The Transition Out Of Sport

Growing up many of us knew the importance of sports and recreational activities and how they benefit both physical health and mental health. Our parents, school teachers, the media, and even our childhood sporting hero’s told the importance of sports and how it can keep us fit and healthy.

One mother whose son participated in youth sports, says “...a couple of boys from his team did not make the roster of the new team. They just sat there while the rest of their old teammates screamed with joy. This made me sick” (Sultz, et al, edmontonjournal.com, February 15, 2017). This quote means that her seeing the other players from her son’s previous team not make the cut made her feel awful, especially since they just had to sit there watching their old teammates be excited over making the cut. “Seventy percent of children leave organized sports by the age 13,” according to research by the National Alliance for Sports. This means 7 out of 10 players quit sports by their early teens and never return. According to Edmonton Journal students start to skip games and practices and also stop the sport overall. They state “Their self-esteem is shaken. Time spent being physically active is reduced – no more practices and games. Cutting also deterred athletes from future participation in the sport” (Sultz, et al, edmontonjournal.com, February 15,

I asked numerous athletes when did they realize you had to have an identity outside of sports? It took someone to talk to them for them to realize they must have an identity outside of sports. Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Trevon Coley told me one of his goals is to be successful outside of football. He said in high school he realized football will not last forever. He soon had to figure out what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Fast forward to now, he is enjoying his time wearing number 99. He knows when his NFL career is over he wants to work with children and have a nonprofit charity, along with owning a business. Another player said in high school his counselor told him he needs to attend class and pass his classes. If his

After receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board of the university and permission from the coaches of the designated sports, we administered our survey packets to student athletes that were willing to participate in our study. We found most of our participants in the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex and Looney Arena at Missouri Western before or after their practice times. The student athletes were asked if they would be willing to complete surveys over self-motivation and athletic burnout. They were notified that their identity would be kept anonymous and that it would not affect their sport or how their coaches/teammates viewed them since the coaches were not present during the results. We asked them to read all questions carefully

There are cross-sectional and longitudinal data in support of the belief that loss in the form of chronic competitive failure can elicit changes in athletic identity. First, suggesting that doing poorly in sport may differentially affect athletes as a function of their level of athletic identity, Cutler and Meyer (1995) demonstrated that individuals who were strongly identified with the athlete role and were dissatisfied with their progress in sport had lower self-esteem than individuals less invested in the athlete role who were also dissatisfied with their progress in sport. Second, Fish et al. (1997) found that athletes who were not selected for an elite squad decreased their athletic identity, while athletes who were selected maintained

A study was conducted on the psychological responses and coping behaviors that athletes present to Athletic Trainers (ATs), psychosocial strategies ATs currently use with their athletes, psychosocial strategies ATs deem important to learn more about, and ATs' current practices in referring athletes to counseling or sport psychology. services (Clement, Granquist, Barrow, 2013). This takes place online by using a survey of both quantitative and qualitative items. By having 215 Athletic trainers participating (86 male, 129 female) one

This proposal aims to highlight three major concerns for African-American athletes who are preparing to transition out of sports or have done so already. These major highlights will shine on how the Black athlete identifies within his culture and sport, second, how academic expectations can reflect ‘preparation’ for transitioning out of sport, and lastly, understanding the athlete’s readiness to transition out of their athletic identity. Also, the research will highlight social and educational implications that need solutions.

College athletics and the athletes themselves have become a focus for researchers to conduct studies observing health behaviors. Health behavior studies from these athletes range from alcohol abuse, anxiety, eating disorders, and lack of sleep. As a collegiate athlete commitment to athletics and academics is very important, but may also be a dwelling situation. Dr. Shelley Armstrong and Dr. Jody Oomen-Early, authors of, Social Connectedness, Self-Esteem, and Depression Symptomatology Among Collegiate Athletes Versus Nonathletes, compared collegiate athletes and nonathletes in search for any significant differences in social connectedness, self-esteem, and depression (Armstrong & Oomen-Early 2009).

