Lay summary
Māori elite athletes are training and competing in specialised and demanding sporting contexts prior to, and in entering professional or elite adult competition. The health and wellbeing of such Māori elite athletes is an under-researched area. This research investigates the experiences of a selected number of Māori elite athletes, male and female, across a variety of sporting codes, and age groups. Through the investigation of their experiences, the research seeks to identify the common factors that support and/or impede their health and wellbeing, also their success(es), and to offer a framework to support up-and-coming elite youth and young adult athletes, and their whānau, in the training journeys into, and in, professional sport, also to offer this framework to the sports organisations that contract them.