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Career TerminationThe importance of helping college athletes face the challenges of athletic career terminationChristina M. PattersonUniversity of Missouri Participation in sports has been a main focus of a college athlete's life for many years. For four, or five if they were red-shirted, years, college athletes have had someone planning their every move. College athletes have very structured schedules involving practice, competition, travel, strength and conditioning programs outside of practice, meals, study hall, and classes. Being an athlete is part of their identity. No matter if a college athlete was part of a team or individual sport, their peers and people they spent the most time with were also athletes. Inevitably, however, a person's athletic career will come to an end. For most athletes, their athletic career ends during or after college. According to The Hartford Financial Game Plan Survey, only 1% of college athletes will go on to play at the professional level. The end of a college athletic career signals the beginning of a whole new way of life for these individuals, whether they are prepared or not. Transition out of sport is marked by psychological and social factors, as well as the need to establish a new career. This is a difficult period in a person's life making it very important for the needs of an athlete in transition to be recognized and addressed. My interest in college athletic career termination arose form a true story I heard at the 2005 American College Health Association conference, which really illustrated the importance of assisting college athlete's with career termination. The speaker, Dr. Lori DeWald EdD, ATC, CHES, an associate professor in athletic training at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, spoke about a basketball player who will be referred to as Lee. Lee finished his four years of athletic eligibility but still had another year of academic work to complete his degree. During the beginning of basketball season in his fifth year, the realization that he was no longer part of the team became too much for Lee to handle and he attempted to take his own life. He shot himself in the chest. Lee was unsuccessful at ending his life, but did literally blow off all of his chest muscles and still has 2 bullets lodged in his lungs near his vertebrae. My response to this story was to wonder how this athlete got to the point that life was no longer worth living to him. Although this story represented just one case, it illustrates the need for education and awareness about the difficulties of college athletic career termination. Two factors that can make athletic career termination, or retirement, different from other career retirements are the uniqueness of an "athletic identity" and the special circumstances athletes face surrounding forced termination of an athletic career. Termination of their career may be caused by injury, deselection (failure to qualify for the next level of competition or being cut from the team), graduation, or by the athlete's own choice. The degree of perceived control that athletes have with respect to the end of their careers can also have an impact on how they respond to career termination (Taylor & Ogilvie, 2001). Exercising control is not only intrinsically satisfying, it facilitates psychological adjustment to retirement by allowing the athlete time to prepare themselves, both psychologically and practically, for retirement (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). These factors all contribute to the ease or difficulty of an athlete's transition and put them at risk of experiencing post-retirement psychological difficulties. Fully understanding the meaning of athletic identity and the main reasons athletes retire is critical in effectively helping college athletes with their transition out of their athletic career. Athletic identity is a part of who the athlete is, so the transition out of sport changes almost everything about their life as they have known it. For many athletes, their talent and ability as well as desire to develop skills and competencies is recognized early on, therefore giving them a special bond with sport. Continued mastery of skills along with praise and unwavering support form family, friends, and community continues to strengthen that bond thus developing an athletic identity. The athlete's sense of self-worth becomes closely tied to their success or failure in athletics, therefore athletic involvement seems to satisfy some social and emotional human needs including success, recognition, approval and validation from others, and feeling that they are a part something. The time and psychological commitment to the role of athlete is such that by the time they reach high school, highly successful athletes have internalized the athletic identity, frequently at the expense of other possible social needs (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). As a result, an internalized athlete identity dominates the individual's overall self-concept (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). As athletes enter the college years, the primary developmental task shifts to developing a personal identity (Pearson & Petitpas, 1990). Knowing that college is a time to develop a personal identity, but also knowing that by the time they get to college, many athletes have already developed a personal identity that includes being an athlete, it becomes obvious that problems can occur at the end of a college athletic career. Over time the individual becomes used to reaping the intrinsic benefits of being a successful athlete and as a consequence, develops the natural desire to want to hold on to this source of emotional nourishment and identity. When retirement subsequently denies opportunities to foster and maintain this identity, the individual