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Elite athletes as mothers: Managing multiple identities Farah R. Palmer, Sarah I. Leberman * Department of Management, Massey University, New Zealand Until recently, mothers were often hidden, within organizational policies, cultural practices, and media representations as athletes within the public sphere of elite sport. Topical media stories, such as Paula Radcliffe winning the New York City Marathon nine months after giving birth (Borzilleri, 2008), and suggestions that motherhood and Olympic aspirations are no longer mutually exclusive (Farber, 2008), have created the impression that mothers as elite athletes is an emerging social phenomenon. For example, at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, 20 of the 286 female competitors in the United States of America (USA) team (Farber, 2008), and three of the 84 female competitors in the New Zealand team, were mothers (New Zealand Olympic Committee, 2008). Recent recognition by the International Olympic Committee of the role mothers have in promoting women’s participation in sport (International Olympic Committee, 2008) also places them in the spotlight. Mothers’ voices, nonetheless, tend to be silent in the sport research literature (Cameron, 1996; Pedersen, 2001; Thompson, 1990, 1999). To date, only one study (Pedersen, 2001) attempted to discover how elite athletes who are mothers manage their multiple identities and roles. By giving voice to elite athletes who are mothers, their personal experiences are made visible, which then provides decision-makers in sport with an understanding of the unique issues and circumstances these women face. To gain a better understanding of elite athletes as mothers, a symbolic interactionist approach was adopted in this research. This approach enables individuals to give meaning to the experiences they have had, how these shape their Sport Management Review 12 (2009) 241–254 ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Motherhood Elite athletes Negotiating leisure constraints Multiple identities ABSTRACT Mothers’ voices are often silent in the sports literature, especially as elite athletes. This research used a symbolic interactionist approach and semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of nine elite female athletes in New Zealand who were also mothers at the time of competing. The specific objectives were to explore how motherhood impacted on the identity of elite athletes, how they negotiated their multiple identities and roles, and how support systems were utilized to encourage and retain elite athletes as mothers. The women managed their multiple identities and negotiated constraints such as guilt, lack of time and limited organizational support by emphasizing how integral sport was to their sense of self. They highlighted the mutual benefits of motherhood to their sport aspirations and vice versa, by utilizing time/space management strategies, and by creating and accessing strong support networks which sometimes included organizational support. There was a move towards the integration of multiple identities and a focus on how women’s choices in leisure and sport were realized for future research and theory development. Sport management practices and policies that create opportunities for mothers to achieve and maintain elite athlete status are also mentioned. ß 2009 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Department of Management, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Tel.: +64 6 3505799x2785; fax: +64 6 3505661. E-mail address: [email protected] (S.I. Leberman). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Sport Management Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smr 1441-3523/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.smr.2009.03.001

Elite athletes as mothers: Managing multiple identities

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Page 1: Elite athletes as mothers: Managing multiple identities

Elite athletes as mothers: Managing multiple identities

Farah R. Palmer, Sarah I. Leberman *

Department of Management, Massey University, New Zealand

Until recently, mothers were often hidden, within organizational policies, cultural practices, and media representationsas athletes within the public sphere of elite sport. Topical media stories, such as Paula Radcliffe winning the New York CityMarathon nine months after giving birth (Borzilleri, 2008), and suggestions that motherhood and Olympic aspirations are nolonger mutually exclusive (Farber, 2008), have created the impression that mothers as elite athletes is an emerging socialphenomenon. For example, at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, 20 of the 286 female competitors in the United States ofAmerica (USA) team (Farber, 2008), and three of the 84 female competitors in the New Zealand team, were mothers (NewZealand Olympic Committee, 2008). Recent recognition by the International Olympic Committee of the role mothers have inpromoting women’s participation in sport (International Olympic Committee, 2008) also places them in the spotlight.Mothers’ voices, nonetheless, tend to be silent in the sport research literature (Cameron, 1996; Pedersen, 2001; Thompson,1990, 1999). To date, only one study (Pedersen, 2001) attempted to discover how elite athletes who are mothers managetheir multiple identities and roles. By giving voice to elite athletes who are mothers, their personal experiences are madevisible, which then provides decision-makers in sport with an understanding of the unique issues and circumstances thesewomen face.

To gain a better understanding of elite athletes as mothers, a symbolic interactionist approach was adopted in thisresearch. This approach enables individuals to give meaning to the experiences they have had, how these shape their

Sport Management Review 12 (2009) 241–254

A R T I C L E I N F O

Keywords:

Motherhood

Elite athletes

Negotiating leisure constraints

Multiple identities

A B S T R A C T

Mothers’ voices are often silent in the sports literature, especially as elite athletes. This

research used a symbolic interactionist approach and semi-structured interviews to

explore the experiences of nine elite female athletes in New Zealand who were also

mothers at the time of competing. The specific objectives were to explore how

motherhood impacted on the identity of elite athletes, how they negotiated their

multiple identities and roles, and how support systems were utilized to encourage and

retain elite athletes as mothers. The women managed their multiple identities and

negotiated constraints such as guilt, lack of time and limited organizational support by

emphasizing how integral sport was to their sense of self. They highlighted the mutual

benefits of motherhood to their sport aspirations and vice versa, by utilizing time/space

management strategies, and by creating and accessing strong support networks which

sometimes included organizational support. There was a move towards the integration of

multiple identities and a focus on how women’s choices in leisure and sport were realized

for future research and theory development. Sport management practices and policies that

create opportunities for mothers to achieve and maintain elite athlete status are also

mentioned.

� 2009 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by

Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

* Corresponding author at: Department of Management, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Tel.: +64 6 3505799x2785; fax: +64 6 3505661.

E-mail address: [email protected] (S.I. Leberman).

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Sport Management Review

journa l homepage: www.elsev ier .com/ locate /smr

1441-3523/$ – see front matter � 2009 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.smr.2009.03.001

Page 2: Elite athletes as mothers: Managing multiple identities

identities, and acknowledges that these meanings are socially constructed and can change over time (Armstrong, 2007;Sartore & Cunningham, 2007). Similarly, individuals are assumed to be active in the decisions they make, and in the waythese decisions affect their identities (Stevenson, 2002b). Individual experience can be balanced between socialconstruction, freedom of action and self development, where individuals can have multiple identities and negotiate a way tobalance the demands of each (Wearing, 1998). Symbolic interactionism recognizes that experiences can be considered fromboth individual and societal perspectives, which bridges some of the apparent divides highlighted in previous researchbetween the personal/contextual, the micro/macro and agency/structure (Dixon & Bruening, 2005; Samdahl & Jekubovich,1997; Wearing, 1998). For instance, elite athletes as mothers deal with the personal, while negotiating societal expectationswithin the private context of motherhood and the predominantly masculine and public context of elite sport (Lantz &Schroeder, 1999). Utilizing a symbolic interactionist perspective, the research objectives were to explore how motherhoodimpacted on the identity of elite athletes, how these women negotiated their multiple identities and roles and what supportsystems they accessed and/or created to remain elite athletes and mothers. The findings are intended to assist sportorganizations in understanding the issues these particular women face so that policies and practices can be implemented toenhance the recruitment, retention and ongoing development of elite athletes who are mothers.