For many athletes, all they think about is the next competition, the next practice, their next workout, but what many of them do not think about is the reality of needing to end their competition career. This stage of an athlete’s life may be a difficult one, and on average 1 in 6 retired elite athletes’ mental health is negatively impacted (Wippert & Wippert, 2008) (Wylleman, De Knop, Menkehorst, Theeboom, & Annerel, 1993). These issues may lead recently retired athletes to alcohol and substance abuse, depression, eating disorders, or even attempted suicide. The following will outline how elite athletes are affected psychologically when they retire from competition, and how athletes can prepare and work their way through this difficult transition.

In this study there were 40 participants. Out of the participants, 17 were male athletes, and 23 were female athletes from different collegiate divisions. The participants ages were 18 and 22. All of the athletes had sustained sports injuries and were required to undergo at least one week of sports rehabilitation. All subjects volunteered and were aware that the study was being performed. The readiness of an athlete to feel capable of returning to their sport relies solely on their rehabilitation process. The athletic trainer of the injured athlete would provide them with a packet which contained four questionnaires. The first four were the Task and Ego Orientation in sports(TEOSQ), social support(SSQ), Sources of Sport

The retirement process for elite, professional, collegiate, and high school athletes can be very difficult, especially when it is unexpected. Unexpected retirement frequently occurs because of injury, but also because of deselection, and other outside causes (Lavallee, Gordon, & Grove, 1997). Furthermore, Lavelle, Gordon, and Grove (1997) stated that the transition out of sport forces athletes to combat multiple economical, interpersonal, and psychological adjustments, all of which are unfamiliar to them. Other issues may include changes in mood, decline in motivation, the loss of structure, the loss of teammates, and loss of control (Hubbard, 2014). A further analysis of research will be evaluated to confirm the specific effects that retirement

Being involved in a professional sport can be overwhelming due to the constant sacrifices athletes must make. Although every occupation needs practice and dedication, becoming a modern athlete requires consistent strenuous training and maintaining a strict diet. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, “during the regular season, professional athletes often practice more than 40 hours a week… Most modern athletes work out all year, both during the season and in the off-season. They must be able to perform their jobs at the highest level at all times.” (BLS) Professional athletes have the highest level of skill in sports and often begin their careers young, when their bodies are physically ideal. To meet the level of talent professional leagues demand, athletes must abandon their normal lives and sacrifice the common teenage joys, solely to gain the best chance at a sporting profession. An article by Andrew Hamilton, a sports coach, accurately depicts the importance of beginning an athletic lifestyle early to launch a successful career: “The peak age permits the athlete and coach to assess personal strengths and weaknesses and gives time for concrete action to be taken.” (Hamilton) As a result of athletes’ intense training and playing schedules, it can be difficult to balance time with their loved ones. The career calls for hours of

This study will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Athletic Transitional Model (ATM), on athletes who have recently transitioned out of sport. The ATM is a career-planning program designed for athletes who are transitioning out of sport and need assistance integrating into civilian society. Fifty former National Collegiate Athletic Association, Division I athletes will be used in this study. The athletes will be randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group will be treated with the ATM and the control group will be treated using a generic form of narrative therapy. Results will be analyzed using a three level ANOVA (pre-, post-, and follow-up). Results will ideally indicate that the ATM reduced negative transitional symptoms in athletes, improved athletes’ occupational

The results of the MANOVAs revealed significant effects for gender “Wilks’s Lambda = 0.92, F (3, 120) = 3.41, p < .05; playing status, Wilks’s Lambda = 0.85, F (3, 120) = 6.93, p < .001; and sport Wilks’s Lambda = 0.88, F (3, 95) = 4.46, p < .01” (Murphy et al., 1996). Subsequent univariate analyses (i.e. post-hocs) demonstrated that women’s career maturity scores were significantly higher than men’s, and that men and women did not have significant differences on measures of identity foreclosure or athletic identity (Murphy et al., 1996). In addition, the post- hoc analyses also demonstrated that athletes in revenue-producing sports yielded significantly higher foreclosure scores, but lower career maturity scores than athletes in nonrevenue-producing sports (Murphy et al.,

According to the Journal of Sport Sciences, “in recent years, growing empirical research has provided evidence that athlete burnout can be defined as a syndrome characterised by emotional and physical exhaustion, sport devaluation and a reduced sense of accomplishment (Raedeke, 1997)” (Martinent, 2014). Studies have shown that youth athletes that train intensely are more likely to burnout due to high psychological, physical and social stress.