Original research

International Journal of Sports Science

& Coaching
Engagement in athletic career: A study of 2023, Vol. 18(4) 1056–1066
© The Author(s) 2022
female Brazilian handball world champions Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/17479541221106763
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Leilane Alves de Lima1 , Riller Silva Reverdito2 ,

Alcides José Scaglia1,3, and Larissa Rafaela Galatti1,3

Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify and describe elements that influenced the engagement of the 2013 Brazilian handball
female world champions from grassroots to elite sports levels. Seven members of the team participated in a retrospective
examination of their athletic development, with a mean of 20 years of sports experience. A semi-structured interview and
questionnaire were used for data collection, and the script was based on the development stages of the Developmental
Model of Sport Participation1 and the dynamic elements of the Personal Assets Framework2. The thematic analysis
showed that the athletes’ personal characteristics, their disparate environments, and the quality of their relationships
were significant in their pathway to elite performance. The results show that well-structured settings are not important
in the early years, but rather the coaches’ interest in keeping young athletes engaged in sport is one of the key elements.
Moreover, the advance in the maintenance years, training in a more structured setting and the coaches’ caring attitude and
attention to their athletes’ feelings and emotions can lead to pathways toward excellence.

Keywords
Coach-athlete relationship, positive youth development, team sport

Introduction term outcomes.2,4,5 More specifically, these dynamic ele-

Athletes’ development can be explained by the comprehen-
sive interaction between personal, environmental, and
relationship-based elements, while also realizing the con-
tinuous exchange between developing individuals and
their environment.1 The strength, the content, and the direc-
tion of these interactions in the sporting environment
(immediate and remote) directly affect athletes’ develop-
mental outcomes, which can either contribute to engage-
ment or to abandonment.2 Côté3 guided by the proximal
processes proposed by Bronfenbrenner,1 considering the
interdependence between personal, contextual, and social
elements, suggests that this establishes the basis for under-
standing the patterns of engagement of athletes in sports.
Thus, engagement is the prolonged involvement in sports
practice, expressed by the continuity of actions and interac-
tions between the person and their context, which in turn
may influence the development of personal assets.
The personal asset framework (PAF) was developed to
highlight the interaction of the three core elements; personal
engagement in activities, social dynamics, and appropriate
settings all of which interact over time to promote short-
term interest, the development of personal assets, and long-
ments are understood as system gears, and as they interact,
they provide specific sporting experiences that, strength-
ened over time, may promote the development of personal
assets also known as the “4Cs” (competence, character,
connection, and confidence). Thus, from the consistent
development of personal assets over several seasons and
the continued involvement of young people in sport, long-
term benefits arise, including participation, performance,
and personal development (known as the “3Ps”).4
Reviewers: Arne Güllich (University of Kaiserlautern, Germany)
Steven Rynne (University of Queensland, Australia)
1
Faculty of Physical Education, University of Campinas, Brazil
2
Faculty of Health Sciences, State University of Mato Grosso, Brazil
3
College of Sport Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, University of
Campinas, Brazil
Corresponding author:
Larissa Rafaela Galatti, School of Applied Sciences, Universidade Estadual
de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas – R. Pedro Zaccaria, 1300
Limeira-SP CEP 13484-350, Campinas, Brazil.
Email: lgalatti@unicamp.br
De Lima et al.
In PAF, personal engagement in activities is related to
the interaction process between the athlete and his/her per-
sonal characteristics and their training opportunities,
wherein the structure and quality of the activities develop
both positive and negative influences on the athletes’
ability to engage with the sports environment. Social
quality dynamics are represented by perceived relations of
reciprocity among coaches, athletes, peers, family
members, and other agents involved in the training and
competition environments. Appropriate settings refer to
the physical environments where athletes are directly and
indirectly involved throughout their development, repre-
sented from the immediate training environment to the
wider social, political, and cultural systems.4–6
The interaction of dynamic elements throughout the ath-
letes’ career varies according to the age of the athletes and
competitive level of the sports setting. Creation of an envir-
onment that enhances the development of personal assets is
related to the quality, structure, and direction of activities,
whether it occurs in youth sports or high performance.
Research shows that early sports experiences based on
positive social relationships and activities that stimulate
interest and fun, help athletes stay engaged in sport.7–10
Diversified training approaches, which include different
practice types (deliberate play, play practice, deliberate
practice, and informal practice), can create varied learning
environments that facilitate high-quality emotional and
social interactions. In high-performance sports, engagement
can also be motivated by the willingness to be involved in
demanding training and challenging competitions (e.g.,
world championships, Olympic games), athletes need to
adapt to more taxing schedules, showing dedication, deter-
mination, commitment, seriousness, and responsibility. In
high-performance sports, athletes routinely abdicate imme-
diate rewards for the sake of a long-term goal. At this stage,
in addition to the physical, technical, and tactical training,
mental skills training is another way to maximize perform-
ance and prevent possible crises that may demotivate an
athlete.11,12
