The Space Between Us: A Phenomenological Study of Shame in Elite Athletics

This study sought to understand elite athletes’ experiences of shame. The question that guided this research was how is the phenomenon of shame lived in the experiences of elite athletes? In order to understand how participants experienced shame, a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to research (van Manen, 1990, 2014, Launeanu, et al., 2018) was used. Seven retired elite athletes were interviewed about their experiences. Through the participants’ lived experience descriptions, shame was uncovered as (a) a dialogical phenomenon revealed in the space between persons, (b) characterized by feeling personally violated and subsequently vulnerable, (c) embodied in acts of hiding from self and others, and (d) the portal or gateway to encountering a person as they are. From these essential features emerged the metaphor of shame as a dance, which represented a dynamic relational space permeating the dialogical rhythm of an encounter of two persons. This dialogical rhythm also unveiled and pointed to the essential qualities of the person experiencing shame. These findings highlighted that research, theory and clinical practice within sport and counselling psychology would benefit from understanding shame as having a protective, self-revelatory quality.