Abstract

Anecdotal evidence suggests that a relationship exists between one’s involvement in sport and one’s opportunities to negotiate access to some sport leadership roles, yet this relationship remains under-explored in the literature. The current study attempts to resolve this omission by examining the experiences of women sports coaches and outdoor leaders. More specifically, the study draws on the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and his concepts of physical, economic, social and symbolic capital, to examine how individuals’ sporting involvement has helped them negotiate access to sports leadership positions. In-depth interviews were carried out with 20 women coaches and 15 outdoor leaders. During the interviews, the women were asked to describe their early experiences of sport and to account for their initial, and continued, involvement in sport or the outdoors. Analysis of the data revealed that the women’s physical capital facilitated their access to a range of sports leadership roles. Further examination of the data indicated that the development and conversion of physical capital was dynamically intertwined with the development of other forms of capital and structured within patriarchal and capitalist social relations.