Abstract:
This paper explores membership within a Research Higher Degree community designed to develop expertise in the field of managing athlete behaviour in a novice coaching context. Employing literature, methodologies and data analysis techniques associated with postmodern ethnography the author provides insights into a journey from novice to expert within a research community of practice. Through relating the dissertation process with professional experience a narrative is presented that captures the tensions, ambiguities and potentialities associated with occupying different forms of membership within a research community of practice. Conclusions are drawn relating to how the structured nature of authoring a dissertation can be informed by the dynamic, sometimes unstructured and unpredictable forms of participation experienced.