Beyond life-skills: talented athletes, existential learning and (Un)learning the life of an athlete

ABSTRACT

Following developments in educational discourse more broadly, learning discourses in youth sport have been shaped by outcome-based and instrumental goals of developing useful life-skills for ‘successful’ lives. There is, however, a need to expand such traditional understandings of sport-based youth development, which we undertook by exploring existential learning in sport through encountering discontinuity. We conducted in-depth qualitative research with 16 Finnish athletes (seven men/nine women, aged 19–20), five of whom had recently disengaged from the athlete development pathway. In the interviews, we used creative non-fiction vignettes to invite reflections on learning experiences in sport. Although participants reported having learnt many useful skills commonly associated with positive youth development discourses (e.g. goal setting, time-management), many also provided rich descriptions of other, important ‘life lessons’. These involved developing awareness of their bodily limitations, the nature of social relationships, and what it was like to live the life of an elite athlete. The findings revealed problematic features of (elite) sport cultures but also showed that encountering discontinuity could be beneficial as an important trigger for existential reflection, clarification of values, and a search for alternative ways of living.

KEYWORDS:

• Positive youth development
• informal learning
• critical moments
• meaning in sport

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. There are many debates on the ontological and epistemological foundations of different phenomenological perspectives. We draw inspiration primarily from the existential-phenomenological tradition which, at least in Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, has been considered to be based on ‘robust’ realism (as conceptualised by Dreyfus and Taylor 2015). In qualitative research literature, a Heideggerian perspective has been also described as a ‘hermeneutic’ realism (Yanchar 2015). While drawing on these lines of thinking, we acknowledge that readings of existential phenomenology as anti-realist also exist (see Zahavi 2016).

2. Informed consent from the parents of young people over 15 is not required in Finland.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (grant number 792172) and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (grant number OKM/39/626/2017) .