Sport as a Site of Meaning Discovery in Frankl’s Existential Psychiatry

“Meaning” has become a recurring term in scholarship and practice on sport and physical activity. Existential and narrative work has described how sport can support, threaten, or transform a life, yet Viktor Frankl – perhaps the most recognisable author in this area – remains marginal within this literature. This conceptual study offers a disciplined reconstruction of Frankl’s account for sport studies, while locating that reconstruction within neighbouring debates on meaning in life rather than recasting the article as a general survey. A conceptual reconstruction is employed, combining close reading of Frankl’s primary texts with reconstruction of core distinctions and their implications for sport. The analysis clarifies the study’s reconstructive scope, defines the key terms that organise the argument, and specifies the boundaries within which sport can be described as meaning-bearing in a Franklian sense. The reconstruction yields a three-part account of meaning through (i) self-transcendence, (ii) value-realisation across creative, experiential, and attitudinal domains, and (iii) the by-product structure of fulfilment that renders success and pleasure secondary. Frankl’s neglected essay on sport frames sport as a modern form of voluntary asceticism that reintroduces “necessary” tensions within affluent conditions, while also warning against the idea that sport drains aggression harmlessly. The study concludes with a concise framework for interpreting meaning claims in sport and with more explicit limits on what a Franklian reconstruction can and cannot establish.