1. Literature review

1.1. Women’s leisure/sport: beyond constraint theory

Academic work on women and sport has been rooted in leisure and cultural studies (Talbot, 1988) where women’slimited access to, and engagement in, leisure highlighted the gendered nature of leisure and associated spheres, such as sportand recreation. Women, for instance, are significantly less likely than men to participate in physically active leisure, andwomen with children are less likely to participate in active leisure compared with women who do not have children (Miller &Brown, 2005). Work on leisure constraints and negotiation therefore, has direct relevance to the lives of women andparticularly mothers (Crawford, Jackson, & Godbey, 1991; Henderson & Bialeschki, 1993; Jackson, Crawford, & Godbey, 1993;Little, 2002; McGinnis & Gentry, 2006; Shaw, 1994). Constraints, according to Crawford et al. (1991), operate in a hierarchicalmanner. Intrapersonal constraints generally must be negotiated before interpersonal constraints and structural constraintscan be addressed. Intrapersonal constraints are internal constraints related to individual psychological states and attributes,interpersonal constraints result from interpersonal interaction and structural constraints are external constraints related tothe unavailability of resources required for participation to occur. Research on negotiating leisure constraints suggests thatrather than constraints resulting in non-participation, people find ways of negotiating around or through the constraints toengage in the activity(ies) they are passionate about, and such negotiations may modify rather than foreclose participation(Jackson et al., 1993). From a feminist perspective, Shaw (1994) associated this negotiation of constraints with the notion ofresistance in leisure, which is linked to the theoretical notion of agency and emphasis on leisure as freely chosen. From asymbolic interactionist and feminist perspective, women who choose to participate in leisure are potentially resisting socialnorms and challenging in some places the accepted convention that women, and particularly mothers, have less access toleisure and related spheres such as sport and recreation (Thompson, 1999).

Samdahl and Jekubovich (1997) further critiqued the theory around leisure constraints by arguing that the researchpresented often focused on constraining factors, rather than focusing on other factors that affect peoples’ leisure, such ashow people made decisions regarding their leisure in certain contexts and in relation to other identities—a concern that isaddressed by symbolic interactionism (Stevenson, 2002a). Samdahl and Jekubovich suggested that research participantsrarely use the word ‘constraint’ when talking about their leisure experiences, and frequently used language that implied amore dynamic and creative approach to making decisions around leisure behavior. An example of this was the wayparticipants made time for themselves, in that it was a conscious decision, rather than something that just happened. Inaddition, they challenged the notion that a hierarchical structure to negotiating leisure constraints existed. Their datasuggested that constraints could be negotiated either concurrently or might not even involve one of the three broad areasidentified by Crawford et al. (1991).

Research by Little (2002) on women negotiating continuing participation in adventure recreation supported the work ofSamdahl and Jekubovich (1997). Little’s research demonstrated that women could take control and make decisions regardingtheir leisure time by either reconstructing their adventure experience or reinforcing their passion for adventure recreation assomething important to their life. The participants prioritized and compromised to achieve the adventure recreation theywanted. In conclusion, Little argued that leisure was inextricably linked with identity, rather than seeing it as an add-on orsomething that could be compartmentalized, which may be relevant when considering the issues elite female athletes facewhen the identity of ‘mother’ is added (or vice versa).

Much of the critique of the constraints literature has centered around the focus on the individual, while neglecting toconsider the social context within which people are situated (Arab-Moghaddam, Henderson, & Sheikholeslami, 2007;Samdahl, 2005; Shaw & Henderson, 2005). This situation is redressed in the New Zealand research by adopting a symbolicinteractionist approach, which acknowledges the importance of social context, which in this case is elite sport. The issue ofnegotiating constraints has been applied in the sport setting before, with much of the academic discussion of mothers insport focusing on issues of access, representation and constraints associated with both participation in sport and physicalrecreation (Brown, Brown, Miller, & Hansen, 2001; Henderson & Bialeschki, 1993; McGinnis & Gentry, 2006; Thompson,

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1999), and physical activity (Bialeschki & Michener, 1994; Brown et al., 2001; Currie, 2004; Miller & Brown, 2005), but not inelite sport.

1.2. Mothers and sport

Becoming a mother is regarded as one of the most significant identity transformations of adults (Golden, 2001; Maushart,1999). Being a mother also carries social expectations with it regarding what is and is not appropriate behavior (Johnston &Swanson, 2006; Lantz & Schroeder, 1999). An ethic of care, which was originally proposed as an integral component ofwomen’s moral development for instance, has been linked both conceptually and empirically to women’s lack of a sense ofentitlement to leisure where mothers tend to put the leisure needs and aspirations of others before their own (Henderson,1991; Miller & Brown, 2005; Thompson, 1999).

Hall (1996) argued that by making visible mothers’ labor in sport and its relationship with familial expectations, thegendered nature of sport and its effect on women would be better understood. Thompson (1999) studied Australian womenwho were long-term tennis players and either mothers of junior tennis players, or domestic partners/wives of adult maletennis players. She concluded that the lives of the women she interviewed ‘‘within the institution of sport were shaped,mediated, and controlled by motherhood . . . mothers serviced their children’s sport from two highly interrelatedfoundations, one being their relationship to material resources and waged labor, the other being their commitment to‘‘familial ideologies’’, specifically the ideology of motherhood’’ (Thompson, 1999, p. 230).

Motherhood, therefore, has been highlighted as a significant reason why women do not participate in sport (Bialeschki &Michener, 1994; Brown et al., 2001; Currie, 2004; Hall, 1976; Henderson & Bialeschki, 1993; Miller & Brown, 2005;Thompson, 1990, 1999) and in most countries, pregnancy and childbirth historically have implied the end of professionalsport involvement for women (Australian Sports Commission, 2001). During pregnancy the safety of both mother and babyhas been identified as a key reason for ceasing participation, and once the child has been born many mothers do not return toprofessional sport, either because they choose not to, or because many sports organizations are not set up to deal withathletes who have child-care requirements, particularly when touring is involved.

More recent research has focused on the challenges of negotiating identities between work and motherhood (Johnston &Swanson, 2006, 2007), including work in the sporting arena (Bialeschki & Michener, 1994; Dixon & Bruening, 2005, 2007).Many mothers who pursue work and leisure interests end up juggling their multiple roles. Johnston and Swanson (2007)called this ‘cognitive acrobatics’ when investigating the construction of mother–worker identity, and how womenaccommodated the dialectic of their mother and worker identities (Johnston & Swanson, 2006, 2007). This is relevant to ourresearch as most of the mothers are not only balancing the mother–worker dialectic, but are also attempting to balance athird identity as elite athletes competing as amateurs or semi-professionally. There is also an increasing body of knowledge,which suggests that work and family enrich one another, rather than cause conflict and continuing on in elite sport (as workand/or leisure) may enrich family life (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Ruderman, Ohlott, Panzer, & King, 2002). Despite theinteresting dynamics between mother–sport identities only one article has been published about mothers who participate inelite sport as athletes (Pedersen, 2001).

