Sink or swim: adversity- and growth-related experiences in Olympic swimming champions

Objective To explore the adversity- and growth-related experiences of swimmers at the highest competitive level. Of particular interest was the transitional process that the swimmers progress through to positively transform their experiences. Design Eight autobiographies of Olympic swimming champions were sampled and analyzed. Method The books were written by four male and three female swimmers whose ages at the time of their Olympic swims ranged from 14 to 41 years (M = 23.39, SD = 6.04). Informed by a narrative tradition, the autobiographies were subjected to a holistic analysis which involved scrutinizing the form of the structure and style of the narrative, and the content relating to the events and meanings described by the authors. Results The swimmers perceived their adversity-related experiences to be traumatic and initially attempted to negotiate them by maintaining a state of normality through the development of an emotional and embodied relationship with water. This relationship involved the non-disclosure of traumatic adversities and the development of multiple identities. As these strategies eventually proved to be maladaptive and exposed the swimmers to further adversity, the dialog of the autobiographies typically shifted to a more quest-focused narrative with the swimmers seeking meaning in their experiences and looking to others for support. Adoption of these strategies was necessary for the swimmers to experience growth, which was identifiable through superior performance, enhanced relationships, spiritual awareness, and prosocial behavior. Conclusion The findings provide broad support for theories of posttraumatic growth and suggest that assimilation processes may comprise initial phases of the transition between adversity and growth. We discuss a number of practical implications for psychologists and significant others involved with elite swimmers

Demographic differences in sport performers' experiences of organizational stressors

Organizational stressors are particularly prevalent across sport performers’ experiences and can influence their performance, health, and well-being. Research has been conducted to identify which organizational stressors are encountered by sport performers, but little is known about how these experiences vary from athlete to athlete. The purpose of this study was to examine if the frequency, intensity, and duration of the organizational stressors that sport performers encounter vary as a function of gender, sport type, and performance level. Participants (n = 1277) completed the Organizational Stressor Indicator for Sport Performers (OSI-SP; Arnold et al., 2013), and the resultant data were analyzed using multivariate analyses of covariance. The findings show that demographic differences are apparent in the dimensions of the goals and development, logistics and operations, team and culture, coaching, and selection organizational stressors that sport performers encounter. More specifically, significant differences were found between males and females, between team and individual-based performers, and between performers competing at national or international, regional or university, and county or club levels. These findings have important implications for theory and research on organizational stress, and for the development of stress management interventions with sport performers

What doesn't kill me...: adversity-related experiences are vital in the development of superior Olympic performance

Objectives: Recent research suggests that experiencing some adversity can have beneficial outcomes for human growth and development. The purpose of this paper was to explore the adversities that the world’s best athletes encounter and the perceived role that these experiences play in their psychological and performance development. Design: A qualitative design was employed because detailed information of rich quality was required to better understand adversity-related experiences in the world’s best athletes. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Olympic gold medalists from a variety of sports. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The findings indicate that the participants encountered a range of sport- and non-sport adversities that they considered were essential for winning their gold medals, including repeated non-selection, significant sporting failure, serious injury, political unrest, and the death of a family member. The participants described the role that these experiences played in their psychological and performance development, specifically focusing on their resultant trauma, motivation, and learning. Conclusions: Adversity-related experiences were deemed to be vital in the psychological and performance development of Olympic champions. In the future, researchers should conduct more in-depth comparative studies of Olympic athletes’ adversity- and growth-related experiences, and draw on existing and alternative theoretical explanations of the growth–performance relationship. For professional practitioners, adversity-related experiences offer potential developmental opportunities if they are carefully and purposely harnessed

The dark side of top level sport: an autobiographic study of depressive experiences in elite sport performers

The general and sport psychology research converge to point to a complex relationship between depressive experiences and human performance. The purpose of this study was to explore the depressive experiences of top level athletes and the relationship of such experiences with sport performance. Twelve autobiographies of elite athletes representing eight sports were analyzed. The autobiographical analysis was informed by narrative tradition, using three types of narrative analysis: categorical content, categorical form, and holistic content. The analysis revealed a temporal aspect to the depressive experiences that the athletes reported. Initially, sport represented a form of escape from the depressive symptoms which had been exacerbated by both external stressors (e.g., experiencing bereavement) and internal stressors (e.g., low self esteem). However, in time, the athletes typically reached a stage when the demands of their sport shifted from being facilitative to being debilitative in nature with an intensification of their depressive symptoms. This was accompanied by deliberations about continuing their engagement in sport and an acceptance that they could no longer escape from their symptoms, with or without sport. The findings extend the extant literature by suggesting a reciprocal relationship between depressive experiences and sport performance, and they support the general psychology literature relating to the negative impact of depression on performance. The applied implications of these findings are discussed emphasizing the importance of early identification of depressive symptoms and the adoption of a proactive approach in the prevention and management of symptoms

Understanding team resilience in the world's best athletes: a case study of a rugby union World Cup winning team

Objective: Although team resilience research has identified the characteristics of elite sport teams that positively adapt to adversity, further research is required to understand how resilient teams function. The objective of this study, therefore, was to explore the psychosocial processes underpinning team resilience in elite sport. Design: Narrative inquiry was employed to better understand team resilience. Method: The sample consisted of eight members of the 2003 England rugby union World Cup winning team. The autobiographies of these team members were analyzed using three types of narrative analyzes: holistic-content analysis, holistic-form analysis, and categorical-form analysis. Results: Findings revealed five main psychosocial processes underpinning team resilience: transformational leadership, shared team leadership, team learning, social identity, and positive emotions. An examination of narrative structure within the autobiographies revealed a progressive narrative form characterized by a collective positive evaluation of setbacks. Conclusions: This study extends previous team resilience research by going beyond the identification of resilient characteristics to explaining underpinning psychosocial processes. The team resilience processes are discussed in relation to previous research findings and in terms of their implications for practising sport psychologists. It is anticipated that this study will provide practitioners with a framework to develop team resilience at the highest levels of sport

