A process map of flourishing between the coach and athlete in Canadian university sport

Abstract

ABSTRACT Flourishing is a conceptualisation of mental health that considers an individual’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Research has indicated that coaches and student-athletes may impact each other’s flourishing, but the process through which this may happen is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate how coaches and athletes can flourish together in the sport domain. Ten student-athletes, six coaches, three former student-athletes who coached at the university level, two administrators, one athletic therapist, and one sport psychology consultant participated in individual semi-structured interviews (N total = 23). Following analytic approach, a process map was generated outlining how coaches and student-athletes can flourish together in the context of sport. The process map includes four predictions, beginning with the creation of shared goals between student-athletes and coaches. (i) Once shared goals were established, student-athletes had to learn about and engage with available resources, while coaches provided and taught about the resources to promote goal-oriented growth for student-athletes. (ii) If growth was realised, student-athletes and coaches experienced indicators of flourishing. (iii) Moving from shared goals to indicators of flourishing was facilitated by the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and other personal, relational, and environmental factors. (iv) Coaches and student-athletes who experienced indicators of flourishing would be more likely repeat this process. This process map provides a starting point for understanding how coaches and student-athletes can flourish together in sport, and may provide insight into mental health promotion in other sport domains and relationships.