1.3. Mothers and elite sport

Competitive sports have traditionally been a male domain that tend to reinforce and perpetuate characteristics,such as ‘‘tough-mindedness, dominance and aggression’’ (Lantz & Schroeder, 1999, p. 548) generally associated withmasculine gender identity. The multiple identities of mother and elite athlete appear to have presented a‘clash’ between the private realm of the home and the predominantly public environment of elite sport. Pedersen’s(2001) study was based on Danish mothers who competed at a national or international level in athletics. Allher participants were mothers before achieving higher sport honors and at the time of her research there were nomothers involved in national team sports in Denmark. Pedersen argued that elite sport mothers were no longerthe exception, but instead needed to be recognized as a social phenomenon particularly in individual sport. Herresearch challenged the accepted Danish norm that mothers could not compete physically and psychologically at theinternational level. The traditional constraints of access to child-care, time, and other family demands wereovercome through ‘‘individual strategies, informal networks, as well as organizational resources . . . enabling them tocombine various life spheres’’ (Pedersen, 2001, p. 265). The mothers regarded sport as a form of self-expression andvalued this time they had to themselves by doing what they loved and excelled at. Pedersen discovered thatbalancing their life spheres of motherhood, job or education and sports, was not as important as achieving excellence.Sport was seen as a career for these women, and also a positive choice, where they were able to express themselvesand gain status outside of the sphere of motherhood. Their commitment to sport was exemplified in the ways inwhich they adapted their training, for example, to focus on quality rather than quantity and being particularlydisciplined and positive in attitude. Our research uses a symbolic interactionist approach to explore how the‘phenomenon’ of elite athletes as mothers unfolds in the New Zealand context. The specific objectives of our researchincluded exploring, from the perspective of elite athletes who were mothers, how motherhood impacted on theiridentity, how they negotiated their multiple identities and roles, and what support systems they utilized to remain eliteathletes and mothers.

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2. Method

2.1. Research approach

Symbolic interactionism was chosen as it focuses on the experiences of individuals and the meaning they attribute tothese. At the same time these experiences influence the multiple identities of individuals, which manifest themselves in theway individuals behave and respond to the socially constructed norms operating in society (Hewitt, 2000; Weiss, 2001). AsWeiss (2001, p. 396) aptly stated: ‘‘identity theory is built on the assumptions, definitions and propositions of symbolicinteractionism and emphasizes the relationships between self, society (social structure) and role performance’’. Given thelimited knowledge we have about mothers as elite athletes this approach provided a means of considering the women’sexperiences and how these had been shaped by society and vice versa. It also recognized that people have multiple identitieswhich can change over time, and in the case of this research included mother, elite athlete, and in some cases workeridentities.

2.2. Sampling

A letter was sent to 21 National Sporting Organizations in New Zealand outlining the research objectives and invitingthese organizations to pass on the information sheet to women who either are or were elite athletes and mothersconcurrently. Interested participants then contacted us either by phone or email, or returned the consent form in the pre-paid envelope provided. Nine interested women responded, seven of whom were still competing at the elite level—seeTable 1 for demographic information and pseudonyms. Considering the small number of mothers as elite athletes in NewZealand sport, the sports have not been associated with the verbatim responses, in order to preserve the anonymity of theparticipants.

These women represented five sports: netball (the ‘national’ team sport predominantly played by women), rugby (the‘national’ team sport predominantly played by men), rugby league (a team sport that is played predominantly by men),shooting (mixed gender sport—individual) and Para-Olympic sport (individual). Seven women were married or had partnersand two women were single. Three women had children before they reached the international level, while six participants wereat the international level when they became mothers. All of the women had either one or two children who ranged in age fromseven months to 15 years old at the time of the interviews. Seven women identified as Pakeha (descendants of the earlyEuropean settlers in New Zealand) or of European descent, one as Maori (indigenous people) and one as New Zealand-bornSamoan. Three women were in paid employment full-time, two were part-time employed, one was studying full-time and theother three women were not in paid employment. All of the women were ‘amateur’ in that they did not receive salaries asathletes but some did receive government grants to assist with education and sport-related services as ‘carded’ athletes.

2.3. Data collection

Continuing with a symbolic interactionist approach, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with eachparticipant at a place of her choosing. The questions were designed to guide the interview toward revealing the multipleidentities of the participants, and how these were negotiated and influenced by personal motives and socially constructednorms in society and social contexts (e.g., sport, family, work). Each interview started with questions about how theparticipants became involved in sport, their background, their decisions around motherhood and sport, how motherhoodhad affected them, any challenges they had faced, any support they received or appreciated, their employment and leisureinterests, and their aspirations for the future. The interviews lasted between 30 and 90 min and were tape recorded.

2.4. Data analysis

All the interviews were transcribed and sent back to the participants to be member-checked (Cresswell, 2003). This wasdone to ensure participants were comfortable with what they had said and for the information to be included in the data

Table 1

Demographic and sporting information of participants.

Pseudonym Sport Ethnicity Marital status Number of children Employment status

Abby Female dominated team Pakeha European Married 2 Not employed

Bev Female dominated team Pakeha European Married 1 Not employed

Claire Individual Pakeha European Married 2 Part-time employed

Dana Female dominated team Pakeha European Married 1 Full-time employed

Ella Female dominated team Pakeha European Married 2 Part-time employed

Fiona Male dominated team Pakeha European Single 1 Full-time employed

Glenys Individual Pakeha European Married 2 Not employed

Helen Male dominated team Maori Married 1 Studying full-time

Izzy Male dominated team New Zealand born Samoan Single 1 Full-time employed

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analysis. Once the scripts were returned and any changes made, the interviews were analyzed using the HyperRESEARCHqualitative data analysis package (Dupuis, 1994). HyperRESEARCH enabled text to be coded using sensitizing concepts fromthe literature, as well as grounded concepts originating from participants which reflected a symbolic interactionist approach.The process involved both researchers separately coding the data, and then reviewing the codes generated from the databefore agreeing on the final list of codes. The codes were then grouped into three thematic areas—motherhood and athleteidentity, negotiating multiple identities and roles, and support systems.

3. Findings

Following the symbolic interactionist approach, this section highlights the women’s experiences of elite sport as athletesand as mothers, using their own words whenever possible. Findings were grouped along three themes which reflect theresearch objectives of exploring how motherhood impacted on the identity of elite athletes (motherhood and athleteidentity), how multiple identities and roles were negotiated (negotiating multiple identities and roles), and what supportsystems were utilized in order to maintain their elite sport involvement as mothers (support systems). The last themeregarding ‘support systems’ is particularly relevant to sport management research and practice because the extent ofmanagerial and organizational support is an issue that decision-makers in sport can manipulate with regards to recruitment,retention and ongoing development of women and mothers in elite sport.

3.1. Motherhood and athlete identity

Symbolic interactionism emphasizes how individuals give meaning to the experiences they have had and allowsexpression of how these experiences shape identities and the meanings that are associated with them. For all of theparticipants ‘being an elite athlete’ was a strong and central aspect of their identity and ‘becoming a mother’ created a newidentity and impacted on their elite athlete identity in many ways. One positive impact that was reiterated by theparticipants was the ‘change in perspective’ that motherhood created with regards to sport and life. Each of these sub-themes will be addressed using verbatim responses to illustrate key concepts.

