The experience of an international female rugby player

This chapter presents the case study of a Paola. Rugby is respected as one of the sports across the world where men and women play under the same rules. Paola mentions her best friends all being from rugby, so she clearly got involved into the social side of the game and started to create important emotional bonds, which increased the pleasure she was feeling every time she played. Paola's experience of transitioning from football to rugby, although happening later in her life, had a huge effect on her identity and personal development. Paola's cultural learning through rugby though seems to have the opposite effect, as her horizon of learning evolves to appreciate and take care of her body more than before. Paola's entrance into the rugby environment affects her horizon for action and horizon of learning, which had become stale in football but were re-energised by a new enthusiasm for learning the game of rugby

Multilevel Model of Sport Injury (MMSI): Can Coaches Impact and be Impacted by Injury?

No Abstrac

“Sport saved my life” but “I am tired of being an alien!”: Stories from the life of a deaf athlete

Objectives: This study explores the ways in which a deaf athlete’s experiences of participation in sport can affect his psychological and social well-being, and how social and interpersonal relationships play a role in shaping these experiences. Design: To produce an understanding of the embodied experience of being a deaf athlete over the years and in different social situations, an autoethnographic approach was adopted. Method: To generate the stories represented in this study, three main strategies have been adopted: memory writing, emotional recall, and the use of memory. Adopting the position of the storyteller, data was represented through an evocative autoethnography, with the aim to describe subjective emotional experiences to create empathy with, as well as increase awareness and encourage reflection in the reader. Results: Five story fragments taken from a deaf athlete’s life are presented, in relation to key moments of the athlete’s life. The stories show how social relationships affect the athlete’s experience of sport participation, spanning from an enthusiastic inclusion in playing sport with hearing and non-hearing peers, to the feelings of alienation felt due to social exclusion from hearing sport events, and the hopelessness deriving from a lack of understanding of the specific needs that come from coaching a deaf person. Conclusions: The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed, with particular attention towards the opportunity of portraying the experiences of a category of athletes that has been scarcely investigated, and even more rarely allowed its own voice

Student transition into higher education: Time for a rethink within the subject of sport and exercise science?

The first year of higher education (HE) marks one of the most significant transitions in a student’s life. Within the U.K., the subject area of Sport and Exercise Science (SES) has a problem with effectively supporting and retaining students as they transition into HE. If students’ capabilities to successfully transition are to be fully understood and resourced, it is necessary for research to foreground students’ lived realities. Utilising letter to self-methodology, 58 s- and third-year undergraduate SES students wrote to their younger self, providing guidance on how to successfully transition into HE. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Six themes and four sub-themes were identified. Following the development of a single composite version of an “Older, wiser self letter” to represent the identified themes, this resource was integrated into the institution’s pastoral care resources and sessions where personal tutors connected with their tutees. Student member reflections were completed to gather feedback regarding the resource’s effectiveness. The composite letter provides an authentic account of how to face obstacles encountered as students transition into HE. Students’ member reflections highlighted that the letter was a valuable resource as a prompt for discussion regarding their experiences of transitioning into HE. When in the student journey the letter was read was particularly important. The value of this composite letter lies in the implementation of tutor-tutee and student peer-peer conversations at key “moments” throughout their journey in HE, helping students understand the challenges and opportunities for success during transition

Member reflections with elite coaches and gymnasts: looking back to look forward

This paper is a confessional tale that focuses on challenges encountered during the process of conducting member reflections, and on the lessons learned from these. Recent discussions on enhancing the rigor of qualitative research conducted from an interpretivist stance encourage the use of member reflections, rather than the previously widely adopted member checking. Yet, practical examples of how to use this technique are scarce in the sport, exercise and health literature. As a consequence, researchers trying to achieve rigor in their work might struggle, especially if inexperienced. In this work, the first author provides a personal narrative that explores the questions and doubts encountered when engaging with member reflections during her PhD degree. Drawing on the first author’s reflective journal, a challenging situation is portrayed, and recommendations for other neophyte researchers are forwarded through four main lessons learned: (a) lessons on rigor in qualitative research, (b) lessons on tellability and layers of understanding, (c) lessons on the importance of confrontations and knowledge exchange, and (d) lessons on relational ethics

Trampoline gymnasts’ body-self narratives of the leotard:a seamless fit?