with such a strong, centralized athletic identity is presumed to lack the flexibility necessary for redefining the self-concept (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). Being an athlete is as much a part of who they are at this point as anything else about them such as being right or left handed. The publicity and celebration surrounding college athletics and the visibility of the athletes performing their role increases their athletic identity. The athlete realizes that his or her performance not only affects their team or individual status, but also is part of a larger community following whose opinions rise and fall depending on their performance and reputation. Public adoration and recognition can give athletes a high degree of social status, even at the college level, which also becomes part of their identity. Athletic career terminations generally fall into two categories: those that are forced such as with deselection or injury, and those that are freely chosen. Control is a factor in athletic career termination in so far as whether the athlete feels like they have control, or no control, over when their career will end. Exercising control is not only intrinsically satisfying, it facilitates psychological adjustment to retirement by allowing the athlete time to prepare themselves, both psychologically and practically, for retirement (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). The degree of perceived control that athletes have with respect to the end of their careers can also have an impact on how they respond to career termination (Taylor & Ogilvie, 2001). Knowing the athletes reason for terminating their athletic career is a key factor in helping them with their transition out of sport. 
Conceptual model of adaptation to career transition (Taylor & Ogilvie, 2001). Injury is a sudden and unplanned event in the life of an athlete. Injury-related retirements are the least foreseeable and, consequently, the most likely to undermine feelings of control (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). It is important to remember that a career ending injury is often not determined to be career ending immediately. Athletes go through a sometimes very lengthy physical and emotional process of coming to terms with their injury at the same time they are preparing for surgery or rehabilitating their injury. It is not uncommon for athletes to push themselves for several months or an entire off season before it can be determined that their injury is career ending. In the cases that it can be determined quickly that an injury is career ending, an athlete still goes through the same processes, but with the additional knowledge that there is no hope of continuing their career in sports. Reactions to injury include grief reactions, identity loss, separation and loneliness, fear and anxiety, and loss of confidence and performance decrements (Pearson & Petitpas, 1990). Numerous cases have been described in which athletes have suffered acute depression, abused alcohol, or committed suicide as a result of a sudden career-ending injury (Pearson & Petitpas, 1990). When an athlete's career is ended due to deselection, he or she must immediately come face to face with the limitations of their inherent athletic ability. The athlete must learn to accept the fact that they simply were not good enough. Athletes who are cut from the team, or do not get chosen to move on to the professional ranks from college, fall into this category. Athletes in this group may have been given cues by coaches or other teammates about their fate, which could increase their forseeability and ability to control their retirement, but may have ignored or denied that they could really be cut from their team. They also may or may not realize that their ability will not carry them into a career in professional sport, which challenges the plans they had for after college depending on when they know they are not moving on. This can leave them with a sense of guilt that they did not try hard enough, practice enough, or take their sport seriously. Deselection is a traumatic and disruptive blow to one's self-esteem and athletic identity. When asked to compare their feelings and emotions during this period (deselection) with others experienced in life, a majority of athletes indicated their feelings often paralleled those related to death and dying (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). Free choice and graduation are considered to be athletic career ending events that an athlete has control over. Ideally in these cases the athlete has been thinking about and planning for their future as a former athlete, and are seen to have control over their retirement. In this way, exercise of control extends beyond the retirement event into domains where new and situated identities can be established (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). Transition for these athletes can be easier, however some athletes choose not to think about or prepare for retirement or their reason for ending their career may not be truly voluntary. Family or social problems, conflict with a coach, difficulty keeping up with schoolwork, burn out, depression, realization that they are not high enough level players to start or make it to the next level, or difficulty handling the high stress of competition, are some of the reasons athletes may choose to retire, but not necessarily want to retire. It is easy to see how any of these reasons could be why athletes choose to "voluntarily" retire, but also how athletes could perceive these reasons to be out of their control. Reason for retirement can give clues as to how difficult an athlete's transition might be, but no matter what the reason for retirement is, an athlete will be faced with social and psychological changes as part of their transition out of sport. One of the main stakes of this