IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i9p5085-d799314.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Athletes and Coaches through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative View of Goal Management

Author

Listed:
  • Sergio Costa

    (Independent Researcher, 00165 Rome, Italy)

  • Eugenio De Gregorio

    (Department of Life and Health Sciences, Link Campus University, 00165 Rome, Italy)

  • Lisa Zurzolo

    (Department of Education, University of Genoa, 16128 Genova, Italy)

  • Giampaolo Santi

    (Independent Researcher, 00165 Rome, Italy)

  • Edoardo Giorgio Ciofi

    (Independent Researcher, 00165 Rome, Italy)

  • Francesco Di Gruttola

    (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, 55100 Lucca, Italy)

  • Luana Morgilli

    (Independent Researcher, 00165 Rome, Italy)

  • Cristina Montesano

    (Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy)

  • Francesca Cavallerio

    (School of Psychology and Sport Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK)

  • Maurizio Bertollo

    (Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy)

  • Selenia di Fronso

    (Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy)

Abstract

Since the end of 2019 and throughout 2020, the world has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sports world suddenly had to deal with a massive reorganization of events with important implications for the physical and psychological preparation of athletes and coaches. The purpose of this study was to explore how these changes impacted coaches’ and athletes’ goal-setting strategies and their experience of goal adjustment. As part of a wider mixed-method project involving 2162 coaches and 1354 athletes, an online qualitative survey was used, and data collected were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings highlighted three overarching themes, in response to goal adjustment: “Moving on toward new goals”, “Letting go of goals”, and “Trying to hold on”, with several themes and sub-themes identifying different nuances of athletes’ and coaches’ experiences. The implications of such findings for the mental preparation of high-level athletes are discussed in two ways. Firstly, in light of existing literature on goal setting from an applied perspective; secondly, in the broader perspective of the sports culture and the application of our themes to other challenging moments that sports professionals might encounter.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergio Costa & Eugenio De Gregorio & Lisa Zurzolo & Giampaolo Santi & Edoardo Giorgio Ciofi & Francesco Di Gruttola & Luana Morgilli & Cristina Montesano & Francesca Cavallerio & Maurizio Bertollo & S, 2022. "Athletes and Coaches through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative View of Goal Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5085-:d:799314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5085/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5085/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alessandra di Cagno & Andrea Buonsenso & Francesca Baralla & Elisa Grazioli & Giulia Di Martino & Edoardo Lecce & Giuseppe Calcagno & Giovanni Fiorilli, 2020. "Psychological Impact of the Quarantine-Induced Stress during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak among Italian Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, November.
    2. Iris A. Lesser & Carl P. Nienhuis, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Physical Activity Behavior and Well-Being of Canadians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-12, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Remigiusz Dróżdż & Marcin Pasek & Magdalena Zając & Mirosława Szark-Eckardt, 2022. "Physical Culture and Sports as an Educational Basis of Students’ Healthy Physical Activities during and Post-Lockdown COVID-19 Restrictions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-11, September.
    2. Chen Liao & Liying Nong & Yu-Feng Wu & Yu-Tai Wu & Jian-Hong Ye, 2023. "The Relationships between University Students’ Physical Activity Needs, Involvement, Flow Experience and Sustainable Well-Being in the Post-Pandemic Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Yuta Suzuki & Noriaki Maeda & Daigo Hirado & Taizan Shirakawa & Yukio Urabe, 2020. "Physical Activity Changes and Its Risk Factors among Community-Dwelling Japanese Older Adults during the COVID-19 Epidemic: Associations with Subjective Well-Being and Health-Related Quality of Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-12, September.
