Combining crystallisation and creative non-fiction to develop new insights on the politically astute use of humour in sports coaching
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19560826 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christian Nicholas Edwards (0000-0001-6716-8236, Cardiff Metropolitan University, corresponding author), P Potrac (0000-0001-9616-6491, Northumbria University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 93-107 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1939-8441 • E-ISSN: 1939-845X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/2159676x.2024.2411979 |
| OpenAlex | W4403097234 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 56 |
Through adopting a crystallisation approach, this paper provides original insights into the ways in which players and coaches used humour to astutely navigate the everyday challenges and opportunities of organisational life at Senghenydd City Football Club (pseudonym). Specifically, we revisited and re-analysed a previously existing ethnographic data set that focused on the use of humour in a semi-professional football club. Our analytical efforts were inspired by Ellingson’s (2009) four stage typology of ‘crystallisation’. This allowed us to generate new insights and different interpretations of a particular phenomenon (i.e. humour). Complementary dramaturgical and micropolitical concepts regarding the presentation of the self, protective and defensive acts, and the management of emotion, were employed to facilitate the iterative analysis that was undertaken. The findings are presented through creative non-fiction in the format of composite vignettes. The composite vignettes illustrate how humour was variously used as a defensive (for the self) and protective (for the other) strategy for dealing with numerous interactive challenges in the workplace, as well as how emotion such as embarrassment, anger, and frustration were inextricable features of these interactions. The paper concludes with a reflexive discussion on a) the social-cultural role of humour and the need for sport coaches, athletes, sports administrators to be more aware of how they develop, advance and deploy their social competencies (e.g. humour) to juggle the demands of their job; and b) the utility of using composite vignettes as a valuable means for critical reflection on the interactive and micropolitically challenging features of coaching practice
Aesthetics · Art · Athletes · Coaching · Engineering ethics · Physical therapy · Psychotherapist · Applied Psychology · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Engineering · Humor Studies and Applications · Medicine · Psychology · Sport Psychology and Performance
Making Sense of Everyday Life
Laughter and Ridicule
Engaging Crystallization in Qualitative Research
Developing rigor in qualitative research
Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects
Coaching in the shadows
Ethnography
On Writing Qualitative Research
Ethnography
Repairing relationship conflict in community sport work
Bringing Sports Coaches’ Experiences of Primary Appraisals and Psychological Well-being to Life using Composite Vignettes
Understanding workplace collaboration in professional rugby coaching
Emotion and performance
Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method
How did we get here; a historical and social exploration of the construction of English FA coach education
Uncertainty, shame and consumption
Humour, masculinities and youth sport coaching
Another bad day at the training ground
Document analysis in health policy research
All the corridors are the same’
Social Exchange Theory as a Conceptual Framework for Teaching the Sociological Perspective
Public Value and Political Astuteness in the Work of Public Managers
An exploration of how dominant discourses steer U.K. strength and conditioning coach education
Social Things
Sexual misery’ or ‘happy British Muslims
Politeness, Power and Provocation
Maintaining professional face
The Ethnography of a Medical Setting
Exploring the Use of Vignettes
Theorizing Disaster
Humour in Sports Coaching
Grounded Theory in Global Perspective
In the Picture or Off the Wall? Ethical Regulation, Research Habitus, and Unpeopled Ethnography
The whole week comes down to the team sheet
Controllable Laughter
Changing faces
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |