Is hockey just a game? Contesting meanings of the ice hockey life projects through a career-threatening injury |
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| Authors: | Noora J Ronkainen Tatiana V Ryba |
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| Institution: | 1. Exercise, Health and Technology Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, Chinanoora.ronkainen@sjtu.edu.cn;3. Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyv?skyl?, Finland;4. Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark |
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| Abstract: | This study is situated within an existential–narrative theoretical framework to examine the impact of career-threatening injury on professional ice hockey players’ well-being and career construction. Professional ice hockey culture is construed as a privileged space characterised by hegemonic masculinity, fierce competition as well as high-risk behaviours often resulting in sports injuries. In this paper, we analyse two players’ life stories with a particular focus on injury as a boundary situation involving social and temporal breakdown and re-evaluation of meaning of sporting life projects. Emergent narratives surrounding existential themes of loss of meaning and loneliness in the face of injury were analysed in connection with players’ search for authenticity and realignment with self-concept. Each player developed resistant narratives to the dominant ethos of professional sport in order to restore well-being and sense of self. The relational aspects of injury are highlighted in practical recommendations. |
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| Keywords: | Athletic injury professional sport life story existentialism narrative |
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