Phenomenology and Sport Psychology

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Phenomenology and Sports Psychology:

Back To The Things Themselves!Mark Nesti

a

aReader, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John

Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AFAvailable online: 11 Oct 2011

To cite this article:Mark Nesti (2011): Phenomenology and Sports Psychology: Back To The ThingsThemselves!, Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 5:3, 285-296

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PHENOMENOLOGY AND SPORTS

PSYCHOLOGY: BACK TO THE THINGSTHEMSELVES!

Mark Nesti

It is argued that the increasing interest in the use of phenomenological methods in sportpsychology could help rescue research in this area from its current obsession with measurement

and prediction. Phenomenology proceeds from a very different set of philosophical assumptions

from the natural science approach that underlies most research and practice in sport

psychology. Phenomenology insists that psychology should focus on meaning and investigate

the essence of human experience. The concept of anxiety occupies a central position within

phenomenological perspectives in psychology. This paper examines the experience of anxiety in

sport by drawing on applied sport psychology work undertaken with professional footballers in

the English Premier League (EPL). The phenomenology of anxiety is considered by distinguishing

between Mays psychological account and Heideggers philosophical perspective. Anxiety is

viewed positively by both philosophical and psychological phenomenology due to its links to

the idea of authenticity. This is discussed in depth in the paper and consideration will be given

to how this connects to important sources of meaning and identity in sport, such as spirituality

and religious belief.

Resumen

Se arguye que el creciente interes en el uso de metodos fenomenologicos en la psicologa

deportiva podra ayudar a salvar a la investigacion en esta area de su obsesion actual con la

medicion y la prediccion. La fenomenolog a resulta de una serie de supuestos muy diferentes del

enfoque de las ciencias naturales que subyace la mayor parte de la investigacion y la practica en

la psicolog a deportiva. La fenomenolog a insiste en que la psicologa deber a centrarse en el

sentido e investigar la esencia de la experiencia humana.

El concepto de la ansiedad ocupa una posicion central dentro de las perspectivas

fenomenologicas en la psicologa. Este art culo examina la experiencia de la ansiedad en el

deporte basandose en el trabajo realizado en la psicolog a aplicada del deporte con futbolistas

profesionales de la English Premier League (EPL). La fenomenologa de la ansiedad se trata por

medio de la distincion entre la version psicologica de May y la perspectiva filosofica de Heidegger.

Ambas, la fenomenologa filosofica y la psicologica, ven la ansiedad de manera positiva debido a

sus conexiones con la idea de la autenticidad. Esto se discute en profundidad en el art culo, a la

par que se considerara como esto se conecta con fuentes importantes del significado y laidentidad del deporte, tales como la espiritualidad y la creencia religiosa.

Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Vol. 5, No. 3, August 2011

ISSN 1751-1321 print/1751-133X online/11/03028512

2011 Taylor & Francis

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2011.602582


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Zusammenfassung

Es wird behauptet, dass das zunehmende Interesse an der Verwendung phanomenologischer

Methoden in der Sportpsychologie einen Beitrag dazu leisten kann, die Forschung in diesem

Bereich von seiner aktuellen Obsession des Messens und Vorhersagens zu retten. Die

Phanomenologie geht von einer Reihe ganz anderer philosophischer Annahmen aus als der

naturwissenschaftliche Ansatz, der doch der uberwiegenden Zahl an Forschungsarbeiten und

Praktiken in der Sportpsychologie zugrunde liegt. Phanomenologie betont, dass die Psychologie

sich auf den Sinn konzentrieren und das Wesen der menschlichen Erfahrung untersuchen sollte.

Der Begriff der Angst nimmt eine zentrale Stellung innerhalb der phanomenologischen Ansatze in

der Psychologie ein. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die Angsterfahrung im Sport, indem auf Arbeiten

der angewandten Sportpsychologie mit Profifuballern in der englischen Premier League (EPL)

Bezug genommen wird. Die Phanomenologie der Angst findet hier in ihren unterschiedlichen

Ansatzen Beachtung, einerseits in der psychologischen Betrachtung von May sowie andererseits in

Heideggers philosophischer Perspektive. Aufgrund ihrer Verbindung zur Idee der Authentizitat wird

Angst sowohl in der philosophischen als auch in der psychologischen Phanomenologie als etwasPositives angesehen. Dies wird hier eingehend diskutiert werden ebenso die Verbindung zu sinn-

und identitatsstiftenden Quellen des Sports, wie Spiritualitat und religiose Uberzeugungen.

