Who Am I Outside of Sport… Maybe Nobody: Disrupted Identity Narratives in Young Female Athletes Following Severe Injury

This study explores how sport participation contributes to female adolescents’ identity development, and how injuries may disrupt that development. Using a narrative approach, we investigated how the participants chose to present themselves and tell their stories, and how severe injuries impacted these stories. Five Norwegian female athletes aged 16-18 participated in two interviews each, and we analysed the data using thematic and narrative analysis. Our results indicated that the athletic identity was prominent in participants’ stories, with other identities (e.g., as a student) relegated to a secondary position. The injury experience seemed to challenge, andfor some, starting to alter their identity narratives and their future projection of a successful return to sport. For others, their identity as athletes seemed unchanged and even strengthened following the injury. Our findings contribute to an understanding of the role of sport in adolescent girls’ identity development, and how this relationship can change over time due to injury.