Discipline of Athletics
When thinking of Foucault’s idea of disciplinary power, one thing comes to mind, athletics. Inside athletics an individual must break down his or her body in order to build it up the way they intend for it to be. Everything Foucault says about his techniques, control of activity, and art of distribution can be narrowed down to something in athletics. In my case, not just any form of athletics, but that of competitive swimming. Training takes rigorous months of breaking down muscle and building it back up, while repeating training techniques to create a muscle memory for competing. The effort put into training is very tedious and takes much time.
There are three techniques in which Foucault describes disciplinary power. The first in which the body has individual parts, each with it’s own functions, which he calls scale of control. His second technique is exercise. This is imposing repetitive tasks upon what you want to improve, otherwise known as practice. His third one includes the art of distribution, and control of activity, which translate into time and space for activities. Swimming in college encapsulates the main premise of these ideas that Foucault imagined.
Swimming is one of the hardest sports to improve in. The tedious motions you have to complete on a daily basis in order to get a “feel for the water” or become most comfortable in which you compete. This takes many a hour of doing the same motions over and over to retain muscle memory. The coach will also tell you what you are doing wrong, and you must tweak your stroke just the slightest bit, maybe only doing something different with a hand or leg. You must see the body as individual parts to excel.
As for the art of distribution (space) for practicing in swimming, it is very narrowed down to just a pool area. You can try to outside of the pool, but won’t get very far. There is also the weight room, which isn’t something specific for swimmers, but in order to lift, this becomes a point of interest, and place of close watch by trainers. You practice inside the same area every day, mostly twice a day. When practicing you get into the same lane that you do everyday, partitioning the space and dividing area in which the team practices. If someone is added to that space it throws off your whole routine. While that may happen, all of the team can be switched around and added to different lanes.
Practices are in a set time. Every. Single. Day. There is no breaking of the norm. These are set times in which you have determined to break down your body and get beaten up by your coach, who is always watching your every move. Practices usually last two hours long in the afternoon with weights afterwards. This is very time consuming, making sure that exercise is achieved. Also, in order to achieve this the coach has a workout typed up before practice to make sure that no time is wasted. This can maximize time usage.
In order to learn how to swim properly one must take it in steps. You can’t just jump into the pool and expect to be Michael Phelps. Swimming takes years upon years of training. You must learn to float and become accustomed to the water first. Then comes the strokes and techniques, and learning of how to move back and forth in the pool. Then the repetition comes. Back and forth everyday, working on minute details to optimize swimming efficiency. Working on swimming strokes is a never ending work made up of many components. In order to build one’s power in this sport, one must break a body down to build it up. Making the body moldable and trainable through rough conditions heavily guarded by an ever watching coach.
When thinking of Foucault’s idea of disciplinary power, one thing comes to mind, athletics. Inside athletics an individual must break down his or her body in order to build it up the way they intend for it to be. Everything Foucault says about his techniques, control of activity, and art of distribution can be narrowed down to something in athletics. In my case, not just any form of athletics, but that of competitive swimming. Training takes rigorous months of breaking down muscle and building it back up, while repeating training techniques to create a muscle memory for competing. The effort put into training is very tedious and takes much time.
There are three techniques in which Foucault describes disciplinary power. The first in which the body has individual parts, each with it’s own functions, which he calls scale of control. His second technique is exercise. This is imposing repetitive tasks upon what you want to improve, otherwise known as practice. His third one includes the art of distribution, and control of activity, which translate into time and space for activities. Swimming in college encapsulates the main premise of these ideas that Foucault imagined.
Swimming is one of the hardest sports to improve in. The tedious motions you have to complete on a daily basis in order to get a “feel for the water” or become most comfortable in which you compete. This takes many a hour of doing the same motions over and over to retain muscle memory. The coach will also tell you what you are doing wrong, and you must tweak your stroke just the slightest bit, maybe only doing something different with a hand or leg. You must see the body as individual parts to excel.
As for the art of distribution (space) for practicing in swimming, it is very narrowed down to just a pool area. You can try to outside of the pool, but won’t get very far. There is also the weight room, which isn’t something specific for swimmers, but in order to lift, this becomes a point of interest, and place of close watch by trainers. You practice inside the same area every day, mostly twice a day. When practicing you get into the same lane that you do everyday, partitioning the space and dividing area in which the team practices. If someone is added to that space it throws off your whole routine. While that may happen, all of the team can be switched around and added to different lanes.
Practices are in a set time. Every. Single. Day. There is no breaking of the norm. These are set times in which you have determined to break down your body and get beaten up by your coach, who is always watching your every move. Practices usually last two hours long in the afternoon with weights afterwards. This is very time consuming, making sure that exercise is achieved. Also, in order to achieve this the coach has a workout typed up before practice to make sure that no time is wasted. This can maximize time usage.
In order to learn how to swim properly one must take it in steps. You can’t just jump into the pool and expect to be Michael Phelps. Swimming takes years upon years of training. You must learn to float and become accustomed to the water first. Then comes the strokes and techniques, and learning of how to move back and forth in the pool. Then the repetition comes. Back and forth everyday, working on minute details to optimize swimming efficiency. Working on swimming strokes is a never ending work made up of many components. In order to build one’s power in this sport, one must break a body down to build it up. Making the body moldable and trainable through rough conditions heavily guarded by an ever watching coach.