Resume

Il est demontre que linteret croissant dans lutilisation de methodes phenomenologiques en

psychologie sportive pourrait aider a sauver la recherche dans ce secteur de son obsession actuelle

pour la mesure et la prediction. La phenomenologie procede de constats philosophiques tres

differents de lapproche des sciences naturelles qui est a la base de la plupart des recherches et des

pratiques de la psychologie du sport. La phenomenologie insiste sur le fait que la psychologie devrait

se concentrer sur la signification et examiner lessence de lexperience humaine.

Le concept danxiete occupe une position centrale dans les perspectives phenomenologiques de la

psychologie. Cet article examine lexperience danxiete dans le sport a partir du travail de

psychologie du sport applique, entrepris avec des footballeurs professionnels de la Premiere Ligue

anglaise (EPL). On considere la phenomenologie danxiete comme distinguant le bilan

psychologique de May et la perspective philosophique dHeidegger. Lanxiete est vue positivement

par la phenomenologie tant philosophique que psychologique en raison de ses liens avec lidee

dauthenticite. Cela est discute en profondeur dans larticle et des considerations sont faites sur la

maniere dont on peut le relier a des sources importantes sur la signification et lidentite dans le

sport, telles que la spiritualite et la croyance religieuse.

286 MARK NESTI


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KEYWORDS sport psychology; anxiety; philosophical phenomenology; psychological

phenomenology; professional football

There has been recent interest in the application of phenomenology in the field of sports

psychology. After a number of years during which mental toughness in sport has beenexamined through use of psychological inventories (Gucciardi and Gordon 2009) and

positivist qualitative research (Bullet al. 2005), Fawcett (2010) examined this concept using

phenomenological methods. He has recommended that other well-known topics in sports

psychology such as anxiety and confidence be subject to phenomenological interpreta-

tion, since it is time to focus on meaning (Nesti 2002) rather than quantification and

measurement. This is also justified because the dominant approach in sport psychology,

which is largely based on cognitive and behavioural psychology, has failed to allow

researchers to precisely identify these important psychological constructs. Indeed, a brief

review of the studies of sport anxiety and mental toughness in particular reveals that

rather than being able to identify the essential ingredients, researchers are adding to an

ever-growing list of variables that in some way relate to the phenomenon being

investigated. It appears that rather than getting closer to precise and agreed definitions of

mental toughness, for example, researchers are going in the other direction, stacking

variable upon variable in an apparently never-ending process.

In this paper, we will look at the reasons surrounding a growing recognition around

the value of employing phenomenological approaches in the academic discipline of sport

psychology. In some ways, this development is related to the greater acceptance of

qualitative methods (Biddleet al. 2001) within sport psychology in the last decade. We will

examine how for much of the past 40 years, sports psychology has been conceived of as a

positivist and quantitatively based natural science, despite many applied sports

psychologists operating very differently in practice (Ravizza 2002). We will consider the

reasons why sport psychology has been wedded to a scientific paradigm that rests on

philosophical dualism. Very often this is little acknowledged within scholarly work in sport

psychology, and where it has been subject to critique (Corlett 1996a) no suggestions have

been made regarding suitable alternatives. This has left applied sports psychologists with

a dilemma. According to Nesti (2007) the choice for some has often been one of practising

without being able to articulate the philosophical and scientific basis of their work. For

others, they have adopted a more pragmatic solution. These individuals manage to pursue

their research and publish in the field, while operating in ways that are little informed by

this work. The constructive and positive aspect to this is that there is an understanding

that something, somewhere is not as it should be!

Increasingly, the field of sport psychology is divided into two distinct and in some

ways opposed camps. One group carries out research and discusses theories. The other

engages in practical work of a psychological nature with sport performers but often

without any reference to the research and literature base of the discipline. Phenomen-

ological approaches could help overcome some of these difficulties.

