Evidence-Informed Tips for Athletes Navigating the Transition Out of Sport

Under the supervision of Chartered Psychologists Dr Chris Rowley and Dr Helen Heaviside-Brown, Leeds Trinity University Sport Psychology Students, Ryan Wilson and Navjeet Cheema provide some tips for athletes on how to successfully transition out of elite sport based on the findings of published research in the area¹ .

Transitioning out of sport is an inevitable part of every athlete’s career. Several factors can influence how smoothly this transition unfolds, such as whether the transition was expected, how much pre-career transition planning you engaged in, and the strength of your athletic identity.

Regardless of whether this transition was anticipated, the journey out of sport can present a number of physical (e.g., loss of muscle mass), emotional (e.g., loss of athletic identity and feelings of helplessness), social (e.g., feelings of isolation), and/or financial (e.g., difficulty finding employment) challenges. Your ability to manage these challenges is key to how well you adapt to life beyond sport.

Below we offer three tips to help navigate this transition:

1. Create, evolve, or repurpose identity:

Some athletes dedicate themselves exclusively to their sport, developing a strong athletic identity. Whilst this identity can be beneficial for performance and motivation within sport, it can make the transition out of sport particularly difficult, often resulting in negative consequences for an athlete’s health and wellbeing (e.g., feelings of identity loss, anxiety and depression symptoms).

Research suggests that actively creating, evolving, or repurposing a new identity can help athletes transition out of sport. This can be done by pursuing new interests (e.g., educational, social, and occupational), repurposing skills developed in sport, finding ways to  help you still feel connected with sport, and carefully considering how you frame this transition. For example, you could:

• Join new communities or groups associated with sport (e.g., ACT Community), or an  alternative non-athletic group.

• Pursue further education in an area of interest to you or a sport focused discipline.

• Explore a career in sport such as athlete mentoring, or sports coaching.

• Approach the end of your career as a ‘transition’ as opposed to ‘retirement’.

Pursuing educational, social, and occupational interests such as these, and carefully considering the language you use around your transition out of sport (i.e., transition as opposed to retirement) can help you to see yourselves as more than just a sports person.

2. Employment

Athletes who have focused exclusively on their sport may struggle to gain employment after the transition out of sport due to a lack of job experience, educational credentials, and career plans, and may find it difficult to see how their sporting skills are transferable to other roles. However, through sport, you develop many skills that are highly valued by employers, such as leadership, teamwork, decision-making, and the ability to perform under pressure.

The following can help in your pursuit of employment post sport:

• Pursue opportunities that are of interest to you. Look for roles which are compatible with your previous experiences and identity (e.g., a footballer becoming a football coach).

• Repurpose your skills. Identify how the skills developed during sport (e.g., working under pressure, strategic planning, time management) can be repurposed into other pursuits such as education or job roles.

• Plan ahead. Develop short- and long-term goals focusing on future aspirations, be that in education or employment.

• Seek out support. Do not be afraid to connect with career services, mentors, or athlete transition communities. For example, mentors, especially former athletes, can provide a visible role model who can empathise with the barriers you are facing in gaining employment post-sport, helping to alleviate concerns around transitioning into a different role.

3. You are not alone

Elite sport is often performance focused where athletes are labelled as “superhuman” and showing vulnerability can be misunderstood as “weakness”. This culture may result in athletes masking their feelings and discourage them from seeking help with the challenges that they are facing during the transition out of sport.

It is important for you to remember that you are human, it is normal to struggle with these challenges, and you are not alone in feeling this way. This is reiterated by decorated Olympic Swimmer, Michael Phelps who struggled with mental health and identity during his transition out of sport:

… there are a lot of people out there in the world who are struggling the same exact way I do still struggle and have struggled — I’m a human being. But I was so used to compartmentalizing everything. Being an athlete you’re supposed to be this strong person who doesn’t have weaknesses, doesn’t have any problems. No, that’s wrong. I struggle through problems just like everybody else does. I wanted to open up and just talk about it. It is what makes me who I am.

If you are struggling with the challenges experienced post-sport, you are advised to:

• Talk to other former athletes. Connect and communicate with other athletes who are going through or have been through a similar experience.

• Look at real life stories. Read or watch documentaries on athletes who have been through this experience. This can help normalise the thoughts and feelings that you are having at this time.

• Reach out for support. Independent bodies experienced in athlete transitions (e.g., ACT Community), or crisis coping interventions, such as counselling or therapy, can be helpful to manage the challenges post-sport.

¹If you wish to read further around the topic then the links embedded throughout will take you to the corresponding research papers