Developing emotion abilities and regulation strategies in a sport organization: an action research intervention

OBJECTIVES. This study aimed to improve the practice of individuals operating in a sport organization by providing an intervention to develop emotion abilities and strategies. DESIGN. A two-phase action research approach was adopted to facilitate the objective and to assess the intervention's effectiveness. Method: In the first phase of the intervention, 25 individuals fulfilling a range of roles (i.e., board of directors, chief executive officer, heads of performance and development, staff, administrators, national coaches and team managers, club coaches, national talent academy athletes) attended educational workshops over a 6 month period. In the second phase, three pivotal operators (i.e., national managers) received one-to-one coaching for a further 3 months. Data were collected using a range of self-report and performance measures, participant daily diaries, a researcher's log, and social validation interviews. RESULTS. Following social validation procedures the findings suggest that both phases were effective at improving the practice of participants, with significant improvements in regulation strategy use, perceptions of relationship quality, and closeness. However, only participants receiving the extended one-to-one coaching showed improvement in emotional intelligence ability scores. CONCLUSIONS. The findings indicate that short-term generic interventions to promote the use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies may be effective in sport organizations, but the purposive development of emotional intelligence may require more longitudinal and idiographic approaches

Measuring well-being in sport performers: where are we now and how do we progress?

The importance of optimal well-being and mental health in elite athletes has received increasing attention and debate in both the academic and public discourse. Despite the number of challenges and risk factors for mental health and well-being recognised within the performance lifestyle of elite athletes, the evidence base for intervention is limited by a number of methodological and conceptual issues. Notably, there exists an increasing emphasis on the development of appropriate sportspecifc measures of athlete well-being, which are required to underpin strategies targeted at the protection and enhancement of psychosocial functioning. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to review psychometric issues in well-being research and discuss the implications for the measurement of well-being in sport psychology research. Drawing on the broader literature in related disciplines of psychology, the narrative discusses four key areas in the scale development process: conceptual and theoretical issues, item development issues, measurement and scoring issues, and analytical and statistical issues. To conclude, a summary of the key implications for sport psychology researchers seeking to develop a measure of well-being is presented

A British university case study of the transitional experiences of student-athletes

OBJECTIVES. Within Great Britain, increasing numbers of elite sport performers are attending higher education institutions. The current study presents an exploration of the transitional experiences of these individuals at a specific British university. Wylleman and Lavallee's (2004) developmental model on transitions faced by athletes and Stambulova's (1997, 2003) athletic career transition model were used to provide the theoretical foundation of inquiry. DESIGN AND METHOD. An instrumental case study design was adopted to provide an in-depth analysis of student-athletes’ experiences at a university. The case university was selected based on its provision of elite sport support services. To acquire a holistic understanding, interviews were conducted with current and recently graduated student-athletes from the university, and focus groups were run with university staff (viz. administrators, coaches, and support staff). Qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic framework approach. RESULTS. Elite student-athletes at the British university were found to experience simultaneous athletic, academic, psychological, and psychosocial transitions. To overcome the transitional demands, student-athletes were found to draw on a variety of internal (e.g., self-awareness) and external (e.g., academic flexibility) resources and to implement coping strategies (e.g., seeking social support). Potential barriers to successful transitions were also identified (e.g., parental overprotection). CONCLUSIONS. These findings advance the limited existing literature on British university student-athletes’ transitional experiences and suggestions are provided for how other universities can enhance provision for their elite student-athletes

Applying sport psychology in business: a narrative commentary and bibliography

This article provides a commentary on the application of sport psychology in business. The narrative is signposted to and interspersed by a series of tables that direct the interested reader to a bibliography of the topics discussed. After noting the early popular books and professional articles on the sport-business link, the focus turns to the main conclusions that can be drawn from the academic literature, in particular from the reflective papers and research studies in this area. An important message to emerge is that collaborations between professional service suppliers and scientific research groups appear to present the most robust opportunities to further understanding of the sport-business link

Psychological resilience in sport performers: a review of stressors and protective factors

Psychological resilience is important in sport because athletes must utilise and optimise a range of mental qualities to withstand the pressures that they experience. In this article, we discuss psychological resilience in sport performers via a review of the stressors athletes encounter and the protective factors that help them withstand these demands. It is hoped that synthesising what is known in these areas will help researchers gain a deeper profundity of resilience in sport, and also provide a rigorous and robust foundation for the development of a sport-specific measure of resilience. With these points in mind, we divided the narrative into two main sections. In the first section, we review the different types of stressors encountered by sport performers under three main categories: competitive, organisational and personal. Based on our recent research examining psychological resilience in Olympics champions, in the second section we discuss the five main families of psychological factors (viz. positive personality, motivation, confidence, focus, perceived social support) that protect the best athletes from the potential negative effect of stressors. It is anticipated that this review will help sport psychology researchers examine the interplay between stressors and protective factors, which will, in turn, focus the analytical lens on the processes underlying psychological resilience in athletes