There are a number of important concepts that impact on applied work but rarely

appear in research studies in the area. Terms from the lived world of performance sport,

such as courage, spirit, identity and meaning are little studied. In addition, anxiety in sporthas only been considered in relation to competition. Almost 30 years of research based on

cognitive behavioural attempts at understanding the mechanisms of competitive anxiety

PHENOMENOLOGY AND SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY 287


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have arguably resulted in findings that help us little. One of the most recent papers to

review progress with research into competitive anxiety in sport has concluded that

findings suggest athletes can experience varying intensities of this emotion before they

compete, and that for some this is viewed favourably while others are inclined to associate

these feelings with poor performances (Mullenet al. 2009). I would contend that most who

have played sport at any level are able to recognise this account, having experienced itthemselves in their own activities. After many thousands of studies that have been carried

out on this topic in relation to sport, we seem to be no further forward.

However, existential phenomenological psychologists such as May (1977) have

written extensively about anxiety in very different ways. Nesti (2002) was one of the first

sport psychologists to draw on Mays work around the phenomenology of anxiety. This

approach does not restrict the study of anxiety to pre-competitive emotion, but adopts a

much broader perspective that describes anxiety as being related to notions of human

freedom and inevitability of choice.

We will examine how anxiety can be understood phenomenologically within the life

of sport performers. Consideration will be given to Heideggers philosophical-phenom-

enological account of anxiety and its relationship to inauthenticity. This will be contrasted

with the psychological-phenomenological perspective of May. This will be discussed in

relation to applied work carried out by the author within English Premier League football

clubs during nine seasons. This example is included to highlight that a phenomenological

approach to anxiety and other important concepts such as identity and courage has as

much to say to practitioners in sport psychology as to those engaged in research.

In the conclusion a number of topics and areas will be proposed that could greatly

benefit from being subject to phenomenological research. Some of these, like anxiety,

have been studied for many years, while others have very rarely been considered. In

keeping with the idea that phenomenological methods can inform research and practice,

the topics selected here are based on the needs of sports teams and their athletes first,

and the interests of researchers and scholars second.

Phenomenology has been used in a small number of studies within sport

psychology, such as the work of Dale (1996) with elite athletes, and Czech et al. (2004)

on prayer and sport psychology. However, apart from a chapter addressing phenomen-

ology in sport by Nesti (2004) there have been no detailed accounts explaining the

differences between this approach and other forms of qualitative research. The paper on

mental toughness by Fawcett (2010) has begun to address these broader methodological

issues and includes a clear set of ideas outlining the strengths of phenomenology. While

this should provide an impetus to future research, there is a greater obstacle to be

overcome before this can take place.

Although Fawcett directs his readers to consider Nestis (2004) account of the possible

use of phenomenology in sport psychology, this work itself was intended as a very basic and

simplified account of phenomenology and its application. Much better would be to

encourage sport psychologists to read the work of phenomenological psychologists such as

Giorgi (1970). He explains why psychology should be reconceived as a human science rather

than something most frequently based on the tenets of natural science. We would also like

to see those who study sport psychology be exposed to the underlying philosophical

assumptions of different approaches in psychology. This could help overcome possibleobjections that phenomenology psychology is too closely associated with philosophy.

An additional difficulty for sport psychologists is around some of the terminology

used within phenomenology. At first glance, the Lebensweltor lived world, being-in-the

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world, and co-constitutionality are unfamiliar terms and can be difficult to understand

fully. Fortunately, there are other ideas and concepts in phenomenology that are more

familiar to psychologists. For example, the idea of ensuring that data emerge based on the

direct account of an experience, rather than an explanation or analysis, links very closely to

the descriptions of many encounters and dialogue that take place in sport psychology

counselling sessions. The notion of the subject or participant in research being betterdescribed as a co-researcher (Giorgi 1970) is also something that most qualitative

researchers would aim to fulfil. The topic of bracketing, which Husserl (1970) describes as

being a way for psychologists to take steps to reflect and identify their own pre-conceived

conceptions of the phenomena being considered (Nesti 2004, 21), can easily be

understood as a way to remove personal bias from the research data collection process.

The deeper philosophical and methodological discussion around bracketing may be

difficult for psychologists to grasp fully. However, it is possible to understand that because

of our subjectivity as human beings engaged in research, bracketing makes sense

psychologically speaking, although it can never be fully achieved.

Finally, there are many sports psychologists who feel that the discipline has begun

to measure and quantify before identifying what it should be measuring in the first place.

This momentum towards measurement rather than meaning is somewhat understandable

within the relatively short history of the discipline. Sport psychologists have been keen to

demonstrate the worth of their applied knowledge in the fields of sport and performance,

youth sport participation, and physical activity and exercise. The education and training of

many in the discipline has left them unaware of the limitations of natural-science-based

psychology. An approach that generates useful results in the laboratory is often less useful

when applied to the real world.