Critical gymnastics literature suggests that a specific and narrowly defined body aesthetic is, in part, to blame for a range of serious health and well-being issues observed amongst female gymnasts. The leotard, a vital component of this ideal body aesthetic, has received relatively little scholarly attention which we suggest reflects a wider lack of focused attention towards gymnasts’ subjective or phenomenological experiences of their bodies. In this chapter we draw from an 18-month ethnographic study of British trampoline gymnasts’ bodily experiences told through their body narratives. We draw upon Frank’s (2013) body typology to explore the moments of body-self construction, unity, and disruption as the trampoline gymnasts respond to action problems in various social contexts. We illuminate moments of body-self disruption as gymnasts experience puberty and body dissatisfaction highlighting the role of the leotard in these experiences. We close by suggesting that the focus on gymnastic body problems requires more self-conscious and reflexive solutions and encourage researchers and practitioners to enable gymnasts to tell stories in an ethical endeavour to find more liveable relations with their bodies

Athletes and Coaches through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative View of Goal Management

Since the end of 2019 and throughout 2020, the world has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sports world suddenly had to deal with a massive reorganization of events with important implications for the physical and psychological preparation of athletes and coaches. The purpose of this study was to explore how these changes impacted coaches’ and athletes’ goal-setting strategies and their experience of goal adjustment. As part of a wider mixed-method project involving 2162 coaches and 1354 athletes, an online qualitative survey was used, and data collected were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings highlighted three overarching themes, in response to goal adjustment: “Moving on toward new goals”, “Letting go of goals”, and “Trying to hold on”, with several themes and sub-themes identifying different nuances of athletes’ and coaches’ experiences. The implications of such findings for the mental preparation of high-level athletes are discussed in two ways. Firstly, in light of existing literature on goal setting from an applied perspective; secondly, in the broader perspective of the sports culture and the application of our themes to other challenging moments that sports professionals might encounter

My Daughter’s Injured Again!: I Just Don’t Know What to Do Anymore

This chapter provides a review of current perspectives on the role of parents in relation to their children’s sport injuries. Starting with a critical review of existing research, the chapter develops focusing on adopting an ecological system view of the sport injury process, and discussing how parents are both impacted by, and impact upon, children’s sport injuries. Autoethnographic extracts are presented alongside the review to encourage readers to reflect, and become more aware of, the challenges parents encounter when facing injury situations. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research to achieve a more in-depth understanding of parents’ experiences of sport injuries (e.g., explore the role of coercive behaviors in the coach-parent relationship), as well as to provide effective tools for sport psychologists to support them (e.g., interventions to allow sharing, discussing, and reflecting on one’s experience). Finally, it closes posing three critical questions to provoke debate

Understanding overuse injuries in rhythmic gymnastics: A 12-month ethnographic study

Objectives: This study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of overuse injuries in rhythmic gymnastics from a psychosocial perspective. More specifically, it examined how sport culture impacts overuse injuries. Design: To develop an understanding of the culture of rhythmic gymnastics and gymnasts' behaviour within the context of this culture, ethnography was the chosen method and written product of this research. Method: A 12-month ethnography was conducted in an elite rhythmic gymnastics club in Italy, with 43 participants, consisting of 16 gymnasts, three female coaches, one physiotherapist, 22 parents, and the club's president. Eight qualitative methods of data collection were used to provide rigor and depth. Following data transcription, a thematic analysis was conducted to identify the emergent themes. Findings are presented using ethnographic creative nonfiction for ethical, theoretical and practical reasons. Results: Two stories were created portraying the same training session through the eyes of a gymnast and her coach. The stories reflect the differences in the interpretation of the same situations and the cultural norms, values and behaviours that influenced the occurrence and experience of overuse injuries. Conclusions: This study extends research on overuse injuries in three ways: (a) it honours athletes as social agents by exploring the intersection between psychology and sociology, (b) it uses a rigorous methodology to elicit a more in-depth understanding of overuse injuries, and (c) it adopts an innovative form of representation to increase the accessibility of the findings to non-academic audiences