TY - JOUR

T1 - The Philosophical Underpinning of Athlete Lifestyle Support: An Existential-Humanistic Perspective

AU - Devaney, DJ

AU - Ronkainen, NJ

AU - Nesti, MS

AU - Littlewood, MA

AU - Richardson, DJ

N1 - Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from Sport Psychologist, 2021, volume 36 (issue 1) : 1-9, https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2020-0131 copyright Human Kinetics, Inc.

PY - 2021/10/1

Y1 - 2021/10/1

N2 - This study aims to highlight how an existential-humanistic perspective can inform athlete support and in doing so, emphasise the importance of explicating the philosophical underpinnings of athlete lifestyle support. Drawing on applied experience with elite youth cricketers over a twelve-month period, ethnographic data was collected through the observation, maintenance of case notes and a practitioner reflective diary. Based on thematic analysis (Braun Clarke, 2006), we created three non-fictional vignettes that we use to illustrate how existential-humanistic theorising can inform lifestyle support. We discuss the implications of this professional philosophy in terms of considerations for performance and talent development programmes and how holistic support for athletes is positioned. We also discuss implications for athlete lifestyle and performance psychology practitioners, with regard to training, underpinning theoretical grounding of support and the strategic positioning of their practitioner roles.

AB - This study aims to highlight how an existential-humanistic perspective can inform athlete support and in doing so, emphasise the importance of explicating the philosophical underpinnings of athlete lifestyle support. Drawing on applied experience with elite youth cricketers over a twelve-month period, ethnographic data was collected through the observation, maintenance of case notes and a practitioner reflective diary. Based on thematic analysis (Braun Clarke, 2006), we created three non-fictional vignettes that we use to illustrate how existential-humanistic theorising can inform lifestyle support. We discuss the implications of this professional philosophy in terms of considerations for performance and talent development programmes and how holistic support for athletes is positioned. We also discuss implications for athlete lifestyle and performance psychology practitioners, with regard to training, underpinning theoretical grounding of support and the strategic positioning of their practitioner roles.

KW - 1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences

KW - 1701 Psychology

U2 - 10.1123/tsp.2020.0131

DO - 10.1123/tsp.2020.0131

M3 - Article

VL - 36

SP - 29

EP - 39

JO - Sport Psychologist

JF - Sport Psychologist

SN - 0888-4781

IS - 1

ER -