Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of elite athletes who have suffered severe injuries during their athletic careers, and to discuss how to support their psychological development during and after university education.

Elite Japanese athletes tend to begin their athletic careers in early childhood and often become coaches after their athletic retirement. These athletes are strongly influenced by their parents or coaches throughout their careers, with coaches often acting as surrogate parents. Some of them experience serious injuries and, consequently, are frequently absent from school. From the psychodynamic perspective, this is likely to be the result of not only the intense physical demands of high-level sports performance, but also an internal desire to achieve independence from their family relationships. This research discusses a case study of an athlete who possessed these psychological characteristics.

This case study focuses on a thirteen-year support process for an athlete who had been playing sports since elementary school. Academic and psychological counseling were conducted throughout the support process. During the support process, research data were longitudinally collected from semi-structured interviews and Sentence Completion Tests (SCT; Sano & Makita, 1960) at three time points (sixth, ninth, and eleventh year) and data were used to analyse the athlete’s psychological characteristics. Interview questions were based on James E. Marcia’s identity status interviews, the participant’ developmental history, and the family condition. Data were analysed using Marcia’s identity status rating scale and Erikson’s developmental theory, as well as the KJ method (Kawakita, 1967).

We found that the athlete was caterorised in ‘Foreclosure’ (Marcia, 1964) and ‘Invaded’ (Ogawa, 2013), which demonstrates psychological immaturity and family dependency. In this case, low self-efficacy and desires for protection from excessive interferences from family members and coaches were considered as the cause of the athlete’s frequent injuries. Teaching the athlete how to study and supporting their opinions to develop greater independence were both effective means for acquiring self-efficacy. In addition, longitudinal research data revealed that changes in parental attitudes could foster the athlete’s independence and self-reliance when faced with difficult situations. However, coaches, in their roles as surrogates, tend to show continuous dependence on the athlete.

In conclusion:
(a) considering codependency in their family relationships is essential,
(b) achieving independence should be the main focus for assisting elite athletes with these characteristics, and
(c) supporting coaches’ psychological development should also be an important focus for the athletes’ psychological development.

Keywords:

Elite athletes, elite education, family dependency, injuries, sports counseling.