Athlete Transitions Into Retirement

Transitions in sport can be either normative (relatively predictable) or non-normative (less predictable) and are critical times in the development of athlete’s careers. Whilst retirement from sport is inevitable, the timing of retirement can be less predictable. If an athlete copes well with the transition they may be better able to adjust to life after sport. However, not coping with the transition can lead to a crisis and negative consequences for the athlete. Transition periods from sport and in particular retirement from sport have been identified as high-risk periods for athletes in terms of psychological distress. However, circumstances surrounding the athlete’s retirement are a critical factor in the transition into life after sport. Voluntarily retiring from sport for example, leads to a smoother transition than being forced into retirement through injury or deselection. Research indicates that retirement from sport should be seen as a process rather than a single moment, with many athletes taking up to 2 years to successfully transition out of sport. Currently, there are few bodies of work that are solely devoted to retirement transition. Athlete Transitions into Retirement: Experiences in Elite Sport and Options for Effective Support provides contemporary viewpoints on athlete transitions from elite sport in a global context. This volume is a collaboration of research from leading authors around the world, offering global perspectives to athlete transitions into retirement and is key reading for both researchers and practitioners in the fields of Sport Psychology and Coaching as well as the Athletes themselves.

There appears to be a gap in the literature when it comes to examining the role that grief and loss might play while athletes undergo the reconstruction of their identity post-sport. Navigating Athletic Identity, Retirement Transitions, and Self-Discovery: Exiting the Arena investigates the long and often studied concept of identity in athletes from the perspective of transitioning identity as a potential form of loss. Ultimately, we posit that identity transition should also be understood as a form of identity loss, and research conceptualizing the grieving process that athletes experience in that transition should be studied more deeply.

This book was written for sport psychologists and other practitioners who are concerned with the well-being of athletes who are facing the difficult transition from a sports career and the regret anxiety and identity loss that can accompany retirement. This is a groundbreaking collaboration by international scholars providing an overview of empirical theoretical and applied perspectives on sports career transitions.

This book is essential for the athlete transitioning into the next season of life. Whether the end of a sports career was voluntary or involuntary, many athletes struggle with no longer being an athlete and are left with questions and uncertainty. This book is an easy to navigate; step by step guide that allows you, the athlete, to understand who you truly are and what will guide the next phase of your life. Janae is candid with her fears, frustrations and future questions. You are not alone as you navigate the "What Now?" of being a retired athlete. Janae will have you feeling like you are taking this journey together by giving you a chance to reflect, create viable solutions for your future and a powerful action plan. Janae says, "There are games to win in life after sport, too. Get excited, the best is yet to come!"

The psychological health of competitive athletes is of paramount importance to performance, retention, and well-being in sport, and national governing bodies are increasingly concerned with its promotion. Psychosocial Health and Well-being in High-Level Athletes offers students, researchers, and practicing sport psychologists an accessible and rigorous grounding in the manifestations of psychosocial health in athletes, the threats athletes face to their psychosocial health, and the interventions which can be designed to enhance it. Seeking to guide future research and expand professional understanding of psychosocial issues in sport, the book is based on a model of cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual health. It clearly defines these dimensions in a sporting context before discussing pertinent threats—such as career transitions, injuries and abuse—and interventions, including adversarial growth, life-skill interventions, prevention and organization policy, and mindfulness-based interventions. Providing an innovative and integrated perspective on psychosocial health and well-being in competitive sport, this book is essential reading for upper-level students taking any clincial sport psychology modules, and for sport psychologists, coaches, and administrators working with competitive athletes.

This book is essential for the athlete transitioning into the next season of life. Whether the end of a sports career was voluntary or involuntary, many athletes struggle with no longer being an athlete and are left with questions and uncertainty. This book is an easy to navigate; step by step guide that allows you, the athlete, to understand who you truly are and what will guide the next phase of your life. Janae is candid with her fears, frustrations and future questions. You are not alone as you navigate the "What Now?" of being a retired athlete. Janae will have you feeling like you are taking this journey together by giving you a chance to reflect, create viable solutions for your future and a powerful action plan. Janae says, "There are games to win in life after sport, too. Get excited, the best is yet to come!"

The Transition is a student-athlete's guide to life after sports. As athletes make the move from sports into the real world, they often experience feelings of loss, depression, anxiety and an inability to find their next passion. This book lays out the different emotions that will be brought forth through the tales of various famous, highly successful athletes that have all had similar stories. By the end of this book, readers will not only feel a sense of community, but will have an understanding of how to transition successfully by learning how to find mentors, internships, careers and new identities.

Athletes’ Careers Across Cultures is the first book of its kind to bring together a truly global spread of leading sports psychology career researchers and practitioners into one comprehensive resource. This extensive volume traces the evolution of athlete career research through a cultural lens and maps the complex topography of athletes’ careers across national boundaries exploring how social and cultural discourses shape their development. The area of athlete career development has traditionally been dominated by a Western perspective, an imbalance which has had a considerable influence on the shaping of career studies more generally. Stambulova and Ryba adopt a more culturally sensitive approach, offering a comprehensive analytical review of athlete career research and assistance in 19 different nations. The authors employ diverse theoretical, methodological and practical ideas to demonstrate how local knowledge enables a better understanding of the dynamics of cultural diversity within the field. Athletes’ Careers Across Cultures considers the ‘cultural praxis’ of athletes’ careers as a practical implication of the cultural turn. As such it will stimulate the development of culturally situated career research and assistance and be an invaluable and internationally relevant resource for academics, professionals and students working in sport and exercise psychology.