Skateboarding and Pickleball as Spiritual Practice? Methodologies and Considerations

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines the usefulness of the concept of spirituality as it relates to amateur athletes' perception of sport participation. Because theories abound regarding primarily team sports as religious activity in the contemporary world, two conducted studies sought to ascertain whether those who participate in the more individualized sports of skateboarding and pickleball consider their activities as spiritual activity. This article reviews these studies, which adopted the different approaches of direct and indirect questioning, and the findings. Both methods supply benefits and challenges to researchers seeking to adopt spirituality as a framework to theorize sports participation in the contemporary world. After reviewing the findings of the studies, the usefulness of spirituality in ethnographic or emic research projects related to sport studies is considered. In the end, this article offers recommendations based on the previous two studies for future spirituality of sport studies.