Regardless of the environment, athlete-coach,13 athlete-
peer,14 and athlete-family relationships,15,16 should align
with the athletes’ level of development and competitive
environment to drive their development process.17
Mendonça, Honda, Massa, and Uezo18 analyzed the
sports career of athletes from the Brazilian Men’s
Handball Team and identified that parental and friend
support, voluntary commitment to the activity, as well as
the environment (school, public venues, and clubs) contrib-
uted to the athletes’ engagement and growth in sports.
Accordingly, Fontes and Brandão19 highlighted the per-
sonal characteristic of resilience linked to social support,
as an element capable of averting early sports dropouts of
basketball athletes. These studies emphasize the need to
analyze the development process of athletes considering
personal, interpersonal, and environmental factors.20
1057
Although the interaction between personal, interper-
sonal, and environmental factors is recognized in the devel-
opment process of athletes, there remains little information
about the interactive nature of these elements that affect
engagement in sports over time. Moreover, little is known
about female elite athletes from the Southern hemisphere.
The 2013 Brazilian Women’s Handball Team was the
first team in the Americas and only the second outside of
Europe to win the World Championship. Thus, the aim of
this study was to identify and describe the interactive ele-
ments that influenced engagement in these Brazilian
female world champion handball athletes throughout their
entire sports career.
Methodology
The research process was carried out retrospectively, with a
focus on understanding and interpreting the events and
experiences lived by elite athletes throughout their sports
careers.21 The epistemological assumptions underlying
this study are expressed in the ecological paradigm,
which seeks to understand a phenomenon in its particular
environment, being recognized as a fundamentally inter-
connected and interdependent system.1 Thus, our epistemo-
logical position focuses on the need to understand the
relationships between individuals and different ecological
levels.
The ecological approach guided the development of the
present research steps, keeping in mind the understanding
of events and processes based on forms of reciprocal inter-
action between the developmental experiences lived by the
person and his/her context of involvement. Thus, we opted
for the positive youth development (PYD) perspective,
through the PAF in sport, developed by Côté, Turnnidge
and Vierimaa3 and Côté et al.4 As a developmental
system approach, the PAF is a useful framework to organize
the lifetime sports activities and physical environments of
athletes throughout their development and the relational
processes that influenced the course of the athletes’ sports
career.
Participants
The Brazilian National Handball Team were women’s
World Champions in 2013 for the first and only one time
in history. Sixteen athletes were part of that team, and all
were invited by email or text message to be interviewed
for this research. Seven of those athletes accepted and par-
ticipated in the interview for this research, and constituted
the final group of participants. These seven athletes had a
mean age of 30 (between 24 and 36) years and averaged
more than 20 (between 14 and 26) years in handball with
11 (between 6 and 18) years devoted to high-performance
sports. They had an average of 14 (between 7 and 19)
years of experience in the Brazilian National Team
1058
(including junior teams). Six of them played handball in
European clubs, which happened on average at 20
(between 17 and 24) years of age.
All athletes interviewed participated in the 2013 World
Women’s Handball Championship. At the time of data col-
lection, five athletes were still members of the team; one
athlete had ended her sports career, while another athlete
had stopped participating in the Brazilian national team
but was still involved in high-performance sports.
Study procedures and methods
Methods used for data collection consisted of a semi-
structured interview and a sociodemographic questionnaire
aimed to address relevant stages and elements of the PAF
throughout the athletes’ sports careers. The sociodemo-
graphic questionnaire aimed to collect descriptive informa-
tion about the athletes and their careers. It was used as a
complementary instrument to gather personal data (name,
academic background, and city of birth) and data about
the athletes’ trajectories in sport (clubs, financial assistance,
and main achievements).
The semi-structured interview was the main research
instrument and was informed by the DMSP and PAF2,4,5
models, as stated below.
(i) Considering the DMSP22 performance sports pathway,
the interview was organized by stages normatively set a
priori: sampling years, specialization, investment, and
maintenance;
(ii) In each career stage, the athletes were asked about the
PAF’s three dynamic elements: personal engagement
in activities, the social dynamics, and appropriate
settings.2
Engagement in activities corresponded to sport-related and
non-sporting activities performed at each stage. In this
topic, we asked questions to understand the quality, quan-
tity, and meaning of their sports activities. Questions in
this section included the type of activity, frequency of per-
formance, where the activities took place, and with whom.
Under the theme of the social dynamics, we investigated the
role that each social agent (family, friends, coach, relation-
ships, and peers) played in their careers. Finally, the last
topic was directed to sports environment, including the
training and competition facilities, as well as the financial
and competitive support provided (or not) to the athletes.
Interviews were conducted in Portuguese and recorded
on a Sony ICD px440 recorder and/or Ifree Recorder
program (used as an extension of the Skype software,
which allows recording calls), averaged 94 (57 a 127)
minutes in duration, and were immediately transcribed for
subsequent analysis. For validation purposes, the tran-
scribed interviews were sent to the athletes, and no alter-
ation was requested in any document. After transcribing,
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching 18(4)
the transcripts were translated into English by a specialist,
