Erica Bennett

Sport is a unique environment for body image experiences. Body image is gendered, and girls are susceptible to appearance and functionality-related body image concerns that may limit their sport enjoyment and participation. That said, late adolescence and young adulthood have been highlighted as a time when body image may shift more positively for girls and women athletes. Gaps in the literature remain, however, including contrasting findings in part due to variance in assessing body image constructs, a lack of focus on positive body image development, and samples with individuals who have homogenous positive body image trajectories. The purpose of this research was to understand late adolescent girls and young women athletes' experiences of positive body image development. Nine adolescent girls and young women aged 16 to 23 who were current athletes and self-identified as experiencing positive body image participated in semi-structured interviews and collage sessions where they were invited to share their experiences of positive body image over time. Using reflexive thematic analysis, three themes were identified and interpreted in the interview and collage data. 'My Body is Just Right' pertained to factors facilitating the development and maintenance of positive body image including sport-related body appreciation and acceptance, confidence, positive body image role modeling, body image self-definition, and coach influence. It’s Harder for Girls referred to challenges faced including body comments, appearance-related expectations, and pressures to be ‘perfect’. Positive body image was not something to be achieved and then forgotten, but rather needing to be continually chosen and worked on. The Balancing Act encompassed adaptive coping strategies used to develop and maintain positive body image such as mindset shifts, body diversity recognition and appreciation, self-kindness, and body protective information filtering. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding of positive body image by highlighting the continuous maintenance processes in which athletes must engage through adaptive coping due to the pervasive sociocultural and sport-specific body-related stressors they face. This study also highlights cognitive-affective shifts, body-positive role modelling, and coach education as potential avenues for positive body image interventions. Methodologically, this research can help inform processes for collage as an arts-based research method.

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According to master choreographer George Balanchine, the ‘ideal ballet body’ for women is to be tall and incredibly slender, with small breasts, small hips, long limbs, and a short torso (Langdon, 2012). Women ballet dancers often experience negative body image and embodiment due to these narrow ideals; yet, how ballet training influences dancers’ relationships to their bodies following ballet retirement remained unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine i.) how women’s history with ballet training shaped and constrained their body image and embodiment over time and following retirement, and ii.) how women ballet retirees storied their long-term body image and embodied experiences both verbally and artistically. Adopting narrative constructionism (Smith & Sparkes, 2009), I conducted one life history interview and two body mapping sessions with five retired women ballet dancers (15 sessions). Through narrative thematic analysis (Riessman, 2008), I constructed stories for each participant and three overarching themes across these stories. The first theme, Act I, The Battle: Deeply Rooted Ballet Ideals and the Changing Body examined participants’ ongoing body dissatisfaction and negative embodiment due to the lasting internalization of ballet body ideals, particularly amidst navigating the aging process, as many participants redrew their body maps to appear thinner. The second theme, Act II, Waltz of the Snowflakes: Recognition of Positive Ballet Embodiment examined participants’ positive embodiment and body image in terms of aesthetics, functionality, and ballet values (artistically demonstrated by participants’ use of glitter and bright colours on certain areas of their body maps), yet these experiences remained contingent on traditional ballet body ideals. The third theme, Act III, Pas de Deux: Tensions of Traditional and 21st Century Ballet Pedagogy explored participants’ concurrent perpetuations and rejections of traditional ballet values in their teaching practices and views toward the (slowly) evolving ballet world. These findings illustrate how ballet training can impact women’s relationship with their bodies long after dance retirement, can inform future arts-based research in physical cultural and sport psychology studies, and denote the importance of centering pedagogical approaches that support dancers’ positive body image and embodiment both during and following retirement of ballet training in Canada.

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‘Thinner is faster’ is a common phrase endurance runners hear throughout their careers, reflective of a long-held belief that body weight is directly related to athletic performance. The study of body image in endurance running is limited and research gaps remain, such as attention to the experiences of men athletes, Canadian collegiate runners, professional athletes, and how coaches may or may not impact sport body ideals and athletes’ body image. The purpose of this study was to a) explore the body image experiences of elite endurance runners, b) examine how gender identity might shape endurance runner’s body image, and c) explore how coach-athlete relationships impact athletes’ perceptions of body ideals and experiences of body image. Guided by a critical interpretivist lens, I conducted individual semi-structured interviews with seven elite endurance runners competing in distances of at least 1500m. Participants also completed researcher-directed diaries to record their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to body image, gender, and coach-athlete relationships. Using reflexive thematic analysis, four themes were developed. In Navigating Body Ideals: Isolation and Unseen Burdens, participants recounted experiences of hidden weight management, disordered eating, and isolation. Through Gendered Dialogue and Experiences of Body Image, women discussed fear in relation to body changes associated with puberty and menstruation, and scrutiny stemming from objectification. Men, in contrast, focused on the body composition changes occurring once they specialized in distance running, and used body-related humour when engaging in body-related talk which engendered self-consciousness. Agents of Conformity and Change: The Impact of Team Culture centred coaches’ reinforcement of body ideals, athletes’ places in these dynamics, and opportunities to create change through team culture. Finally, Acts of Resistance and a Shift to Sustainable Practices highlighted the resistance participants demonstrated towards distance running body ideals through self-acceptance, and their desire to prioritize longevity as a runner. This research contributes to current understandings of body image in endurance running beyond pathologies and diagnoses. The findings can inform cultural change and best practices in endurance running at the institutional and coaching levels to challenge sport body ideals and foster positive body image in athletes.

