SGS Webinar Report — "Performing with Purpose: Using Thriving to Transform Coaching and Participation in Sport"
Time: 5.11.2025 15:00-17:15 MET
Organizers: Michael Schmid, University of Bern and Daniel Birrer, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen
Moderator: Gareth Morgan, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen (SFISM)
Speakers: Nadja Ackeret, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen, Dan Brown, University of Bath, Chris Wagstaff, University of Portsmouth
Participants: 90 registrations and 72 participating; majority from Switzerland
Executive Summary
The “Thriving in Sport” webinar, moderated by Gareth Morgan, brought together experts and practitioners to explore how athletes and coaches can foster thriving in elite and youth elite sport. The event focused on the interplay between performance, well-being, and personal development, emphasizing that true sporting excellence depends on the capacity to grow and sustain motivation in challenging environments.
The presenters — Nadja Ackeret, Dan Brown, and Chris Wagstaff — offered complementary perspectives on how individuals and systems can nurture thriving. Together, they argued that thriving is not merely about success or winning, but about flourishing and growing as a person and athlete within high-performance contexts.
The session opened with a welcome address by Michael Schmid and with housekeeping and the running order. Michael Schmid pointed out that this webinar is the third in a series organized jointly by the University of Bern and the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen
Nadja Ackeret set the scene from a Swiss perspective, introducing thriving as the joint experience of doing well, being well, and growing as a person. From a Swiss perspective, she described how increasing awareness of mental health contrasts with systems that remain largely performance-driven and outlined Magglingen’s definition of thriving as the simultaneous experience of high performance, strong well-being, and personal development. She argued for environmental conditions that make thriving more likely—trust, autonomy, belonging, and psychological safety—and for alignment across multiple system layers (relationships, sport culture, broader expectations).
Dan Brown framed thriving empirically as athletes experiencing “high levels of performance as well as high levels of well‑being,” and outlined a model in which personal and contextual enablers lead to thriving, while process variables—such as the satisfaction of basic psychological needs—may moderate these relationships. Drawing on attachment theory, he discussed how coaches can build trust with athletes,
emphasizing the importance of shaping interpersonal and organizational environments, rather than focusing solely on individuals, to achieve broader and more sustainable effects.
Chris Wagstaff highlighted the systems and cultural dimensions of thriving, advising against treating psychological safety as a fixed endpoint: “I think it’s a process… a movement towards a psychologically safer context.” He stressed that systems do not need to look all the same but must be informed by context and culture. Wagstaff also presented current UK initiatives aimed at promoting thriving and discussed both the challenges encountered in their implementation and potential strategies to address them.
In the Q&A, the moderator raised how the “high performance” part of thriving can be enabled; and how to balance between performance and well-being. Gareth Morgan closed by thanking the speakers and participants and wishing everyone a “thriving evening.”
Key Points (Concise)
• Thriving is when athletes have high performance, a sense of personal development, and high well‑being.
• Trust, autonomy, belonging, and psychological safety increase the likelihood of thriving.
• Relationships, sport culture, and societal expectations must align to support thriving.
• Coaching and organizational climates have greater impact than individual traits alone.
• Psychological safety is a continuous process shaped by context and culture.