Beyond the world of sport psychology, Giorgi (1970) has claimed that there is a more

fundamental reason for the failure to recognise the inherent weaknesses of natural science

psychology. He argues that the natural attitude, which according to Giorgi involves an

external observer attempting to explain something objectively, dominates our way of

proceeding as researchers, practitioners and even within our everyday lives. Phenomen-

ology is deeply opposed to this. The main reason for this is because as a truly holistic

methodology it rejects the idea that there exist independent objective and subjective

fields and argues that reality is a synthesis between object and subject (Husserl 1970).

Although there are considerable points of divergence around this important point, most

phenomenologists agree with the idea that reality is experienced through our

consciousness, and that this is always directed towards the real world in order to

interpret this in a meaningful manner (Spinelli 1989, 11).

For some in sport psychology this may sound like a return to older methods such as

introspectionism, or to an increased focus on subjective experience. In fact, this is not at all

what Husserl, as the founder of phenomenology, had in mind. He wished to establish a

new approach to the study of human beings that would be capable of simultaneously

acknowledging both our objective facticity and the subjective realm of feeling and

emotion. In this way he was able to argue that phenomenology could provide a truly

empirical and rigorous approach.

Heideggers (1962) philosophical account ofDasein, or being-in-the-world, reveals

why the idea of angst, or anxiety, is so important in phenomenology. He claims that whilewe are thrown into the world as individual human beings, at the same time we exist only

in relation to others. This fact though can lead us into inauthenticity. That is, sometimes

we are not our selves. At these moments we experience what Heidegger called



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unhomeliness. This is where we live completely according to the influences and dictates

of others. In one of the most penetrating and important analyses of existence, Heidegger

points out that we often live the lives others direct us towards, to avoid the feeling of

anxiety. This angst or anxiety is experienced when we accept that we have some

responsibility for ourDasein. The way to escape the feeling of anxiety is to allow ourselves

to be dissolved into what Heidegger calls the they. According to Heidegger, the theyconstantly accommodate each particular person by disburdening him of the responsibility

for his personal existence . . . which supplies the answer to the question of the who of

everyday human existence, is the nobody to whom every particular person has

surrendered himself ( Heidegger 1962, 164). In this way, we can avoid the uncomfortable

experience of existential anxiety but at the cost of ignoring our own human agency that

is, our freedom to choose and act authentically.

Choice and authenticity in the face of anxiety are very important themes in the lives

of sport performers. Especially for those at the top, great rewards can cause considerable

distraction. It is easy to fall into inauthenticity, to seek the comfort zone and the easier life

when you have achieved so much. Heideggers philosophical phenomenology makes it

very clear that existing in this condition is not something good, although it mayfeelgood.

On the contrary, and echoing the earlier thoughts of Soren Kierkegaard, he states that

anxiety is a positive sign. Anxiety accompanies authenticity. Being ourselves comes at a

cost, but not to be ourselves comes at the greater cost of never living our own lives!

Mays (1977) psychological-phenomenological account of anxiety links this concept

closely to ideas around meaning and identity. His work argues that anxiety is something

that accompanies authenticity. He sees his role as a psychologist to help people confront

the normal anxiety associated with making choices and facing change. Sometimes this

may involve finding new meaning to guide ones life and be about our identity. At other

times it may be about less fundamental although important concerns relating to work or

relationships. This approach points out that as long as the individual develops the courage

to decide and act on the choices they face, anxiety can serve a constructive role in our

development towards authenticity and growth. Not to face up to the responsibility to

choose can lead to neurotic anxiety, according to May. This clinical condition can result

from our repeated attempts to avoid the feeling of existential anxiety by living inauthentic

lives.

Within sport there are many sources of existential anxiety. A psychological-

phenomenological study of anxiety could help rescue this concept from its current status

in sport as something viewed as being fundamentally a negative phenomenon.

