Making sacrifices for the game; a case study of pre-elite athletes

Abstract

As young people chase high performance and professional sports player titles, there are many factors which make or break young athletes including what these young people are willing to endure and sacrifice for their dream. This research aimed to examine the sacrifices pre-elite athletes make in order to obtain a high performance or professional sporting career. For the purpose of this research, sacrifice was defined as the giving up of something valued for the sake of other considerations. Seven pre-elite athletes from the Canterbury region who are involved in the high performance programme Pathway to Podium (P2P) participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews on their experiences with sacrifices and external influences in their sporting fields throughout their pre-elite career. For each athlete, what they sacrificed and what they considered a sacrifice differed, however there were many consistent themes across all athletes involved. Results indicated that athletes experienced a significant decrease of leisure time resulting in many social sacrifices, with all seven participants commenting on the lack of time for social activities among both friends and family. Instead, many described their social connections to be completely within their sport. The athletes revealed feeling expectations from coaches, families and by other external stakeholders, though it was linked to their own internal expectations of themselves. The interviewees described altering their non-sporting life trajectory and future plans for their sporting commitments and therefore experienced sacrifices in the form of financial, educational and career advancements. Further sacrifices included participation in other sports, relocating for sport, injuries and time.