The Manifold Faces of Crises in Sports: An Introduction to “The Psychology of Crises in Sports: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions”

Crises are prevalent and constitute challenges all around and also within sports, although limited research attention has been paid to crises in sports so far. The manifold faces of crises in sports draw through all macro, meso, or micro levels with the general understanding of a crisis being that, regardless of the outcome, the present experience of a crisis is negative, possibly harmful or threatening, and requires attention. This chapter provides first a general introduction into crisis in the broader context as well as in sports. Second, a generalized overview of the structure and highlights of the book are presented. We divided this edition “The Psychology of Crises in Sports: Causes, Consequences and Solutions” to understand and see the manifold faces of crisis into the themes: Theory and Concepts, Performance, Communication, Health, and Society. This chapter describes each theme, the general content as well as shortly presenting a summary of the overall chapters. In general, this book gathers the current knowledge on crisis in sports and thereby provides direction for future research of crises in sports.