What is athletic identity?

What is athletic identity?

Athletic identity can be defined as the degree to which you identify with your sport. It’s how you come to perceive yourself, and how others perceive you, and also serves as a basis for your sense of self-worth. It’s the loss of this identity, developed over years, that makes transition to “real life” such a challenge.

How can athletics injuries be prevented?

10 Tips for Preventing Sports Injuries in Kids and Teens

1. Talk with your young athlete.
2. Get a preseason physical.
3. Encourage cross-training and a variety of sports.
4. Stress the importance of warming up.
5. Make sure they rest.
6. Provide a healthy, well-balanced diet.
7. Emphasize hydration.
8. Get the proper equipment.

How do sport injuries affect the identity of an athlete?

This causes stress and in some cases depression among certain individuals. An athletes’ self esteem can often take a serious hit when one is injured, and, consequently is forced to depend on other people for help and support. Most athletes have a strong sense of being very independent.

How does sports affect your identity?

By participating in a sport, an individual is making a social statement about who they are and how they want others think of them. An athletic identity is developed through acquisition of skills, confidence, and social interaction during sport. It plays a part in a cognitive and social role.

What are the important benefits of sport and exercise for self identity?

Having a strong athletic identity often leads to a strong sense of self and sureness of who you are. Increased self-confidence, self-discipline, and more positive social interactions have all been observed in those with high athletic identity compared to those with a low athletic identity.

Why is injury prevention important in sports?

Injury prevention should be an important part of every physical activity, because it not only helps you achieve your training goals but also keeps you healthy and safe. Performing complex mathematics without adequate preparation can hurt your brain; running a marathon without adequate preparation can hurt your body.

How does injury affect athletes mental health?

Physical injury and mental health are closely linked. A serious injury or chronic illness can cause mental health problems including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Poor mental health can negatively impact on recovery rates of the physical injury or illness.

Is athletic identity an important motivator?

We also found that athletic identity of an athlete can be quite reliably predicted through the information of the dynamic component of his or her personality, above all through the motive of win orientation and positive competitive motivation.

How are injuries a part of an athletic identity?

Emotional Difficulties Dealing with Injury: Injuries are an inevitable part of sport. Athletes with a robust athletic identity often find it difficult to cope with an injury, especially if it results in them being side-lined for a prolonged period of time.

Why did some people change their athletic identity?

The findings suggest that some participants reduced their identification with the athlete role in response to the threat to a positive self-image posed by their ACL injuries and the difficulties they encountered in postoperative rehabilitation. Keywords: knee surgery, self-identity, injury, sport

Is there evidence for divestment of athletic identity?

Evidence in support of the adaptive value of divestment of athletic identity was obtained by Lavallee et al. (1997), who found that greater reductions in athletic identity following retirement were associated with success in coping with sport career termination.

Is the athletic identity a dispositional trait or trait?

Research showing that athletic identity is a risk factor for poor adjustment to events that threaten performance of the athlete role has considered athletic identity as a dispositional, trait-like characteristic.