Sports Chaplaincy in Women’s International Soccer Pastoral: Care, Emotional Wellbeing, and Holistic Support

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increasing concern for the holistic wellbeing of elite athletes resulting in the introduction of psychologists, chaplains and other helping professionals into a variety of sports settings. This small-scale qualitative study examines factors affecting the emotional wellbeing of international women soccer players whilst on residential training camp and how sports chaplaincy might assist in providing support within this context. Placing the personal accounts of seven UK-based female players at the center of the analysis, findings demonstrate that performance, relationships (with coaches and other players), and social networks all affected the emotional wellbeing of respondents both positively and negatively. Interviewees believed that chaplaincy support had the potential to maintain emotional wellbeing for players especially in the case of younger athletes. The paper concludes by suggesting that whilst sports chaplaincy provision is dependent both on organizational and individual (athlete) consent, such support has the potential to play a significant role in elite women’s soccer as part of wider mechanisms of player wellbeing.|Keywords: women’s international soccer, holistic wellbeing, sports chaplaincy, qualitative research