Elite athletes’ leisure styles: Sport in or out of it

Abstract

Because sport is one of the most common leisure activities, it would be interesting to study the relationship between leisure and work among elite athletes who chose sport as their profession. Hence, this study aimed to learn about the leisure styles of elite Iranian athletes and map the relationship between work and leisure. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach, and 44 Iranian athletes at the national level participated in the interview voluntarily. A thematic approach was used to analyze data. There are four leisure styles among elite Iranian athletes based on the results: virtual, distinctive, closed, and family-oriented. The mean age of athletes was the lowest in the virtual leisure style and the highest in the family-oriented style. In addition, sport as a leisure activity was more important to virtual-style athletes than to the other three styles.