transition is thus to reconstruct and adjust themselves on the basis of a new life style (Stephan, Bilard, Ninot, & Delignieres, 2003). Socially, there is no longer someone controlling their time, they are no longer surrounded by their teammates they have spent so much time with, they must embark on a new career with new goals, and they must find a new way to identify with and fit in with others. According to Blinde & Stratta (1992), these changes can be characterized by feelings of failure, depression, disillusionment, and isolation. Transitional athletes have to reorient and redefine their goals and competencies to fit this new situation by developing interests toward which they can direct the considerable time and energy that were previously devoted to training, and must develop a new sense of autonomy and control over their lives in new setting and according to new roles (Stephan, Bilard, Ninot & Delignieres, 2003). Social changes and the loss of their athletic identity during transition can lead to true psychological problems for athletes. Some studies have suggested that this passage has negative repercussions, such as identity crisis reactions, emotional difficulties, mental health problems, and/or decreased self-confidence (Stephan, Bilard, Ninot, & Delignieres, 2003). Feeling guilty that their performances were not good enough or that they could have changed things is a reaction athletes may have during their transition. The athlete suffering from forced termination from sports may express anger against himself or herself in self-destructive ways, such as alcohol and drug abuse, or the athlete may direct their anger outwardly at an athletic establishment, family or friends (Pankey, 1993). It is also important to take into consideration that an athlete may be suffering from social or psychological problems prior to their transition from sport. Intercollegiate athletes report a need for counseling regarding time management, stress, burnout, fear of failure, anxiety, depression, and performance related issues (Storch, Storch, Killiany, & Roberti, 2005). A study conducted by Storch, Storch, Killiany, & Roberti, and published in 2005, addressed the rates of psychosocial maladjustment in a sample of intercollegiate athletes and non-athletes. It was found that female athletes reported higher levels of depressive symptoms, social anxiety, and non-support than male athletes, and male and female non-athletes. In certain athletes, it may be necessary to treat underlying psychological and social problems in addition to treating problems with their transition out of college athletics. Research has been done to identify some of the difficulties athletes face with transition. Research used for this literature review includes studies on how athletic identity affects athletic retirement, how specific reasons for retirement affect athletes, and how long it takes athletes to transition from their athletic career. This research can help in the development of programs to assist athletes with transition, and to educate athletes and coaches as to why college athletic career termination is a difficult process that should be addressed and planned for as soon as the athlete begins their college athletic career. The first study to be discussed, conducted and published by Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick (1998), made some interesting conclusions regarding the relationship between athletic identity and retirement. The study was conducted on 93 subjects who were current students or alumni of the University of Notre Dame. The study found that, without regard to reason for retirement, there is a positive relationship between athletic identity and retirement difficulty; meaning the stronger an individual's athletic identity is, the more difficulty they will have with their retirement. Another conclusion was that athletic identity is significantly related to feelings of uncertainty about the future only among the injury-related retirees, which is not surprising since injuries occur at a time when athletes are not necessarily prepared for or expecting the termination of their career. Feelings of uncontrollability are related to lower life satisfaction, more difficulty with retirement, and stronger feelings of uncertainty regarding the future (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). Results also showed that feelings of uncontrollability and retirement were most closely connected when the athlete was unable to compete at the next level of competition rather than injury being the determining factor. On the other hand, athletes who felt they had some say regarding the circumstances of their retirement, feelings of uncontrollability were unrelated to life satisfaction, retirement difficulty, and feelings of uncertainty about the future. This finding concludes that control and planning do aid in decreasing the difficulty of the transition process for athletes. Webb et al. (1998) discovered through their study that 46.2 % of their sample of athletes reported that a difficult retirement was "quite characteristic" or "very characteristic" of their experience, and athletic identity was strongly related to that experience. In any case, our data suggest that public athletic identity and private athletic identity can be viewed as conceptually distinct constructs with potentially different contributions to one's psychological adjustment to life after sports (Webb, Nasco, Riley, & Headrick, 1998). A study that focused on involuntary and unanticipated sport exits was published by Blinde and Stratta in 1992. In order to focus the study on involuntary and unanticipated sport exits, they interviewed 20 athletes who had either been cut from a sport team or whose entire sport program was eliminated. It was evident that athletes in this study (16 out of 20) experienced a series of responses often paralleling those identified