A critical review of career research and assistance through the cultural lens: towards cultural praxis of athletes’ careers

In this review article, a content area of athlete career in sport psychology is analyzed through the cultural lens: that is, through paradigmatic perspectives of cross-cultural psychology, cultural psychology, and cultural studies. Based on previous review papers, but mainly on the chapters of the anthology Athletes' Careers across Cultures, we identified three dominant (North American, Australian, and European) and two emerging (Asian and South American) cultural discourses in the career topic. These discourses are characterized by research foci, theoretical frameworks, and career assistance programs in action. Our critical analysis of career research and assistance around the world further indicates a need for more contextualized and culturally competent career projects, which blend theory/research, applied work, and lived culture into cultural praxis. To satisfy this need, a new paradigm termed cultural praxis of athletes' careers is suggested. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of review papers in negotiating emerging terminology, values, principles, and approaches underlying the career topic, and share some ideas for future reviews in career research and assistance

Negotiating a transnational career around borders: Women's stories in boundaryless academia

The study aimed to give voice to two women sport scientists’ life stories to centralize the challenges and ways of coping their career journeys entailed, and enlighten our understanding of the lived experience and meaning of academic migrating. They shared transnational career stories through interviews and ongoing conversations which we re-story in a creative non-fiction story where we blended the two. Our data collection, analysis and representation were informed by theoretical, methodological and interpretive bricolage. As the creative nonfiction story shows, the academic entrepreneur ideal was somewhat disrupted in the women’s lives, as migration experiences, aside from thrills, also involved rough and complex negotiations and challenges. However, the experiences and lessons learned from migration experiences informed subsequent decisions and relocations while work and home became a state of mind and a sense of comfort for the two women who relentlessly swapped priorities between home and work. We identified three strategies – negotiating, redirecting, and accepting – that the women applied to their home and work life while trying to stay true to themselves and their values. The literature on transnationalism and academics as mobilised professionals helped us bring to light ‘silenced’ elements of the academic narrative as forms of women’s professional development in sport sciences that are not part of ‘official’ narratives of career-building were uncovered.publishedVersio

Sport burnout inventory–dual career form for student-athletes : Assessing validity and reliability in a Finnish sample of adolescent athletes

Background: The pressure of pursuing an athletic career simultaneously with education may set adolescent student-athletes at risk for sport and school burnout. Although the 2 life domains of student-athletes are strongly intertwined, so far, there has not been an instrument for investigating sport burnout parallel to school burnout. The aim of the present study was to introduce a sport burnout measure for adolescents in a dual career context and investigate its validity and reliability by using confirmatory factor analysis. Methods: The participants were 391 student-athletes (51% females) who filled in a questionnaire of sport burnout and background variables in the beginning of upper secondary school. Results: A 3-factor model or a second-order-factor model described the data better and gave better reliability indices than a 1-factor model. The 3 dimensions of sport burnout were shown to be separate, but closely related constructs. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was obtained by correlating the 3 sport burnout dimensions with depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and sport task values. Conclusion: The results suggest that Sport Burnout Inventory-Dual Career Form (SpBI-DC) is a valid and reliable instrument for investigating sport burnout among adolescent student-athletes.Peer reviewe

Existential learning and adolescent identity: Finding meaning through boundary situations

Existential psychology places emphasis on boundary situations as a potential source of learning and development. These experiences are situations when one’s identity does not fit the new demands and experiences, bringing forth existential insecurity and often leading to a more profound change in one’s mode of being. Our study aimed to understand identity learning through boundary experiences in adolescence through the story of “Pilvi”, a pre-elite Finnish alpine skier who terminated her promising athletic career at the age of 18. She was interviewed using a low-structured approach, twice before and twice after her athletic retirement. We analysed her story using existential-narrative approach (Richert, 2010) with a focus on boundary situations and loss of athletic identity. A pivotal moment for Pilvi was the introduction of new skis that she could not adjust to, shattering her athletic identity that gained meaning from athletic success. The disruption also revealed the loneliness of her sport life-project underpinned by a lack of shared meaning with her father, teammates and coach. After abandoning her sport life-project and experiencing a personal crisis, she reflected on learning about her emotions, accepting her limitations and “wasting time” in sport; however, she also sought to transfer her sport life themes of success and winning to education to bring continuity to her identity. The tension with her father shaped her storytelling throughout the interviews. We discuss the implications of our findings for psychological and career counselling services for talented adolescents