Researchers and applied sports psychologists (Nesti 2010; Corlett 1996a) have revealed

that anxiety is something the sports performer, in common with all people, experiences

alongside their awareness of freedom. In the case of a Premiership football player, the

material successes and rewards associated with achievement in their sport provide the

athlete with many competing choices. Theses may even be related to their broader lives,

or be more closely linked to their role as a professional sport performer. A

phenomenological approach to anxiety would allow the researcher to begin to capture

the structure and essence of this phenomenon. This is urgently required so that

researchers and applied practitioners can achieve a more empirical understanding of

anxiety than that which currently exists in the sport psychology literature.To understand the experience of being anxious, we need to invite the person

experiencing this to describe it in everyday language with terms familiar to their own

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perspective. This is consistent with Husserls demand that we need to return to the

things themselves. In following a phenomenological approach to existential anxiety in

sport, we must allow the data to speak directly to us. That is, free from the influences

of theorising or planning interventions. In other words, until we know exactly what we

are dealing with, we should at least refrain from attempting to prescribe what must be

done to deal with a phenomenon. This represents a major challenge for the field ofsport psychology, where the scientist approach has encouraged an action-oriented

outlook, always ready to intervene. A phenomenological approach clearly rejects this as

unhelpful and idealistic.

Most likely, this does not sound like useful research to those imbued with a natural

science perspective on psychology and sport psychology! There are also very real practical

issues to overcome with this kind of work. Whether in research settings or applied work, it

is easy to see why Van Kaam (1969) has suggested that all researchers and clients need to

have ability to communicate effectively and be able to discuss feelings and emotions

without any inhibition. The requirement that there is a level of deep and interpersonal

communication between researcher and co researcher often presents problems for the

sports psychologist. Their task according to Polkinghorne (1989) is to remain with the co-

researcher as they sometimes struggle to describe a phenomenon. They must also avoid

using psychological terms or technical language to ensure that communication is direct

and natural.

The researcher or applied sport psychologist must resist the temptation to take

control of the phenomenological interview, and should allow data to emerge more or less

spontaneously. Beyond this point the data could be analysed and written up in

accordance with the requirements of psychological phenomenology. In other words, the

data can be themed and structured and, finally, where the phenomenon is one that

readers have experienced, the findings must also correspond to the readers own

experiences of the phenomenon (ibid., 57).

In the case of existential anxiety related to choice and isolation experienced by a

Premier League football player, the subsequent discussion of the data should reside with

an account of anxiety that is universally recognisable to all. This should be despite the

different contextual dimensions present in the description. To help this process, it is

essential that confidentiality is in place, and that there is a high level of trust between the

psychologist and the client, or the researcher and co-researcher. Phenomenologically

derived accounts are no holds barred personal descriptions of an event or experience.

Without the assurance of complete confidentiality it is unlikely that a Premier League

footballer or other high-profile athlete would be prepared to engage in such a deeply

personal enterprise. This again presents a challenge to the sport psychology researcher

who is unable to offer anything back to the player for giving their time to the research. For

the applied sport psychologist, the issue of confidentiality is easier to address. In my own

work within Premier League teams the manager and senior coaching staff have assured

players that in order to carry out my work in an ethical and useful way, complete

confidentiality is essential. It is also far easier to build up a trusting relationship with the

sports performer to carry out this type of work where the sport psychologist is involved in

ongoing support often over several months and years.

The use of phenomenology in sport psychology could lead to an increasedacceptance of practitioner-based accounts of important phenomena such as anxiety. This

data would differ from much of the current perspective since it would reflect the lived



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world of the athletes experience of anxiety. It should be noted that advocates of

phenomenology (Giorgi and Giorgi 2004) do not see their work as a way to build

psychological theory or to assist the technology of measurement. As they explain, this is

because the philosophical underpinning of a human science approach to psychology rests

on a complete rejection of the ideas of Cartesian dualism and the search for cause-and-

effect relationships. Their version of sports persons as being made up of mind, body andspirit, is a radically different starting point to natural science based psychology.

In looking at the usefulness of adopting phenomenological psychology within an

applied sports psychology experience there is no other term as important as that of

identity and its relationship to authenticity. Sport psychology literature has attempted to

measure the degree to which athletes view their identity exclusively in relation to their

sport, or whether they have a broader and more fluid self-identity. Unfortunately, sport

psychology researchers have often articulated their definition and concept of identity

without having asked the athlete in the first place.

In contrast, during my work with elite Premier League professional footballers, they

have frequently described how their identity is something of an unfinished nature. They

typically describe themselves in ways far beyond any dichotomous categories as being

exclusively a footballer, or merely as a person who plays football for a job. The data that

emerge from the phenomenological dialogue with these footballers allows them to

describe the sometimes subtle, often nuanced, and rarely clear aspects of who they are.