by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her stage theory of death and dying (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). The stages through which dying individuals progress, and were the comparison for the study, are: shock and denial, anger, bargaining, depression, then acceptance. Blinde and Stratta found that along with the initial shock of being cut from a team, athletes attempted to deny that their sport career was actually over. These athletes also tended to isolate themselves from other individuals since they frequently had no support system to draw upon, possibly because their closest peers were still a part of the team. Following the initial shock and denial, anger was a common response and often surfaced as athletes felt betrayed by those responsible for decisions leading to the termination of their sport career (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). Expanding upon this finding, athletes who were cut from a team seemed to experience more prolonged and intense feelings of anger, which was mostly directed toward their coach. It was noted that feelings of anger were initially intense and athletes reported they often resorted to extreme behavioral forms to vent their anger such as getting drunk or taking a "killer jog." In comparison to the third stage, bargaining, it was found that athletes who were cut from their team rarely utilized bargaining techniques to reverse the decision of the coach. Athletes cited personal pride as the major reason for their reluctance to approach the coach (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). Athletes reported they avoided all interaction with the coach, or coaches and felt uncomfortable in situations where they might have to interact with a coach. Instead of bargaining they responded with feelings of hopelessness and a realization they had little control over their destinies in sport. Realizing their lack of power to change the system and the inevitability of the decision to terminate the sport experience, athletes frequently moved into a state of depression (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). The depression stage appeared to be the most prolonged stage, and was characterized by unproductiveness and the athlete's statements of "just existing" in life. Athletes cut from a team reported isolating themselves from social contacts and experienced feelings of inferiority and embarrassment around their former teammates and therefore preferred to avoid their company. Athletes discussed such physiological changes as loss of appetite, weight fluctuations, skipping menstrual cycle, and insomnia (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). Psychologically, athletes experienced a variety of responses - mood changes, a sense of being out of control, sadness about the loss of teammates, decline in motivation, and lack of trust in others (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). Athletes experiencing extreme isolation or who lacked a support group (typically the athlete cut from a team) often revealed the most severe forms of depression, leading in turn to unusual personality and behavioral changes, as well as problems related to alcohol usage (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). To address the acceptance phase, interviews were conducted at approximately nine months following the termination of their athletic career and generally coincided with what would have been the beginning of their sport season. These interviews revealed that although the athletes would never completely accept the termination decision, many found that their ability to overcome challenges and adversity in other domains of their life had improved. As suggested by Kubler-Ross, signs of acceptance do not necessarily imply the individual is happy with the situation, rather there comes a point where the individual recognizes the inevitability of the situation (in this case the termination of the sport career) and accepts its consequences (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). At this point the athletes finally began to discuss future goals and ambitions with excitement and eagerness. Although nearly all of the athletes showed some signs of acceptance, it cannot be denied that the sudden termination of their sport career produced long-term consequences in the lives of athletes (Blinde & Stratta, 1992). The final study to be discussed documents the retirement, which was due to free choice, process of 16 elite athletes as compared to 16 athletes remaining in sports over a one year time period. Stephan, Bilard, Ninot, & Delignieres (2003) by interviewing and using questionnaires, set out to document the repercussions of transition out of elite sport on subjective well being. They gathered data at four sessions; session one was conducted one and a half months after career termination, session two was conducted five months after termination, session three was conducted at eight months after termination, and session four was conducted between eleven and twelve months after athletic career termination. Athletes reported in session one that their new lifestyle was more passive and sedentary and lacked the physical sensations they were used to as athletes. They also noticed a difference in the competencies required in their new lifestyle as opposed to competencies that used to focus on physical aspects. Athletes are given no direction once their sports career is over so it is up to them to develop their own social and physical routines. During the first few months after transition athletes reported that they were at an "in-between" status in which they were not yet entirely ex-athlete but not yet entirely integrated into their new lifestyle outside of an athletic career. The second session of the study conducted by Stephan et al. (2003) found that the athletes were transferring their energy