“If you do not make noise, you're no good...’’ Gender and coaching leadership in women's amateur basketball in Greece

Abstract

The limited sociological and anthropological research on the gender subjects in sports in Greece gave the impetus for the exploration of the gender dimension in basketball coaching. The article examines the formation of gender identities within the team leadership (either male or female coaches) through their performances, verbal and body actions, during the game. The game is approached as a social event. Furthermore, regarding the issue of the constitution of gender identities, the study is based on theory of gender performativity. The study was based on research with semi-structured interviews with female and male athletes, coaches, referees, administrative and sports agents, journalists, spectators and the interpretation of the data have been done by the method of discourse analysis. Participants revealed the reproduction of the dominant male discourse by the female coaches. Moreover, they underlined that this discourse is accompanied by the intensity in the game which is presented as an inherent characteristic of the action in courts («if you don’t make noise then you are not a good coach»). Simultaneously multiple masculinities and femininities emerge through the coaching performances and have revealed the fluidity and the multiplicity of their agency.