PhD defence: 'It's 5 o'clock in the morning and you're just on fire': Exploring Embodied Experiences in Performance Swimming

Gareth McNarry

PhD thesis

Swimming is one sport where embodied experiences have been shown to be core elements of recreational participation, where experiences in relation to the temperature or touch of the water have come to the fore. However, the embodied experiences of competitive swimmers remain relatively under-researched.

This study therefore develops a richer and deeper understanding of these experiences and how they contribute fundamentally to the construction of the competitive swimming lifeworld. This is achieved by highlighting: the swimmers motivations for entering and remaining in the sport; the different ways the swimming body is central to the ‘doing’ of swimming; the variety of sensory experiences that swimmers have as part of this ‘doing’ and; how these experiences are shared emphasising the social nature of competitive swimming.

2019, 309 pages.

Time

18 September 2019, 13:00

Place

Coach Education Suite, Human Performance Centre, School of Sportt and Exercise Science, University of Lincoln, UK

Opponents

External Examiner: Professor Nick Crossley, School of Social Sciences, The University of Manchester, UK

Internal Examiner: Associate professor Helle Winther, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Independent Chair: Dr. Michael Rasell, Senior Lecturer, School of Health & Social Care, University of Lincoln, UK.

Supervisors

Dr. Adam B. Evans, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Prof. Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson, University of Lincoln, Sport and Exercise Science, UK.

Dr. Prof. Lone Friis Thing, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.