toward new activities to compensate for the lack of physical sensations. They were also searching for new social networks to avoid confronting the reality of a new lifestyle. Findings from session three suggested that athletes were ready to transfer energy that had previously been invested in compensatory activities back to the sport domain in a new way, with different attitudes towards physical activity. This transfer of energy was in response to the physical transformations due to lack of training and the substantial deregulation of daily habits (Stephan, Bilard, Ninot, & Delignieres, 2003). At session four, renewed physical activity was considered by transitional athletes to be a key to their new lifestyle. The athletes reported feeling more in control of their physical and social activities and exercise became a source of equilibrium, health, and pleasure. The transitional athletes realized at a certain point that there were other areas in life potentially as exciting and rewarding as athletics, and their life satisfaction became close to or above that of their sport career (Stephan, Bilard, Ninot, & Delignieres, 2003). Comparing the studies of Webb et al. (1998), Blinde and Stratta (1992), and Stephan et al. (2003), one gets a distinctly different picture of what transition is like for athletes from each study. Webb et al. and Blinde and Stratta addressed termination as a result of situations the athletes had no control over, and had findings that were similar to each other in describing the difficulties athletes faced as a result of forced retirement. Stephan et al., on the other hand, studied individuals who had control over their retirement which resulted in a much smoother transition for the athletes. Loss of athletic identity, control over retirement, social and psychological adjustment, and change in physical activity were all factors identified as being obstacles for athletes to overcome during their transition out of a career in college athletics. Realization by coaches and athletes of what is truly involved in the process of a college athlete ending their athletic career is the most important step in getting athletes prepared for, and help with, the transition process. Programs to help athletes in various areas of their academic and athletic careers, including termination, are in place at many colleges and universities. NCAA has set forth the CHAMPS/Life Skills program to support the academic progress of the student-athlete toward intellectual development and graduation. Every affiliated institution has a CHAMPS/Life Skills coordinator who is a faculty member of that institution and functions as an on-site representative of the program. One of the specific sections of this program is commitment to career development. This segment of the CHAMPS/Life Skills program helps the student-athlete look ahead to his or her future after college. Since the vast majority of student-athletes do not continue in their sports after college, this section helps them prepare for the next step and pursue career goals (The NCAA News, 2003). The program is designed to address athletes developmental needs based on their year in school, address the idea of "life after sports", and help the student understand that many lessons learned through playing sports can be applied to life. Positive Transitions for Student-Athletes is a program designed to address the psychosocial and career-related issues surrounding the college sport retirement transition. The Positive Transitions Sport Retirement Model is a research-based, systematic framework grounded in reality therapy that holds student-athletes responsible for addressing sport retirement and for not dwelling on "what could have been" (Stankovich, Meeker, & Henderson, 2001). The model uses athletic transferable skills as a teaching tool (e.g., goal setting, communicating effectively with teammates) to assist student-athletes in building confidence in their skills and abilities beyond sports (Stankovich, Meeker & Henderson, 2001). The three interrelated components: identity development, athletic transferable skills, and career exploration, are addressed in a 2-credit hour, 10 week course. The course includes (a) exploring identity, values, personality, and interests; (b) learning athletic transferable skills, such as goal setting and communication and decision making skills; and (c) exploring career issues such as professional networking, informational interviewing, resume writing, and job interviewing (Stankovich, Meeker, & Henderson, 2001). The first author, Stankovich, performed an evaluation study on 139 athletes who completed the course and summarized the findings, which revealed an increase in career maturity, an increase in confidence in career decision-making skills, and an increase in readiness to retire from sports. The University of Missouri at Columbia has a new program for athletes titled "Life After Sports" which focuses on career coaching, sports transition, and job placement. An alumna and former All-American gymnast, Julie Dorn-McBride, and her husband Adrian McBride, a former college and NFL football player, started the program less than a year ago. A conversation with Adrian and Julie on September 21, 2005, provided information about the program. Athletes are encouraged to get involved with this program as soon as they begin their athletic career at Mizzou. They are given a questionnaire to complete to provide background information, career objectives, and thoughts about planning for the future. The athlete then meets with Adrian or Julie and is coached in career building goals and skills, assisted with sports transition issues, and in some cases given the opportunity to begin an internship or career with a network of employers sought out specifically to be a partner in this program and to help athletes get work experience. Due to the stringent schedules required