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Sport culture narratives teach athletes that their identities should center around athletic performance and physical superiority, with pain as an accepted part of sport-related success. A strong athletic identity has been linked with greater amounts of pain related distress. It is not surprising then that athletes’ learned relationship with pain may have long-term consequences for their identities and overall well-being through the transition out of sport and beyond. While identities in active and retired athletes have been extensively studied, less is known about retired athletes who experience persistent pain post-sporting career. The purpose of this study was to explore how persistent pain shaped and constrained how retired athletes negotiated their post-athletic career identities, and to illuminate how retired athletes used storytelling to make sense of their experiences with persistent pain. Adopting a narrative constructionist lens, I conducted two life story interviews with eight retired athletes (16 interviews) who had played at an elite level and who were currently experiencing persistent pain (pain lasting for greater than three months). Using dialogical narrative analysis, three themes were developed. Firstly, Developing an Intuitive Connection with the Body: participants described how pain taught them to listen to their body in retirement, with this dialogue enabling them to attend to their body’s needs, and to manage their ongoing pain. Secondly, Pain Enabling Empathy and Social Connection: participants used stories to depict how their pain experiences facilitated empathy and connection with others during retirement, which was juxtaposed to the isolation they felt as athletes when in pain. Thirdly, Disaffiliation or Connection Through Storytelling: participants drew on different narrative identity types (performance and relational narratives) based on their social relationships to story their experiences of pain. Some sought disaffiliation from others by recounting stories of athletic dominance, while others sought connection and belonging by relaying stories of teamwork and sport comradery. The findings expand our theoretical understanding of how stories and storytelling are used to make sense of athletes' post-sporting career lives. Application of these findings can better equip coaches, mental performance consultants, and sport organizations to tailor their support for athletes through the transition to retirement.

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Self-compassion is a positive way of relating to the self, which can be used by athletes to facilitate the management of stressors and foster high sport achievement (Mosewich, 2020). Research with women athletes suggests that self-compassion is positively related to flourishing, motivation, well-being, and adaptive coping (Mosewich, 2020). However, men athletes’ experiences of self-compassion are relatively absent from the existing research (Reis et al., 2019, 2021). Self-compassion research should focus on men athletes and how masculinity shapes self-compassion to better understand if self-compassion is a viable coping strategy for this population. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 men varsity athletes (20 interviews total) to i) examine competitive men athletes’ perceptions and experiences of self-compassion in relation to sport-related challenges and ii) explore how masculinity shapes experiences of self-compassion. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019a) and five themes were identified from the men’s accounts. Firstly, being a student athlete is challenging but I wouldn’t change it: participants identified unique challenges and stressors associated with pursuing both varsity sport and university, which required them to cope in adaptive ways and led many of the men to utilize self-compassion. Secondly, balancing act: the relationship between self-compassion and self-criticism: participants expressed that while self-criticism is imperative for improvement in sport, it should be countered with self-compassion to maintain motivation, mental well-being, and self-confidence. Thirdly, self-compassion is a very helpful coping strategy: participants identified self-compassion as an effective coping strategy for sport and other life domains. Fourthly, reluctance: self-compassion is a contentious topic for men athletes: participants denoted that self-compassion may promote complacency, demonstrating the embodiment of dominant masculine narratives of emotional stoicism. Finally, the dichotomous existence of inclusive and hegemonic masculinities: athletes described experiencing contrasting masculine ideologies, which promoted or constrained their implementation of self-compassion. Findings highlight how men varsity athletes implemented self-compassion to cope with poor personal performances and maintain motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the dominant narrative of emotional stoicism engendered some hesitancy towards self-compassion. Findings contribute to empirical research by highlighting men athletes’ experiences of self-compassion in the context of sport-related challenges and masculinity.

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