Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

Janja Tekavc; Paul Wylleman; Saša Erpič

doi:10.1080/17430437.2020.1720200

Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

Janja Tekavc, Paul Wylleman, Saša Erpič

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Perceptions of incompatibility of sport and motherhood still exist within both sport and family Slovene cultures. For many female athletes starting a family means an end of their athletic careers. However, some women decide to pursue their athletic life after they become mothers. While recent media interest in mother-athletes has increased significantly, scientific research focusing on this topic is still scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore the transition of Slovene female athletes into motherhood and their experiences of combining motherhood with competitive sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight female elite athletes, who became mothers during their elite level competitive career. The results of the study revealed that mother-athletes perceived this transition as a long-term process in which motherhood and elite sport had a reciprocal effect on each other. Three transition phases characterized by changes in the participants’ holistic development were identified: (1) pre-pregnancy and pregnancy, (2) returning to competitive sport, and (3) living the life of a mother-athlete.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	734–750
Number of pages	17
Journal	Sport in Society
Volume	23
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2020.1720200
Publication status	Published - 2 Apr 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
At the vocational and financial levels, mother-athletes were legally on year-long maternity leave, which gave them a certain level of financial security, coming from government financial support for all Slovene mothers and their children in their first year after birth. Participants noticed that their financial outgoings increased due to expenses connected with the baby. Some of them stressed the fact that their parents’ support in taking care of their baby and allowing them to train was in fact also a financial support: without the help of their parents they would be forced into paying for daily child-care that they probably could not afford. One of the women admitted that one of her motives to return into competitive sport was also to keep the status of a professional athlete and retain the financial support of the Slovene Ministry of Defence. Some female athletes in this study reported that the Slovene National Olympic Committee decided to remove female athletes, who recently gave birth, from the list of possible candidates for the next OG. As a consequence, they were not allowed to receive the financial support that covers the expenses of athletes preparing for the OG.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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Cite this

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title = "Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes{\textquoteright} transition to motherhood in Slovenia",

abstract = "Perceptions of incompatibility of sport and motherhood still exist within both sport and family Slovene cultures. For many female athletes starting a family means an end of their athletic careers. However, some women decide to pursue their athletic life after they become mothers. While recent media interest in mother-athletes has increased significantly, scientific research focusing on this topic is still scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore the transition of Slovene female athletes into motherhood and their experiences of combining motherhood with competitive sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight female elite athletes, who became mothers during their elite level competitive career. The results of the study revealed that mother-athletes perceived this transition as a long-term process in which motherhood and elite sport had a reciprocal effect on each other. Three transition phases characterized by changes in the participants{\textquoteright} holistic development were identified: (1) pre-pregnancy and pregnancy, (2) returning to competitive sport, and (3) living the life of a mother-athlete.",

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note = "Funding Information: At the vocational and financial levels, mother-athletes were legally on year-long maternity leave, which gave them a certain level of financial security, coming from government financial support for all Slovene mothers and their children in their first year after birth. Participants noticed that their financial outgoings increased due to expenses connected with the baby. Some of them stressed the fact that their parents{\textquoteright} support in taking care of their baby and allowing them to train was in fact also a financial support: without the help of their parents they would be forced into paying for daily child-care that they probably could not afford. One of the women admitted that one of her motives to return into competitive sport was also to keep the status of a professional athlete and retain the financial support of the Slovene Ministry of Defence. Some female athletes in this study reported that the Slovene National Olympic Committee decided to remove female athletes, who recently gave birth, from the list of possible candidates for the next OG. As a consequence, they were not allowed to receive the financial support that covers the expenses of athletes preparing for the OG. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, {\textcopyright} 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

Abstract

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