Contextualized within narrative theory and the field of talent identification and development systems (TIDS), this interview study examined strained junior elite performers’ experiences of becoming elite performers while participating in prestigious national TIDS. The study explored how junior elite performers perceive and negotiate their personal narratives of becoming within a cultural master narrative of being. The focus is on how the quality of person-environment interaction, characterized by narrative alignment or tensions, relates to perceptions of identity, agency, physical, and mental health. We purposefully recruited eight participants (Mage = 17.31, SD = 0.90) from a previously published study, who reported experiencing sub-optimal psychological functioning compared with their peers, to explore narrative tensions in their storylines. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and examined using narrative analysis. We identified “the performance narrative” as the dominating cultural narrative within the TIDS and three distinct personal narratives of negotiation with unique characteristics: obsessive and externally driven alignment—‘Striving to stay at the top of the game’; tensions—‘Just hanging in there’; and disruption from alignment—‘When the going gets tough’. The results indicated that tensions and lack of alignment between the dominating cultural narrative and the individual narrative seem to increase the risk of experiencing identity challenges, sub-optimal functioning, and aspects of ill-being. The study offers critical reflections on the dominating performance narrative within TIDS, and additionally suggests an alternative athlete-centered and more holistic approach that combines both personal and performance development.

中文翻译：

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训练有素的优秀青年表演者成为优秀表演者的经历中的叙事张力

在叙事理论和人才识别与发展系统（TIDS）领域中，本次访谈研究考察了紧张的初级精英表演者在参加享有声望的国家TIDS期间成为精英表演者的经历。该研究探索了初级精英表演者如何感知和协商他们成为文化大师叙事中的个人叙事。重点在于以叙事一致性或紧张为特征的人与环境互动的质量如何与对身份，代理，身体和心理健康的感知有关。我们有意地从先前发表的一项研究中招募了八名参与者（法师= 17.31，SD = 0.90），他们发现与同龄人相比，他们的心理功能欠佳，以探讨故事情节中的叙事张力。通过半结构化访谈收集数据，并使用叙述分析进行检查。我们将“表演叙事”识别为TIDS中最主要的文化叙事，并以三种独特的个性化谈判叙事来呈现独特的特征：强迫性和外部驱动的统一性-“力争始终处于游戏顶端”；紧张局势-“只是挂在那儿”；以及因调整而造成的破坏-“当艰难的时刻”。结果表明，主要的文化叙事与个人叙事之间的紧张和缺乏统一性似乎增加了遭受身份挑战，次佳功能和病态的风险。这项研究对TIDS中主要的性能叙述提出了批判性的思考，