HOW THE PRESSURES OF RETIREMENT TRANSITION AFFECT THE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE
HOW THE PRESSURES OF RETIREMENT TRANSITION AFFECT THE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE
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Issue Date
1996
Authors
Murray, John K.
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Abstract
This paper investigates how the pressures of the retirement transition affect the professional athlete. The twenty-five participants who partook in this study completed a thirty-two question questionnaire which addressed such issues as their emotional and economical preparedness, sources of support, eagerness to confront retirement and the steps they took to prepare for the transition. The results of the study revealed that outside of their immediate family and friends, the athletes had no support in confronting retirement. Although every participant claimed to address the issues of retirement prior to the end of their playing careers, very few were actually ready to tackle the difficult tasks of this transition. Outside of a few participants who had the educational ,economical, and marketable employment experience to effectively handle retirement, the majority of the participants were not at all prepared for the transition. Many of the participants were lured into a false sense of security believing their experience as athletes and the contacts they had made during their playing careers would assure them of a smooth transition into a successful career. Surprisingly, quite a few of the participants were distracted by their own efforts to network and prepare for retirement drawing attention away from their current playing careers. Future studies should focus on how this preoccupation with their retirement process affects the active athlete as well as investigating the cases of former professional athletes with a focus on identifying effective approaches to the retirement transition.