Communicating and conferring about and for well-being in high-performance sport: an invitation to dialogue

Well-being is a complex concept with meanings that diversify across sport contexts, sportspeople, and lifespans. These complexities can confound researchers and practitioners. For example, researchers often struggle to find common ground on how well-being is understood in sport and practitioners (e.g., psychologists, coaches, performance lifestyle practitioners) deviate in their approaches to well-being (e.g., preventing distress or promoting happiness). Subsequently, intentions for well-being can be miscommunicated and misconstrued, impeding progress within well-being scholarship. Through unified efforts across well-being researchers and practitioners within the UK Sport Institute (UKSI), this symposium showcases some of the most contemporary thinking on how well-being can be best communicated, discussed, and supported within high-performance sport. Simpson et al. begins with a narrative review of literature on sport and flourishing that highlights the importance of shifting prepositions and preconceptions about sport and flourishing. Simova poses questions about how coach well-being is communicated from a perspective as a researcher and UKSI performance lifestyle practitioner, offering insights on how to bridge knowledge divides within sport and well-being. Next, Ashfield critically questions the moral tensions, duties, and dilemmas in supporting athlete well-being from individual, system, and legislative perspectives. Lastly, Gatherer shares reflections on the ongoing work of the UKSI mental health team. Gatherer offers cross-comparisons between well-being within other industries (e.g., construction) and the realm of high-performance sport. The symposium concludes with a Q&A panel which ponders the future of well-being in sport scholarship and invites critical dialogue from DSEP delegates on ways to meaningfully approach well-being within high-performance sport.