Disengagement From Sport

Abstract
Involuntary retirement from organized sport generally occurs as a result of deselection, injury, or expiration of eligibility (Ogilvie, 1984). Research indicates that there are a host of behavioral problems that accompany the process of retirement from sport. The purpose of this article is to address the issues related to disengagement and provide recommendations pertaining to what should be done to better prepare athletes for retirement. Although there has been some movement by national and international athletic organizations to address the process of athletic disengagement, more intervention needs to be accomplished at all levels of sport in our society.

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Helping Athletes to Disengage from Sports: Issues on Retirement From Athletics

At some time or another, retirement from competitive athletics will occur. It may be due to one's inability to play handball because of arthritis, or it could be the result of terminating a high school sports career with no prospect of participating in college athletics. Whatever the case may be, retirement from competitive athletics will occur with all sports enthusiasts. Many times, it happens suddenly, without warning. The careers that athletes so painstakingly trained themselves in for five, ten, maybe fifteen years could be terminated in a moment. Generally speaking, involuntary disengagement from athletics can occur as the result of one of three conditions: 1) deselection, 2) injury, and 3) expiration of eligibility (Ogilvie, 1984). What can we do, as coaches and teachers, to help prepare athletes for the time when sport is no longer a dominant force in the athletes' lives? We contend that there can be no substitute for early education to inform athletes of all the contingencies involved in the process of disengagement.

Consider career termination due to deselection. Are false concepts being fostered in the athlete concerning his or her true ability level? Is an athlete being given accurate information about the level of competition to which he/she should aspire to compete in? All too often, coaches provide inaccurate information to the athlete, and to coaches at the next level, about characteristics of an athlete such as size, speed, ability, and academic background. Athletes may believe what they are hearing and base their levels of expectations accordingly. Unfortunately, when the time comes for college or professional scouts to begin assessing the athletes' physical attributes, he or she is often unprepared for the reality of not being selected to play for a team at a higher age or skill level. The emotional frustration occurring as the result of deselection can occur very early in life. Such is the case in youth sports where young kids are cut from their middle school sport teams. How do these athletes, or any other athletes, cope?

The reality of deselection is even greater as the athlete competes at higher levels. In a study of 700,000 high school basketball players, Ogilvie and Howe (1987) found that only 15,000 (.021%) made an NCAA varsity team, and only 50 (.00007%) made a team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The probability levels of making professional careers in football and baseball are similar. The careers of those who do make it to the professional ranks are limited. The average career in the National Football League (NFL) is 4.2 years, while the average career in the NBA is slightly less (Dietzel, 1983).

The case of minorities and persons from low socioeconomic backgrounds requires special attention. These athletes often believe that sport is the best chance to achieve success. Total commitment to athletics may encourage the focus on sports only, at the sacrifice of other potential means of achieving success. A current Lou Harris poll indicates that although minorities have made inroads into some of the team sports in the United States, and some of the international sports such as boxing and track and field, their overall participation level in professional sports is disproportionately low (Johnson, 1991). For example, black athletes are rarely seen excelling in such sports as golf, bowling, soccer, automobile racing and tennis. In reality, minorities remain underrepresented in the majority of professional sports in the United States (Johnson, 1991).

Even though the black athlete has high visibility in basketball, football and baseball, the number of opportunities remain low. Coakley (1986) found that approximately 1400 black athletes currently compete in the major leagues of baseball, football, and basketball in the United States. In all, of the thirty million blacks in the United States, only one out of every 460,000 blacks will make a living from major football, basketball or baseball leagues this year. And yet, the polls indicate that 43% of all black male high school athletes believed that eventually they would play professional sports as a profession (Johnson, 1991).

Forced termination due to injury is a reality that many athletes experience but many collegiate and professional athletes are unprepared for this form of disengagement. Additionally the probability that most athletes will be forced to retire as a result of injury are very high. Mihoces (1988) reports that 66% of all NFL athletes retire with some type of permanent injury. The situation is serious at all levels of competition. At the University of Iowa, Powell (cited in Pankey, 1993) found that 21,000 athletes from 351 high schools reported injuries, with 21% of these serious enough to prevent further competition.

How do athletes react to this forced termination due to injury? Many feel a great deal of stress; typically, the athlete responds to the challenge by attempting to work their way through the challenge, to "tough it out." Denial is used as a protective shield. "This can't be happening to me" is a very typical reaction of the athlete. Some will express depression, resentment, anger and hostility. Many of these emotions are visible in Ogilvie's (1987) example of the college linebacker he had counseled. Ogilvie terms the young man's reaction to injury as the "raging bull" syndrome. The young man had suffered a leg injury which was slow in healing; therefore, he could not start fall practice on schedule. The young man was blaming the doctor's supposedly conservative treatment for his slow recovery, and the player was looking for some doctor with a "magic wand" to cure him when the previous doctor could not. As is typical, the young man was resentful and angry, and outwardly expressed hostility to the physician, trainer, and coach who were not allowing him to compete. At last report, the young man had left counseling to pursue his case with another orthopedic surgeon.

Ogilvie (1984) addresses the personal misfortune that occurs when disengagement from sport is the result of injury in an article entitled "When a Dream Dies." In his paper, a female athlete revealed her innermost feelings and told of the courageous battle she had fought against overwhelming circumstances. This athlete exemplified the extreme commitment to sport that many athletes possess in the face of a debilitating injury. For this young woman, life was basketball, and the threatening loss of sport from her life was tremendously profound. While one has to feel respect for persistence and inner-strength that athletes have in the face of injury, the underlying problem for many who compete in higher level sports is their inability to look at themselves more broadly and consider their other aptitudes and abilities which make up the total person.