3.1.1. Being an elite athlete

Being considered an elite athlete was an important core element to the identities of most of the participants. Participantswere very forthcoming with regards to the fervor they felt for their sport, using words such as ‘‘enjoy’’, ‘‘love’’, and‘‘passionate’’. Some of the women enjoyed the opportunity to socialize, be involved in world-class events and relished thechallenge of competitive sport as reflected in the following comments:

Really, I love it, I enjoy doing it I just enjoy the people, the fitness, the challenge of doing something at an elite level likethat. [Abby]

I get a huge adrenalin rush from [elite sport] and being disabled in achieving what I’ve achieved. I get a bit emotionaleven when I think about it. [Glenys]

As a result, a strong passion for sport appeared to be the driving force for continuing involvement in sport after becomingmothers. As Bev expressed she had ‘‘that inner desire’’ within her to be a part of a winning team and to ‘‘get back and playwell and enjoy it.’’ Ella also demonstrated this enthusiasm to return to elite sport, ‘‘It was time for me to sit down and think‘what am I doing, why do I play?’ at the end of the day I love playing so I went back to the enjoyment factor.’’

As an indication of how integral sport was to their sense of self, most of the women wanted to continue involvement insport in some capacity once they retired as athletes as highlighted by Helen when she said ‘‘I’ll always be playing, coaching orencouraging young people. Sport is always going to be part of our lives.’’

3.1.2. Becoming a mother

All of the participants talked about having children as something they planned to do at some point in their lives. For threeof the nine participants, they had children prior to achieving elite athlete status, but they already had an established passionfor sport prior to pregnancy which they continued to pursue soon after childbirth. Some participants already immersed inelite sport, planned when they would have children to impact as little as possible on their sport aspirations and endeavors:

We planned her. She had to be before the Games . . . it worked out that she actually came three months before theGames so that gave me three months to prepare which was spot on. [Dana]

I said to my partner at the time ‘‘Well, if you want me to have a baby or if we want to have a baby we’d better do it now’’because I’d already planned to go to the Games in four years time. [Glenys]

The participants differed in how they approached their return to elite sport after childbirth. Fiona ‘‘made the choice to gostraight back into it [training]’’ after having children, while Claire had a five year respite to have two children and found thereturn to elite sport when the youngest child was eighteen months old ‘‘very hard.’’ Feelings of uncertainty regarding asuccessful return to elite sport after childbirth were expressed by two of the participants:

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I didn’t want to make plans just in case things didn’t go according to plan. I was flexible on that but the desire wasinside me to play to get back to the top level. [Bev]

I didn’t know if I’d ever be [a New Zealand representative] again . . .. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’tknow what it was going to be like as a mum or if I would want to come back and play. [Abby]

3.1.3. Change in perspective

All of the women indicated that motherhood changed their perspective on life and enriched their sport experience. Helenmentioned that motherhood made her ‘‘suddenly realize that you’re not the centre of the world anymore and someone else ismore important now’’ and Glenys stated that motherhood created a shift in her priorities where ‘‘you’re looking out forsomeone else more than yourself all the time.’’ For many of the participants, sport no longer was the all encompassing focusof their life. Fiona expressed how being a mother influenced her outlook by helping her to ‘‘sort of mellow a bit and focus onwhat’s really important.’’ She explained how prior to having children she was ‘‘so determined and so competitive’’ and thatbecoming a mother made her think that ‘‘some of those things didn’t really matter’’ and ‘‘why was she worrying aboutthem?’’

It appeared as if motherhood also developed their resilience and adaptability making them more able to deal with thechallenges of elite level sport. Abby, for instance, was still breastfeeding and getting very little sleep while competing at theelite level and observed how much tougher and stronger she had become because ‘‘you could be up all night with the kidsfeeding and you arrive at training and you might be feeling tired, but I just got over it and got on with it.’’ Bev explained thatshe was ‘‘more calmer and composed because compared to other things in life it [sport] is not difficult.’’ Motherhood gave her‘‘a more holistic view of sport and the game’’, while Dana felt motherhood gave her, and other mothers, an advantage in elitesport, ‘‘Don’t underestimate someone that’s had a baby. It’s emotionally draining, it’s physically draining, it hurts and youfeel all these things that you’ve never ever felt before in your whole life. I think that gives you the edge.’’ The participantsemployed a range of approaches to enable their continued participation in elite sport.

3.2. Negotiating multiple identities and roles

According to the negotiation proposition, negotiating constraints may modify rather than foreclose participation inleisure interests or passions, such as elite sport (Jackson et al., 1993). Our research supported this proposition and found thathaving to negotiate the multiple identities of ‘elite athlete’ and ‘mother’ appeared to increase the level of commitmentparticipants invested in elite sport as these women aimed to make time away from their families meaningful. The themes of‘elite sport as leisure’ and ‘managing guilt’ demonstrate how the mothers in our research minimized and negotiated notionsof guilt associated with an ethic of care and lack of entitlement to leisure (Thompson, 1999) by emphasizing how integralsport was to their sense of self, and how motherhood had a positive impact on their approach to sport and life. The womenalso highlighted how negotiating constraints associated with motherhood modified their family experience by emphasizinghow sport involvement had a positive influence on the family and how strategies for ‘managing space and time’ assisted thewomen in negotiating their multiple identities and roles.

3.2.1. Elite sport as leisure

Perceiving of sport as leisure was a key reason why many of the women chose to continue participating in elite sport asmothers. Some participants regarded their time playing sport as a hiatus from being a mother. Ella felt participating in elitesport was like a ‘‘holiday . . . this is another part of my life, and then I can just switch back on to being a mum again’’ and Bevfelt elite sport participation was ‘‘a release now . . . a change of scenery . . . it’s my time.’’ The joy Bev experienced in elite sporttraining is reiterated when she said, ‘‘I would get so excited about going for a run because I was going by myself and I couldrun as fast as I wanted and wherever I wanted and no responsibility for that time.’’

Some participants indicated that motherhood was not what they had expected and regarded sport as providing themwith a much needed sense of fulfillment, as expressed succinctly by Sheryl:

All of a sudden . . . things that you were used to doing you suddenly can’t and you have to rely heavily on your partnerand I guess it wasn’t what I expected it to be . . . I thought I would be . . . the ideal mother and that it would be totallyfulfilling, but no it wasn’t what I expected and I am looking to be as good at something as I can possibly be or achallenge . . . and that’s where sport comes in.

Motherhood created additional motivation to train hard and maximize their sporting involvement, and as Helenarticulated ‘‘you’ve got to train harder because every moment is a wasted moment I could be spending with my child.’’ ForClaire, however, this sense of obligation to do well in competition created extra pressure and was not necessarily a positivefactor because ‘‘it certainly places a lot of pressure on you so you feel you need to succeed . . . probably pressure you don’tneed . . . you just don’t need that sort of tension.’’ This last quote hints at a feeling of guilt that many of the participantsmentioned without being prompted during the interview process.

