The Bad, The Good, and The Ugly: The Formation of Heroes within the Setting of a New Sports Team (original) (raw)
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This paper is being written a few days before I travel to my twelfth higher degree examination. This gives me two perspectives from which to write: first, my view looking back over 24 years to my own PhD viva and the eleven I have been involved in examining since then; and second, looking forward to this forthcoming viva in a few days time. The aim of this contribution is to attempt to demystify that which can remain behind closed doors to the PhD candidate who may be journeying towards a viva with emotions which can potentially range from mild curiosity as to what the viva will be like, to pure fear and sickening anxiety. How might one emerge from ita trembling wreck or a stronger, more confident academic, ready to take on the academic community looking forward to publishing papers from the thesis?
This paper is an account of personal reflection upon my doctoral research. The account was written between the phases of thesis submission and viva examination. Consequently the process of revising and summarising the research has been a more than useful exercise in preparation for the final judgement of my work. Concentrating on this paper has forced a re-examination of my role as researcher and any contribution to knowledge that might be made; a difficult but necessary process which may be all the more valuable for being articulated at this point. The paper reveals a level of critical honesty to question knowledge; pre-existing theories and ideas emerging from this study, and practice; that of other experts and my applied practice in the field of outdoor education and leadership. The paper concludes with a series of concise outcomes which may be defended at viva with the acknowledgement that the claims and the frail status of my knowledge are constantly being revised in the light of experience.
Recognition in sport: love, rights and solidarity
2016
Seippel, Professor Åse Strandbu, Ingfrid Thorjussen and Gerd Marie (Maje) Solstad for coffee breaks and talks in the hall and on seminars about projects and papers. Thank you also to all PhD students at SCP and SKS for talks over lunches and discussions on PhD courses. In addition to an inspiring environment at the NSSS, I have been lucky enough also to be able to attend international conferences on the philosophy of sport. Presenting one's project can be a daunting affaireven more so with an international scholarly audience. I want to thank Professor Gunnar Breivik for taking me (as well as all Scandinavian PhD students) under his wing at the IAPS conferenceshis support before and during presentations has been a great help for a rookie. Thank you also to Signe Høybjerre Larsen for being my partner in crime at the IAPS conferences. I also want to thank Janne, Nina, Wenche and Lena for discussions on the project in training sessions and in cafes for these last four years. Your views on the thesis, on sport and life in general have helped me develop my views on sport and recognition. A big thank you is also owed to Ruth, who spent her holiday in Norway proofreading. Last, but not least, I want to thank my family for their support. Being two commuters in a family with two children and dog/cat does not always work for matching timetables. Thank you, Mum and Dad, for being in Rauland once a month (+ more) these last years with our girls, Chivas and Pus. I could not have done this without your support. Thank you to my mother-in-law, Eva, who has been more like a mother to me for these last years; I have had a home-away-from home every fortnight with great conversations and lovely food. Thank you, Halvor, my father-in-law, for chauffeuring Wiel and Mari to and from kettlebell-training, horse-riding, school and friends and for helping with their homework. And most of all, thank you to Knut, Wiel and Mari for bearing with me on this project and for being in my life.
