Athletic buoyancy is a recent concept in sports psychology. This study adopted a qualitative research method to explore the concept of athletic buoyancy and its components in Chinese collegiate athletes. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight collegiate athletes. Four core categories of athletic buoyancy were established based on grounded theory, including self-confidence in ability, breakthrough ability, tolerance of loss of control and recovery, and internal drive. Based on the first author's own sports training experience and observations, an autonomous circulatory model of athletic buoyancy was constructed. The model consists of two paths, the first path is a basic cycle and the second path is a progress cycle. The basic cycle begins with self-confidence in ability, through breaking through setbacks and challenges, and tolerating uncontrolled conditions and recovering from them. The progress cycle starts once the setbacks and challenges are resolved in the basic cycle or no longer exert a negative impact on training and competition. Our study suggested that athletic buoyancy could be defined as athletes' ability to effectively cope with daily setbacks and challenges in a competitive sports environment and to enhance sports skills or performance while experiencing loss of control.

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