These phenomenologically-derived accounts emerged from within my completely

confidential one-to-one sports psychology counselling sessions with top-level Premiership

footballers as part of a performance-focused sports psychology service. This may appear

highly unlikely to those practitioners who are currently dominant in the field, who according

to Corlett (1996a) tend to use cognitive behavioural techniques to help athletes manage

symptoms. In contrast, an existential-phenomenological approach to applied work in sport

psychology is first of all interested in the description the player provides of who he is and

what this means to him, and how it guides his future choices. Despite cultural differences

and wide ranges in levels of education and experience of professional sport, the majority of

players I have worked with (averaging ten meetings with different individuals per week over

nine Premiership seasons) displayed a high level of self-awareness and self-knowledge about

identity, choice in the face of anxiety and the importance of authenticity. Sometimes these

phenomenologically guided encounters would last well beyond the 30 to 40 minutes of

allocated time, especially where players were facing difficult moments within their career

and personal lives. For example, new players from other countries can encounter a myriad of

different challenges that could cause great difficulty for them in terms of their performance

as elite footballers. Understanding the language, different ways of playing the game,

different rules, ways of behaving and new living arrangements are just some of the

frequently experienced challenges faced. These are examples of what May (1977) called

normal anxiety. During such moments these footballers, often without anything more than

one introductory question, would spend time describing the important sources of meaning

in their life and how this helped them to confront difficult moments in their lives. These rich

accounts describe identity and meaning in relation to family, relationships, religious belief,

values, existential anxiety and making choices. The descriptions weave a fabric that includes

their past, present and future lives as professional footballers. This often included everythingelse in their broader lives, whether from their past, what they currently faced and what they

hoped for.

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This phenomenologically derived data was gathered through a passionate,

empathetic dialogue, that often resembles the description of an I-Thou encounter

described so powerfully by Buber (1958). Within an I-Thou dialogue, similar to

phenomenological research, the focus is on the client as a person, or the subject as co-

researcher ( Giorgi and Giorgi 2004). Phenomenology demands that the researcher fully

immerses him/herself in the dialogue and refrains from questions around why, insteadfocusing exclusively on the what of an experience or event. Although difficult to carry out

fully, the phenomenological method requires that the researcher attends to one task and

nothing else, which according to Ihde (1986, 44) is to describe, dont explain.

One area closely associated with this focus on identity, anxiety and authenticity is

around the phenomenology of freedom. Most approaches in sport psychology, derived as

they are from the parent discipline of psychology, are unable to accommodate ideas of

free will or philosophical ideas around freedom. Through following a natural science

paradigm, most of psychology views human behaviour as being determined by

environment or genes or as a result of interaction between these two factors. In contrast,

phenomenological psychology understands human being in terms of what it refers to as

situated freedom. It sees the human person as someone truly capable of a free act.

Existential phenomenologists acknowledge that we are influenced by our environment

and genetics, but that we are also capable of acting freely.

This idea of freedom has proved to be a very useful and attractive idea in my applied

work with sport performers. Such an approach allows for a discussion about choice and

responsibility. These are important terms when working with athletes facing important

decisions in their lives and especially where it may at first appear that they have little

influence of control over events that affect them. The phenomenology of freedom has

been discussed by a number of philosophers (see Clark 1973); however, this debate has as

yet failed to reach the discipline of sport psychology. Much of this is due to the fear that

many psychologists have of losing their recently gained independence from philosophy,

and the practical and professional benefits resulting from claims to be a natural science.

However, in applied work, when athletes must confront real critical moments, words such

as freedom, will, courage and choice are not dry scientific concepts, but have an

immediate and clear impact on peoples lives.

