Embracing and Resisting a Social Justice Approach in Coaching: An Auto-Ethnography of Club Basketball

Abstract

As a tenured associate professor whose career has engaged various social justice issues, this chapter discusses the collaborative and shared decision-making process used to found and maintain basketball teams for seven years. The chapter also focuses on personal reflections of coaching club basketball as part of an auto-ethnography. The chapter explains the experiences that influenced a praxis focused on social justice as an attempt to infuse principles of equality and inclusiveness in opposition to harsh traditional coaching practices. Youth embraced an approach with little yelling, but some parents disapproved. Finally, this work discusses the limitations and successes of utilizing a social justice approach, including professional and health consequences.

Citation

Portillos, E.L. (2023), "Embracing and Resisting a Social Justice Approach in Coaching: An Auto-Ethnography of Club Basketball", Montez de Oca, J. and Thangaraj, S. (Ed.) Athletic Activism (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 17), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 165-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420230000017010