Kassi Welch’s MA Thesis Proposal

Title: “Storying the post-athletic career body: Identity construction in former athletes living with persistent pain”

Supervisor: Dr. Erica Bennett
Committee members: Dr. Andrea Bundon, Dr. Guy Faulkner

Abstract: ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ and similar sport culture narratives teach athletes that their identities should center around athletic performance and physical superiority, with pain being an accepted part of sport-related success (McKay & Tabor, 2021). At the same time, a strong athletic identity has been linked with greater amounts of pain related distress, suggesting that athletes who experience long-term pain may be more vulnerable to pain catastrophizing, depression, and fear of pain (Hsu et al., 2021). It is not surprising then, that athletes’ learned relationship with pain in sport may have long-term consequences for their identities and overall well-being, even through the transition out of sport and beyond. That said, while identities in active and retired athletes have been extensively studied, however, less is known about retired athletes who experience persistent pain post sporting career. The purpose of my proposed research is thus to i) explore how persistent pain shapes and constrains how retired athletes negotiate their post-athletic career identities, and to ii) illuminate how retired athletes use storytelling to make sense of their experiences with persistent pain. Adopting a narrative constructionist lens (Smith & Sparkes, 2008), I will conduct life story interviews with 8-10 retired athletes who have played at an elite level in their sport and who are experiencing persistent pain. Using dialogical narrative analysis (Caddick, 2015), I will develop themes and identify structural elements to analyze retired athletes’ narratives of identity and persistent pain. The outcomes of this research will expand our theoretical understanding of how stories and storytelling may be used by athletes to make sense of their post-sporting career lives. This research will help inform sport stakeholders and athletes by bringing new light to the experiences of sport retirement and pain management.