who is proficient in both languages. Subsequently, a PhD
student in sport sciences, a native of an English-speaking
country, verified the translation together with one of the
authors, a native Portuguese-speaker with advanced knowl-
edge of the English language. According to the code of
research ethics, the athletes agreed to participate in the
study and signed an informed consent form. The study
was approved by the Research Ethics Committee involving
Human Beings (CAAE no.: 60823716.7.0000.5404).
Data analysis
For data scrutiny, the thematic analysis technique was
used,23 and the examination of the data was deductive fol-
lowing the PAF4 dynamic elements (personal engagement
in activities, social dynamics, and appropriate settings)
throughout the athletes’ career stages. The first author,
who also conducted each of the interviews, performed all
the analysis processes. The NVIVO 10 software was used
to systematize the dataset and organize the themes during
the analysis stages. The last author worked as a peer
debriefer, by verifying the categories defined throughout
the analysis process. The second and third authors also
checked if the quotes fitted the analysis theme at the end
of the process, pointing out uncertainties. In the case of
uncertainties, the first and last authors referred back to the
primary data, verifying the statements in accordance with
the athletes’ discourse, and made the final decisions with
other authors.1,5
Results
The interaction between the athletes’ personal character-
istics and engagement in activities as well as the environ-
mental influences and relationships were identified
through the athletes’ discourse. The results allowed for a
clear view into each of the three core dynamics elements
of the PAF, as much as its variation according to the
sport developmental stages timing. The results are pre-
sented by each dynamic element: personal engagement in
activities, appropriate settings, and social dynamics.
Personal engagement in activities
Table 1 brings together the main findings on personal
engagement in activities throughout the athletes’ careers.
Concerning the training activities, they changed
throughout each development stage, and this was closely
related to the changing environments they were in (i.e., in
maintenance years, competing in Brazilian or European
clubs). In the sampling years, spontaneous and deliberate
practice was usual, predominantly through technical train-
ing including coordination exercises, flexibility, and spe-
cific skills, performed from 1 to 3 times a week.
The specialization phase was very short and it involved a
quick passage from sampling years, through specialization,
De Lima et al.
Table 1. The personal engagement in activities throughout the athletes’ career and its variation according to the sport developmental
stages.
Personal engagement in activities
Criteria
Spontaneous practice and deliberate play
Deliberate practice
Demonstrating tactical, technical, and physical skills for
handball practice
Adapting to the increase in training intensities over
years
Resilient behavior: seeking ways to cope with the
adversities and keeping engaged
Positive behaviors (persistence, determination,
curiosity, commitment)
Adaptation to different environments
Social skills (outgoing, patient, decisive, humble,
communicative, and participative)
Learning new languages
Health issues and injuries
Negative behaviors (lack of responsibility, shyness,
depression, and arrogance)
Note:
Not mentioned
into investment years. Three of the athletes reported having
a longer specialization process (with the concomitant prac-
tice of handball and a second modality). The other four ath-
letes, as soon as the athletes became handball players, they
got involved in the state championships and it took them
few years to make it to the junior national team. For these
athletes, it seemed that they jumped directly from the sam-
pling stage to the investment years. In addition, right from
specialization years, the training sessions became a daily
routine and the daily sessions became more intense. As
senior athletes, they started having two training sessions
daily. The athletes observed an increase in the quality of
the technical, tactical, physical, and psychological compo-
nents of their training over the years, as reported by A2
“When I started it was more technical training, then we
evolved, with the passing time, advancement in age and
we understood more, so it was more pro-technical, tactical.”
About athletes’ personal characteristics, as the athletes
believed that their physical and technical characteristics
were noticed in the first moment, as A4 declares: “In high
school, for sure I was outstanding, I played left field, and
so much that I went to the national [Brazilian] team
because of it.” While A7 claimed, “Yes, I stood out, I
excelled, I was the skinny girl that jumped a lot and
scored goals.”
In general, their dispositions were founded on a positiv-
ity mindset, as A4 stated, “I’ve always been very positive
and got it in my head […] and this gave me a lot of strength
[…]” while A1 mentioned, “[…] I easily adapt […] I don’t
1059
Sampling years Specialization Investment Maintenance
Mentioned by 1–2 Mentioned by 3–4 Mentioned by at least 5
athletes athletes athletes
know, I’m kind of a chameleon when it comes to these
things, and I adapt very easily to this field.” The ability to
adapt is significant, particularly given the major logistical
and cultural changes required throughout these athletes’
careers. Moreover, personal and social skills, such as
being outgoing, patient, decisive, humble, communicative,
and participative facilitated positive reactions from the ath-
letes throughout their sport careers stages. In addition, this
statement from A5 complements this perspective, “[…] I’m
a very outgoing person, really! So, even if I didn’t speak a
word in English, even if I didn’t speak a word in Danish,
I’ve always had a very nice contact with the girls, I joked
around, I tried to talk […]. I was always trying to interact
somehow […].”
From the investment stage, resilience seems to be one of
the main attributes in supporting personal engagement in
handball activities. All athletes mentioned having trouble
throughout their careers, such as physical injuries, health
and financial problems, and adaptation to different environ-
