Does Experience of Being a National Athlete Support Woman Resilience? A Qualitative Study of Former Female Athletes

Kurniati Rahayuni, Prisca Widiawati, S Supriatna, R Roesdiyanto, Yukta Terate Syura

Abstract


Sport is believed to provide positive psychological benefits and support positive personal growth, including resilience, the ability to deal with stress. However, the research exploring positive benefits obtained by female athletes, especially after they retired as athletes, is scarce. This research aimed to comprehend whether the experience of being a national athlete supports the formation of resilience in women even after they retired as athletes. The research used a qualitative approach with semi-structured interview data collection methods. Participants were 7 former female athletes who had represented Indonesia at international events. All of them were retired and working as professionals. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. The results of this research showed that the experience of pursuing a career to achieve international achievements had profound impacts on their life, especially when facing daily challenges in the workplace and at home which contribute to their resilience. Three dominant themes were articulated from the analysis, including discipline and self-regulation (such as having a regular scheduled routine, keeping to the time for every activity, and preparing early to achieve better results, affecting their succession in their current profession), the ability to reflect on emotions and control negative emotions (such as when life challenges cause emotional turmoil, past experience in sports at the national-international level provides reference to be competent in recognizing self-weaknesses leading to manage emotions in retrospective way), and opportunities for career achievements brought by involvement in sports at the national level, including the ‘dream career’, and wider networking access for career advancement and social supports. Considering the positive highlights of this results, it is recommended that policymakers support female participation more in elite sports and provide supportive environments for female athletes.


Keywords


Career Transition, Elite Athletes, Female Athletes, Resilience, Indonesia

Full Text:

PDF

References


Albaihaqi, Jabbar, A., Rahayuni, K., & Widiawati, P. (2024). Jombang district community perceptions of women trainers. Journal of Sport Education (JOPE), 6(2).

Aliyyah, A., Wicaksono, B., Saniatuzzulfa, R., & Mukholid, A. (2020). Relevance of self efficacy and female futsal athletes’ anxiety before the match. Jurnal SPORTIF: Jurnal Penelitian Pembelajaran, 6(1), 105-117.

Anderson, E. (2008, June). “I used to think women were weak”: Orthodox masculinity, gender segregation, and sport. In Sociological forum (Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 257-280). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Appleby, K. M., & Fisher, L. A. (2009). “Running in and out of motherhood”: elite distance runners’ experiences of returning to competition after pregnancy. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 18(1), 3-17.

Armstrong, L., & Hutchison, A. (2022). Participation in sport, empowerment, and safety from violence: Critiquing the connections through women’s experiences in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Violence against women, 28(3-4), 801-822.

Bialeschki, M. D., & Michener, S. (1994). Re-entering leisure: Transition within the role of motherhood. Journal of Leisure Research, 26(1), 57-74.

Bonanno, G. A., & Diminich, E. D. (2013). Annual Research Review: Positive adjustment to adversity–trajectories of minimal–impact resilience and emergent resilience. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 54(4), 378-401.

Braumüller, B., Emberger, D., & Hartmann-Tews, I. (2020). Gendered coverage of the Olympic Games in German print media: A longitudinal content analysis in the context of participation, success and disciplines. European journal for sport and society, 17(4), 319-338.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). To saturate or not to saturate? Questioning data saturation as a useful concept for thematic analysis and sample-size rationales. Qualitative research in sport, exercise and health, 13(2), 201-216.

Brown, J. C., Kerkhoffs, G., Lambert, M. I., & Gouttebarge, V. (2017). Forced retirement from professional rugby union is associated with symptoms of distress. International journal of sports medicine, 38(08), 582-587.

Charkoudian, N., & Joyner, M. J. (2004). Physiologic considerations for exercise performance in women. Clinics in chest medicine, 25(2), 247-255.

Davies, B., Turner, M., & Udell, J. (2020). Add a comment… how fitspiration and body positive captions attached to social media images influence the mood and body esteem of young female Instagram users. Body image, 33, 101-105.

Dermawan, D. F., Dlis, F., & Mahardhika, D. B. (2019). Analisis Perkembangan Wanita dalam Olahraga. Jurnal Speed (Sport, Physical Education, Empowerment), 2(1), 24-29.

Evans, K. E., Schmalz, D. L., Anderson, D. M., & Agate, S. T. (2023). “Try not to make waves”: Managing gender discrimination in outdoor recreation. Leisure Sciences, 45(6), 542-558.

