A1 Journal article (refereed)
“Women easily feel that they have lost a year if they don’t ski faster” : Finnish ski coaches’ discursive constructions of gendered dual career pathways (2023)

Saarinen, M., Ryba, T. V., Kavoura, A., & Aunola, K. (2023). “Women easily feel that they have lost a year if they don’t ski faster” : Finnish ski coaches’ discursive constructions of gendered dual career pathways. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 64, Article 102322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102322

JYU authors or editors

Saarinen, Milla
Ryba, Tatiana
Aunola, Kaisa

Publication details

All authors or editors: Saarinen, Milla; Ryba, Tatiana V.; Kavoura, Anna; Aunola, Kaisa

Journal or series: Psychology of Sport and Exercise

ISSN: 1469-0292

eISSN: 1878-5476

Publication year: 2023

Volume: 64

Article number: 102322

Publisher: Elsevier

Publication country: Netherlands

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102322

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/83707

Abstract

Objectives
Earlier qualitative researchers studying athletes’ dual careers (DCs) have shown that sociocultural discourses on gender are ingrained in DC policies and practices, creating gender inequalities and hierarchies. In this study, we aimed to extend this body of research by examining how Finnish elite youth ski coaches discursively construct athletes’ education and gender in their talk and coaching practices. Similarly, we examined how coaches’ beliefs about athletes' holistic development are interlinked with broader sociocultural discourses on gender.
Design
Qualitative study.
Methods
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 Finnish ski coaches (seven male, three female) aged 25–62 years (M = 38.5), and then analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis, interpreted through a feminist poststructuralist lens.
Findings
Coaches’ discursive practices regarding education depended on their athletes' ages. For athletes in secondary education, the coaches predominantly drew on DC discourses that emphasized the compatibility of sports and education, but for athletes transitioning to senior-level sports, they drew on dominant performance discourses, believing that athletes at the senior level should prioritize their sports. Moreover, coaches discursively constructed athletic development as especially important for female athletes, who were perceived as less capable of excelling in sports and therefore needing to invest in multiple careers.
Conclusions
By drawing on gender stereotypes and binary understandings of gender, the coaches discursively reproduced gender hierarchies and unequal power relations in sports. These gendered discourses influence athletes' DC aspirations and the gendering of DC pathways.

Keywords: sports; athletes; skiing; development (passive); coaching; coaches (occupations); equality (values); gender; gender roles; discourse