Routine, stability, and the life they have known is suddenly gone–not at 60 or 65 or 70, but at 25, 30, and 35. And no amount of money, fame, or achievements can protect an athlete from what is inevitable.
People tend to believe that retiring from athletic competition can’t be hard. After all, pro athletes have youth, fame, fortune, and health. How hard can it be? But nothing is that simple.
We all face challenges and retirement is one of those challenges. Transitioning from the world of work–with structure, requirements, and regularity–to a life with many choices and endless opportunities isn’t as easy as it seems. Indeed, retirement often accentuates issues that–up to that time–were lurking beneath the surface of everyday life. Sometimes, those issues explode to the surface.
When that happens, the first thing that burst out is aspects of personality that have remained under- or un-developed during an athlete’s competitive career. Think about it. From an early age, an athlete dedicates him/herself to a sport, to achieving excellence in the game they have pursued. That means there’s relatively little time to pursue other interests and to develop other parts of their personality.
But like a ticking time bomb, issues can emerge in retirement, filling the space vacated by abandoning the everyday focus that is competitive sports. Major questions need answers: Who am I? What do I do now? What am I good at besides my sport? Am I good at anything?
These are just some of the issues that athletes face after retirement. It can be a troublesome period and time of life. And, sadly, it’s an all-too-common experience.
But as with all challenges, there are solutions. From my experience, I believe that virtues and traits that made an athlete great can be called upon to transition a former athlete into a new chapter of their life. In other words, no matter how one-dimensional an athlete may be, there is more to the person than what he or she has been on the field of play.
Athletes have devoted themselves to being the best they can be. At issue is finding just the right domain in which they can apply that approach in new and fulfilling ways. It’s a matter of finding that domain. And the quicker that can happen, the fewer problems athletes will face. Conversely, the more time that passes, the more likely problems will crop up and add up.
At the core is establishing a new identity–to self and the public. Previously, identity took care of itself. Now, identity must be established. And while that seems as though it’s something easy to do, it’s not. All people transitioning from the world to retirement face the same challenge. It’s why so many older people put off–as long as they can–making that transition. Of course, they rarely say that publicly. But, for so many, deferring retirement as long as they can is a personal choice.
For many athletes, it’s different. ‘Shelf-life’ is not theirs to determine. No longer at the top of their game and no longer pursued as athletes, they are forced to give up their competitive sport. Very few can hang on. And, for some, their world collapses. Routine, stability, and the life they have known is suddenly gone–not at 60 or 65 or 70, but at 25, 30, and 35. And no amount of money, fame, or achievements can protect an athlete from what is inevitable.
There is an antidote, though–and it’s something they’ve done repeatedly throughout their lives in sports. It’s called preparation. Prepare for a life without sports.
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“As a former professional athlete of 18 seasons playing the sport of basketball, upon retirement I had to deal with the strange feeling that surely this wasn’t all there is to it. It should not be just about bouncing a ball and when the fat lady sings, it’s over like it never existed and you’re left floating in a vacuum. So, I understood that all sports, either professional or recreational, have the power to be carriers of consciousness and provide valuable lessons for living life in a higher mental state. One just has to know how to look deeper to find all these lessons. Following my retirement, I was wondering what my next chapter would be, a stage most athletes face during the transition. Suddenly, it hit me! Why not combine my two passions – coaching and psychology – and develop something useful? So, Athlete Legacy© was created as an Athlete Life Mentoring program to research and help spread what is hidden in the athletic mentality and its benefits and to help retired athletes by taking care of their psychological stability.” Milos Pavlicevic, founder, Athletelegacy.org.
