A Qualitative Exploration of Thriving in Elite Sport

Abstract

Athletes are often described as thriving in sport; however, extant research on this construct in sport has been divergent. This study aimed to provide the first dedicated exploration of thriving in elite sport performers by considering its characteristics, outcomes, and facilitators. Semistructured interviews (n = 15) were conducted with athletes, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners and were analyzed using applied thematic analysis. Thriving was perceived to comprise a sustained high-level of performance and dimensions of well-being. Furthermore, predominantly positive outcomes of thriving were described, and participants identified a network of personal and contextual enablers that could facilitate thriving.

Notes

1 We recognize that this decision may limit the transferability of the findings and would encourage researchers to conduct explorations with sport performers across different levels in the future.

2 The example definition offered was that proposed by Sarkar and Fletcher (2014), that is, that they considered thriving to be a sustained high level of functioning and performance.

3 Examples are provided here to aid reader understanding and were not provided in the actual interviews.

4 The use of prespecified structural codes to disaggregate sections of related text from the rest of the data set before generating initial codes is a distinction between applied thematic analysis and the procedures of thematic analysis described by Braun and Clarke (2006).