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Although sport participation holds potential to facilitate substance use recovery, the role of sport and links to identity transformation are contentious. Using an instrumental and intrinsic case study, we used narrative inquiry to explore autobiographies as cultural sites of analysis in relation to the role that one sport (i.e., triathlon) plays in substance use recovery. We conducted a social constructionist narrative thematic analysis of four public autobiography sources (e.g., one book and three documentary films) chronicling one man’s 27-year journey of substance use recovery using recreational triathlon. A central narrative threaded the substance use recovery process: redemption narrative. Redemption narrative meaning(s) unfolded in distinct ways depending on identity themes: (a) athlete to triathlete: (re)creating a non-substance-using identity and (b) generative athlete: claiming a sober identity. The redemption stories and shifting identities were connected to recovery capital resources: human (e.g., mental health and life perspective), social (e.g., community belonging), and cultural (e.g., appreciation of new meanings connected with triathlon). This study extends work in sport psychology focusing on athlete autobiographies as research and pedagogical resources to learn more about the role of sport in substance use recovery. We provide reflections on findings, recommendations for practitioners, and future research directions.

We outline the sport psychology service delivery provided to a 23-year-old elite figure skater who reported unhelpful thoughts about her body image that hindered her performance and concentration in training. An acceptance and commitment therapy intervention was implemented over 12 sessions across a 6-month period. The acceptance and commitment therapy matrix was used to conceptualize the client’s “stuckness” and provide a foundation for the techniques implemented. The aim of our work was to increase psychological flexibility, helping the client sit with, rather than change or remove, her unhelpful thoughts, moving her toward the athlete she wanted to be. This case reports how psychological flexibility was achieved through exercises to help the client “unhook” from her unhelpful thoughts about body image. Reflections from the client were obtained to monitor and evaluate the service delivery process. The trainee’s reflections on practice highlight the unpredictability of presenting problems disclosed during service delivery, the isolating and challenging nature of working with elite athletes in private practice, and the need for practitioners to understand the theoretical orientations of their approach.

Consultancy with children is rarely reported in the sport psychology literature. In light of this, the current case study sought to outline an age-appropriate approach to support provision for a 10-year-old soccer athlete at an elite soccer academy. The trainee sport and exercise psychologist utilized a combined rational-emotive-behavior-therapy and mindfulness-based approach to practice to understanding the athlete’s challenges and implemented psychological skills training. Effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated through a modified family systems approach, and player feedback was elicited using an adapted consultant effectiveness form. Reflection on the intervention details how open-mindedness to service delivery can facilitate the understanding of psychological skills training in the early years of sport performance and could pave the way for future reception and application at later levels.

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in female student athlete basketball players’ well-being over time. Eleven female student athlete basketball players completed the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale—Short Form (WEMWBS-SF) every week for 22 consecutive weeks. Differences in well-being (p = .027; ${\mathrm{\eta }}_{\mathrm{p}}^2=.25$ ) were found across time with the magnitude of weekly changes in WEMWBS-SF scores ranging between trivial and large. Magnitude-based differences highlighted individual variability, with five (45.45%) athletes very likely reporting increased well-being over time. It is evident that the well-being of female student athletes could be improved given the interpretation of aggregate scores, combined with joint consideration of the individual trajectories, reported in this study. Future work examining environmental factors with logical and practical links to well-being seems necessary to support female student athletes.

This case study outlines the holistic development of an adolescent soccer player, placing focus on the welfare of the individual first and the performer second. The client was seeking support as family life disturbances were having a negative impact on his mental health and general well-being. In addition, scholarship decisions were imminent, and the client felt that his performance had deteriorated. An introduction to the practitioner and client is provided, along with an account of the challenging and anxiety-provoking process encountered. Practitioner reflections are embedded throughout, and recommendations for other trainee sport psychology practitioners are provided. This case highlights the potentially unforeseen roles that sport psychology practitioners may, at times, play to best support their clients. It demonstrates the benefit of seeking guidance and support from supervisors and collaborating with other members of a multidisciplinary team, as well as the importance of having a clearly defined philosophy of practice to ensure that one is working from a place of congruence.

Using a narrative approach framed by social constructionism, we partnered with an adaptive physical activity (PA) program to explore the underlying meanings constructed around disability and the adaptive PA experience for individuals with a broad array of disabilities, including cognitive/intellectual, neurological, and developmental and physical. In doing so, we were able to gain new and more inclusive perspectives on the pathways between adaptive PA and health. Our results showed that the partnering adaptive PA program and its volunteers adhered primarily to a quest narrative, which was often taken up and reproduced by the adaptive PA participants and their families. The quest narrative allowed for the individuals with disabilities to reframe their sense of self-identity, revise meanings around their disability, and connect on a deeper level to the world around them, all of which led to increased feelings of joy, freedom, transformation, hope, and overall improved health-related quality of life.

Many new video-based technologies (e.g., eye trackers, point-of-view camera) have been integrated into sport referee performance monitoring and training. Mobile 360° video (an omnidirectional video-capture tool affixed to the referee during their performance using a chest harness) provides moving images recorded from a first-person perspective. This case study explored rugby union referees’ and referee coaches’ engagement with mobile 360° video during a viewing of another referee’s performance. Using an other-confrontation interview approach, referees’ and referee coaches’ cognitive activity (interests, concerns, noticing, and knowledge) while viewing mobile 360° video was elicited and studied. Participants experienced heightened immersion in the situation, as well as enhanced discovery and noticing behavior, and they constructed different types of embodied and corporeal knowledge. Using a rugby union setting, this occurred through enhanced perceptual involvement provided by mobile 360° video for reflection on referee positioning and movement, contextual inference about decisions, and sensitivity to player cues and interactions. This study provides preliminary evidence for the utility and acceptability of mobile 360° video as a pedagogical innovation in referee training to enhance referees’ decision making, game management, and reflexivity. Limitations, challenges, and applications of immersive mobile 360° video as a pedagogical tool in rugby union refereeing and other sports are discussed.