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Abstract
This paper considers a novel approach to researching adaptation in transnational athletes. The first part introduces a conceptualisation of acute cultural adaptation (ACA), which extends the current literature in sport psychology by offering original insights into mechanisms underpinning adaptive processes to a new cultural site during an interim relocation. Rereading a self-determination theory through the lens of cultural epistemology, the proposed theorisation suggests that ACA is realised in everyday practices drawing on a range of material and symbolic cultural resources to satisfy basic psychological needs. The second part of the paper engages the conceptualisation of ACA to make sense of the adaptive processes as experienced by female swimmers from Finland during their training camp in Australia. The study’s findings highlight relatedness as a discursive cultural space, offering a starting point for examining the role of culture in psychological functions during short-term relocation.
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my gratitude to Brett Smith, Vikki Krane and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments which significantly improved the quality of this paper.
Notes
The research was conducted as part of a research-training module at the University of Jyväskylä. The students participated, to a varying degree, in data collection and analysis. All of them were required to practise applying analytical procedures to the interview data. I assume full responsibility for the study’s theoretical and methodological frameworks.
1. One male swimmer was also interviewed, but his data were omitted from the study to avoid generalisation across genders. This decision was due to noticeable differences in the experience of ACA between the male and females that may be addressed in future studies.