Rupture and Reconstruction of the Sporting Lifeworld During a Military Crisis: Pre-service Physical Education Teachers' Experiences

Background: Social and military crises can disrupt not only education and physical activity but also the sporting lifeworld through which individuals experience movement, belonging, and everyday meaning. Although research has examined the psychological and behavioral consequences of crisis, less is known about how pre-service physical education teachers experience disruptions to practical training and their sporting lifeworld.
Purpose: This study explored how pre-service physical education teachers experienced and made sense of disruptions to their sporting lifeworld during a recent military crisis and how they worked to reconstruct their relationship with sport.
Methods: This qualitative, interpretive study used Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Participants were 68 pre-service physical education teachers who experienced online delivery of practical courses during the crisis. Data were collected through an online open-ended questionnaire and analyzed through repeated reading, reflexive coding, iterative theme development, and interpretation.
Results: Three interconnected themes were developed: rupture in the sporting lifeworld, living the rupture in body and mind, and reconstructing the sporting lifeworld. The crisis disrupted routines, access to sport spaces, social relationships, bodily capacity, and belonging. Participants then drew on physical activity, family and peer support, psychological self-regulation, and, for some, spirituality to rebuild continuity and redefine the meaning of sport.
Conclusion: The findings support a three-phase, process-oriented model of sporting experience under crisis-rupture, living the rupture, and reconstruction and suggest that support for pre-service physical education teachers should address embodied, psychological, social, and existential dimensions alongside instructional continuity.