Sport and Human Health

**9**

**Chapter 2**

**Abstract**

can be nourished.

**1. What is flourishing?**

*Christopher Johnson*

Sports as a Mechanism for

Psychology and Sports

**Keywords:** sports, well-being, flourishing, potential, health

will have more difficulty facing resistance or adversity.

individual understands themselves and their situation.

Reaching Your Potential: The

Relationship between Positive

People have been searching for the good life or personal well-being since the ancient Greeks. During this same period, people have been expressing themselves through sport, participating in games of athleticism as a means of discovering who they are and reaching their potential. This chapter examines the relationship between sports and a flourishing life. By examining sports as a mechanism of achieving specific traits of positive psychology associated with flourishing, the researcher is able to determine that sports are a matrix in which human potential

Flourishing is the pinnacle of human potential. Sometimes referred to as self-actualization, excellence, well-being, or happiness, a flourishing life is what people strive to attain. Flourishing is an optimal human functioning. It occurs when an individual fits their environment so they can function more efficiently and effectively. Fitness is a sport-related term regarding how well individuals fit their environment. When it's a good fit, individuals are more able to overcome resistance, hence why the term fitness has been adopted by resistance training athletes. When an individual's fitness is poor, they are not adequately fit for their environment and

An individual's fitness is relevant for every aspect of life and easily identifiable in sports. For instance, some athletes are naturally better at power sports, and some are better at endurance sports. When an athlete identifies their innate abilities, if they participate in sports highlighting those abilities, they will be a better fit and reach a higher potential. Flourishing is significantly influenced by how well an

If you go back to the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE) believed that Eudaimonic well-being or engaging in something of value, a long-term investment rather than short-term pleasure, fulfills our potential. Aristotle believed we should do things worth doing, and when we act in such a manner, we may flourish [1]. Things worth doing are opportunities in alignment with our
