Canadian Student-Athletes' Perspectives on Managing Sport Setbacks During COVID-19: A Qualitative Investigation

• In Event: Today's Collegiate Student-Athlete Experiences: Understanding the Psychosocial, Motivational, and Contextual Factors Involved

Abstract

Along with facing various academic setbacks, student-athletes frequently encounter sport-related setbacks that can impact their mental and physical wellbeing. When facing these challenges, student-athletes may engage in adaptive thinking that allows them to feel perceived control in their environment. Our study explores student-athletes’ perspectives when coping with sport-related setbacks in their academic semesters and the perceived control beliefs they apply.

Theoretical Framework
Perceived control is a critical cognitive resource for individual goal striving and quality of life (Robinson & Lachman, 2017) that fosters resilience and goal engagement (Chipperfield et al., 2017). Motivation and goal adjustment theories (Brandtstädter & Rothermund, 2002; Heckhausen, 2019) posit that when committing to valued goals, people enact goal engagement strategies that involve perceived control in the form of goal persistence such as effort, time investment, and adjusted commitment. Yet, some goals are unattainable despite effort and time. As such, goal adjustment through strategies like disengagement or re-engagement (Hamm et al., 2022; Wrosch et al., 2003) may be beneficial.

We employed an interpretive phenomenological design to explore the question: What are Canadian university athletes' lived experiences of sport setbacks during COVID-19? We sought to specifically gain a description of the kinds of sport setbacks student-athletes found critical to their sport performance goals and how perceived control was part of managing their experiences.
 
Method
Our sample consisted of eight Canadian athletes (5 women, 3 men) in years 1-3 of postsecondary; one identified as Black, one as East Indian, and 4 as White (two did not disclose); in various team sports. We conducted semi-structured interviews designed around perceived control beliefs, asking questions about setbacks to obtain a rich understanding of their experiences.

Results
Through an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), we identified five themes (see Table 5) reflecting how participants’ beliefs and strategies played a role in coping with setbacks: adaptiveness of goal adjustment, functional and dysfunctional goal persistence, acceptance with adjustment, goal pursuit via alternative routes, and finding social support. Participants described setback experiences as involving emotional complexity and at times a loss of opportunity.

Scholarly Significance
Student-athletes spoke about their perceptions of control in ways suggesting goal adjustment was adaptive for them during setbacks–helping them change, reprioritize, or disengage from their performance goals. They linked these approaches to several adaptive outcomes including positive emotions, motivation, coping, and feeling encouraged. Student-athletes still held on to persistence toward goals despite setbacks. Even when athletes were asked to consider goal adjustment strategies, they often provided examples (e.g., mental shifts) that were about returning to the original goal to play sport. However, this determination to hold unattainable sport goals were linked to negative emotions and amotivation.
Student-athletes acknowledged a mix of emotions throughout describing their setbacks. They expressed a real loss of opportunity that was evident while working through setbacks. Researchers could consider interventions that allow student-athletes to identify and reflect on whether their goals to compete in sport are realistic in the face of the setback they are enduring, especially considering the challenges and demands placed on them.

Authors

• Sierra Lane Paige Tulloch, University of Alberta
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gabrielle Pelletier
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patti C. Parker, Thompson Rivers University
  Presenting Author

• Lauren D. Goegan, University of Manitoba
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lia Daniels, University of Alberta
  Presenting Author