Coping with Retirement: An Athlete's Step-by-Step Guide
- Dr Paul McCarthy
- 7 hours ago
- 8 min read
Did you know that coping with retirement is something most elite athletes face before turning 35? According to research, the average sports career rarely extends beyond 10 years, with most athletes retiring around age 34.
Unfortunately, this transition can be mentally challenging. Studies show that 46.4% of athletes experience mental health issues after retiring, including depression (27.2%) and anxiety (26%). Meanwhile, those who plan their retirement in advance demonstrate higher cognitive and emotional readiness for this major life change. In fact, athletes who strategically prepare for life after sports are not only better at coping with retirement depression but also tend to achieve greater success during their active careers.
We understand that coping with early retirement or coping with the stress of retirement can feel overwhelming. After all, the average elite athlete trains six hours daily, six days a week, leaving minimal time for exploring other interests or developing career plans. Additionally, research indicates that athletes with strong athletic identities typically face more severe psychological difficulties when transitioning out of sports.
In this guide, we'll share practical strategies for coping with retirement transition based on proven research. Whether you're contemplating retirement or have recently hung up your jersey, we'll help you navigate this challenging phase and transform your athletic skills into valuable assets for your next chapter.
Reflecting on Your Athletic Journey
Reflection marks the first step in successfully coping with retirement from sports. Taking time to examine your athletic experience helps create a foundation for your transition.
Did you get everything you wanted from your sport?
Self-reflection enables athletes to gain deeper insights into their performance beyond basic skills and tactics. This practice is crucial for both performance enhancement and personal satisfaction in sports. Start by asking yourself what you truly wanted to achieve through your athletic career. Was it championships, personal records, connections with teammates, or simply the joy of competition?
Many athletes struggle to understand why they feel certain emotions without proper self-reflection. Through developing internal self-awareness, you can recognize patterns in your performances linked to your mental states. Moreover, this awareness helps you identify whether you've achieved your core goals or if certain aspirations remain unfulfilled.
Lessons learned from competition and training
Sports teach valuable life lessons that become essential when coping with retirement transition. These lessons include:
Self-discipline and work ethic that spill over into every aspect of life
Mental toughness and resilience ("tough times don't last, but tough people do")
Time management skills from juggling training, academics, and personal life
Goal-setting abilities and working through adversity
The skills developed through athletic training provide a framework for handling retirement challenges. Consequently, recognizing these transferable skills helps reduce the stress of retirement by highlighting the valuable capabilities you've developed.
Understanding your emotional attachment to the game
The emotional connection to sports often stems from identity and community. For many athletes, sports represent more than just playing a game professionally—they embody personal values and life purpose. This attachment creates a powerful sense of belonging that makes retirement particularly challenging.
Understanding this emotional investment helps in coping with retirement depression. Despite the difficulties, acknowledging your attachment allows you to process the legitimate grief that comes with ending your competitive career. Similarly, recognizing that your passion for sports can transform into new pursuits provides hope for your transition journey.
Planning Ahead Before You Retire
Preparation serves as the cornerstone for successfully coping with retirement from sports. While reflection helps you understand your past, strategic planning shapes your future transition.
Start early with 'what if' scenarios
Proactive planning mirrors athletic training—the earlier you begin, the better your results. Research shows athletes who planned their retirement in advance demonstrated higher cognitive, emotional, and behavioral readiness compared to those with unplanned or forced retirements. Creating "what if" scenarios helps you mentally prepare for different retirement possibilities, including unexpected ones due to injury or deselection.
Furthermore, like Olympic athletes who prepare years in advance for competition, retirement planning requires breaking down long-term goals into smaller, more manageable milestones. Try creating a timeline framework divided into past, present, and future to visualize your transition journey.
Write a letter to your future self
This exercise connects your current identity with your future self beyond sports. Olympic runner Boris Berian wrote to his 80-year-old self: "I hope you haven't forgotten all of the mountains you had to climb to get there... I hope you still think about the struggle, too".
Writing such letters enables you to:
Reflect on your athletic accomplishments and challenges
Articulate values that transcend your sports career
Set intentions for your future identity
Create a personal touchstone to revisit during challenging transition moments
Explore interests and strengths outside of sport
Developing non-athletic interests creates a buffer against retirement depression. Athletes who decreased their athletic identity prominence and developed new focuses prior to retirement typically experienced smoother transitions. Hence, investing time in educational, social, and occupational interests outside sports is crucial.
Even world-class athletes can benefit from activities like photography, painting, volunteering, or cooking—pursuits that allow for self-expression through different mediums. Generally, these explorations naturally reveal transferable skills that can bridge the gap between athletic excellence and future endeavors.
Building a Support System for the Transition
Support proves crucial for athletes navigating the end of their sports career. Research shows that athletes experience more positive transitions whenever they feel understood by people who grasp what they're going through.
Who can you talk to for guidance?
Finding the right people to guide you through retirement transition makes all the difference. Studies indicate that peer mentorship works best before retirement and during the early transition journey. Ideally, connect with former athletes who retired 4-5 years ago, as they've gained enough perspective to share valuable insights.
Athletes often struggle to ask for support, though research confirms the benefits of developing connections outside sports. These relationships significantly impact your adjustment period and can help with transitioning into a new career.
The role of mentors, coaches, and family
Family members and partners play a vital role during transition, though they may experience their own challenges throughout this process. Initially, they primarily provide emotional support—"just being there," offering "a shoulder to cry on," and being available to "sit down and talk".
