This symposium focuses on appraisal, emotional outcomes and coping in sport and exercise contexts. Lavallee will consider the roles of athletes’ positive reappraisals of adverse events such as sports injury, as coping mechanisms and of athletic injury in influencing these appraisals. The role of social support during stressful events will be discussed by Rees, considering how the stress-buffering effect of social support is linked to the athlete’s appraisal of an experienced stressor. The underlying properties of stress, as proposed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), will be examined by Thatcher and Day in relation to elite athletes’ experiences of competitive stress and longitudinal research will be presented that explores the links between elite athletes’ appraisals of stress, their underlying properties and the athletes’ resultant emotional responses. Centring on adherence to exercise, Biddle will examine links between exercise adherence, psychological states and outcomes. This presentation will critically appraise the research in this area, highlighting the lack of creativity evident in this body of work and the need for more critical approaches to this research. Each paper will consider contemporary research and will offer avenues for future research. Professor Susan Folkman will offer her views as a symposium discussant following these presentations.