Factors affecting the lifestyle of female professional athletes after the end of the championship period with a phenomenological approach

Subject Areas : Sport Sciences Quarterly

Shayesteh Haghighi ¹ , Bahram Ghadimi ² , Masoumeh Shojaei ³

1 - PhD student in the field of sports sociology
2 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Literature, Humanities and Social Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Unit, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Movement Behavior, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Al-Zahra University

Received: 2023-07-17 Accepted : 2024-09-06 Published : 2024-09-06

Keywords: after the championship period, female professional athletes, lifestyle, phenomenological approach, type of transition.,

Abstract :

Discussing the lifestyle of female professional athletes after the end of their championship period and studying their lived experiences can play an effective role in understanding their status in society and reducing their problems. This phenomenological research has examined the lived experiences of 22 female professional athletes after the end of their championship period with the aim of discovering and describing the factors affecting their lifestyle. In order to collect data, the research used a semi-structured interview with a purposeful sampling method, and the process of completing and completing the interviews continued until reaching theoretical saturation. Each interview lasted between 60 and 90 minutes. The results showed that a total of 5 main components, 20 sub-components and 64 concepts were counted. The type of transfer, social, cultural, economic factors and environmental support are the main axes of the findings of this research. According to the results of the study, it can be said that the type of transition (planned or unplanned) has affected the lifestyle of female professional athletes after the end of the championship period, and they have a process called "styling their lives" have become and are trying to give a certain direction and organization to their activities and assets as much as possible. Finally, according to the results, solutions were presented to improve the quality of life of female professional athletes after the end of the championship period.