Thriving in athletic development environments

This chapter outlines how a similar pattern of growth has occurred in sport-based thriving research. It discusses the conceptualisation of thriving and offer a definition for it. The chapter focuses on thriving in sport will be reviewed to describe how thriving has been characterised in athletes and coaches, and explores mechanisms through which thriving can be predicted and promoted. Mirroring literature on human thriving across the lifespan, those studying thriving within sport have adopted various interpretations of what it means to thrive as a sport performer. Thriving has been used in the context of athlete adversity and trauma to describe an elevation in functioning as a result of an adverse experience such as injury. Contextual enablers are the interpersonal interactions and environmental features that support an individual to thrive. Stress appraisals describe the judgements or evaluations that humans make when faced with a situation that has relevance for personal wellbeing.