ABSTRACT
Terry is an experienced coach who cares for athletes from adolescence through to elite performance and onto retirement. He does so in a dialogical manner that is consistent with Noddings’ (2014) maternal notion of care. He is aware that athletes have knowledge and experiences which add value to coach-athlete relationships. With this in mind, Terry encourages athletes to care for themselves by reflecting upon their own development and performances. That said, Terry’s caring relationships are ‘scaffolded’ over time. He provides a lot of direction at the beginning of a relationship and as athletes’ progress; he slowly adjusts his language to facilitate more autonomy. This is an original insight that has significant implications for how coaches develop their relationships with athletes.
Terry also uses technology to care for his athletes’ health and for prompting discussion. He therefore couples scientific measurement with nurturing dialogue. This observation is novel and has meaningful connotations for sport practitioners, educators and researchers. Accordingly, within this chapter, Terry’s story is further analysed from both sport science and pedagogical perspectives. These analyses reveal that Terry’s care is relational, pedagogical and dynamic. As a pedagogical aid, implications and questions arising from the multidisciplinary analyses conclude the chapter.