Mentors with athletic backgrounds understand your journey because they've faced similar challenges. Therefore, working with a mentor can boost your confidence and clarity while coping with retirement depression. Organizations like the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust train former athletes to become effective mentors.
Using professional resources and career programs
Numerous programs specifically assist athletes in transition:
Performance Lifestyle support from UKSI extends for up to two years after leaving a World Class Program
BEAA provides independent support for six months post-funding and maintains a lifelong digital community exclusively for athletes
Health Assured offers a confidential helpline with counseling services available 24/7 for up to two years
LAPS helps with career decisions, CV preparation, and connects you directly with employers seeking former athletes
Switch the Play provides mental health resources especially valuable as studies show more than half of former athletes report mental health concerns after retiring
Actually accessing these resources marks a significant step in successfully coping with retirement transition.
Redefining Identity and Finding New Purpose
Identity transition represents the greatest challenge for athletes coping with retirement. As sports commentators often note, "a sports star will die twice, the first time at retirement".
Coping with the loss of athletic identity
Athletic identity refers to how strongly you identify with your role as an athlete. Unfortunately, studies show that athletes with high athletic identity at retirement experience more emotional adjustment difficulties. Approximately 20% of athletes experience the transition out of sport as a crisis, with retirement triggering dramatic changes in personal, social, and occupational life.
Essentially, when your athletic career ends, you don't just lose your sport – you potentially
lose a core aspect of your personal identity.
Transferring your skills to new careers
Surprisingly, your athletic experience has equipped you with valuable workplace capabilities. Research by British Universities & Colleges Sport found that graduates who participated in sports at university earn on average 18% more than their non-sporting counterparts.
Transferable skills from athletics include:
Teamwork and leadership
Time management
Handling pressure
Commitment and resilience
Employers value these qualities because they demonstrate your ability to collaborate, lead, and persevere through challenges.
Creating a new routine and lifestyle
Creating a new daily routine—even a simple one—can restore stability. Studies show routines support mental health by reducing uncertainty. Consider developing a structured schedule that includes:
Regular physical activity
Social connections
Purpose-driven activities
In time, as you construct a new routine, you'll adjust to "living in the next" and build confidence in your new direction.
Coping with retirement depression and stress
Research reveals that 46.4% of athletes experience mental health issues during retirement, including depression (27.2%), anxiety/depression (26%), and eating disorders (22.8%). These challenges often stem from identity foreclosure—where the athletic identity takes over without allowing other identities to develop.
To manage retirement stress, consider participating in team sports to recreate companionship and commitment to shared goals. Of course, volunteer work also improves mood and puts life into perspective. Professional support through therapy, especially with someone specializing in sports psychology, can help you process the emotional aspects of retirement.
Conclusion
Embracing Your Next Chapter
Retirement from sports undoubtedly represents one of the most significant transitions in an athlete's life. Throughout this guide, we've explored the mental, emotional, and practical aspects of this journey.
First and foremost, remember that your athletic career has equipped you with exceptional skills that extend far beyond the playing field. The discipline, resilience, and dedication you've demonstrated as an athlete will certainly serve you well in your post-sports endeavors.
Athletes who strategically prepare for retirement generally experience smoother transitions. Therefore, start planning early, explore interests outside sports, and gradually build your identity beyond athletics. This preparation acts as a buffer against the emotional challenges that often accompany retirement.
Additionally, never underestimate the power of your support network during this transition. Former athletes, mentors, family members, and professional resources exist specifically to help you navigate this path. Reaching out for support demonstrates strength, not weakness.
Although nearly half of retired athletes experience mental health challenges, understanding this reality helps normalize these feelings. Consequently, creating new routines, finding meaningful activities, and possibly working with a sports psychologist can significantly ease the adjustment process.
At its core, athletic retirement isn't merely an ending but rather a transformation. The same qualities that made you successful in sports—determination, adaptability, and performance under pressure—will undoubtedly help you thrive in your next chapter. After all, you've already proven your ability to overcome challenges throughout your sporting career.
The journey ahead may seem daunting at first, but with reflection, planning, support, and purpose, you can successfully transition from athlete to whatever you choose to become next. Your greatest victories might still lie ahead.
FAQs
Q1. What challenges do athletes typically face after retirement? Many athletes experience significant mental and emotional challenges after retiring from sports. About 46% face mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. The loss of athletic identity and the need to establish a new routine and purpose in life can be particularly difficult.
Q2. How can athletes prepare for retirement while still competing? Athletes can prepare for retirement by exploring interests outside of sports, developing new skills, and gradually building an identity beyond athletics. It's also beneficial to start planning early, create "what if" scenarios, and connect with mentors or former athletes who have successfully transitioned out of sports.
Q3. What resources are available to help athletes transition into retirement? There are several programs and resources available to assist retiring athletes. These include Performance Lifestyle support, BEAA (British Elite Athletes Association), counseling services, career transition programs like LAPS, and organizations like Switch the Play that provide mental health resources specifically for former athletes.
Q4. How can retired athletes cope with the loss of their athletic identity? Coping with the loss of athletic identity involves gradually redefining oneself beyond sports. This can include transferring skills to new careers, creating new routines and lifestyles, participating in team sports or volunteer work, and seeking professional support through therapy or sports psychology if needed.
Q5. What are some transferable skills that athletes can use in their post-sports careers? Athletes possess many valuable skills that transfer well to other careers, including teamwork, leadership, time management, ability to handle pressure, commitment, and resilience. These qualities are highly valued by employers and can give former athletes an advantage in the job market.
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