The Scientific Contribution of the Enactive Paradigm to the Re-conceptualizing of Sports Pedagogy

Abstract

The work is characterized as theoretical research aimed at the possibility of reattributing to the educational relationship the original ability to elevate itself to an enactive function of the training processes for self-expression in the sports pedagogy field, for the purpose of revealing self-awareness. We are indeed convinced that collaboration between sports philosophers, scientists and pedagogists can produce a fruitful re-interpretation of the existing theoretical models in this area, advancing a high-profile understanding of the embodied sporting practices. In fact, by building on the "radically enactive approach to cognition" we deemphasize the role of representations to characterize the ecological dimension of skill acquisition. We also argue that the «enactive paradigm» could explain some kinds of high-level cognition, such as those that underlie some of the best performances in sport.