3.2.2. Managing guilt

Intrapersonal constraints the women had to negotiate included a lack of confidence and energy, as well as feelings of guilt.All of the women mentioned that they felt guilty at times. Guilt was expressed in terms of missing out on children’s

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milestones, ‘‘you miss certain things, like I missed her first steps, I missed her first tooth coming out’’, on having to rely onother people to facilitate their commitment at the elite level, on letting down team mates, and of wasting time that couldhave been spent with family. The following comments from three of the participants exemplify these feelings:

There is that big guilt you go through when you are leaving they’re crying and you feel so guilty and there is foreverthat little bit of guilt that I’m doing this for myself and I’ve made a choice to have kids and I shouldn’t be relying somuch on other people. I mean I’m always going to stay active and involved in something but it’s definitely harder inteam sport because you are letting other people down if you are not there. [Abby]

It is so easy for a mother to feel guilty for taking time out for themselves or taking time out from family to commit tosport, you know a huge amount of time . . . I know myself that if I go away to a competition and I don’t qualify I feelhugely guilty that I’ve taken up all this time. [Claire]

When he comes home from work he’s [husband] tired as well and I leave him to cook tea and look after our daughterwhile I go training for 2–3 hours . . . well I feel kind of guilty . . . because all day I’ve been home. [Bev]

The association between the social expectations of an ethic of care connected with motherhood and personal feelings ofguilt was consciously expressed by two of the participants. Glenys, for instance, verbalized the ongoing internal negotiationshe experienced as an elite athlete and mother:

It’s probably just a little bit of wanting to have your own personal thing, as well as thinking ‘‘oh . . . I’m a mother now.I’ve got to give up everything’’. Don’t you when you’re a mother? Or you’re supposed to, so some people say.

3.2.3. Managing time and space

One of the main challenges in negotiating multiple identities and roles for the participants was the time and space factorin terms of having time and space to commit to family, sport, and in some cases paid work as well. Fiona reiterated what all ofthe women mentioned with regards to time and space constraints when she stated:

It’s been quite tough . . . because of the responsibilities . . . it’s all a time factor . . . the older she [daughter] gets sheneeds more attention and more time. I travel quite a long distance to work and fitting in the extra trainings is gettingmore difficult.

Words like ‘compromise’, ‘juggle’, ‘balance’ ‘sacrifice’ and ‘being organized’ were used to explain how tensions in themother–athlete dialectic, and in some cases mother–athlete–worker triad, were managed. Often space to be a mother andelite athlete was created by compartmentalizing the various roles they played. Some of the women drew distinct boundariesbetween family and sport (e.g., ‘‘Sunday is family day’’) and focused on quality, rather than quantity of time spent in bothspheres. Dana explained how she lived life ‘‘a hundred percent’’ in sport, as a mother, as a wife, and at work so she focused onspending ‘‘quality time’’ with her child and husband. Abby explained how she used ‘‘windows of opportunity’’ and did‘‘quality rather than quantity’’ by adapting her training regime so that it was in harmony with her home space by ‘‘gettingthings like skipping ropes and making up little circuits out the front.’’

Other participants aimed to merge or integrate the time and space they operate in (e.g., sport, family, work spheres) bybringing their child/ren to practices and work, and bringing their sport and training into the lives of their families. This wasnot possible, however, without difficulty, extensive planning, and support from others as expressed by two of theparticipants:

Sometimes I try and incorporate the two, but it is quite difficult and I do find it getting more difficult. I’ll go downstairsand I’ve got a treadmill and I’ll set her up in that area so she can be with me when I’m doing my exercise or we go forwalks . . . and if I’ve got to go to work in the weekend I bring my daughter with me. [Fiona]

I take her [teenage daughter] and my sister when we are playing or when I’m training they’ll come and watch.Sometimes when I do my interval training I get the nieces and nephews to join in and when I’m coming around thetrack I’ll say ‘go’ and they start racing me, so I’ll be working a bit harder and trying to beat them and they’ll be gutsing itout trying to be beat me. So that’s good. [Izzy]

The role of support systems, both personal and organizational, was integral to participant’s continued involvement inelite sport.

3.3. Support systems

Although participants identified intrapersonal and interpersonal issues as challenging, they did not tend to view these asconstraining. Structural constraints, however, were readily identified by the participants and included lack of discretionarytime, organizational resistance and inflexibility, lack of suitable child-care, as well as societal expectations and assumptionsregarding motherhood and elite sport. The majority of participants emphasized how a combination of their passion for sportand supportive personal networks enabled them to pursue elite sport participation, which minimized or nullified thechallenges they faced. Organizational support was limited but when it was offered it had a positive impact on the

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participants’ ability to negotiate their multiple roles and identities. Key themes that emerged in this section included‘personal support networks’ and the ‘extent of organizational support’.

3.3.1. Personal support networks

To overcome interpersonal, intrapersonal and structural constraints many participants relied on strong personal supportnetworks. Partners, parents, extended family, friends, and peers provided hands-on support with child-care, and flexibility ofroles within the family and sport context. In addition, role models and mentors provided inspiration and emotionalencouragement.

All participants with partners mentioned the importance of their strong relationship in maintaining their roles asmothers, elite athletes and often workers as well. The husbands of the married participants were all heavily invested in sportas coaches and/or competitive athletes themselves and the two single mothers came from very sporty families. All of thewomen expressed gratitude to their partners and families for being flexible and adaptable, and for understanding howimportant sport was to their sense of self and achievement. As Claire expressed she was ‘‘quite lucky that [her husband] wasan [athlete] himself and that . . . he fully understands what is needed to get to the top.’’ Many of the women, however, still felta level of guilt with regards to relying on others and putting their partners out in terms of their own leisure and careeraspirations. These feelings reflected the social expectation that leisure was a privilege for women and a right for men(Thompson, 1999). This idea was emphasized by Bev who expressed how her husband had ‘‘sacrificed a lot’’ for her by notcoaching a club rugby team to ‘‘allow’’ her to play. Helen also mentioned her partner’s sacrifices and rationalized her right topursue elite sport by referring to her religious beliefs:

One of us would have to make the sacrifice, but [husband’s] a real good [athlete] so, its hard . . . we’ve both got bigambitions . . . we had to talk through a few things. He’s been really accommodating and he’s like real sacrificial andstuff. God’s given us both talents not just the guys, and God sees women and men as both equal, so he’s [husband] beenreal awesome.

However, for these women, feelings of guilt were negated by highlighting the positive influences their sportinginvolvement had on the family. These family benefits included acting as a positive female role model for their children, beinghappy pursuing their passion which made them better mothers in the long-term, providing their partners with theopportunity to take on nurturing roles, and helping their children become more independent. Abby highlighted theopportunities her absence as a result of sport created for her mother and children to bond which made her ‘‘feel slightly lessguilty about doing my own thing.’’ Dana said that her pursuit of sporting excellence showed her daughter that to make it tothe elite level you need to be committed:

[My daughter would say] ‘‘Why do you have to go again, and again? Isn’t once or twice enough? Why do you have to doit so often?’’, and that’s when you teach them that things just don’t happen overnight, it takes hard work and it takeslong hours and it takes a lot of commitment to actually achieve what you want to achieve.

In cases where family support was not possible friends were often the next option in terms of providing hands-on supportand Claire expressed how indebted she was to ‘‘some very good friends who we rely heavily on at times.’’ Both of the singlemothers emphasized how their support networks were essential for them to balance the multiple spheres of family, paidwork and sport:

I’m very lucky that I’ve got my parents. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without them. They’re very supportive soMum looks after [my daughter] while I work and train. [Fiona]

I’m not really a solo Mum ‘cos I’ve got my family . . . they’ve always been there so I’ve never had to guts it out on myown. [Izzy]

All of the women highlighted a sense of agency by choosing to continue their multiple roles and proactively createdpersonal support networks. The social and moral expectation of an ethic of care, however, may explain why these women feltguilt and obligation to be as committed as they could to elite sport in order to justify making time and energy away from theirfamilies, and denying their partners’ leisure opportunities in order to pursue their own leisure choices. As well as personalsupport networks, the extent of organizational support was mentioned by participants as something that potentially acted asa constraint or enabler.

