Throw, sweep, thrive and belong: A small story narrative analysis of sense of community meanings for elite curler mothers on Instagram

To advance understanding of socially constructed motherhood and sport, researchers are exploring elite athlete mothers’ sporting comebacks on social media (e.g. Instagram). The role of community aspects (e.g. belongingness, trust) linked to athlete mothers’ sporting career negotiation in digital media holds potential to expand understanding of socio-cultural career affordances for these sportswomen. This study explored the sense of community meanings of four Canadian elite curler mothers’ (e.g. (inter)national rankings, winning tournaments) negotiation of sporting career post-partum on Instagram. A total of 217 Instagram posts for each athlete, covering from most recent birth announcements to summer 2024 were segmented into themes related to family, sporting career and community (e.g. curling spaces, fan interactions). Posts were theorized as small stories (e.g. images, everyday moments) shaping big story narrative meaning(s) using dialogical narrative analysis. A big story narrative of growth and stability amidst belongingness was shaped by small stories of striving for excellence and expanding communities and careers . These results provide novel theoretical insight into the normalization of motherhood in elite curling spaces linked with socially constructed community meanings. Small stories revealed tensions intertwined with performance excellence and sporting career expansion, supported through community meanings, for a select few. These findings shed light on motherhood in elite curling, inclusion/equity, maternal rights, and provide future directions for social media research on motherhood and sport.