BODILY ISSUE- Athlete Welfare Flashcards
What things are currently in place surrounding athlete welfare?
-The IOC consensus statement on harassment + sexual abuse (2007)
-The ‘Duty of Care’ in Sport report (2017)- Baroness Tenni-Grey Thompson- a response to team GB success- balances of power?
A priority towards winning medals, specifically allegations of non sexual abuse.
What’s the historical context of athlete welfare? (Childhood)
-The construction of the idea of childhood- ‘at what age you can legally do things’.
Childhood= physically weak, socially limited, structurally disadvantaged, children vs work dynamic.
Meyer (2007) talks of the social constriction of childhood.
CHILD= powerful emotive tool, a rhetoric so powerful that any opinion can be justified by referring to a child?
Sport and Child Labour, and how that leads to specialisation?
Post 1945- an increase in the seriousness of sport- more investment.
Bero Rigauer- (1963)- sport and work- elite sport has become work- the specialisation of sport- individual components on a production line.
Specialisation= a specific sport, a specific routine, increased training, increased abuse and increased vulnerability in the system.
What did Joan Ryan write about?
Ryan- “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes”
The making and breaking of elite gymnasts and figure skaters…
- Intensive training
- Eating disorders
- Psychological and physical injury
Why is sport so prone to high levels of abuse?
- Forced/ expected compliance
- Secretive behaviours/ team unity
- Bodily instruction and contact
- Extreme power relations and imbalances
- Sport as self-governing
What is ‘The Normalisation of Risk and Bodily Harm’ and the ‘Sport Ethic’?
Daddy
Daycare
Right
Now
(Huges and Coakley, 1991)
The Sport Ethic, includes…
- Dedication
- Distinction
- Resilience
- Non-defiance
= common values accepted without question or qualification- romanticised and central to identify
These four are not up for debate= normalises risk.
Who Cares? Attitudes to health in Elite sports?
N Theberge · 2008
‘Just a Normal Part of what we do’
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/25/2/article-p206.xml&ved=2ahUKEwihoKGzuc2MAxV7SkEAHSn9BYEQFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1oEr5KjzOdcUlzNjnB7gWr
It’s not about health it’s about performance, about getting on the podium.
What are some main assumptions regarding health care providers in sport?
Waddington: Fundamental Assumptions?
- The doctor acts wholly and exclusively on behalf of the team
- Doesn’t act in the interests of any third party component
- All intimate/ private information is divulged and known
EG: (2015) Jose Mourinho vs Eva Carneiro- ended up being sacked.
How does the surveillance involved in sport affect athlete welfare?
- Foucault’s idea of a PANOPTICON- visibility is key to power.
- The continuous possibility that your bring watched or judged.
-Hierarchal observation
- Judgement normalisation
- Ritualised examination
= Powerlessness of athletes
Has there been any resistance to try and make changes?
SAACS- Scholars Against Abuse in Canadian Sport
Gymnasts for change-
https://www.gymnastsforchange.com
Give an example of a player who is completely controlled by the team?
Ben Young and team manager Eddie Jones- told him he needed to change his bodily composition.
Training changes and diet changes.
How could a sociological approach help the cause of athlete welfare?
Offer a unique perspective
Describe and explain
Look at the HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Look beyond ‘folk-devils’ and the profiling of certain individuals- is it deeper than that?
Examine the structure of sports organisations and who holds the power- who rules?
