Stories of Indigenous Success in Australian Sport: Journeys to the Afl and Nrl

ISBN-13: 9783030097714 / Angielski / Miękka / 2019 / 240 str.

Richard Light; John Robert Evans

Spis treści

Part I: Introduction

1. Indigenous Australians and Sport

2. Sport, Experience, the Body and Learning

3. The Study

Part II

4. Alvin: ‘It’s Our Life’

5. Max: ‘Dad Wanted Me to Try a Lot of Different Sports’

6. Toby: ‘Bring Your Own Flavour’

7. Carl: ‘Geez—I’m Not Too Bad at This Caper’

Part II: Discussion

Part III

8. Danny: ‘Rugby League’s a Religion for Aboriginal People’

9 Ryan: ‘Having Good Relationships with People Who Believe in You and Believe in Your Ability’ 10. Bernie: ‘I Knew What I Wanted and I Was Willing to Do Anything to Get It’

11. Zac: The Road Less Travelled

 Part III: Discussion

 Part IV: What These Stories Tell Us

 Introduction to Part IV

12. Laying the Foundations of Expertise

13. Transitioning into the Culture of Professional Sport

14 Locating Learning in the Bigger Picture

15. Conclusion and Implications

 

 

O autorze

Richard Light is Professor of Sport Coaching in the College of Education, Health and Human Development at The University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

John Evans is Professor of Indigenous Health Education in the School of Sport and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Blurb

This book presents journeys of sixteen Indigenous Australian athletes from their first touch of a ‘footy’ to the highest levels of Australian football and rugby league, conceptualized as a process of learning. The authors challenge simplistic explanations of Indigenous success in Australian football and rugby league, centered on the notion of the ‘natural athlete’. The book traces the development of Indigenous sporting expertise as a lifelong process of learning situated in local culture and shaped by the challenges of transitioning into professional sport. Individually, the life stories told by the participants provide fascinating insights into experience, culture and learning. Collectively, they provided deep understanding of the powerful influence that Aboriginal culture exerted on the participants’ journeys to the top of their sports while locating individual experience and agency within larger economic, cultural and social considerations.

Stories of Indigenous Success in Australian Sport will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Indigenous studies, physical education, education, sport management and sociology.