Rebecca Joyce

An Interpretive Qualitative Cross-Sectional Design was used with thematic analysis producing 5 main primary themes

Data for the current study were obtained by means of semi-structured interviews with elite athletes drawn from both Olympic and Paralympic sports. Given that this study is exploratory in nature, the interview questions were driven, to a degree, by a-priori codes in the existing body of job-quality research. 5 main themes with sub-themes emerged and were explored;
1. Categorisation of the role which related to the lived experience and perceptions of athletes around what they do, what their role entails and whether they connected with the concept of having a job.
2. Fulfilment relates to the experiences associated with a fulfilling career from the perspective of an elite athlete.
3. Motivation relates to incentives to sustain a career in elite sport
4. Stability & Security explores experiences related to employment security as defined by the general population.
5. Health & Wellbeing relates to the intense physical and mental demands know to be consistent with elite athletes.

Visualisation of the tripartite relationship between UK Sport, Athlete and NGB

The aim of this study was to explore athletes’ values and beliefs towards their occupation as full-time elite athletes operating in the high-performance sport environment. All participants in the study identified with their role being defined as a ‘job’ and an ‘occupation’, with parity for the majority of known characteristics of ‘job quality’ as understood in the extant literature (Coats & Lehki, 2008; Marmot, 2004; and Munoz de Bustillo et al,2009). The concept of ‘going to work’ every day was apparent, despite the absence of a contract of employment. Instead, a complex tripartite relationship exists between athlete, UK Sport and their governing body to commit to a planned bespoke performance program. Within this agreement came the commitment to work hard or train hard for themselves and for the success of their sport. Volume of hours devoted to work, or training was mutually agreed and, in the absence of contractual employment, this took an interesting perspective. Often, this time commitment was far beyond typical ‘norms’ for working, for example, the working time directive recommends you cannot work more than 48hrs per week (Health & Safety Executive, 2021). Athletes would typically train every day with competitions at weekends, substantial volume of travel away from home, with typically unsocial hours alongside this. The driver, being a commitment to ‘being the best in the world’ which provided a strong motivational force that elicited behaviours that were self-led and, largely, autonomous in nature.