Living, resisting, and playing the part of athlete: Narrative tensions in elite sport

The Structure and Content of Flow Experience Narratives in Sport: The Tale of an Elite Sportsman

“…Also, although narrative in elite sport has been thoroughly studied by social psychologists , 2013a, 2013bSparkes & Smith, 2003), few researchers have undertaken empirical research in terms of flow experiences. A worthy exception being Sparkes and Partington (2003), who, in their study of a white water canoeing club context, found that talking about flow entails a relational performance shaped by a number of narrative resources and auspices that, in turn, may differ depending on the gender of the narrator.…”

“…Therefore, we have chosen to include an in-depth description of the process of only one of the participants. Moreover, this selective decision is based on a representational strategy commonly utilized in papers publishing narrative research (Carless & Douglas, 2013b;Smith & Sparkes, 2011;Sparkes & Smith, 2003) so as to communicate the results in different and potentially enlightening ways. As such, we suggest that the example that we have chosen suffices to accomplish the purposes of our study: to show (a) the non-universal character of flow and (b) the dynamic process through which flow experiences acquire meaning in relation to the context wherein these narratives are produced.…”

“…As Sparkes (1999) emphasizes, any narrative, being a form of communication, is influenced by the socio-cultural conventions of the story, the motivations and actions of the narrator, the audience, and the social context. Similarly, Carless and Douglas (2013b) suggest that sportspersons, in general, "inhabit a culture awash with public stories relating to (preferred) identities, (expected) behaviors, and (assumed) developmental trajectories. These stories are widely circulated and amplified by the sport media" (p. 4).…”

“…Although winning is important, flow does not depend on it, and flow offers something more than just a successful outcome. (p. 5) Finally, the main plot of Kartión's tale revolves around his achievement, victory, and development as sportsman, which assumes that this is the only way possible (Carless & Douglas, 2013b). This type of discourse conforms, at least in part, to the construction of an exclusive and excluding athletic identity that, nonetheless, could have detrimental effects (Smith & Sparkes, 2011;Sparkes & Smith, 2003).…”

Narrative research

“…Although stories prioritise personal experience, they also reveal sociocultural context because an individual's story is shaped by the dominant narrative/s within their culture (McLeod, 1997). Narrative methods thereby reveal how psychological processes are influenced by the sociocultural structures within which they unfold (e.g., Carless & Douglas, 2013). By attending to the interplay of structure and agency, we learn how individuals negotiate their identity, morality and behaviour within their particular life context.…”