Welcome to my page. I am Noora Ronkainen (MTh, MSc, PhD) and I hope to be part of your explorations – personal or academic – of meaningful sport. From time to time, many of us ask questions about meaning in our lives and life projects. This page is dedicated to these questions in the sport context.
Through my research I have explored what makes it worthwhile to commit ourselves to life projects in sport, as well as the experiences that can contribute to loss of meaning in sport. I hope that sharing these findings can open up diverse ways of engaging in sport and movement cultures, and to challenge the problematic features of sport cultures that can contribute to alienation.
I studied Master’s degrees in theology and sport sciences in Finland before completing my PhD thesis titled ‘An Existential-narrative Perspective on Career, Identity and Spirituality in Sport’ in Denmark. I since held researcher positions at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Liverpool John Moores University and University of Jyväskylä before joining the University of Bern as an assistant professor in 2021. Over 120 sport participants, from amateur to elite levels and from youth to Masters athletes, have shared their stories and reflected on the meaning and value of sport in their lives in my research.
Meaningful sport is not, and could not be, simply an academic exercise for me. I became a runner as an exchange student in Prague in 2007 and have written about those runs by the river Vltava that I experienced as a form of ‘everyday spirituality’. Running, especially on fells and trails, is my way of connecting with the world. Yet, the fragility of my running body, manifest in my “talent” in getting injured, led me to search for other forms of movement. In the past years I’ve increasingly moved to practising muay thai while never abandoning running. I have also been spotted mountain biking, hiking, and practising a bit of shaolin kung fu. I compete in some of these sports, sometimes, but find it less and less important these days.
My research has been published in peer-reviewed articles and the co-authored the book Meaning and Spirituality in Sport and Exercise: Psychological Perspectives with Dr Mark Nesti. You can find out more on the Projects page.
In addition to researching, writing, drinking coffee and experimenting with sports and movement culture practices, I co-host the Physical Activity Researcher Podcast where Meaningful Sport appears as a thematic series.