A sporting career and emotions: The case of a top French table tennis player

Little research has been done into the emotional dimensions of the activity of very high-level athletes, in particular over an extended time frame. The objective of this research was to analyze the trajectory of a former French professional table tennis player who had a career spanning more than twenty years at the highest national and/or international level, with a particular focus on the emotional dynamics observed during that time. Based on a situated approach (Theureau, 2006), we adopted the methodological principles proposed by Hauw and Lemeur (2013) to analyze the “life course related to a practice” in a sports context. An interview was conducted where we had the table tennis player look at a timeline charting his sporting career, then attempt to reconstruct his emotional dynamics throughout his career. Ten periods were identified. The first four are characterized by increasingly positive emotions, while the following three reflect more fluctuating and negative emotions. Finally, the last three periods evoke positive emotions that become increasingly neutral toward the end of his career. The results are discussed in three parts: (1) emotional dynamics and agency of the table tennis player; (2) emotional dynamics of the table tennis player and ambivalence of the social context; (3) emotions, resonance, and dynamics of his sporting career.