Leisure Lifestyle and Casual Leisure’s Influence on Athletic Identity, Performance and Perception of Hockey in Dropout Amateur Junior Hockey Players

Abstract

Athletes involved in competitive sport are often required to neglect certain aspects of their life to pursue their sport. One of these aspects is participating in valued activities outside of sport. However, an imbalance between sports, in this case hockey, and other valued activities can lead to living a less than optimal leisure lifestyle with a negative impact on well-being. The purpose of this study is to explore how amateur Junior hockey players leisure lifestyle and casual leisure participation influence athletic identity, performance and perception of hockey. Results indicate that most participants perceived over-identified to hockey, which led to living a less than optimal leisure lifestyle and a negative impact on perception of hockey, identity and performance. However, after dropping out participants perceived their leisure lifestyle as optimal and returned to playing recreational hockey with renewed joy for hockey and a multi-dimensional identity.