The Coach’s Emotional Labor in Sport: Lessons from a Three-Season Collaboration with an Elite Handball Coach

Abstract

The emotional dimensions of a coach’s activity have been few analyzed in sport psychology. However, an elite coach usually experiences intense emotions requiring real emotional labor, which can influence the daily activity. The notion of emotional labor, stemming from sociology, is increasingly used in a psychological setting to understand the impact of emotions on the coach’s activity. Based on a collaboration of three consecutive seasons during the Covid-19 pandemic with an elite handball coach, this article formulates recommendations for revaluing the place of emotional labor in the practice of sport psychology.

Keywords:

• Coaching
• elite sport
• emotional labor
• longitudinal study