Training young "national" soccer players. A case study of the complexities of a volunteer position in an amateur sports club in Seine-Saint-Denis

This paper aims to contribute to the sociology of voluntary work in an area of sports dominated by volunteers (receiving only a small allowance): training in youth soccer clubs. What motivations drive the commitment of these voluntary soccer coaches? What resources do they mobilize to carry out their functions? What benefits do they expect in return? A comparative study of two cases provides some answers. Nicolas and Yves, two men with different social characteristics, successively took charge of the same youth team in the same amateur club in Seine-Saint-Denis. Exploring the routine transactions that make and break reputations, this ethnographic survey reveals two distinct routes into the most valued positions in the club: one based on skills certification, the other on local roots. On different registers and at different levels, Yves and Nicolas's volunteer work is closely linked to their professional trajectories. Their rivalry takes place in the context of major competition between educators of the "old" generation and "sport teachers," heightened by the French Football Federation's increased emphasis on certification requirements and by the shortage of jobs in the sector.