ments which included language changes and significant
modifications to training intensity. On the other hand, six
athletes highlighted that their positive personality and atti-
tudes helped them to overcome the challenges and difficul-
ties addressed in the interviews, such as setting new goals,
seeking solutions to problems, adopting a positive attitude,
learning from different situations, and sacrificing them-
selves for the sake of long-term objectives.
Only one athlete reported some negative personal attri-
butes or behaviors that challenged her engagement in
1060
handball. According to her, lack of responsibility, shyness,
depression, and arrogance were characteristics that hin-
dered and interrupted her participation in the sport. After
6 months of interruption, this athlete resumed activity in
the elite environment.
Appropriate settings
Table 2 presents the main findings regarding the element
appropriate contexts during the athletes’ careers.
Results about the appropriate settings included infor-
mation from the Brazilian and European contexts, where
most of the participants went to play during the mainten-
ance years. Over the years, different sports environments
were related. As young athletes, they practiced mostly
at schools or in public sports projects developed by
the municipals, as senior, structured Brazilian and
European clubs, as much as the National Team environ-
ment, were relevant in fostering those athletes’ develop-
ment pathway.
In the beginning of their sportive experience, mainly in
the first years of practice in Brazil, the athletes related
poor facilities and lack of equipment. As mentioned by
A2: “Yeah, I didn’t have ten balls in my (Brazilian) club
to train, there was no glue, sometimes we trained with
hair removal wax we bought, and there was no water, we
had to bring it along.” A6 also stated about the environment
in Brazil, “we had almost nothing and it was from there that
the best athletes came, they have played in schools in a very
precarious condition…” and she continued, “…our will was
what made the difference there […] we wanted that training
so much, we waited so much for that training that when we
were there, we were focused.” As children or adolescents,
having a well-structured environment does not seem to be
required for engaging young people in sports. In fact,
they also felt the need for financial support for transporta-
tion, feeding, or buying tennis shoes—coaches were the
most usual providers. On the other hand, the value of
experience through a pleasant environment and promoting
social interactions may contribute to feeling engaged, moti-
vated, and joyful when training more intensively in the spe-
cialization years.
If poor environments were not a disengagement factor in
sampling and specialization years, it was not the same in the
investment and maintenance years. Six of the seven partici-
pants stated that the instability/lack of training and financial
resources were elements that almost made them dropout of
the sport as senior athletes. Environments characterized as
unsatisfactory were primarily related to the lack of
resources and of policies on sport, including discontinuity
of actions. These two factors were obstacles encountered
by all the seven athletes in the Brazilian environment. For
example, when playing in Brazil, A2 noted the structural
difficulties she faced after an injury, “I thought about quit-
ting when I realized that the (Brazilian) club had no funds to
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching 18(4)
pay for my surgery. And for my family it was also
impossible.”
As the local structure was not enough, six of the athletes
moved to Europe in some point of their elite career, having
access to a solid professional club structure played strong
role in the athletes’ engaged in elite sport. A1 said, “[in
Europe], indeed, I was a professional, in every sense.
When I say ‘professional’ is not only on my part, but on
the part of the team as well, you have assistance, you
have all the support not only regarding the structure of
the sports court, the gym, the locker room, but also health
insurance plan, home, car, cell phone, food.”
Additionally, A2 said, “It’s different, there’s a structure
we don’t have here in Brazil…there, we are professionals,
you breathe, you sleep, you eat handball. Those were
years that we simply didn’t have to worry about anything;
our concern was only with training, playing, and
winning.” Even in Europe, the institutional challenges
were still an issue as A1 said, “There was no more
money, in the European club, they couldn’t afford to keep
everyone […]. And that’s when the opportunity to go to
another club arose; it took me a long time to sign the con-
tract, because I didn’t want to leave.”
Despite the quality of facilities or structure, some envir-
onments promoted positive social bonds that created an
environment of encouragement and motivation to practice,
like the Brazilian schools or municipal projects in the first
years of practice. Advancing to the investment and elite
stages, this relationship was linked to the environments
that permitted and supported the most affective relation-
ships, which were welcoming and provided certainty to
the athletes (including professional relationships), creating
a family and friendly bond between different stakeholders
involved in the environment. As A3 reported, “I think it
was friendship and respect, they treated us like a family,
they didn’t treat you as a product like most (clubs) do now-
adays. Not there, it was more family-like, everyone wants to
know if you’re okay, everyone calls, writes.” A5 also
noticed this pleasant atmosphere in the club “people
treated me with affection, the club I went to is a very affec-
tionate club, the crowd really hugs you. It’s a place I miss a
lot; it’s really good, really good!”
Social dynamics
Table 3 presents the main findings on social dynamics
throughout the stages of development.
Based on the processes between athletes, their sports
environments, and other stakeholders, social quality
dynamics functioned as the main engineer capable of start-
ing and maintaining athlete engagement in sports over the
years. Positive and lasting relationships were elements
that endured during the career, shown by the influence of
family, coaches, and peers in athletes’ engagement.
De Lima et al. 1061

