Training journals and the development of an elite sports identity

Abstract

In this article we investigate whether the practice of writing training journals can shed light on the process whereby young cross-country skiers are transformed from promising talents into serious, committed athletes. By using data from athletes and coaches themselves, we explore how training journals help shape athletes’ outlook on sports, their relationship with their coach, and their personal identity. We focus on the cross-country skiers’ and coaches’ attitudes to planning their training sessions and keeping a journal. Journal writing can be understood as a project of subjectification, whereby the discourses place an athlete in certain positions that then imply particular expectations as to how the athlete will behave. In order to understand the subjectification process, we use what Michael Foucault called the technologies of the self, that is, the discourses and practices that individuals use when working on themselves.