3.3.2. Extent of organizational support

Dana and Abby talked of a lack of organizational support when they announced they were pregnant and the assumptionwas made that this signaled the end of their playing careers. The coach’s gesture of ringing Dana to tell her ‘‘Don’t worryabout coming back ‘cos I’ve got another player that is just as good as you’’ made her more determined to return afterchildbirth and she said to herself ‘‘Bull! Nobody will take my place because I’ve had a baby.’’ Abby also expressed howindignant she felt at the organizational treatment she received upon announcing her pregnancy:

As soon as I announced I was pregnant it was like give back this and that, rather than how can we keep you involvedand there was no support even though I played for New Zealand for a long time. There was no ‘we’d like you to come

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back and play is there any way we can help? Can we provide gym membership?’ There was never any help . . . it wasalways me having to do the hard work to get selected and get back in.

Attempting to get back into elite sport after childbirth was a daunting task for some of the women and affected theirconfidence. Receiving encouragement and invitations (via phone calls and letters) to return to training from their respectivesport organizations, therefore, was appreciated. Helen explained how she ‘‘prayed’’ about getting back into sport afterchildbirth and then received a letter from team management informing her that ‘‘there was fitness testing in three months’’which gave her enough motivation to start ‘‘training hard.’’ Ella verbalized her anxiety about whether her desire to return toelite sport was welcomed by team management when she said:

I was thinking ‘shit, what’s going to happen to me?’ and then I was like ‘Oh god, well maybe people still want you toplay’ Then the coach rang me and said ‘oh I’d really like you to come’ and I went along. I wasn’t match fit, but I wentalright.

In terms of structural support, some participants mentioned monetary support they received from a national sportagency, which assisted them in terms of study opportunities and sport-related costs. There were issues, however, becausethe funding was for sport-related costs, rather than child-care costs, and funding was not available when athletes were ‘de-carded’ while taking a hiatus from sport due to childbirth or child-care commitments. The resentment in having theseservices and opportunities retracted was expressed by Abby:

Because I got pregnant I was de-carded straight away at a time when I wanted to study. I couldn’t get any of thatfunding and I was like ‘God I’ve played for this country for so long’, but just because I chose to have a child and havethat ‘time out’ I wasn’t carded and then I wasn’t eligible for all that funding.

Participants differed in how they perceived organizational attitudes toward selecting elite athletes who were mothers.Claire, for instance, believed that she was not discriminated against in terms of re-selection and that ‘‘they [selectors andcoaches] look at you as being an experienced [athlete] and welcome you back’’ irrespective of motherhood. Fiona, on theother hand, mentioned she felt that women who have children after being selected (rather than prior to selection) werejudged differently which could lead to discrimination:

When you’re in the team and you have a child, then you come back - people judge you on having a child. Like ‘she’s notas good as she was before’ or ‘she’s never quite come back the same’. . . . It’s not necessarily that they won’t choose youbecause of it, but I think if there were two players of a similar standard they’d say ‘‘well, she’s probably a bit morecommitted and can train a bit more or make herself available a bit more’’ where as ‘‘so and so has got familycommitments and is really tied up with that.’’

Claire, however, did feel discriminated against when her respective coaches appeared unsympathetic to her changedcircumstances as a mother, especially when it came to training expectations:

There was a discussion as to what was expected of us . . . and we were to put a lot more work in and go to the gym anddo this and that and I was thinking ‘Woah . . . how am I going to fit all this in?’ I think as an organization they look atpeople generally and not at one or two who have specific circumstances.

Despite this initial one-size-fits-all approach, Claire felt that ‘‘things have changed now’’ in terms of organizationalunderstanding and that training expectations are no longer as ‘‘rigid.’’ She also explained how she had ‘‘restructured’’ hertrainings and could personally ‘‘manage that time a whole bunch better.’’

In terms of integrating the roles of mother and athlete in a competitive context, Abby was the first New Zealand player inher sport to take her breastfeeding baby on tour. She mentioned that ‘‘they [the NSO] didn’t want that [having her child withher] to be the big thing of the tour so they [child and mother] were very much in the background as far as the media oranything else like that was concerned.’’ This particular sports organization has since made significant progress in terms ofsupporting mothers with children and families being incorporated into the ‘public’ sphere of this sport at pre-match andafter-match functions, end of year functions, and in the media. Despite a more welcoming environment for families, playerswere still expected to organize child support matters themselves. Cost, therefore, was mentioned by participants as apossible constraint for players with less financial means and fewer support networks. Claire felt that organizational supportcould improve especially with regards to child-care particularly for athletes with no family support available. Abby believedthat this support could start even earlier when athletes become pregnant by proactively ‘‘working with’’ athletes during thistime and trying to ‘‘encourage them, if they wanted to, to come back.’’

Another structural constraint mentioned was the lack of accommodation for children at training sessions and on tour.Fiona mentioned that there was ‘‘nothing to accommodate the kids’’ and Abby outlined the strict management’s guidelinesfor her, with regards to her child being permitted to come on tour:

[my child] could come on tour as long as he wasn’t a distraction to the team. We had some pretty clear guidelines thatmum and him were to stay in a separate part of the hotel and I wasn’t to take him down to the team.

Rather than challenge this, Fiona accommodated the team management’s requests and used her ‘‘spare time’’ to ‘‘go andfeed and play with’’ her child.

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For participants who were mothers, elite athletes, and engaged in paid work, organizational support extended to work aswell as sport contexts. The two single mothers, in particular, mentioned how supportive their work environment andcolleagues were of their sporting and family roles and responsibilities. Fiona explained how she was permitted to start worka little later in the mornings so that she could organize her child-care and avoid traffic congestion. Despite this supportivegesture Fiona explained how she resisted using motherhood as ‘‘an excuse to get time off or anything.’’ Izzy’s workorganization was also supportive of her multiple roles by giving her ‘‘special leave’’ for sport events, and allowing her tofinish her work day a little earlier to fit in with ‘‘family and training commitments.’’

4. Discussion

This research used a symbolic interactionist approach to explore how motherhood impacted on the identity of eliteathletes, how these women negotiated their multiple identities and roles and how support systems were created or utilizedso that these women could actively make decisions regarding their roles as elite athletes and mothers. This approach hashighlighted how these women incorporated personal and social constructions of meanings associated with their identities aselite athletes, mothers and a range of other identities (e.g., worker, daughter, Christian, and partner), and how they madeactive decisions to realize their choice to be elite athletes and mothers.

Participants negotiated the intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural constraints often associated with preventingmothers from continued involvement in sport (Brown et al., 2001; Crawford et al., 1991; Miller & Brown, 2005; Samdahl &Jekubovich, 1997). The first objective focused on how motherhood impacted on the identity of elite athletes. The findingshighlighted how the participants had a strong sport identity demonstrated through their passion for sport, to the extent thattheir family and work choices were often associated with sport. They justified ongoing involvement in elite sport becausethey regarded elite sport as essential to their sense of self, allowing them to be ‘better’ mothers and to feel personallyfulfilled. All of the women indicated that motherhood changed their perspective on life and enriched their sport experience,as was found in research on work–family balance (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Ruderman et al., 2002). Akin to Little’s (2002)research, the women in this study regarded sport as an integral part of their lives and therefore managed to negotiateconstraints to realize their choices as mothers and elite athletes. The combination of a genuine ‘love’ of sport, and a sense thatsport was a central part of their lives and identities may explain why these women successfully maintained theirinvolvement in sport as mothers, when many elite athletes (and women in general) who become mothers do not.