Table 2. The appropriate settings throughout the athletes’ career and its variation according to the sport developmental stages.

Appropriate settings

Criteria Sampling years Specialization Investment Maintenance

Environments with precarious conditions

promoting engagement
Poor facilities
Financial dependence from outside the family
Few financial resources
Lack of institutional policies
Structured clubs
Related difficulties, local culture
Environments favoring the establishment of social
bonds
Institutional culture (club first, athlete second)

Note:
Not mentioned Mentioned by 1–2 Mentioned by 3–4 Mentioned by at least 5
athletes athletes athletes

Table 3. The social dynamics throughout the athletes’ career and its variation according to the sport developmental stages.

Social dynamics

Criteria Sampling years Specialization Investment Maintenance

Family financial support

Family emotional support
Coaches’ financial support
Coaches’ and friends’ emotional support
Coaches’ professional competence, interpersonal
skills, and experience
Divergence of thought between athletes and coaches
Difficulty understanding coach’s desires for strategy
on-court
Not being selected for matches
The coaches’ leave due to physical injury
Relationship with teammates and with handball
Supported by peers and experienced athletes
Racism (in Europe) and xenophobia

Note:
Not mentioned Mentioned by 1–2 Mentioned by 3–4 Mentioned by at least 5
athletes athletes athletes

