21 Coaches and Domination by Emery, Matthew, Michael, Sophie, and Jason

For our Capstone project, we wanted to take a closer look into the organization of team sports. Specifically, we wanted to dive further into the relationship between player and coach. There are several ways that a coach/management can impact the well-being of their players. From a traditional organizational lens, coaches are given the same power that a boss is given. If you do not meet a boss’s expectations, then you will most likely be penalized monetarily. The same goes for coaches, if you do not play well then you will be penalized with less playing time. This power dynamic is destined for trouble. Through the metaphors Machine, Domination, and Psychic Prison, we can understand how these coaches disrupt the innocence and fun of a children’s game.

• Machine: Over-structured teams with no changes
  • Bill Belichick – Patriots (very structured for over 20 years)
  • Group members stuck doing the same exact routine even though it may not be good for their bodies (no input from players)
• Domination: Extreme power over each player
  • Jason Kidd – Power trip incident on Christmas (Larry Sanders)
  • Group members being scared of coaches instead of admiring them
• Psychic Prison: Individuals lose their sense of self in a system that exploits them
  • Nike Oregon Project – Mary Cain suffered immensely under coach Albert Salazar (5 broken bones, 3 years missed period, suicidal thoughts)
  • Group members getting anxious to go to practices in High School and think that it was normal

Podcast:

Ultimately, in analyzing sports organizations from a lens of lived and observed experiences, we find that they often inherently manifest into systems of domination, psychic prison, and machine — as these structures are predominantly seen as “efficient” or “effective”. Seldom do sports organizations implement a “brain-like”, decentralized power structure where players’ opinions and feelings are genuinely valued. While these are most often athlete’s experiences, it is not to say that there is no hope for sports in the future, as we have all also had extremely beneficial, fulfilling sports experiences with coaches and systems alike. In conducting this capstone project, we aim to start a dialogue about sports organizations and their structure, as well as use these metaphors as a sort of toolkit to be aware of, and actively fight against the dominating, dehumanizing aspects of our own sports organizations.