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The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport
The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport

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4 Coming out the other side: coping with retirement

If you think back to the athletic career transition model (Alfermann and Stambulova, 2007) that you were introduced to in Session 1, you may remember that having the right coping strategies in place can determine whether transitions are effective or ineffective. Below is an adapted version of this model which has had some additions to illustrate the different coping strategies and interventions that can be implemented to assist a successful transition.

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CANDICE LINGAM-WILLGOSS:
You can see in this adapted version of the athletic career transition model some examples of coping strategies and interventions that can facilitate a positive transition. You may also recognise that several of these have already been mentioned.
For example, earlier in the session you heard how Lauren coped with retirement best when she had a new focus. Barry talked about his use of goals, and Alex Scott had a very clear retirement plan. If you think back a little further to Session 3, Max utilised several interventions to help him manage transitions, such as counselling, cognitive restructuring, and getting a mentor to support him.
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Flow chart displaying different stages of the athletic career transition model. Some of the text has been faded – where this has occurred it has been noted in the description below.

The first box at the top of the flow chart reads ‘Transition demands’ (faded). An arrow from this points downwards to the next box that sits underneath. This box reads ‘Dynamic balance between transition resources and barriers’ (faded). Two dotted arrows point to these first two boxes from the right with text next to them that reads ‘Crisis-prevention interventions’ and a large pink arrow labelled ‘A’ (all faded).

Underneath the ‘Dynamic balance between transition resources and barriers’ box is an arrow pointing downwards to a box which reads ‘Coping’. From this box there are then two arrows pointing downwards. One arrow points to the box ‘Effective (*a successful transition)’ the other points to the box ‘Ineffective (*crisis transition)’.

Pointing towards the ‘Effective (*a successful transition)’ box is the text ‘Social support (Session 2) and Planning (Session 3).

A dotted arrow points towards the ‘Ineffective (*crisis transition)’ box from the left with the text ‘Psychological crisis-coping interventions’ alongside.

Immediately underneath the ‘Ineffective (*crisis transition)’ box is a box which reads ‘Need intervention’ – this has a box which reads ‘e.g. Setting goals, Professional support’ pointing towards it from the right.

Two arrows points off from the ‘Need intervention’ box. One points directly downwards to the box ‘Ineffective or no intervention’, the other point diagonally downwards to the box ‘Effective’. From the ‘Effective’ box there is then an arrow pointing upwards to the ‘Effective (*a successful transition)’ box.

An arrow points downwards from the ‘Ineffective or no intervention’ box to a box which reads ‘‘Costs’ for failures to cope with the transition’ (faded). A dotted arrow points towards this box from the left with the text ‘Dealing-with-consequences interventions’ alongside (faded).

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Activity 4 Coping strategies in practice

Timing: Allow about 20 minutes

Listen to this short interview with Alex Danson who talks a bit more about how she has coped with her retirement from hockey. As you listen to Alex speak, note down what coping strategies led to her having a positive retirement experience.

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ALEX DANSON:
So one of the most important things for me throughout my career was to always feel a sense of preparedness for when I did transition out, or when I did retire, or when I wasn't selected, or when I maybe had an injury and had to come out.
So one of the transitions that I did always thoroughly prepare myself for, more mentally probably than anything else, was deselection. And it was always something, from very early on in my career, I wanted to prepare myself for. So the way I did that was study because, you know, at the age of 16, I never dreamed for a million years that I would be playing-- I'd have an 18-year career.
So my plan was to become a teacher, so I did my degree. I always placed a really high importance on work experience. So don't get me wrong, my sport was always, you know, the thing at the forefront of my mind and that was where I put all of my energies. But I would always make sure I did my best to spend time in a workplace.
In 2018, one of my biggest honours was to lead the England team out at a home World Cup in London. It was incredible. The stadiums were full, it was a celebration of hockey, we were playing the best teams in the world. We had really high hopes, unfortunately that tournament didn't end where we wanted it to and we got knocked out in the quarter-finals.
But I had every intention of playing for another two years until the Tokyo games, perhaps leading out my team, if I was selected and still doing a good job. And then after that World Cup we had the opportunity to go away on holiday and it was a really fabulous, beautiful place.
But unfortunately, I had an accident while I was out there and I fell and hit the back of my head really very hard on a brick wall. And I came back from Kenya very, very unwell. And for the next six weeks I deteriorated and deteriorated. I could hardly walk at the beginning, I couldn't tolerate any light, any noise, couldn't hold a conversation-- I'd just be in a dark room for months and months.
So I went from leading my country out, to not being able to really process a normal day-- just to get through a day was an enormous challenge. I think my character was that I didn't want to leave hockey on those terms, I wanted to be able to try and make it back, try and come back for Tokyo.
And I gave it a go for a few weeks, but I knew I couldn't compete at that anymore, so I officially retired in February of this year. A lot of the feelings you have associated with transition and retirement, I think I had very early on in my head injury.
You know, the isolation, the losing your identity overnight, suddenly not being present when that first tournament happens, and you're not there. Somebody else is leading the team out. All of those things, which are incredibly difficult, I dealt with when I was really quite unwell.
A year and a half later when I essentially gave in my retirement notice, I'd already dealt with those and I was very grateful I'd lived my career in a manner, which meant I had no regrets.
I think one of the biggest challenges is, within sport, when you transition out of that game when you hadn't planned to. So whether it be through injury, through deselection, you're suddenly in a world that you don't want to be in because I want to be still there competing. And there are so many options but you have to make them for yourselves.
And some people are very, very lucky, they come out of an international career and there are options there, readily available. Some people come out of an international career and you have to create your own. Either way, you still have to think about, well, where do my skill sets best take me? What am I most interested in?
And I would encourage anybody, which I did do after I retired, would be to sit down and think about what your plan is within that first year of retirement, because it's a very, very strange place to be. You suddenly don't have the routine, you suddenly don't have that one purpose.
I think the one thing I've learned is that, when you retire out of elite sport people don't all go to the same job-- the variety is enormous. And that's what I mean around skill sets being very, very diverse.
I've got one of my dear friends, who retired a couple of years ago, is now an executive to coaching. I've got another friend that's teaching. I've got another friend that's running Airbnb and on a fishery on a farm. So there's lots of very different areas that people have gone into. There's also other athlete colleagues that have gone into the media or who have gone into journalism.
So it's about working out, I think, first and foremost, is the next journey or part of your life, do you still want it to be connected to your sport? And there's very, very specific areas in which you can stay involved. Whether it be coaching, whether it be journalism, whether it be governance.
Or do you want to do something completely afresh? And then if it is completely afresh, it's finding the right qualifications. But understanding you have the bedrock of those key skills and those values that will support you in your next journey.
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Discussion

Alex is an example of an athlete who was forced to retire while still potentially at the top of her game, due to a life-changing injury. However, having had significant success she also felt she had achieved a lot in her sport and was able to step away having lived her career with no regrets. What does become clear is the importance of planning and how being mentally prepared for life after sport allowed Alex to successfully navigate her retirement. She talks about having continued to study and gain additional work experience and always being aware that the career of an elite athlete can come to an end suddenly for a variety of reasons.

Although coping strategies and interventions can support an athlete through retirement, as you’ve seen so far in this session, an athlete’s experience of retirement is individual. In the final section of this session you will look at one example of an athlete who came out of retirement as she missed the sport too much.