BASES Webinar – Sports Injury Narratives: From Theory to Practice

The purpose of this webinar will be to share and discuss six sports injury narratives that have been identified from a longitudinal research study within elite sport (Everard et al., 2021, 2023). These six narratives have been converted into a video format so that they are accessible and transferable to multiple stakeholders. By discussing these six storylines within a pedagogical setting, the aim is to enhance understandings of the multiple ways in which athletes may experience injury, and thus expand the practical lens of practitioners working with injured athletes. For example, our research has highlighted how by equipping practitioners with diverse injury narratives, it can sensitize them to rhetoric of an injured athletes and enable them to better relate to and empathize with diverse injury experiences (Everard et al., 2024). In doing so, it can help create a more harmonious working relationship by enhancing interpersonal communication and promoting greater shared understandings. Moreover, equipping practitioners with diverse injury narratives can help raise awareness of the dangers embedded within certain storylines and enable them to offer athletes alternative narrative types if needed (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Throughout the webinar, we will draw upon our latest research alongside real-world examples regarding the practical application of these sport injury narratives into professional practice, with the goal of highlighting how these narratives could be used in applied sport and exercise psychology practice and with other individuals who support injured athletes and exercisers.