Human Body, Consciousness and Identity in the Mirror of Life Interviews with Female Coaches

One of the recurring themes when conducting life-interviews with women coaches is their confrontation with the fact that their physique does not correspond to the body-frame considered to be ideal in their respective sports disciplines. Since they can preserve their athletic identity only with the help of their physique, the course of their careers depends on the solution they find to this problem. The study presents this decision-making process using Luhmann's systems theory: as an environmental interaction between a neurophysiological (the body), a psychological (the identity of women coaches) and a social (sports) system. It looks upon this situation as a communication between female athletes and competitive sport as a social system, in which observation is accorded an outstanding role. Assuming the role of an observer, female athletes see the series of movements and solutions that their coach does not recognize. Instead of physical perfection, they develop the individual perfection of movement execution.