Felshin, J. (1974). The triple option… for women in sport. Quest, 21(1), 36-40.

Fewell, L. K., Nickols, R., Schlitzer Tierney, A., & Levinson, C. A. (2018). Eating disorders in sport: Comparing eating disorder symptomatology in athletes and non-athletes during intensive eating disorder treatment. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 12(4), 578–594. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2018-0046

Fink, J. S., Kane, M. J., & LaVoi, N. M. (2014). The freedom to choose: Elite female athletes’ preferred representations within endorsement opportunities. Journal of Sport Management, 28(2), 207-219.

Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2012). A grounded theory of psychological resilience in Olympic champions. Psychology of sport and exercise, 13(5), 669-678.

Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2013). Psychological resilience. European psychologist.

Forsyth, J. J., Jones, J., Duval, L., & Bambridge, A. (2019). Opportunities and barriers that females face for study and employment in sport. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 24, 80-89.

Ginn, G. M., & Munn, S. L. (2019). Book Review: Interviews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing.

Gouttebarge, V., & Kerkhoffs, G. M. (2017). A prospective cohort study on symptoms of common mental disorders among current and retired professional ice hockey players. The Physician and sportsmedicine, 45(3), 252-258.

Holt, N. L., Neely, K. C., Slater, L. G., Camiré, M., Côté, J., Fraser-Thomas, J., ... & Tamminen, K. A. (2017). A grounded theory of positive youth development through sport based on results from a qualitative meta-study. International review of sport and exercise psychology, 10(1), 1-49.

Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative health research, 15(9), 1277-1288.

International Olympic Committee. (2022). Gender equality & inclusion report 2021.

Julian, R., Hecksteden, A., Fullagar, H. H., & Meyer, T. (2017). The effects of menstrual cycle phase on physical performance in female soccer players. PloS one, 12(3), e0173951.

Kong, P., & Harris, L. M. (2015). The sporting body: body image and eating disorder symptomatology among female athletes from leanness focused and nonleanness focused sports. The Journal of psychology, 149(2), 141-160.

KONI. (2014). KONI: Grand Strategy. KONI.

Krane, V. (2001). We can be athletic and feminine, but do we want to? Challenging hegemonic femininity in women's sport. Quest, 53(1), 115-133.

Krane, V., Ross, S. R., Barak, K. S., Lucas-Carr, C. B., & Robinson, C. L. (2014). Being a girl athlete. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 6(1), 77-97.

Kusumawati, I., & Cahyati, S. (2019). Peran Wanita Dalam Pembentukan Karakter Di Bidang Olahraga. In Jurnal Seminar Nasional.

Mannes, Z. L., Waxenberg, L. B., Cottler, L. B., Perlstein, W. M., Burrell II, L. E., Ferguson, E. G., ... & Ennis, N. (2019). Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among retired elite athletes: A systematic review. International review of sport and exercise psychology, 12(1), 265-294.

McGannon, K. R., Gonsalves, C. A., Schinke, R. J., & Busanich, R. (2015). Negotiating motherhood and athletic identity: A qualitative analysis of Olympic athlete mother representations in media narratives. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 20, 51-59.

McGannon, K. R., McMahon, J., & Gonsalves, C. A. (2018). Juggling motherhood and sport: A qualitative study of the negotiation of competitive recreational athlete mother identities. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 36, 41-49.

Morgan, P. B., Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2013). Defining and characterizing team resilience in elite sport. Psychology of sport and exercise, 14(4), 549-559.

Murray, P., Lord, R., & Lorimer, R. (2022). ‘It’s just a case of chipping away': A postfeminist analysis of female coaches’ gendered experiences in grassroots sport. Sport, Education and Society, 27(4), 475-488.

Sparkes, A. C., & Smith, B. (2013). Qualitative research methods in sport, exercise and health: From process to product. Routledge.

Toll, M., & Norman, M. (2021). More than meets the eye: A relational analysis of young women’s body capital and embodied understandings of health and fitness on Instagram. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(1), 59-76.

Weiss, M. R., Amorose, A. J., & Wilko, A. M. (2009). Coaching behaviors, motivational climate, and psychosocial outcomes among female adolescent athletes. Pediatric exercise science, 21(4), 475-492.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.17509/jpjo.v10i1.76268

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Kurniati Rahayuni, Prisca Widiawati, Supriatna Supriatna, Roesdiyanto Roesdiyanto, Yukta Terate Syura

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

web
statistics

View My Stats