‘School, family and then hockey!’ Coaches’ views on dual career in ice hockey

Despite the extensive research into coaches’ roles in supporting athletic development and motivation for sport, few studies have examined coaches’ attitudes and practices towards athletes’ dual careers. The present study extends European research into athletes’ dual careers by examining Finnish ice hockey coaches’ attitudes and practices surrounding players’ education. Ten male coaches aged 27–52 participated in semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed with an existential-narrative theoretical framework and with thematic and structural narrative analysis. Three composite vignettes were created entitled ‘supporting athletic development and players in reaching their own goals’, ‘enjoyment and physically active lifestyle’ and ‘developing good persons’. The analysis revealed that although all coaches embraced the official rhetoric where school is a priority over ice hockey, most of them had few practical examples of how this view had informed their coaching practice. It is concluded that young players may be easily lured into dreams of professionalism, whereas coaches’ dominant narrative of education as a back-up may be ineffective to spark athletes’ interest and engagement with education. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Cultural Sport Psychology : A Critical Review of Empirical Advances

Despite a long standing assertion that sociocultural domain is one of the factors constituting human psychological phenomena, sport psychological science has only recently begun to examine culture as the principal basis of physical activity and sport participants’ behaviour, wellbeing, engagement, and performance outcomes. Emphasizing the centrality of culture in bringing meaning to athlete careers and life projects, I summarise empirical literature explicitly positioned within cultural sport psychology (CSP). Specifically, I focus on two areas of psychological inquiry – acculturation and athletic career – in which the CSP theoretical tenets and agenda stimulated emergence of novel research trajectories. I conclude by suggesting directions for future work in CSP.peerReviewe

Cartwheels on ice : a phenomenological exploration of children\u27s skating enjoyment

This paper discusses a project aimed at exploring the processes by which 8-to 10-year-old competitive figure skaters conceive and construct the notion of enjoyment in the contemporary world of sport. Eschewing the existing line of research that imposes the adult model of enjoyment on young athletes, I attempted to capture the richness and diversity of young co-participants\u27 experiences within a skating context/subculture as well as to understand the multiple ways in which they make sense of such experiences. For this project, eight female and male competitive figure skaters from three different ice skating clubs in the southeastern United States were engaged in a phenomenological dialogue in which they were given the freedom to take me to the terra incognita to unravel various meanings of enjoyment in their own words. The interview transcripts were then inductively analyzed, allowing meaningful clusters and themes to emerge from the quotes. The final thematic structure suggests that these athletes ultimately enjoyed their time in figure skating when they were doing something for the First Time, Getting better, Being Creative, Experiencing the Body, and in the context of Other People. Stemming from the hermeneutic emphasis of a constant movement between parts and whole of the phenomenon (Palmer, 1969), the results of this study are presented in a similar manner. A narrative told by Sasha, a composite figure that represents all the coparticipants in this study, gives a sense of the whole of the phenomenon of skating enjoyment; an exhaustive description of the themes that emerged gives a sense of its parts. Consistent with Merleau-Ponty\u27s (1945/1962) notion of the body as a fundamental category of human existence, these young figure skaters exhibited a keen awareness of the body that served as a focal point of their skating experience

The Work of Cultural Transition: An Emerging Model

In today’s uncertain, fluid job market, transnational mobility has intensified. Though the concept of cultural transition is increasingly used in sport and career research, insight into the processes of how individuals produce their own development through work and relationships in shifting cultural patterns of meaning remains limited. The transnational industry of sports, in which athletes’ psychological adjustment to cultural transitions has implications for both performance and meaningful life, serves as a backdrop for this article. This study applied the life story method to interviews with 15 professional and semi-professional athletes, focusing particularly on the cultural transition aspect of their transnational athletic careers. The aims of the study were to identify the developmental tasks of cultural transitions and strategies/mechanisms through which cultural transitions were enacted. Three underlying mechanisms of the transition process that assisted athletic career adaptability were social repositioning, negotiation of cultural practices, and meaning reconstruction. Based on the data analyses, a temporal model of cultural transition is proposed. The results of this research provide professionals working in the fields of career counseling and migrant support with a content framework for enhancing migrant workers’ adaptabilities and psychological wellbeing

Sukupuolinäkökulman huomioimisessa urheilijan uralla tarvitaan monitieteistä otetta

Urheilua hallitsee yhä vanhakantainen miehisyys. Muutos vaatii tuekseen kriittistä tutkimusta.nonPeerReviewe