Basketball coaches’ experience in working with multicultural teams: Central and Northern European perspectives

In recent sport psychology scholarship, researchers have become increasingly sensitive to the influence of cultural phenomena on various important aspects of contemporary professional sport (Duda & Alison, 1990; Ram, Starek, & Johnson, 2004). Within a context of increasing international mobility of players and coaches (Maguire, 1999), a ‘cultural turn' (Ryba, Schinke, & Tenenbaum, 2010) in the study of sport psychology has highlighted the importance of understanding cultural factors influencing contemporary experiences of elite athletes, many of whom now perform within multicultural teams, or train and compete in culturally diverse environments. For instance, according to the latest International Basketball Migration Report (CIES Observatory, 2013), in seasons 2010/11 and 2011/12, the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) registered more than 6,500 international transfers of basketball players, with an increase of 6 per cent between these two seasons. 45.2% of transferred players were Americans, the vast majority of whom (76%) went on to play in Europe during the most recently completed season (2012/2013).