ABSTRACT This research examines athletes’ career paths and reflections of meaning in their sporting practices through an existential psychological lens. Through notions of spirituality and authenticity, we examined how competitive sport... more
ABSTRACT This research examines athletes’ career paths and reflections of meaning in their sporting practices through an existential psychological lens. Through notions of spirituality and authenticity, we examined how competitive sport practices and bodily movement gain meaning, and often fundamentally shift meaning, in athletes’ lives. Reflective writings with a follow-up from 10 athletes were interpreted through an existential-narrative analysis. The results suggest that while the early years of sport practice are most often characterised as highly enjoyable experiences, for some, the later career development involves existential challenges such as value conflicts, losing a sense of authenticity, fear of failure and anxiety. The ways in which the participants related to their sport in mature years varied considerably from sustained love for competitive sport, to developing a personal philosophy built around learning and spirituality or disidentification from high-level performance sport. Based on the findings, we suggest several practical implications for future research and applied practice.
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We examined the cultural context underlying career construction in elite sports.A performance narrative provided the structure of meanings for career identity.Athletic career practices were culturally and historically... more
We examined the cultural context underlying career construction in elite sports.A performance narrative provided the structure of meanings for career identity.Athletic career practices were culturally and historically constituted.Individuals deconstructed and created novel meanings in the process of living authentically through the athletic career.Against a theoretical backdrop of narrative career construction, this article argues for the cultural constitution of life-designing processes in and through sport. A narrative case study approach is used to explore the culturally infused, gendered construction of elite athletic careers from the life story perspective. One Finnish, male, professional hockey player (age 29) and one Baltic, female, amateur orienteer (age 27) participated in a series of three individual interviews, generating approximately five interview hours per athlete. Both participants drew upon the performance narrative plot of an exemplary athletic career to make sense of their sporting experiences, life choices, and career behaviors. Further analysis of gendered career narrations in the context of participants' lives extended contextualized understandings of career practices, discursive resources and cultural constraints of the life design at a particular socio-historical juncture. The present study elucidates the complex social, cultural, and gendered underpinnings of athletic career, as well as the ways in which agentic individuals create novel meanings in bringing authenticity to their life through the athletic pursuit.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Although a growing number of theoretical works and applied sport psychologists have acknowledged the importance of spiritual worldviews and experiences of athletes, empirical research on the topic remains relatively limited (Parry et al.,... more
Although a growing number of theoretical works and applied sport psychologists have acknowledged the importance of spiritual worldviews and experiences of athletes, empirical research on the topic remains relatively limited (Parry et al., 2007). Moreover, the existing empirical research has mainly represented American, Christian participants. With the anecdotal evidence of importance of spirituality in the sport world and the attention to the relationship between these two in popular culture, this research was designed to gain insights to the spiritual meanings athletes attach to their sport in two Northern European countries, England and Finland. Our inquiry was grounded on existential-narrative framework and a broad existentialist definition of spirituality (Webster, 2004). The empirical data was collected through essay writing. Eight elite athletes were invited to write a reflective story about their athletic careers, including both difficult and rewarding moments, meanings assig...
ABSTRACT This research examines athletes’ career paths and reflections of meaning in their sporting practices through an existential psychological lens. Through notions of spirituality and authenticity, we examined how competitive sport... more
ABSTRACT This research examines athletes’ career paths and reflections of meaning in their sporting practices through an existential psychological lens. Through notions of spirituality and authenticity, we examined how competitive sport practices and bodily movement gain meaning, and often fundamentally shift meaning, in athletes’ lives. Reflective writings with a follow-up from 10 athletes were interpreted through an existential-narrative analysis. The results suggest that while the early years of sport practice are most often characterised as highly enjoyable experiences, for some, the later career development involves existential challenges such as value conflicts, losing a sense of authenticity, fear of failure and anxiety. The ways in which the participants related to their sport in mature years varied considerably from sustained love for competitive sport, to developing a personal philosophy built around learning and spirituality or disidentification from high-level performance sport. Based on the findings, we suggest several practical implications for future research and applied practice.
Research Interests:
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