The second objective explored how multiple identities and roles were negotiated. Participants acknowledged that theirchoice to be mothers, elite athletes and in some cases paid workers, were realized by emphasizing their right to participate insport as leisure, their ability to manage the feeling of guilt, and by utilizing strategies of compartmentalizing/integratingtime and space so that their multiple identities and roles could be accommodated. As a result, these women successfullymanaged to juggle their multiple identities and roles, suggesting a move away from a focus on negotiating constraints andhow this takes place, towards the integration of multiple identities (Little, 2002; Wearing, 1998) and a focus on howwomen’s choices in leisure and sport are realized.

Continuing in elite sport was justified as a leisure right for these women—time for them to do what they excelled at andenjoyed. The women in Pedersen’s (2001) research, while not necessarily unfulfilled with motherhood (as one woman in ourstudy was) also regarded their time participating in sport as an outlet and something that was their time—unencumbered byfamily responsibilities. This perception of elite sport participation as a leisure right challenged the common assumption thatwomen perceive of leisure and sport as a privilege (Thompson, 1999). The participants, however, were not completelyimpervious to social expectations and often experienced guilt, a feeling frequently associated with the socially reinforcedand gendered notion of an ethic of care, which has been described as limiting women’s, and particularly mothers’, freedom totake part in leisure activities (Bialeschki & Michener, 1994; Thompson, 1999).

A number of authors have encouraged women to overcome the feelings of guilt and a lack of entitlement to leisure byproactively determining their roles within society (e.g., Gilligan, 1982; Henderson, Bialeschki, Shaw, & Freysinger, 1989).Although the women in this study proactively determined their continued role as elite athletes after having children, thenotion of guilt was still evident which contrasts with findings from Pedersen’s (2001) research on elite Danish athletes whowere mothers. The reason for this difference may be that two thirds of the women in our research consciously chose to havechildren while already at the elite level of sport, while in Pedersen’s study all the women became elite athletes after havinghad children. Guilt, therefore, may have been more prevalent among the participants in this study compared to Pedersen’sbecause their identity as mothers was not as established as their elite athlete identity. Another explanation may be that allbar two of our participants played team sports, which required training at certain times and may involve a sense of obligationto fellow team members and team protocols, whereas all of Pedersen’s participants took part in individual sport, which maybe more flexible in terms of training requirements. The personality of women who participate in team sports versusindividual sports, may also differ, and team sports may attract women who have a stronger sense of social obligation andethic of care. Many of these issues regarding guilt and its relationship to gender identity, motherhood and elite sportparticipation require further investigation.

The findings from our research suggested that having a sense of personal control does not guarantee that guilt associatedwith the social expectation of an ethic of care for children and partners will disappear. The feeling of guilt was nevereliminated completely, but was minimized by rationalizing the positive impact being involved in elite sport had forthemselves, their children and family (Bialeschki & Michener, 1994; Brown et al., 2001; Currie, 2004; Miller & Brown, 2005).

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Interestingly, a positive spin-off of feeling guilty was that these women felt obligated to be as committed as they could toelite sport in order to justify time and energy away from their families, and ‘sacrifices’ made by their partners. Some of theparticipants also expressed concern that coaches, selectors and trainers may question their level of commitment because oftheir change in circumstances when it appears, from their perspective at least, that this concern is speculative.

Words like ‘compromise’, ‘juggle’, ‘balance’ ‘sacrifice’ and ‘being organized’ were used to explain how tensions in thedialectic mother–athlete (and in some cases worker) identity were managed, akin to what Johnston and Swanson (2007)called ‘cognitive acrobatics’. Time and space to be both a mother and elite athlete was created by either compartmentalizingor integrating their multiple identities and roles. Some of the women drew distinct boundaries between family and sport(e.g., ‘‘Sunday is family day’’) and focused on quality, rather than quantity of time spent in both spheres, which was a similarstrategy used by the women in Pedersen’s (2001) study. Other participants integrated their family, sport, and sometimeswork spaces and times, which often relied heavily on the support and understanding of others to work as a strategy.

The third objective was to find out what support systems were created or utilized by participants so that they couldbecome or maintain their elite athlete status. The important role of personal support networks in enabling the women tomanage their multiple identities was emphasized by all participants. Pedersen’s (2001) work also suggested that socialsupport was important to whether female athletes who were mothers continued in elite sport. Women with partnersmentioned the importance of their strong relationship in maintaining their dual roles as mothers and elite athletes, similar towhat Dixon and Bruening (2007) observed in their study of coaches as mothers. In the absence of partners, the two singlewomen in our research relied heavily on their family, friends and work colleagues for support and understanding withregards to child-care requirements. The extent of organizational support from National Sport Organizations, coaching staffand team management, however, varied. Some organizations were very supportive and actively encouraged the participantsback into sport after giving birth with simple gestures, such as a phone call or letter of encouragement. Others regardedhaving children as an end to the women’s playing career which often left participants feeling used, abandoned and in somecases more determined to prove their coaches and sport organizations wrong. Some participants acknowledged that theorganizational response to elite athletes with children has become more welcoming, accommodating and positive in recenttimes, and the increased visibility of ‘elite athletes as mothers’, who acted as role models and mentors for participants,motivated them to continue their sporting aspirations as mothers. None of the participants, however, explicitly challengedtheir respective sport organizations to be inclusive of women with children. They relied heavily on their personal supportnetworks, resources and self-determination to negotiate the structural constraint of ‘little or no organizational support’.Perhaps by their mere presence in the highly public domain of elite sport, they created a subtle process of change in attitude,perception and behavior in their respective teams and sport organizations toward elite athletes who are mothers.

5. Conclusion

This research has added to our understanding of the impact motherhood had on elite athlete identity; how theparticipants negotiated their multiple roles and identities as elite athletes and mothers and how support systems werecreated or utilized so that they could ‘be’ elite athletes and mothers. The knowledge gained from this symbolic interactionistperspective can assist sport organizations in gaining a more critical understanding of how these particular women negotiatepotential constraints and also highlights how sport coaches, managers and decision-makers can influence the opportunitiesand experiences of elite athletes who are mothers. In summary, all participants described competitive sport as core to theirsense of self and motherhood was a positive influence on their approach to sport and life. The impact of motherhood on theirathlete identity, therefore, was positive but did not supersede their strong identity as athletes. For some women, becoming amother made them realize how essential sport was to their sense of self. Negotiating their multiple identities and roles aspassionate high achieving women in sport and as mothers, although challenging was generally perceived as reciprocallyenhancing and elite sport was considered a personal right by the majority of participants. The feeling of guilt was identifiedas a major challenge and was overcome by accentuating the benefits of continued elite sport involvement to their sense ofself, their children, and their families. Modifying their experiences by compartmentalizing and/or integrating time and spaceaided these women in negotiating their multiple roles and identities including those associated with motherhood, elitesport, relationships, and work. Surrounding themselves with personal support networks and having access to varying levelsof organizational support was also a key strategy for overcoming daily challenges and realizing their choices to continue elitesport participation as mothers.

