Two on a tightrope: the stress experiences of the romantic partners of professional athletes

The romantic partner of a professional athlete can play a pivotal role in preserving performance and well-being (Brown et al., 2018). However, through their direct or indirect experiences partners have to cope with the stressors of professional sport that can impact relationship functioning, well-being and performance. Therefore, to help sport organizations better support romantic partners, the aim of this study was to explore partner’s stress experiences within professional sports by adopting an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach. Eight romantic partners (female partners n = 5; football (n = 2), paralympic rowing, boxing and long-distance running; male n = 3; middle-distance running, football, and tennis) participated in semi-structured interviews. Explained through the metaphor of ‘two on a tightrope’, partners balanced a dynamic range of stress-related themes; navigating the romantic space, sacrifices- some willing and some reluctant, feeling undervalued and unimportant, the sporting performance, receiving or dealing with abuse, and life after sport. To handle unfolding events, partners employed proactive coping, social support, avoidance coping, re-appraisal, supportive dyadic coping, protective buffering, acceptance, and problem-focused coping strategies.