Thriving

Sport performers are known to experience a wide range of stressors during their careers. Moreover, the context created by these demands has been shown to have an impact on the performance and well-being of the individuals. For example, a scourge of recent media allegations and the publication of Dame Tanni-Grey Thompson’s Duty of Care review highlighted that British elite sport organizations have often neglected the detrimental impact of their performance-focused environments on the mental health and well-being of their performers. This observation contrasts with academic literature, where scholars have long sought to understand and promote both performance and well-being. Within this work, performance and well-being have typically been considered as distinct outcomes; however, researchers have recently described how concurrently perceiving a high level of performance and experiencing a high level of well-being is indicative of thriving in sport performers. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss contemporary thriving research in sport and to offer the latest insight into how these desirable outcomes can be co-facilitated. Specifically, this chapter will introduce the notion of human thriving, review sport-based literature on the construct, explore how thriving can be promoted in sport performers, and offer suggestions for future research in the area.