Wel-being in sport organizations

The concept of well-being has generated considerable academic attention and debate over the past century, influenced by historical discussions about what feeling good or experiencing the ‘good life’ constitutes (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Indeed, entering the word ‘well-being’ into the Google Scholar search engine retrieves over 3.4 million associated articles. As will be identified in this chapter, a lot of the work that has examined well-being has been informed by models and theories relating to adversity, as opposed to optimal functioning or flourishing. Given Arnold and Fletcher’s work on stress within their chapter in this volume, the purpose of this chapter will be to provide balance by focusing on well-being through the lens of wellness, utilizing concepts from positive psychology. First, we define well-being through the perspectives of hedonism and eudaimonism, illustrating how these approaches to understanding well-being differ and, potentially, complement each other both conceptually and empirically. Then, we will offer critical insight into well-being research within sport psychology that is relevant to the sport organization, discussing the predictors of athlete and coach well-being. The focus of the chapter then moves on to the strengths and limitations of the existing body of well-being research relevant to sport organizations, informing future research directions for the field. Potential intervention strategies that may promote well-being within sporting organizations are then suggested, including primary, secondary, and tertiary strategies