Firstly, the athletes perceived that their families sup-
ported them providing emotional, motivational, and
financial support to start and continue in handball.
Families created emotional support, allowing athletes
to train and play, and financial support for travels and
equipment. For example, A7 said she would have
missed training for not having transport fare, but her
mother always found a way. “My mother said: Aren’t
you going for the training?’ I replied, ‘No, mum I want
to go, but I have no transport fare’ ‘No problem, get
ready, I’ll give you 5 min to get ready,’ then I ran to
get ready, changed my clothes, she gave me some
money and I went to the bus stop.”
Secondly, it seems that the athletes’ relationship with
their coaches was paramount to their success, as long as
the coaches regularly capitalized on specific learning
opportunities while also facilitating engagement in all
environments through open conversations, remaining
open-minded, showing empathy in addition to inspiring
confidence in each athlete. These coaches honed in on
teachable moments in all environments and career
stages. In the initial years of formation in the sport, and
mostly during specialization years, coaches provided
their own material or financial resources, such as for
feeding or transportation in order to offer even the most
basic conditions for the athletes to continue in the
1062
activity. As reported by A2, “Sometimes he (the coach)
would pick me up at home because my father was
working and therefore couldn’t take me. He (the coach)
would pick me up; he would take me […].”
In all the stages, the athletes related that the coaches
were also critical in relation to emotional support. In the
investment years, touching on behavioral change as an
adult athlete, A5 recognized, “I’m also very grateful for
that, ‘cause I didn’t have much discipline, I was a person
who did things as I wished, the way I liked it. And he
(the coach) showed me that no, that there’s a job, that we
need to perform it in a way so the group achieve[s] more
than the individual.” A3 understood that her coaches
remained steadfast even when environments changed for
both coach and athlete. She said, “My relationship with
them (the coaches) was very good. They’ve always been
very fond of me…they’ve always helped me. They went
to my state too, got in touch with my family, until today,
we keep in touch […] That friendship remains, the affection
that I have for them. I think we experienced a lot of difficult
times together; this kind of things strengthens you, too.” As
well, A1 related that she found sport and personal confi-
dence from her relationship with many coaches in different
environments, “In those years I tried to make the best and
learn the worst of each (coach) to be able to excel not
only as an athlete, but as a person.”
Moreover, the athletes suggested that the coaches’ pro-
fessional competence, interpersonal skills, and experience
may have contributed to the development of feelings,
such as respect and admiration, besides learning athletic
and social-related contents. A2 stated “I really appreciate
my coach, he’s a great professional and a person that has
supported me a lot […] he always says what you need to
hear, outside and inside the court. He has that refined
touch in the moment you need and never doubts about
the work process”. A5 also highlights how a competent
and trusting coach engaged her in European handball: “he
was the one who looked at me and said: do you really
want to make a career here in Europe? I’ll help you. He
encouraged and collaborated with me, he’s a person who
never doubted my talent, never doubted my ability or my
intelligence […] he sat down with me and showed me
videos.”
Negative experiences with coaches, related by the ath-
letes, were due to the difficulty in understanding what the
coach wanted on the court, divergence of thought, not
being selected for matches, the coach’s absence due to
physical injury, and institutional culture which obliged
the coach to first meet the demands of the club before the
athletes’ requirements. As mentioned by A1: “last year I
didn’t have the best relationship with my coach on the
court, because we did not understand each other, I
couldn’t realize what he wanted from me.”
Finally, from the athletes’ reports, relationships of the
athletes with peers, friends, and other experienced athletes
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching 18(4)
helped in the engagement along with different stage of
careers and settings. Athlete A1 said, “And precisely in
the sport, I had the privilege, the luck to meet and play
with experienced players who helped me a lot in my train-
ing as an athlete; that thing of training along with, seeing
your idol, and suddenly be playing by their side.”
Including personal issues, like when A7 was not paid by
her club, she stated the importance of her teammates,
“And they (peers) helped me, when something was
missing. When I saw that my mother needed money, I
would say, ‘hey girls, lend me [some money] and when I
start being paid normally […], after four months I was
being paid, and then I came to them, ‘here’s my first
salary, here’s everything you’ve lent me.’”
The establishment of social bonds that athletes con-
nected in sports began in Brazil and continued in
European clubs. This helped sustain the athletes throughout
their careers. During investment and maintenance years,
playing in European clubs, A3 stated, “[they] treated me
more as a family member than as a professional. They
didn’t treat me as a product, as the vast majority does now-
adays.” Likewise, A5 said, “people treated me dearly, the
(European) club I went to is a very affectionate club, the
crowd really embraces you, it’s wild.” Finally, A1 said,
“[…] and the relationship was something sport provided
us with, you end up having a second family. And with all
the problems a family has, it’s not as if it was a bed of
roses, but it was very good. A family, some with more affin-
ity, some with less, but the relationship was pretty cool.”
Athletes perceive social ties as an element that contributed
to keeping them for many seasons. Thus, the family-like
social relationships were highly valued by the athletes,
and were integral to their experience and connection to
handball sport. Finally, only three athletes mentioned diffi-
culties in interacting with their peers. The cited problems
were related to not being accepted, racism in Europe, and
xenophobia.
Discussion
An understanding of the elite athlete’s development process
requires the examination of elements supporting engage-
ment in sports over time. The three elements considered
in this study conducted with seven world champion
women athletes were their personal engagement in activ-
ities, the appropriate settings around them, and the social
dynamics, which influenced career experiences.5 More
light will be shed on the three main findings in this discus-
