Categories: What We Know557 words2.1 min readPublished On: January 8, 2021

Theoretical Model of Retirement From Elite Sport

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Dan Zimet

DATE

January 8, 2021

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What We Know

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Attention to elite level athletes’ retirement experience started in the 1980s, and led to a series of developmental models and observations. It has increasingly become commonplace to find chapters on the subject in Sport Psychology textbooks, and applied clinicians working with athletes recognize the challenges that often accompany a transition out of sport.

To understand issues like the transition from sport, Psychologists develop models that summarize and visually represent those factors involved in the process. Taylor and Ogilvie’s (1994) Model of Transition is one of the most frequently cited and was utilized in the Athlete Transition Study to guide our questions. The 5-Step model addresses how specific factors contribute to better or worse transitions, including:

Step 1: Causes of Retirement, or the reasons why an athlete retires from sport.

  • Performance declines from advancing age, injury, lower motivation, devaluation by fans
  • Deselection secondary to higher competition
  • Injury that can cause doubt, depression, substance misuse, suicidal thinking/self-harm, identity crisis, anxiety/fear
  • Free Choice and a positive outlook about a new career direction, seeing life after sport as having new challenges/sources of satisfaction, valuing the change, having more time with family/friends
  • Other issues, such as a family or health crisis, conflicts with coaches/sports organization, or financial struggles

Step 2: Adaptation Factors Related to Retirement, or aspects of the athlete’s personality or thought processes.

  • Developmental factors, such as a life in elite level sport contributing to lower maturity, poor self-perception, low self-esteem, undeveloped social/interpersonal skills or social identity
  • A unidimensional self-identity based solely on being an elite level athlete.
  • Perceptions of Control, where the retired athlete now feels powerless, helpless, or incompetent to manage life outside of sport
  • Change in Social Identity, where the athlete no longer receives social recognition.
  • Tertiary Factors such as socioeconomic status, minority status, gender, physical and mental health, marital status, social support, etc.

Step 3: Available Resources or who the athlete can turn to for support or coping.

  • Coping Skills such as cognitive flexibility and adaptability for self-control, shifting identity, attention and focusing, problem solving skills, goal-setting, anger/anxiety control, relaxation training, healthy exercise and nutrition, assertiveness training, time & energy management, etc.
  • Social Support, such as having a supportive spouse, family and friends to reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness

  • Pre-Retirement Planning, or making plans for life after sport before retirement

Step 4: Quality of Adaptation or how the athlete navigates the period of time between retiring and feeling adjusted to retirement.

  • Adjustment may be dependent on an athlete’s specific career path. For example, studies find minimal distress when athletes retire from elite sport after high school or college but higher distress for elite amateurs and professional athletes

Step 5: Intervention for Athletic Retirement Difficulties or what athletes do when they experience problems adapting to life after sport.

Transitional counseling, including the use of counseling, mentorship, medical care, religious leaders, and the availability and investment in programs intended to support retiring athletes to help:

  • Maintain self-worth while establishing a new identity
  • Manage negative emotions such as self-doubt, frustration, fear, disappointment, guilt/shame
  • Develop or expand new social support systems
  • Provide vocational guidance

Conclusions

Athletes have increasingly come forward to share their experiences with difficult health and life problems, including depression and anxiety, substance abuse, debilitating pain, headaches, chronic mobility issues from past injuries, changes in their ability to think and cope with stress, and more. The Athlete Transition Study’s research team asks you to share your personal experiences by confidentially taking our questionnaire or sharing your story. We want to know more about you; whether you had an easy or difficult transition, are thriving or struggling, were famous or unheralded, an archer or a wrestler, an Olympic medalist or a club-team role player, or someone who never played elite sport.

Whatever the sport and whatever the level, we look forward to knowing more about you!

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