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# Being a videoconference swim coach

Giuseppe Scavo, Marc-Eric Bobillier Chaumon, Jean-Luc Tomás, Jean-François Robin

► To cite this version:

Giuseppe Scavo, Marc-Eric Bobillier Chaumon, Jean-Luc Tomás, Jean-François Robin. Being a video-conference swim coach. European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology Congress 2022, Jan 2022, Glasgow, United Kingdom. hal-04042030

HAL Id: hal-04042030

https://hal.science/hal-04042030

Submitted on 22 Mar 2023

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
# Title: Being a videoconference swim coach

PRESENTER: Giuseppe Scavo
 glscav@hotmail.it - 0033645760732

## GOAL

To show how an impediment to activity could generate a completely new activity through an instrument switch.

## THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

A work psychology intervention based on a French-specific clinical approach to activity (Clot, 1999, 2008), with major references to Lev Vygotsky's historical-cultural theory.

## METHODOLOGY AND INTERVENTION

* A swim coach had been observed in distance mode throughout the Covid-19 2021 lockdown in France. He figured out a way to stay in touch with his swimmers and "practice" through videoconferences: dry land training, swimming talks and video analysis.

* Two months of distance mode observations, video recordings and interviews.

* A visual elaboration of the clinical approach three-poles model, where the rise of a new activity from an instrument switch (from pool to videoconference software) is showed.

## ABOUT THE MODEL

In a regular swim coach activity, the three poles are: Subject (S)-Swim coach, Object (Ob)-Swim practice and Others (O)-Swimmers. Pool is the instrument (I).

In the new activity: (S')-Teacher, (Ob')-Staying in touch with swimming, (O')-Pupils. As pool became unavailable (lockdown), a new instrument is discovered: (I')-videoconference software. Some back-and-forth tensions (arrows) exist between the regular and the new activity, partly in an active form ("Going towards new activity" – Green arrows) and partly in a passive form ("Going back to regular activity" – Red arrows).

## RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Passive form ultimately wins, as swimming practice becomes available again.

Support from organizations and colleagues may be necessary in order to stabilize a new activity. There was a lack of this kind of support, as the coach was isolated and alone in this new activity.

## PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS AND VALUE

This psychological systemic approach could help understand how instruments allow professionals to find out unexpected ways to pursue their work.

# New instruments lead to new activity

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## A CLINICAL APPROACH TO ACTIVITY

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### Activity is made by

* A subject;

* An object;

* Other whom activities share the same object.

### Activity is always

* Directed towards someone/something;

* Mediated by instruments;

* Source of conflicts.

### KEY WORDS

Swimming - Videoconference - Instrument

### REFERENCES

- Clot, Y. (1999). La fonction psychologique du travail. Paris : PUF.

- Clot, Y. (2008). Travail et pouvoir d'agir. Paris : PUF.

- Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge : Harvard University Press.

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SCAVO Giuseppe,
BOBILLIER CHAUMON Marc-Éric,
TOMÁS Jean-Luc,
ROBIN Jean-François.