ABSTRACT

Attitudes toward training and coaching in British sport generally in the late 19th century tended to reflect dominant amateur ideals that stressed the exhibition of behavioural self-restraint and fair play, and generally rejected “professional” impulses. The emphases on effortless success, exercise moderation and physical/body symmetry, combined with an almost institutional abhorrence of specialization and the notion of taking sport “too seriously”, impacted the development of British training/coaching practices in profound ways (Carter 2010; Day 2012). It brought into question how players should approach their sport, how complex skills should be learnt, and how often and in what ways they should train.