ACCEPTING VULNERABILITY: TOWARDS A MINDFUL SPORT PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

In this paper, I would argue for a mindful sports philosophy that stresses that wisdom does not emerge from abstract thinking; instead, it requires that we become attentive to what is concrete: our everyday life and how we spend it. Do we spend our life wisely or not? Answering this question requires that we know ourselves sufficiently — that is to say, have we explored and examined our own life by paying attention to it while we are living it? Am I aware of how my life constantly intervenes with life in general and vice versa? To exemplify this philosophical approach, I will refer to examples from modern football coaching that illustrate how they play themselves and their team into certain thoughts, not the other way around. However, a crucial part of coaching and leading in sports relies on self-knowledge, not as something that only emerges from the inside out but equally from how the outside affects us. In this paper, I will argue how a mindful sports philosophy understands self-knowledge as both an introspection and “interiosation” of the outside with the quest of becoming worthy of what happens.

Keywords

• coaching
• mindfulness
• self-knowledge
• vulnerability