‘It’s easier to just keep going’: elaborating on a narrative of forward momentum in sport

ABSTRACT

In this article we elaborate on a narrative of forward momentum in sport drawing on multiple interviews (total = 37 interviews) over six months with thirteen current and former competitive athletes (9 women, 4 men) from various sports and different stages of their sport careers. Using Dialogical Narrative Analysis to guide the analysis, the results elaborate on a narrative of forward momentum and the ways it is drawn upon by athletes to make sense of their experiences in sport. A narrative of forward momentum emphasises concerns about continual progress and increasing achievements in performance over time, and athletes’ stories and lives were structured around the continual pursuit of success at the highest possible level in sport before the end of one’s career. Athletes felt ‘swept along’ by the structure of sport, and injuries and illnesses were seen as setbacks that could cause athletes to lose out on their progress and which they would have to ‘catch up’ on. We further elaborate on the concept of a contract within the narrative of forward momentum, wherein athletes invested hard work that would eventually ‘pay off’ and which promoted continual training and improvement in order to make progress and maintain momentum. A narrative of forward momentum is explored as a useful companion story, and as a potentially ‘dangerous’ companion story. We conclude by discussing the implications of a narrative of forward momentum for exploring the ways that athletes make sense of their experiences in sport.

KEYWORDS:

• Narrative
• sport career
• injury
• coping

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. According to Swann et al.’s (2015) classification of varying levels of elite status, the participants in this study ranged from semi-elite to world-class elite athletes; according to the system of classification proposed by McKay et al. (2022), the participants would be classified as Tier 3 (Highly Trained/National Level) to Tier 5 (World Class) athletes.

2. One participant chose to only complete the first interview.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a SSHRC Institutional Grant awarded to the first author.

Notes on contributors

Katherine A. Tamminen

Katherine A. Tamminen, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Mathew Lau

Mathew Lau, MScOT, was a Master’s student in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto during the preparation of this manuscript.

Jelena Milidragovic

Jelena Milidragovic, MScOT, was a Master’s student in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto during the preparation of this manuscript.