Two aspects of pedagogical belief have underpinned my motivations to set up and edit JQRSS for the last ten years: (1) stand by the products of my teaching – if the original request was any good it will have all kinds of positive educational spin-offs when shared in this format. (2) Have faith in young people, or new researchers, who have a vibrant and inquisitive outlook on life and want to represent the world as they see it. Happily, the innocent, novice researcher, by dint of their newbie status may not recognise the academic risks of doing things a bit differently, and will strive unswervingly for an honest, engaging and authentic account of the lived experience. From this uncluttered and perhaps rose-tinted outlook, some genuine advances in qualitative research practice may be discovered within the volumes of JQRSS – from the pure, philosophical discussion to the storied experience of living narratives, to the arts-based research or visual ethnographies, some papers with no words at all. An academic paper with no words! Inconceivable (see volumes 3 and 5). Pedagogically, it is this confident outlook to how research might be conducted and represented that has sustained numerous success stories in learning and researching over the last decade. JQRSS has supported many people through this journal-led academic medium, the majority of them starting as undergraduates publishing their work, progressing to post-graduate study developing their research interests, and then into PhDs, many contributing to JQRSS at each stage of their journey. The evolutionary back-story is that many ex-students have become established academics and members of staff at institutions who now, with their students, also contribute papers to JQRSS. The mentee becomes mentor and therein beliefs 1 and 2 may hold true for others, pyramid fashion. In turn, the quality of their requests may ignite the interest of their students with the intrinsic motivation that promoting them may help others - and JQRSS is there to value, share and promote those ideas, wherever they come from. Notice: The discussions, statements of fact and opinions contained in the articles of The Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies are those of the respective authors and cited contributors and are set out in good faith for the general guidance of student supported research and the promotion of pedagogical discussion in teaching and learning contexts. No liability can be accepted by the Editor, Editorial Board, Advisory Board, the reviewers or the authors/submitters for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying upon particular statements made or circumstances outlined in this journal.
From the combined efforts of the students, their mentors and the external reviewer’s feedback, the Editorial Board feel that these aims are achieved in some considerable measure, demonstrated in the papers comprising this issue. In working towards these aims I believe we bring significant meaning to the phrase “research informed teach-ing”. In many cases, what the students have produced within this volume is a direct descendant of the high-quality academic request set for them in their studies. Con-sequently the articles are in part, a reflection of the considerable research expertise and effective teaching ability of the staff making these requests. For this I thank them for sharing their applied knowledge with students. Significantly, it is also a reflection of the student’s ability to respond to that request which, with mentoring has helped to create these research informed insights into the sports world. I would also like to thank the mentors and the reviewers for their time and patience to read articles and make helpful suggestions and recommendations for improvement. In all cases you have freely shared your specialist knowledge to raise the quality and credibility of these papers. As Editor I thank you all most sincerely for your efforts. Please see also the JRQSS Acknowledgement Footnotes at the end of each paper for students’ com-ments to reviewers, mentors and readers. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Write Now CETL (Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) at Hope Uni- versity for supporting this journal. eir assistance has been vital in bringing this journal to the readership in its current formats and presentation. In addition to this print version the Write Now CETL has also kindly agreed to host the contents of this journal electronically from their website. Papers can be accessed following the links from: http://www.writenow.ac.uk/index.html
The contents page plots research experiences progressively, spanning from the undergraduate to postgraduate at various levels, on to post doctoral and professorial reflections. The intention was to capture something about the research experience at each stage of development that might overall, constitute a journey through the educational terrain of postgraduate research and beyond. There is no hierarchy of social importance being emphasized by the order of contributions, although it is reasonable to acknowledge that there may be some institutionally. The ordering merely reflects where people may be in their research careers and their writing offers a rare and valuable insight to what may lay ahead if a person intends continuing in that direction. No pejorative sense of social status is inferred by the ordering, and titles are used below to indicate relationships between student and mentor as well as the researchers' relationship with their data.
Growing with your research is an exposition of interconnected learning between two stories; that of the researcher learning about research (which has the upper hand in this paper) and the topic being studied; the basis for pro-environmental behaviour. For the neophyte researcher there is a fascinating tug of war between Dena’s conceptions of what research is at the start of her project (scientifically infused) and what research can be from a socio-cultural perspective. Setting out with scientific confidence, but already creeping doubt through the reflections at the start, some factual essays on environmental issues establish a grounding in motive and cause to conduct the social inquiry that lies ahead. Then, at a threshold in learning, the ‘stats’ are abandoned, and research poetry is embraced to analyse, present and make sensitive inferences from the data. Reflexivity is the consistent element in this paper to follow the evolution of the researcher and her thinking about pro-environmental behaviour. The poetry sings of discovery and learning from all involved.