sion. These are: (i) in the beginning years of their careers,
lack of quality facilities was balanced by the impact of
caring coaches; (ii) in the maintenance years, the need to
play aboard to have access to a high level of competitions,
fair payments, and stability in a sportive career, as much as
the personal characteristics fostered success in new settings;
De Lima et al.
and (iii) positive relationship with coaches, providing emo-
tional support through the years.
(i) in the first years of their careers, the lack of quality in the
facilities was balanced by the impact of caring coaches
From the Brazilian world champion athletes’ perspectives,
the quality of the setting and social dynamics organized
by coaches in fostering a fun, connection, and competence,
in the sampling and specialization years was pointed out as
one of the reasons that contributed to the desire to be
engaged in these environments. Thereby demonstrating
that in these stages, positive social ties are decisive in over-
coming structural difficulties. Interestingly, when asked
about the handball activities lived in the beginning years,
they did not focus much on the activities, but rather on
the social dynamics in which they were involved. Very
caring coaches made a difference, both in providing an
appropriate setting as much as in supporting athletes with
different resources such as food, transportation, or sports
materials. Other studies in the Brazilian context have
found that coaches were fundamental in keeping youth in
sports,9,49 or the relevance of the connection in engaging
people in sports.24
Studies in a diversity of contexts reinforce that a positive
setting is pivotal in fostering engagement. For example,
Alesi and colleagues25 investigated young handball athletes
and found that these athletes demonstrated high levels of
basic psychological need fulfillment, self-determined beha-
viors, and commitment, and that these results were asso-
ciated with the motivational climate that was created by
the coach. From observing a community basketball team
in Canada, Vierimaa et al.6 suggest that positive experi-
ences and engagement can be sustained by a safe and sup-
portive setting.
(ii) In the years of investment and maintenance, the
transfer to European clubs was considered important to
have access to high-level competitions, fair remuner-
ation, and stability in the sports career and to be able
to mobilize personal characteristics.
From the investment years and mostly on the mainten-
ance ones, beyond the positive social dynamics, the
quality of competitions, appropriate facilities, and financial
resources are needed. The topmost difficulties in career con-
tinuity in a less popular sport such as handball in Brazil
were linked to a lack of organized elite sport, with no
regular national league or not enough appropriate settings
for potentially elite athletes when compared with the
resources found by other research carried out in the
Brazilian context, including research in football.10,17,26,27
That may explain why, during the transition from youth
to elite sport, financial support was deemed as an influential
factor for the athletes. In addition, being in an environment
1063
with better resources (training-related, financial, human,
structural, and psychological) was recognized as crucial in
the development of high levels of success.9,28 To access
these resources, most of the Brazilian athletes had to
move to Europe seeking better training conditions and the
possibility to further their careers.
Competing and living in another country and culture
demanded more than the motivated behavior shown in the
first years of practice. Being resilient and having an adap-
tive mindset were highlighted as important for personal
engagement in sport, enabling the athletes to face the chal-
lenges related to elite sports setting as much as some dis-
tress related to racism or xenophobia.10,25,29,30
For Baker and Horton,28 achieving levels of success is
linked to the development of professional skills and the
ability to face challenges arising from a socio-cultural
context. Those who are able to deal with the distractions
and obligations external to their performance, have a dis-
tinct advantage over others. This point was very clear in
our data, were the athletes demonstrate pragmatic character-
istics including positive attitudes through career challenges,
high commitment levels, and abdication of immediate
rewards for long-term goals. Accordingly, positive psycho-
logical characteristics (motivation, trust, persistence, dedi-
cation, focus, and the ability to plan or establish goals for
their careers) can act as one of the supporting forces
capable of influencing the engagement of athletes in the
sport.4,11,31
(iii) positive relationship with coaches, providing emo-
tional support through the years.
In this study, coaches were perceived as protagonist
characters in promoting engagement in the entire careers
of athletes, being able to offer access and financial
support for a positive sports experience in the initial years
and facilitating good relationships with an open dialog
when they were adult elite athletes. The creation of a motiv-
ational and challenging environment is an important factor
to avoid sports dropout43, because it may facilitate the
development of professional skills needed to raise the
level of sporting expertise. As in this investigation, Folle
et al.17 and Galatti et al.10 pointed out that the relationship
between athletes and coaches, in combination with sporting
activities, were paramount to the success of the team, con-
stituting social bonds similar to those of a real family.
Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the level of overload
and pressure on the part of coaches should be cautiously
applied during the development stage of the athletes.2
Professional competence, interpersonal skills, and
experience of the coaches may have contributed to affective
traits such as respect and admiration while also supporting
athletic and social-related contents.32 For the Brazilian
handball players, the events reported in the relationship
between coach and athlete were specific and contributed
1064
to their personal development as athletes. This aspect was
crucial in keeping the athletes involved and improving
from the investment years, and been resilient when faced
with challenges and career transitions or challenges like
playing in another culture—what was indispensable to
reach the status of the international elite in this sport. The
positive relationship between coaches and athletes is inte-
gral for the development of high performance, in which suc-
cessful athletes state having a more affective and closer
relationship than athletes with lower performance,33,34 as
related by the world champions.
We realize that the stages experienced do not completely
coincide with what is established in the DMSP and shared
