Police bodies and police minds: professional learning through bodily practices of sport participation*

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature concerned with bodily perspectives on professional learning by reporting on a study of Swedish police officers’ sport participation as a form of occupational learning. The study seeks to answer how ideals of work practice and sport participation intersect, how professional learning is channelled through sport participation, and how such bodily practices might have excluding effects on professional participation. Using a practice theory framework, the Schatzkian concept of teleoaffective structure guides the analysis. Sixteen interviews were conducted with police officers who practice police sports. The analysis targeted symbolic manifestations of teleoaffectivity, and the findings indicate five overlapping ideals between sport and police practice. In addition, one police specific ideal was constructed. Based on these findings, we discuss how professionals learn by participation in practices not directly related to the work in question, and how such learning includes and excludes from participation.