Training the Mobile Great Wall: Social class and player–coach interactions in a Chinese basketball academy

Although athletes are considered the most important actors in training and competitions, many studies tend to view them as passive recipients of resources and opportunities that coaches and parents provide for them. This study investigates the active role that athletes might play in training by asking how athletes might proactively obtain opportunities on their own behalf when interacting with coaches. Through a 16-month ethnographic study of one elite Chinese basketball academy, I show that players’ class backgrounds shape their interactions with coaches, which in turn create different training experiences and athletic outcomes. Compared to their less-privileged peers, relatively privileged players not only respond to coaches’ directions more independently and actively, but also make requests to coaches more frequently and fluently. Relatively privileged players’ interaction strategies and behaviors give them advantages in meeting coaches’ implicit expectations in training by customizing the seemingly collectivist training programs in ways that fit their own needs. Consequently, they are more likely to elevate their athletic performances and prevent potential injuries in relation to their less-privileged teammates. The findings highlight the active role that athletes can play in sports training and new mechanisms through which stratifications are (re)produced in the field of professional sports.