The Performance Narrative prefers a certain identity for you ("you are elite"), expects certain behaviours ("you are dedicated and mentally tough"), and assumes a certain path ("there is a straight line to your success"). It works — until it doesn't. Below are nine scenarios. Read them slowly. Notice which ones describe your story.
We have been exploring the theme that our personal story contributes to and even shapes our identity — who we think we are and how we project that to the world. (See the main feature.) Athletes often develop what is known as an athletic identity — a healthy version supports motivation and commitment, but an exclusive version can become fragile.
The Performance Narrative is the dominant storyline of elite sport. [1, 2] In this piece we look at the costs and consequences of embracing it.
Read the following scenarios. Take time to identify if any of them describe your personal experience or journey in competitive sport. Have you experienced any of the potential consequences?
1. Your future is already written for you
Young athletes imagine a future they have not yet experienced. Often the future is laid out for you by the dominant narrative of your athletic subculture, told by older role-models and coaches in your sport. [3] You can lose the importance of personally planning your future beyond sport. Your present activities (working hard toward the podium) seem to have already defined your future for you.
Potential consequence: You limit how much you take initiative and plan for life or a career outside of sport. [4] Other pursuits that could offer new identities are not explored.
2. There is a straight line to success
The assumption that there is a straight line to success can be embraced too fully — your past was being identified as talented, your present is being seen as happy and successful, and your future will be elite.
Potential consequence: Success was pre-defined for you as winning and being at the top, instead of allowing you to decide what other things might also indicate success. [2]
3. The talent system shapes your life
You have been recruited by, or are involved in, a talent identification or development system. It typically has early specialization, a performance-oriented culture, high expectations, stress, and even social isolation. Much of your life is organized for you.
Potential consequence: Research is beginning to show that, for some, this journey takes a toll on personal development and well-being as you miss out on other life activities and the development of broader life goals. [2]
4. A few great performances will define you
Much of your training and your dreams are working toward a handful of future performances (the podium at a World Championship/Olympics, raising a championship trophy) which you hope will define you.
Potential consequence: You may be creating a very frail identity. Your self-esteem could rise and fall depending on your win-loss record. [4]
5. The workload crowds out everything else
The story toward elite accomplishment requires increasing hard work and time. Other ways to develop your personality get omitted, which limits the ways your identity can develop. [4]
Potential consequence: "Performance" becomes the most common factor in the highs and lows of your life. [5] You become vulnerable to social isolation and may struggle to cope when your athletic identity is threatened by decreases in performance, injuries or retirement. [6]
6. Totalitarian beliefs about the story
Athletes who embrace a performance narrative can fall into a totalitarian belief about it: the story that focusing totally on the performance narrative is the only way to become a successful athlete. The story is told so often by so many that there cannot be any other story that gets you to the top.
Potential consequence: No longer do you have a unique identity story — your story is the same as every other elite athlete's. [7]
A second totalitarian belief is that the number-one focus of all pro athletes is, and must be, winning — and winning is the only goal worth having.
Potential consequence: You begin to believe that playing for relationships, travel, enjoyment or worship is not worth it and not the true purpose of sport. You sacrifice too many other spheres of life because that is the only way to "make it." [3, 8]
7. When the story breaks
When you depend too much on this one story to define who you are, your feelings and confidence are obviously high when performance matches the common story.
Potential consequence: Life can become a struggle when common issues arise — a prolonged injury, skills diminishing with age, retiring from sport. Now your story doesn't match the common performance story. Your sense of self, identity, mental health and personal growth become compromised. [8] Hanging on to that one narrative becomes challenging when your performance does not match it, contributing to a loss of meaning and unity in life. [2]
8. Even at the top, the edge is sharp
Hopefully you achieve success, experience winning and stay at the top of your game. Your experience lines up with the common narrative. You feel like you are thriving.
Potential consequence: If your identity, positive emotions and even social status depend on sustaining this success, you may engage in risky behaviour — overtraining, perfectionism, performance anxiety. You may feel like you are balancing on a knife's edge between peaking and crashing. [2]
9. Sticking with the story when it isn't working
Many athletes continue to "stick with the story" during difficult times, concluding that working harder and winning will solve all their problems. Hard work is necessary and winning is the goal — but making those things the foundation of your identity is dangerous.
Potential consequence: A sense of failure, shame and humiliation can arise; self-doubt can creep in. This can lead to a paralysis of your identity. [2] As one athlete said: "I project to others that I am a good athlete, but really I don't deserve to be here." [8]
Reflect
Read each scenario again. Which ones do you identify with most strongly? In what ways have you embraced the Performance Narrative? How has it benefited you? How has it hurt you? Are there other storylines in your life that you need to give more attention to in order to broaden your identity?
Explore many more possibilities in Discovering and Evaluating Other Storylines, or work through The Foundation of Our Identity — a four-session study of Genesis 1–3. Or return to the feature article.
References
- Carless, D. and K. Douglas, Living, resisting, and playing the part of athlete: Narrative tensions in elite sport. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 2013. 14(5): p. 701–708.
- Haraldsen, H. M., et al., Narrative Tensions in Strained Junior Elite Performers' Experiences of Becoming Elite Performers. Frontiers in Psychology, 2021. 12.
- Ronkainen, N. J. and T. V. Ryba, Developing narrative identities in youth pre-elite sport. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 2020. 12(4): p. 548–562.
- Miron, P., Role identity and its implications in the athlete's personal development. Timisoara Physical Education & Rehabilitation Journal, 2010. 3(5): p. 7–12.
- Newton, J., D. L. Gill, and E. Reifsteck, Athletic Identity: Complexity of the "Iceberg". Journal of Athlete Development and Experience, 2020. 2(2).
- Kerr, G. and A. Stirling, Issues of maltreatment in high-performance athlete development, in The Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport. Routledge, 2017.
- Douglas, K. and D. Carless, Performance, Discovery, and Relational Narratives among Women Professional Tournament Golfers. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 2006. 15(2): p. 14–27.
- Douglas, K. and D. Carless, Abandoning the Performance Narrative. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2009. 21(2): p. 213–230.
Dave writes on faith, sport and identity for Athletes in Action.
