approach, in an attempt to narrate the story and journey of the participants. A grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss 1979) was then used in the development of common themes that were considered in the light of existing empirical data. Four particular areas were explored throughout to help understand and depict the journey of these golfers. The factors examined here were classified as ‘talent system’, ‘luck’, ‘critical episodes’ and ‘personal outlook’. Identified themes included the appearance of many and varied communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 2006) with two distinct groups emerging: ‘Players’ valued the physical capital of sporting performance that the programme offered, whereas ‘Scholars’ valued educational elements and the associated cultural capital therein. During the field work these two cohorts became estranged from each other, becoming more and more polarised as time went by. The programme was designed for late specialisers but in reality they had no means by which to progress to the next stage of the England talent pathway; as such the programme was fatally flawed and was never going to be able to meet its stated objective. The lack of success of the programme brings into question the value of such an enterprise and leads one to conclude that this programme was designed and implemented with a view to securing funding instead of having the best interests of the apprentice golfers and talent development at heart. i PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS Publications: Wright, J. and Toms, M. (2015) Dazzling Dreams and Dawning Reality: The unholy alliance of sports performance and education for apprentice golfers within an academy structure. International Journal of Golf Science, 3 (supplement): S104-S105 Wright, J. (2010) The Elite Golfing Academy; Influential Experiences of the Young Golfers Portuguese Journal of Sports Science, 10 (1): 65 Presentations: Golf Science: A World Scientific Congress of Golf, Queensland, Australia Dazzling Dreams and Dawning Reality: The unholy alliance of sports performance and education for apprentice golfers within an academy structure (September 2014) European Association for the Sociology of Sport Conference, Umea, Sweden The Golf Academy as a Community of Practice (May 2011) European Association for the Sociology of Sport Conference, Porto, Portugal The Elite Golfing Academy; Influential Experiences of Young Golfers (May 2010) ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped and supported me in the writing of this piece. Without the cooperation and assistance of Alex, Billy and Nigel and all the young golfers, the research and finished piece would not have been possible, many thanks to all of them. Secondly, my supervisor, Dr Martin Toms who has been unstinting in his support and guidance, always there and ready to help, many thanks Martin. To the ESRC for granting me a studentship to undertake this project, many thanks. Finally to my amazing wife Ailsa, who has had to show as much dedication to this process as I have, thank you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ..................................................................................................................... i Publications and presentations ................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................... iv List of Diagrams ..................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1 1.1 Chapter Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Theoretical and conceptual outline .................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Golf in England ................................................................................... 2 1.2.2 AASE in Golf ...................................................................................... 4 1.2.3 Education, Sport and Academies ........................................................ 7 1.2.4 Theoretical outline: communities of practice ..................................... 8 1.3 Methodological outline ...................................................................................... 9 1.4 Research questions ........................................................................................... 10 1.5 Researcher biography ....................................................................................... 12 1.6 Overview of the study ...................................................................................... 18 1.7 Chapter Conclusion .......................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 20 2.1 Chapter Introduction ........................................................................................ 20 2.2 The Sociology of Sport .................................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Socialisation in(to) sport ................................................................... 23 iv 2.2.2 Young people and socialisation into sport ........................................ 24 2.2.3 Young people and sports performance ............................................. 26 2.2.4 Sustained participation and performance; the role of coaching ........ 28 2.2.5 Côté’s Developmental Model of Sports Participation (DMSP) ........ 29 2.2.6 DMSP: a UK perspective .................................................................. 35 2.2.7 DMSP: a golf perspective ................................................................. 37 2.2.8 The bio-psycho-social model ............................................................ 41 2.2.9 Socialisation in golf .......................................................................... 43 2.3 Factors affecting career trajectories in sport and golf ...................................... 45 2.3.1 Talent pathway factors ...................................................................... 46 2.3.2 Luck .................................................................................................. 47 2.3.3 Incidents of personal significance ..................................................... 50 2.4 Sport and Education ......................................................................................... 52 2.4.1 Talent development in sport .............................................................. 53 2.4.2 Sporting dreams, optimism and reality ............................................. 55 2.4.3 Athlete education within sports performance programmes .............. 58 2.4.4 Golf and educational developments .................................................. 64 2.5 Communities of practice .................................................................................. 66 2.5.1 Legitimate peripheral participation ................................................... 69 2.5.2 Situated learning ............................................................................... 71 2.6 Coaching .......................................................................................................... 73 2.6.1 Coaching pedagogy ........................................................................... 73 2.6.2 Developments in coaching ...............................................................