    4. Theresa Maertl & Freia De Bock & Lena Huebl & Cornelia Oberhauser & Michaela Coenen & Caroline Jung-Sievers & on behalf of the COSMO Study Team, 2021. "Physical Activity during COVID-19 in German Adults: Analyses in the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring Study (COSMO)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Yu Zhang & Jiayu Li & Xiaoping Jiang, 2022. "Household Physical Activity for Adults in the Context of the Pandemic: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Victoria Blom & Amanda Lönn & Björn Ekblom & Lena V. Kallings & Daniel Väisänen & Erik Hemmingsson & Gunnar Andersson & Peter Wallin & Andreas Stenling & Örjan Ekblom & Magnus Lindwall & Jane Salier E, 2021. "Lifestyle Habits and Mental Health in Light of the Two COVID-19 Pandemic Waves in Sweden, 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Josefa Domingos & Carlos Família & Júlio Belo Fernandes & John Dean & Catarina Godinho, 2022. "Is Being Physically Active Enough or Do People with Parkinson’s Disease Need Structured Supervised Exercise? Lessons Learned from COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-12, February.
    8. Apichai Wattanapisit & Manas Kotepui & Sanhapan Wattanapisit & Noah Crampton, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of Literature on Physical Activity and COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-9, June.
    9. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    10. Francesca Vitali & Elisa Bisagno & Marinella Coco & Alessia Cadamuro & Nelson Mauro Maldonato & Donatella Di Corrado, 2022. "A Moderated Mediation Analysis of the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Well-Being and Sport Readiness of Italian Team Sports Players: The Role of Perceived Safety of the Training Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Masatoshi Tahara & Yuki Mashizume & Kayoko Takahashi, 2020. "Coping Mechanisms: Exploring Strategies Utilized by Japanese Healthcare Workers to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & Beat Knechtle, 2022. "Sports and Health, Second Edition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-1, July.
    13. Emma Ostermeier & Patricia Tucker & Andrew Clark & Jamie A. Seabrook & Jason Gilliland, 2021. "Parents’ Report of Canadian Elementary School Children’s Physical Activity and Screen Time during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Verónica Violant-Holz & M. Gloria Gallego-Jiménez & Carina S. González-González & Sarah Muñoz-Violant & Manuel José Rodríguez & Oriol Sansano-Nadal & Myriam Guerra-Balic, 2020. "Psychological Health and Physical Activity Levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-19, December.
    15. Maria Elvén & Birgitta Kerstis & Jonas Stier & Charlotta Hellström & Petra von Heideken Wågert & Micael Dahlen & Daniel Lindberg, 2022. "Changes in Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Swedish Population Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, February.
    16. Agnieszka Szychowska & Anna Zimny-Zając & Elżbieta Dziankowska-Zaborszczyk & Tomasz Grodzicki & Wojciech Drygas & Tomasz Zdrojewski, 2022. "Physical Activity versus Selected Health Behaviors, Subjective Physical and Psychological Health and Multimorbidity in a Large Cohort of Polish Seniors during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Results of the Nat," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.
    17. Haleama Al Sabbah & Zainab Taha & Radwan Qasrawi & Enas A. Assaf & Leila Cheikh Ismail & Ayesha S. Al Dhaheri & Maha Hoteit & Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh & Reema Tayyem & Hiba Bawadi & Majid AlKhalaf & Khlood B, 2022. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Physical (In)Activity Behavior in 10 Arab Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-15, August.
    18. Carl P. Nienhuis & Iris A. Lesser, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Physical Activity Behavior and Mental Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Micael Dahlen & Helge Thorbjørnsen & Hallgeir Sjåstad & Petra von Heideken Wågert & Charlotta Hellström & Birgitta Kerstis & Daniel Lindberg & Jonas Stier & Maria Elvén, 2021. "Changes in Physical Activity Are Associated with Corresponding Changes in Psychological Well-Being: A Pandemic Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-9, October.
    20. Xiangyou Shen & Megan MacDonald & Samuel W. Logan & Colby Parkinson & Lydia Gorrell & Bridget E. Hatfield, 2022. "Leisure Engagement during COVID-19 and Its Association with Mental Health and Wellbeing in U.S. Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-22, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5085-:d:799314. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.