during college athletic careers, athletes tend to graduate from college with very little real world work experience. This can put them at a disadvantage when competing for jobs against non-athlete graduates who may have had jobs or internships that provided working experience prior to graduation. Although this is a new program, the hopes are that it will become a model for developing programs to assist athletes with their transitions at colleges and universities nationwide. The presence of responsive, resource-rich support relationships can provide individuals with emotional, material, and informational support needed to ease the impact of anticipated or unanticipated transitions (Pearson & Petitpas, 1990). Athletes must be supported by their coaches, friends, fellow athletes, and families during and after their college athletic career. Negative attitudes expressed by anyone in the athlete's life about seeking help for psychological or social problems, whether related to transition or not, can become barriers to the athlete seeking out, asking for, or receiving help from others. Individual characteristics of an athlete and willingness to get help can affect the degree of success experienced when dealing with transition. No one likes to think about how their career will end, however it is very helpful, and necessary, that athletes do think about it and develop a contingency plan for the end of their career. Injury or deselection can end a career in sports suddenly so having a plan from the time an athlete is a Freshman should be taught to all collegiate level athletes. The goal of a career contingency plan is to give you an alternative focus that you can develop while you're still pursuing your college sports goals (Petitpas, Champagne, Chartrond, Danish, & Murphy, 1997). There is no doubt that the end of an athletic career is a difficult time for a person, and there is also no doubt that coaches, athletic trainers, and athletes themselves should be able to recognize problems during transition and know where or how to get help. Not every athlete will experience difficulty with their transition, but research has shown that many do. Coaches and athletic trainers should be trained to address transition with their athletes, to let them know that any negative feelings they have about transition are understandable, and to help them identify ways to turn those negative feelings into positive outcomes. Coaches or trainers should definitely not be expected to provide psychological counseling to their athletes, but should be understanding, supportive, and point them in the appropriate direction to get counseling if needed. Athletes may have to establish a new self-identity in their transition process, so it is crucial that they are assisted in maintaining their sense of self-worth. A goal throughout the transition process is to adapt an athlete's perception about themselves and their world to their new roles in life in a way that will be the most functional. Many things athletes learned while playing sports, such as self-talk, thought stopping, and imagery, as well as leadership and motivational skills can be useful to them throughout transition and in starting a new career. Many years were spent building up an individual to be an athlete, in turn they should also be trained in how to make the skills they learned in sports and in class work for them. Programs to assist athletes with transition out of sport are just as important as programs to assist athletes while they are in school and therefore should be in place at any college or university that has an athletic department. In studying research for this literature review, several topics for future research to learn how to better assist athletes with transition came to mind. Further research as to how athletic identity relates to specific sports would be helpful in assisting athletes with transitions. Finding out which sports might lead to stronger athletic identity, such as does a football player have a stronger athletic identity that a lacrosse player? Research done specifically to determine what transitional difficulties athletes that retired by "free choice" due to family, interpersonal, or psychological issues, face. Male versus female transitional difficulties and male versus female athletic identity studies should be done to determine if one gender is more prone to difficulties than the other. Finding out if underlying psychological issues have any bearing on an athlete's transition out of sport would be important to know since research has shown that female athletes have a higher tendency to suffer from depression and social anxiety. Research conducted to find out what college athletes perceive as issues they need help with during transition could lead to development of better programs for athletes. Research conducted on the efficacy of existing programs and athlete participation in programs could help NCAA, NAIA and/or individual collegiate athletic departments make improvements in programs and set guidelines specific to making sure athletes are aware of programs to help them with their retirement from an athletic career. The goal of any good coach is to see their athletes succeed and achieve their goals. The transition out of college into the "real world" is difficult and becomes even more so when a former athlete has to come to terms with the fact that life as they have known if for so long is completely different. Research has shown that transition into this new way of life can result in a multitude of social or psychological issues for the former athlete. Any difficult or transitional time in an individual's life requires acknowledgement, support, guidance, and encouragement for that person to succeed, and assisting someone through a difficult time may keep them from attempting to take their life. References
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