The third prime reason for termination of a competitive athletic career is expiration of eligibility. Termination of eligibility happens to all athletes, in both college and high school. Not so definite is the amount of emphasis being placed on academics in preparing athletes for life after sports. According to numbers reported by the NCAA, it appears that with all male and female athletes, particularly minority athletes, academic emphasis remains low. A report, in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Blum, 1995) from data collected on the 1988 freshman class, provides a strong argument for increasing academic standards for incoming athletes in order to improve graduation rates. Ironically, it may also indicate that tougher academic rules are forcing a disproportionate number of black athletes out of sports at the higher education level.

Recent figures show that graduation rates of athletes continue to be higher than those of all students. Women athletes were found to graduate at a higher rate than their male counterparts, but graduation rates for blacks continue to be lower than those of white athletes. Graduation rates of athletes from N.C.A.A. Division I colleges in 1988 were seven percentage points greater than the average graduation rates of athletes who enrolled in the same colleges prior to the Proposition 48 ruling in 1986. Fifty-eight percent of the 1988 freshman athletes had graduated in six years, compared to 51 per cent of those who entered college from 1983 to 1985. Examples of low academic emphasis levels in NCAA sport programs can be seen around the country. Overall, it was reported that for all athletes finishing a six year period by summer, 1990, only 23.3% of the athletes from the Big Eight graduated; from the Big West Conference, 15.5%; from the Western Athletic Conference, 23.2%; the Southeast Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference were both below 30% (Lederman, 1992).

Consideration of these and similar findings indicate that many of the 23-year old athletes leaving college are acquiring few skills other than that of being able to play sports. Harry Edwards (Sperber, 1992) maintains that athletes are not being taught to aspire to legitimate goals in sports, while keeping their aspirations in a balanced perspective with the rest of their lives. What can be done by educators and professionals to prepare athletes to disengage from sports in a healthy manner? Coaches, educators, and all people involved with athletes need to help them balance sports with "real-world" life. Gorbett (1985) suggests that this is a "preretirement" approach to counseling the athlete, with the philosophy that positive actions taken before disengagement will prevent or minimize social and emotional deprivations after athletics. Our specific recommendations are listed below:

1. Early, honest, realistic educational programs must be undertaken with athletes, before disengagement, to help them to learn to blend athletics with academics. They must be taught how to see how the characteristics learned in sport, such as self-control and self-esteem, can be used in a positive means outside the athletic world.
2. The athlete needs skill development in physical activities outside team sports. This will provide an avenue of release for the physical tension which is felt as a result of disengagement from competitive athletics.
3. Through individual and group counseling sessions, the athlete needs to come to the realization that academics, in the vast majority of cases, is the best ticket to success in life after athletics. And don't wait until the dream ends. Seek out young athletes because they will not come to you; athletes are taught throughout their athletic career to "tough it out", to not seek help - how ironic.
4. In working with college level students who are interested in continuing in athletics, via coaching, four to six weeks of group counseling has proven valuable. The counseling is centered around career orientation and employment opportunities after athletics. The reality of the expected career duration expectancy of coaches is discussed. Self-responsibility is taught, teaching the former athlete that each individual must be responsible for everything that happens to oneself. Skills to help the ex-athlete cope are presented. The concept of detraining is discussed, including weight control via diet and exercise. Positive addictions - walking, swimming, biking, and the like - are emphasized. This allows excess physical energies to be channelled into activities that can be undertaken on an individual basis, contributing to one's well-being.
5. Lastly, the ex-athlete must be counseled to develop the ability to let things go, and to get involved in the rest of his or her life. The concept of "letting go" should be addressed, emphasizing that everything in life, including life itself, is temporary. Emphasize to the former athlete the importance of getting involved in life while they have their one and only chance. In summary, we feel that there is a great deal that can be done to help athletes at all levels through their inevitable career termination. The professional who desires to help the athlete must seek out and counsel players and former players. A large amount of counseling and behavior modification will be necessary. If this situation is to be appropriately addressed, behavior modification for the coach who works with athletes at all levels would be appropriate.

References

• Blum, D.E. (1995, July 7). Athletes' graduation rates: NCAA report lends support to both sides in debate over academic standards, Chronicle of Higher Education, pp A43-36.
• Coakley, J.J. (1986). Sport in society (3rd ed.). St. Louis: Times Mirror/Mosby College Publishing.
• Dietzel, P. (1983). There is life after football. In A.D. LeUnes & J.R. Nation (Eds.), Sport psychology: An introduction (pp. 436-438). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
• Gorbett, F.J. (1985). Psycho-social adjustment of athletes to retirement. In L.K Bunker, R.J. Rotella, & A.S. Reilly (Eds.), Sport psychology: Psychological considerations in maximizing sport performance, (pp. 288-294). Ann Arbor: McNaughton and Gunn.
• Johnson, W.O. (1991, August 5). How far have we come? Sports Illustrated, pp. 38-41.
• Lederman, D. (1992, July 8). Black athletes graduate at a higher rate than other blacks. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A31-A32.
• Lederman, D. (1992, July 22). Survey suggests many division I colleges fail to graduate their black athletes. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A31-A32.
• Mihoces, G. (1988, May 10). Less visible players find little glory after football. USA Today, p. 12C.
• Ogilvie, B.C. (1984). When a dream dies. Women's Sport, 5(12), 68.
• Ogilvie, B.C. (1987). Counseling for sports career termination. In J. May & M. Asken (Eds.), Sport Psychology (pp. 219-221). New York: PMA Publishing.
• Ogilvie, B.C., & Howe, M. (1987). Career crisis in sport. Proceedings of the Fifth World Congress of Sport Psychology, 32-39.
• Pankey, R.B. (1993). To fall from athletics gracefully. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.
• Sperber, M. (1992). College sports inc.: The athletic department vs. the university. The Kappan, October, 1-11.