From a sport management perspective, this study assists in understanding the social trend of ‘elite athletes who aremothers’ and provides a number of reasons why those charged with governance and management of women in sport shoulddevelop and implement policies, strategies and practices to cater for this phenomenon. In Poland, for instance, an anti-discrimination provision was introduced in the Qualified Sports Act in 2005. The provision ensures that sportswomenreceive a sport stipend in the full amount for the duration of their pregnancy and half the amount of the stipend for sixmonths following childbirth (United Nations, 2007).

Ironically, the ethic of care which potentially acts as a constraint for women to pursue their leisure interests, can alsobenefit sport. The participants in this study combined their passion for sport with an ethic of care, worked in the sportindustry (often in a volunteer capacity), were aware of their status as role models and indicated a desire to stay involved intheir respective sports once they retired as athletes. In addition, their experiences as mothers enhanced their attitude tosport, and in some cases made them even more committed, adaptable and resilient which can positively influence team

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dynamics and other women in sport. As recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the important role mothershave in promoting women’s participation in sport (International Olympic Committee, 2008) suggests that the recruitment,retention and ongoing development of elite athletes who are mothers is in the best interest of sport at all levels. Elite athleteswho are mothers challenged the gendered expectations in sport and society that once women become mothers they shouldforego elite sport to focus on the needs of their children and partners. By questioning this expectation, they act at the least asrole models for other women to remain active in sport post-childbirth. They also became ‘agents of change’ by encouragingfamily members and those in sport coaching, management and governance to adapt their expectations, policies and practicesto accommodate women who choose to be elite athletes and mothers concurrently.

Our findings are not suggesting that elite athletes who are mothers are more of an asset to sport than athletes who aremothers at the community level. Being in the predominantly public and masculine sphere of elite sport where mediacoverage and public interest is high, however, creates an opportunity to challenge societal norms of what is expected ofmothers and elite athletes in a national and global way. It appears that a small, but perceptible shift, of motherhoodbecoming more publicly acceptable in elite sport is occurring. A Sports Illustrated article acknowledging members of the USAteam at the 2008 Olympics who were mothers (Farber, 2008), supports this idea. These public stories and examples maychallenge the gendered nature of elite sport and family life. Men, children and the wider community, for instance, may beable to pursue a wider range of roles and experiences as a result of more flexible family roles (e.g., independent children andsupportive partners). More girls, women and mothers may be inspired to pursue sport as a leisure interest and/or career ifthey see women who are mothers pursuing their passion in the public arena of elite sport.

Many of the participants in this study had to demonstrate self-reliance and self-determination in order to return to elitesport after childbirth, and mothers are better accommodated in some sports than others. Organizational policies andstrategies such as keeping in contact with athletes who are pregnant, invitations to return to training after childbirth, andacknowledgement of the importance of child-care resources and strong support networks (personal and structural) willenable elite athletes who are mothers to continue their valuable contribution to sport. The unique circumstances of mothersalso need to be acknowledged especially with regards to funding allocation and education scholarships.

We recognize that generalizing from the research is limited due to the socio-cultural context, the small number of womeninterviewed, and the predominantly white middle-class background of the women in this study. However, this research hasprovided a unique interpretation of elite athletes and motherhood by focusing on the lived experiences of participants. Indoing so, it allowed greater understanding of how these women experienced the elite sport context, balanced their multipleidentities, negotiated constraints, and realized their life choices. Furthermore, the research highlighted the way that themeanings and identities the participants attributed to being a mother and an elite athlete, were both personally and sociallyproduced, as well as changeable over time (Weiss, 2001). Symbolic interactionism provided a means for researchers andpractitioners to understand how identities and the meanings associated with these identities impact on sport and leisureexperiences, and we recommend this approach continue to be applied to sport management research, especially for sectorsof society that struggle to have their voices heard in the academic realm.

It is acknowledged that this study is limited in that it only seeks to give voice to those women who have successfullymanaged to negotiate their mother–elite athlete identities. Further research is needed into the individual stories of thoseelite female athletes who have not continued sport involvement after becoming mothers, as well as interviewing moremothers involved in elite sport, both in New Zealand and overseas, to identify whether the results of this initial piece ofresearch have wider application. Additional research should focus on ethnic minority mothers, single mothers, lesbianmothers, mothers with disabilities, and mothers in male-dominated sports, in order to gain diverse perspectives of the‘mother’ experience as it relates to elite sport. The importance of social support highlighted in this study would suggest thatgaining the perspective of the people in these roles would provide a more complete picture of the issues involved and theexperiences of fathers in elite sport would also be interesting to compare and contrast with the experiences of mothers inelite sport.

This research has demonstrated how useful a symbolic interactionist perspective can be in revealing the complexinteractions between self-identities, social meanings and social contexts. In this case, the role motherhood played inenhancing the experiences of women in elite sport and the role that continued involvement in elite sport had on lifeenrichment for mothers has been revealed. As mothers, these women challenged gendered notions that motherhood isalways fulfilling, that leisure is a privilege, and that the needs of children and partners are priorities for all women. Thesewomen also challenged gendered roles by encouraging their children to be independent, by providing care-giving andsupportive opportunities for their male partners to fulfill, and by demonstrating to their partners, children, wider family,community members, and peers that women can consider the pursuit of sporting excellence as a legitimate and seriousleisure/career option. In addition, they potentially challenged gendered expectations in elite sport by demonstrating toothers involved in this domain that women can be mothers without compromising their athleticism, and that they canbenefit their team, sport, and organization by exhibiting commitment, determination, as well as management skills. In fact,in many ways, these women believed motherhood enhanced their athleticism and made them an asset rather than a burdento the sporting world. As elite athletes, they were more likely to be in the public arena, which made them ideal role modelsfor the social benefits of sport participation, and they portrayed a message to society, that women are able to achieve in elitesport as mothers just as they do in a range of public domains, such as business, politics, and media.

This research reveals how mothers as elite athletes may reinforce gendered expectations associated with the ethic of care,by continuing to experience and verbalize feelings of guilt, by continuing to place the needs and aspirations of their children

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and male partners above their own, and by continuing to take on the role of primary care-giver. In a sporting context, theymay reinforce gendered stereotypes by demonstrating how difficult it is to balance family, sport and work commitments, byasking for exemptions and special circumstances when it comes to training and team protocols, by adopting a motherlyapproach to team and sport situations, and by insisting their stance as mothers in elite sport is a personal, rather thanpolitical one. This research highlighted how gendered expectations within the private institution of family and publicinstitution of elite sport were sometimes reinforced and sometimes challenged, as women continually negotiated theirengagement in both spheres.

This research has given these women an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and the meanings they associate withtheir multiple roles and identities. It has also provided suggestions for how sport practitioners and decision-makers canincrease the retention of women in elite sport after they become mothers. However, perhaps most importantly, the researchhas shown that the level of commitment these women have to their life goals has increased not decreased since they becamemothers. Thus being a mother and an elite athlete can not only enhance the lives of women, their families and peers, but also,if managed correctly, benefit the institution of elite sport.

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