Sports Career Transition

This chapter will review the key literature surrounding the four areas relevant to the thesis topic. These are
• the sports career vs other professions
• athletic identity
• the retirement process
• transition from professional sport
These areas are all extremely vast and cover a large number of issues. It is the author’s belief that these four topics address many of the issues faced by athletes in relation career transition from professional sport. By further exploring these topics it may be possible to better prepare players for this inevitable moment in their lives. It may also allow for support to be tailored for the needs of professional rugby players to further assist in the process.
The Sports Career vs Traditional Careers
Without
Research conducted in this area supports this hypothesis. Alfermann et al., showed a high athletic identity resulted in a less positive reaction to retirement (2004). Similarly, Lavallee et al., (1997) found that athletes with a strong athletic identity were more likely to experience anxiety in relation to career termination. The research also suggests that athletes with a heightened athletic identity found the adaptation process harsher and prolonged. This suggests that athletes will need support in the months, and possibly years after their retirement. Lally (2007) discovered that athletes with an imbalanced athletic identity experienced
The causes for retirement from professional sport are quite varied. Many researchers originally classified the cause of retirement as either voluntary or involuntary. This classification could be interpreted as too simplistic, as shown by Dacyshyn and Kerr (2000), as the difference between forced and freely chosen retirement is not always apparent. The most comprehensive classification system is the Athlete’s Retirement Decision Inventory (ARDI) (Fernandez et al., 2006). This model identifies four factors that contribute to the decision making process. These four factors are anti-pull, pull, anti-push, and push. The anti-pull factor describes the concerns and perceived risks of adapting to a post playing lifestyle. Equally, pull factors are the positive aspects associated with post playing lifestyle. Anti-push factors are those which the athlete still positively associates with in his/her sport. Finally, push factors are the negative aspects the athlete corresponds to in their current