Finding Yourself After Sport
Transitioning out of sport can leave you questioning your identity & purpose.Leaving sport can cause you to question who you are outside of it. What will now give you purpose and meaning? And what is your identity now? Leaving sport can be a very difficult passage because of your identity as an athlete and sports have been part of your life since you were young. If the decision to leave sport was due to injury or when you did not get to have the choice yourself this transition can be especially hard. Sports psychology often focuses on helping athletes perform, but very rarely is time spent helping you figure out your next steps after the sport.
Transferable Skills
- You have obtained skills during sports that can be transferred outside of sport.
- Assets like hard work, resilience and teamwork are skills that are learned during sport and are valuable in the work force.
- Sometimes just becoming aware of the skills that you already possess from sport can help empower you as you plan to take your next steps.
Processing Your Transition
- Increase your understanding of the journey of transitioning out of sport.
- Increase understanding of your emotions during the transition.
- Building new resources for your tool box for coping with emotions.
- Increase time each day that you experience being grounded and calm.
- Transfer the resources created in therapy to other parts of your life.
Purpose & Meaning
- If you are feeling lost and confused with your current transition and want to create change, therapy can help light the path for change.
- Transitioning out of sport can feel like a loss.
- Finding who you are outside of the sport can be an important part of the journey.
- Exploring identity as more of who you are rather than what you do can be an important exercise.
Read: Life After Sport
A Published article by Kerbi McKnight Investigating Athletic Career Transition and Transferable Skills.
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