in international investigations,22,35 mainly in relation to
the duration of the specialization stage, which in this
study proved to be short or non-existent for some athletes.
In Brazil, initiation into less popular modalities tends to
occur late and coincides with entry into Elementary
School II. This late contact reduces the possibility of experi-
encing sports activities in the specialization phase and
advances the investment in a single modality. Therefore,
the sociocultural characteristics of the Brazilian context,
specifically of the public studied, present results that
differ from other investigations, mainly those conducted
in countries of the northern hemisphere, demonstrating
that it is necessary to consider different social configura-
tions in the model.10,17,36
The first limitation of the study lies in the retrospective
design, which depends on recall of events and situations
experienced in the past. As the study participants were
active athletes living abroad, the limitation of time for the
statements was another limiting factor, with a single inter-
view being possible with each one. The interviews were
conducted in Portuguese and later translated into English;
despite the care taken to rigorously express the athletes’ ori-
ginal speech, as well as the maintenance of the original
message, the translation process can result in losses regard-
ing the original content. Finally, the fact that the stages were
normatively set a priori for the interviews can also be con-
sidered a limitation, especially considering that the DMSP
was suggested for the context of South America. Studies
like this can consolidate a set of evidence that, in the
future, allow the proposition of sports development
models based on scientific evidence from Brazil and Latin
America.
Conclusion
The PAF framework indicates the interrelationship between
three dynamic elements as sustaining personal development
in sport, these being: personal engagement, quality social
dynamics, and appropriate settings. This paper aimed to
identify and describe the interactive elements that influ-
enced the engagement of seven Brazilian female world
champion handball athletes throughout their entire sports
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching 18(4)
career. The social quality dynamic was the most significant
element in the athletes’ engagement in sport throughout
their careers. In fact, the strength of the interactions with
family, colleagues, friends, and coaches minimized
setting-related difficulties and contributed to engagement
in the sport (e.g., the poor quality of the facilities in the
sample years and the cultural challenge of playing in
another country in the maintenance years).
On one hand, these results serve to strengthen the per-
spective of the interaction between the dynamic elements
proposed by the PAF as an adequate framework to investi-
gate the development of athletes, even in contexts different
from the one in which it was originally proposed (e.g.,
Brazilian high-performance athletes). On the other hand,
it shows that setting, person, and social dynamics are
complex elements that do not manifest themselves ideally
even for athletes who have reached the apex of the sporting
carrier, thus it is essential to understand how the dynamics
between the elements of the PAF can balance the strengths
and challenges faced by each athlete in their sports develop-
ment process over time.
In this study, in all stages of development, family, peers,
friends, and coaches were present and involved in facilitat-
ing transitions and/or assisting in overcoming career crises.
In addition, these relationships enabled engagement in dif-
ferent environments and cultures, facilitated adaptation pro-
cesses, and supported lasting social bonds. The study
showed that the interpersonal and professional knowledge
of coaches, demonstrated in behaviors that indicate
concern, respect, and care for athletes, established connec-
tions and expanded opportunities even beyond the sports
environment. A well-managed athlete-coach relationship
encouraged an atmosphere of trust where athletes could
experience activities thoroughly while making use of all
options available for the practice over different develop-
ment stages. From this, the strength of the relationships
was able to overcome weaknesses, like the lack of good
facilities and training resources.
The choice of the PAF as the framework for this study
contributed to the structuring and understanding of the
development process of the athletes from an ecological per-
spective. This provided an understanding that the engage-
ment of the athletes in sports was not only linked to their
physical attributes, but also to the set of experiences built
in the interaction person-context. The social dynamics
were fundamental in providing support (financial and emo-
tional) and meeting the demands of the context throughout
the stages of development.
The results of this research contribute to the reformula-
tion of the athlete development process, showing how
coaches in different environments value establishing a
strong relationship with their athletes, as well as creating
an environment that enhances group relationships and
unity. Moreover, coach development programs should con-
sider these elements and endeavor to put them into practice.
De Lima et al.
In terms of world-level results, the trajectories of these
athletes revealed that sending young adult athletes to
more developed handball centers was successful as it facili-
tated the conquest of the world title. However, the absence
of policies that encourage handball practice both as partici-
pation and performance sport, as well as the lack of quality
in structure and competitions for youth and senior athletes
may be associated with the failure to conquer other
podiums in the women’s handball world competitions or
Olympic Games. However, further research needs to
delve deeper into this topic.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Espaço da Escrita – Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa -
UNICAMP - for the language services provided.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support
for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This
work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de
Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq under grant
no. 130429/2016-3, FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa
do Estado de São Paulo) under grant no. 2015/01599-911/2019
and PRPG University of Campinas (Unicamp) - Edital no. 11/
2019.
ORCID iDs
Leilane Alves de Lima https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7866-4152
Riller Silva Reverdito https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0556-9151
Larissa Rafaela Galatti https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1743-6356
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