| dc.description.abstract | Title A Top Female Athlete's Reflection on her Career - Dealing with adversity in a sports career illustrated through the understanding of how motivation and coping skills can help to overcome career obstacles. Project Background Many athletes, especially women, feel they lose the motivation for playing sports early on in their careers. There is a need for more knowledge regarding coping capabilities in the face of decreasing motivation to continue a sports career. Purpose and problem There is a need to understand how women who have experienced hardship but still chose to continue with their sport, think about coping mechanisms within their career problems. This paper will provide knowledge regarding the phenomena experienced through hardships and career intimidation and the prerequisites required for coping with these. Method: design, selection and analysis This is a case study in which one in-depth interview of one top female athlete was conducted. The informant is in the final stages of her career. There were three in-depth interviews completed. The analysis was undertaken using the "hermeneutical sense interpretation" of the interviews. Results Affiliation, social life, the enjoyment of the sport and level of expertise, along with the flexibility of education and family life was underlined as important by the informant. Conclusion The results, in light of the reference theories, may indicate that stimulation of participation and commitment to strengthen women's sense of meaning and motivation can be important goal in female sports. Keywords Motivation, coping, woman, team sports, affiliation, autonomy. | nb_NO |
