Sink or swim: career narratives of two African American athletes from underserved communities in the United States

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to explore the career narratives of professional athletes from underserved communities in the United States. Two African American athletes (named Marcus and Imari for the study), who both met the criteria of playing at least one year in a professional league and spending their formative years in an underserved community, participated in this study. Life story interviews lasting about two hours were explored through the principles of narrative analysis, focusing on both content and structure. Each participant constructed a sink or swim narrative typology termed risk, descent, and gain that focused more on the environmental context in an underserved community than their athletic development, which opposes the performance narrative often depicted by professional athletes. Although the contextualised nature of risk manifested differently for Marcus and Imari, their life courses both reflected low points precipitated by risky decisions or circumstances followed by gainful moments ultimately culminating in professional contracts. The analysis also uncovered the realities and challenges associated with having the intersecting identity of being a poor, Black aspiring athlete in a racially charged atmosphere. Finally, the athletes’ perceptions of how their challenging formative development influenced their professional career pathway as well as the ramifications of sink or swim narratives in popular American culture are considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Narrative inquiry
• identity
• intersectionality
• sink or swim narrative typology
• risk
• descent
• gain narrative
• socioeconomic status
• elite sport
• talent development
• athletic career

Author’s note

1.Throughout the interviews the participants used profanity on hundreds of occasions. Normally not out of anger, it simply was the way they talked. We omitted the majority of profane words but chose to include some of them because we felt it important to stay as close to their true language as possible, and in this case, they contextualize the meaning.

2. Within this manuscript the authors use the terms Black and African American interchangeably when referring to the race of the study participants.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Wilson Foundation for their continued support of this project as well as Holly Book for her insight and expertise in the editing process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert T. Book Jr

Robert T. Book Jr is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark. His research focuses on athletic talent development environments, career pathways, and the cultural transitions of athletes who come from low socioeconomic communities.

Kristoffer Henriksen

Kristoffer Henriksen is an associate professor in the Department of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark and also an applied sport psychologist for Team Denmark. His work, both as a researcher and applied practitioner, focuses upon creating optimal athletic talent development environments whereby athletes can attain peak performance, while doing so in a socially responsible manner.

Natalia Stambulova

Natalia Stambulova is a professor in the School of Health and Welfare at Halmstad University. Her robust research portfolio pertains to the full span of the athletic career, with a primary focus on elite sport, career transitions, and crisis intervention.