To conclude, there are some hopeful signs in the applied sport psychology literature

that phenomenological psychology will become more welcome. For example, Andersen

(2009) has argued that sport psychologists should solely direct their attention at caring for

the welfare of the player or athlete with whom they are working. He argues this is the only

ethical position to adopt given that sport psychologists are unable to clearly identify where

their work impacts on performance. In contrast, others have argued that sport psychologists

are employed to focus on performance alone, and that this should be their focus and

nothing else. This is supported from an ethical perspective in that when sport psychologists

are employed, it is assumed that they will be able to directly assist the performance agenda

of an individual, team or club. From a phenomenological perspective, and based on

extensive work with elite level professional athletes and footballers, I have argued (Nesti

2010) that this presents a false dichotomy. The work with a sports performer is always

oriented towards helping them to maximise their sport performances in some way. It also

involves working with the whole person and beyond their sport identity.This links in closely to Heideggers ideas about authenticity involving wholeness-

becoming ones-self (again). That is, not to allow others to determine your selfthrough



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your roles alone. The task is to remain open to being and the awareness that death as

the ultimate form of change cannot be evaded. The anxiety that results from this

knowledge can be constructive where we are prepared to search for meaning and

become our true selves. The implications for sport psychology from Heideggers ideas

about authenticity and Mays stress on meaning could open the door to the study of a

number of other important but largely ignored topics in sport psychology such asspirituality in sport.

We have noticed an increase in sport psychology work addressing the importance

of religious belief and spiritual meaning within sport (Nesti 2007). These topics are

beginning to be a considered within the research. Much of this however, proceeds from

various qualitative perspectives where athletes are asked to explain why they hold

particular beliefs, how these help them to perform better, how often they pray and how

this links to mental skills training. Largely missing is work directed at identifying the

experience of what religious and spiritual beliefs mean to the sports performer

themselves.

It is somewhat ironic that, in my experience, many elite professional football players

are prepared to describe their religious beliefs and spiritual and cultural values during one-

to-one sport psychology counselling meetings. These accounts are usually embedded

within in- depth descriptions on identity, and the need to be authentic or true to

themselves. A phenomenological analysis of these reports would identify that irrespective

of different theological perspectives, some players describe how their religious and

spiritual beliefs are a living form of guidance in their whole lives, helping them to stay true

to their values, especially in those difficult moments encountered in the volatile world of

elite professional sport.

The use of phenomenology in sport psychology applied work could mean that

practice could provide a lead to research rather than what seems often to have happened

in our field. Most usually researchers have already identified concepts and constructs in

advance of any phenomenological analysis which they subsequently apply and measure in

the field.

Especially in high level and professional sport environments, the existential idea of

isolation is keenly felt. The anxiety associated with deselection, injury, being forced to take

on different roles or having to move clubs and teams is a common feature of sport at this

level. Despite this, there is no body of work in sport psychology that addresses what this

experience involves, how this feels and what could be done to move forward in a positive

and constructive way.

Phenomenological psychology could allow us to look more closely at important

terms such as courage and team spirit. These are frequently used within sport but have

very rarely been examined within sport psychology research. Where they have they are

usually related to philosophical accounts, and based on the ideas of Socrates and Aquinas

(Corlett 1996b) or the concept of spirit associated with peak experiences and the

phenomenology of flow. Czikszentmihalyis (1996) phenomenologically derived studies

into optimal experience in sport, heart surgery, arts and many other areas of life have

provided an empirical attempt to capture the lived experience associated with our best

performances.

Other accounts of spirit, team spirit and spirituality in sport psychology are moreclosely connected to the work of the German philosopher Pieper (1998). Nesti (2011) has

used Piepers philosophically grounded description of human spirit and religious

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spirituality to describe how these can be experienced in the lives of Premiership

footballers. These accounts have emerged from phenomenologically guided encounters

with players.

These phenomenological accounts capture the idea that human spirit is something

that is most easily seen and indeed witnessed, during moments of great hardship, sacrifice

and suffering (Nesti 2007). The descriptions provided by the players counter the argumentthat this form of spirit can be reduced to a psychological construct as such, and instead

argue that it is more like a quality of the person. The feelings and experiences surrounding

this term suggest that it is deeply valued by sport performers, managers, coaches and

others, including fans, because it involves individual persons pursuing apparently hopeless

tasks without giving up hope. As yet, the sport psychology research community has failed

to examine this very important concept in sport, preferring to deny its existence (Crust

2006) or to translate spirit to mean motivation or self-confidence. Phenomenological

accounts from sport performers clearly reject this interpretation, and indeed as Nesti

(2010) has confirmed from his own work in professional sport, top managers and coaches

frequently claim that this element represents the most important quality in distinguishing

the top performer from the others.

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Mark Nesti, Reader, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores

University, Liverpool. L3 3AF. E-mail: [email protected]

296 MARK NESTI

Documents

Phenomenology and Sport Psychology