The study here reported investigated the conflicts experienced by young athletes with respect in maintaining sport practice as a priority activity in their lives. It was developed when factors indicating the presence of these conflicts were identified during the psychological follow-up of a volley-ball team composed by seventeen female players and of ten athletes performing individual sports. On average, these subjects had eighteen years of age. The facts concerning the phenomena here investigated were collected during their psychological follow-up, that lasted from a minimum of four months to a maximum of two years, weekly psychological interventions taking place with all athletes enrolled in this study. The follow-up sessions were centered on reflections about sport practice and took place individually, on the basis of a single session per hour per week, with the exception of volley-ball athletes, who attended a weekly group session, their members being occasionally consulted individually. This study showed that at certain stage of one's life conflicts commonly occur in relation to the concern for sports. These conflicts are possibly related to the general lack of objectives and to the poor perspectives in sport career, factors that interact with the progressive fading of the pleasures its practice originally brings. The degree of involvement necessary to become a high performing athlete also seems to play an important role in the origin of these conflicts. This conflictive situation originates normally during adolescence, among the many that commonly arise at this age. This moment is however important, because it is during that pressure for choosing an athlete's life takes place. This is explained, on its turn, by the fact that the sports carrer is a short one, specially devised for young people. All the above-mentioned findings indicate important points of therapeutic attention for the psychologist involved with athletes and sport practice.
Psychology of sport; adolescence; psychological conflicts