How culture and context inform practice in sport psychology:A cultural lens on talent and career development in sport (symposium)

• Main Author: Storm, Louise Kamuk
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/531507f8-7642-4d83-949c-8699522bd352; https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/files/159965490/8Accepted_symposium_FEPSAC2019.pdf

Sport psychology and talent development are social practices embedded in cultures and contexts. The term context-driven sport and exercise psychology practice (CDP) was recently introduced in sport psychology literature (Schinke & Stambulova, 2017), which is building on cultural sport psychology. This trend looks beyond the athlete in both research and applied practice, which contrasts with universal models for talent development and culture-blind curriculum-based sport psychology interventions. The contextual and cultural understanding of career pathways, talent-development environments and athletes holds the potential to enrich our understanding of how culture shapes and influences athletes, which has direct implications for stakeholders such as coaches or practitioners. CDP requires an understanding of a given site, beyond its people, which will be illustrated through five case examples. The first paper presents a cultural analysis of a Danish talent academy, while the second focuses on developmental pathways and is an investigation of athletic talent-development environments in American underserved communities, focusing on how athletes were able to successfully navigate those difficult childhood experiences. The third paper looks at organisational cultures in the United Kingdom, and how a change of culture process might be underpinned by ambiguity and ongoing power relations between subcultures. The fourth paper offers a unique insight into athletic talent development in Iceland and how the government’s investment in elite sport has benefited Icelandic people outside of sport. The final paper presents a case of applied practice in a Danish context and illustrates how organisational awareness and sensitivity is key in CDP