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

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6 Bringing it all together

As you near the end of this course, this section provides an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned about career transitions in sport, and what you can do to support athletes (or yourself) prepare for and successfully navigate the transitions they will face.

Activity 6 Reflecting on career transitions in sport

Timing: Allow about 15 minutes

Watch the video below in which Candice Lingam-Willgoss and Caroline Heaney, the authors of this course who you first met in Session 1 Activity 1, reflect on how the content of the course has impacted on them in various different roles, for example as an athlete, a coach or as a parent.

Then, using the following questions as prompts, reflect on what you have learned in this course and how it will affect your future practice in your role as an athlete or someone supporting an athlete.

  1. Will your interactions with others – for example, fellow athletes, athletes you coach, your children − change as a result of studying this course? If so, in what way?
  2. What actions might you now take to help prevent crisis transitions either in your own career or that of the athletes you support?
  3. What actions might you take to help prepare yourself or the athletes you support for both normative and non-normative transitions?
  4. What are the key lessons you have learned about career transitions in sport?
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Transcript: Video 6

BEN OAKLEY:
So here we are at the end of the course, and I know from personal experience that writing these courses brings about all sorts of thoughts and feelings. So Caroline, starting with you, what did you learn from writing this?
CAROLINE HEANEY:
I think it was really useful in that it made us reflect on our interactions with athletes including our own children, in fact.
BEN OAKLEY:
So you talked about interactions with athletes. Tell us a bit more what you mean by that.
CAROLINE HEANEY:
I think it's just about thinking how athletes feel when they go through certain transitions. So for example, as a sports psychologist, I currently do a lot of work with injured athletes. And it's kind of made me or reminded me about how difficult those transitions can be, whether that's a minor injury or a major injury. That can have a really significant impact on how that person is feeling and every aspect of their life, not just their sport. So it's kind of reminded me of that type of thing.
BEN OAKLEY:
And presumably, that interest has come from you being injured at some stage and thinking about the psychological aspects of it?
CAROLINE HEANEY:
Yes, so I've had a few injuries during my career. And that kind of sparked my interest in that area. And it's an area that I did a PhD in, and I've done research in, because I'm interested in it. And I see it around me as an athlete, as the coach, and as a sports psychologist. It's a really massive transition for a lot of people.
BEN OAKLEY:
OK, what about the more general, the journey, the highs and the lows, all the way through your career, how do you reflect on those?
CAROLINE HEANEY:
I think just by writing this course, it's just reminded me about all of those highs and lows, and going back and thinking about those transitions I've been through, and kind of the periods where I was injured and how bad I felt during those periods. And when you move to a new club, and you do higher level competition, and it's really good and you run PBs, because you're getting those opportunities, it's kind of looking at all those different things. And I kind of reflected on the people that helped with that.
So at all stages of my career, when things went well or when things were going difficult, and I had to get through those things, it was the people around me, so coaches that were supporting me, my family supported me talking to other athletes who've been through the same thing, and kind of that planning aspect as well. And I think when it came to my retirement, I did have quite a well-planned out retirement. I had a phased retirement, where I retired from hurdling first, did a bit flat running, and then properly retired. So it was a softer landing in the end.
BEN OAKLEY:
OK, you're practicing what you preach then?
CAROLINE HEANEY:
Trying.
BEN OAKLEY:
OK, so Candice, you had a quite short intense career. Tell us about the end of your career and that big movement from there.
CANDICE LINGAM-WILLGOSS:
Yeah, I think that's been something that I've really reflected on through writing this course. Obviously, Caroline and I chatted a lot about our own sporting experiences while we put this course together. And for me, I didn't really understand, even though this is my area of interest, I didn't really realise why I felt how I did when I left my sport. I think in my head, at 17, I didn't view it as a retirement. Because that was a term I wouldn't have connected to something at that age.
I just thought I'm stopping skiing. And I felt really rubbish, to be honest. I suddenly wasn't at school Candice, the skier. I suddenly wasn't the person being written about in the local paper. And all of these things-- and I only now actually in a chat with Caroline about things that I suddenly realised that was my identity I'd lost. And I had no support with that. I had no one-- I left the skiing performance set up, didn't stay in touch with anybody. No one at school really could support me. The teachers they didn't really understand what I'd been doing. And I lost a whole sense of who I was. And that was really hard. And only now do I understand why I felt like that.
BEN OAKLEY:
OK, and so what other sort of big reflections do you have, since then?
CANDICE LINGAM-WILLGOSS:
I think, for me, it will definitely be the way I support my daughter with her sporting choices. So she is involved in competitive sport at a reasonable level. She's 13. But I'm quite realistic that when you are involved in high performance sport at quite a young age, it doesn't mean you're going to make it. And there will be lots of bumps along the road. And I hope that through my experience as an athlete, through studying things, through writing this course, that I'm kind of equipped to support her, and not make decisions for her, but listen to her thoughts and feelings on decisions that she makes so that she has a positive sporting journey.
BEN OAKLEY:
Great, well, thank you so much for putting the course together. I've had a read through it. I really enjoyed it. Obviously, I'm biased, and I hope you had a good time.
CANDICE LINGAM-WILLGOSS:
[LAUGHS]
BEN OAKLEY:
Thank you.
End transcript: Video 6
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Discussion

Candice and Caroline reflected on how the content of the course had influenced the way they interact with their own children and other athletes as they progress through various transitions both ‘within career’ and ‘post career’ (retirement and life after sport). For example, Candice reflected that writing the course has encouraged her to think more about supporting her daughter through career transitions in sport as she gets older. In her role as a sport psychologist, Caroline reflected on her work with injured athletes and the importance of having an awareness of the psychological impact of this difficult unexpected transition.

Reflecting like this is a useful way to consider how what you have learned in this course can be applied to your everyday life. Hopefully, the course has led you to consider the psychological challenges and opportunities of career transitions and the importance of preparation.

You may have reflected on how you can integrate more sport psychology into own your role in career transitions (e.g. coach, instructor, athlete, parent). You may also have reflected on how you can encourage athletes to think about the future and develop their identity outside sport.