Development athletes’ career transition support programme: A case study

programme developed by the Irish Institute of Sport (IIS) and focusing on psychological intervention strategies. The individual quality of sport career transition process and its intimate relation with life skills, identity issues and pre-transition planning has been

established (Taylor & Ogilvie, 1994), as has the responsibility of national governing bodies (NGB) in assisting athletes in the career transition process (Fleuriel & Vincent, 2009). Investigating how such a programme was developed would better elucidate the attitudes of organisational staff towards assisting athletes with their career transition (Park et al., 2012). A case study was conducted on “the athlete retirement programme development of the IIS”.

The IIS was founded in 2006. Its aim is to support athletes and enhance their

performance, develop successful relationships between athletes and NGB and deliver diverse NGB services. It has also offered a lifestyle programme focusing on education, career

2008. In 2009, the IIS decided to establish an athlete retirement programme so that it invited 15 internal and external consultative programme development group members.

Table 2 presents the IIS interventions offered to athletes over their careers and indicates that participants perceived the need for psychological assistance to support the career transition process of athletes. As a result, the IIS established a three-stage action plan to aid the career transition of athletes linked to current programmes: pre-, immediate and post- retirement support (Park et al., 2012).

Table 2: Process and outcome matrix – Proactive and reactive support Pre-retirement Support Immediate retirement support Post-retirement support Development interventions

·Athletes’ overall life skills development ·Focusing on

performance agenda ·Long-term career and financial planning ·Time management Monitoring athletes’ motivation ·Considering individual differences ·Providing higher education opportunities ·Balance of life between athletic and non-athletic activities ·Developing athletes’ multiple identities ·Developing athletes’ social skills ·Identifying potential risk of post-sport life adjustment

·Keeping positive self- image (self-

esteem/self-worth) without their sport ·Building readiness for retirement ·Career coaching consultations ·Providing non- athletic career opportunities ·Post-sport career plans ·CV writing ·Interview skills ·Developing transferable skills ·Time management ·Keeping athletes’ sense of control in retirement decision- making ·Analysing psychological and emotional status ·Counselling sessions with psychologists ·Using athletes’ social support networks ·Mentoring ·Analysing psychological and emotional status ·Counselling sessions with psychologists ·Providing opportunities for giving back ·A career in sport- showcase career options in sport ·CV writing Interview skills ·Career plans

·Using athletes’ social support networks ·Athlete award ceremony Potential outcomes ·Sense of being supported ·Sense of competence ·Reducing concerns and worries of their future

·Sense of positive self- image ·Sense of being supported ·Feeling of control over retirement ·Reducing concerns and worries of their future

·Sense of goals and directions for their post-sport lives

·Sense of being supported

·Sense of competence ·Feeling of self-worth (through giving back activities)

·Sense of goals and directions for their future

Pre-retirement programme

The pre-retirement programme was designed for active athletes, aged over 25 years. Interventions at this stage emphasised the general development of athletes, including life skills development (long-term career planning), education support (employment potential), employment support (opportunities to access flexible employment) and athlete passport review (potential risks of post-sport life adjustment). The purpose of the intervention was to develop the overall life skills of athletes, increase their competence by engaging them in activities outside athletics and identifying an individual’s potential risks in adjustment following retirement.

The IIS attempted to approach athletes in the first stage of the intervention by

analysing their psychological status, monitoring and encouraging the involvement of athletes in the programme by means of one-on-one sessions in order to increase the self-esteem of athletes by identifying a positive self-image and their abilities. A programme development manager observed that IIS strategies should assist athletes develop their multiple identities as balanced individuals rather than only developing their athletic identities.

Another purpose of the pre-retirement programme was to demonstrate the potential risks athletes face adapting to life following retirement and anticipating links with the next stage, the immediate retirement programme (Park et al., 2012).

Immediate retirement programme

Intervention during this stage consists in: 1) career exit support (post-sport career plans), 2) group workshops with athletes with comparable concerns and 3) counselling sessions emphasising emotional and psychological responses to the career transition process. The purpose of this programme is to establish how ready athletes are to retire, and involves

vocational and psychological readiness to help athletes maintain their positive self-image without sports by having external interests.

Part of the intervention emphasises vocational support; vocational concerns are one of the primary sources of distress following retirement (Lotysz & Short, 2004). Vocational support is offered as follows: 1) career exit consultations (e.g. assessing athletes’ immediate needs), 2) career exit interviews (debriefing sessions between athletes and the IIS) and 3) career coaching consultations (e.g. identifying the career goals of athletes) (Park et al., 2012).

Support from the IIS and the social network of athletes are important intervention resources (Park et al., 2012). Service providers attempted to analyse and employ the social support networks of athletes. According to participants, potential positive psychological results arise, including a positive self-image, being supported and a feeling of control over the retirement decision-making.

Post-retirement programme

The purpose of this intervention is to assist already-retired athletes. The programme, called “the athlete reward programme”, focuses on post-athletic life. This intervention added other activities created for retired athletes, such as a mentorship training programme and an athlete award ceremony, to the immediate support programme.

In order to inspire retired athletes to become involved in “giving back their skills” to the next generation of Irish athletes, the IIS offered mentoring skills development

opportunities. The IIS considered holding the awards ceremony for retired athletes, to honour their contributions. Park et al. (2012) illustrated the advantages of such ceremonies in the pilot programme; they help retired athletes gain closure following retirement and move on to the next stage of their lives.

The IIS programme emphasised proactive and reactive support in the development of the interventions (Park et al., 2012). IIS staff tailored interventions to athletes in different stages and used the idea of “generativity” proposed by Erikson (1950) to offer an opportunity to retired athletes to give back to sport. Generativity in post-athletic life is associated with feelings of self-worth and involvement in productive activities (Lavallee, Park, & Tod, 2010). Although giving back can benefit both athletes and the IIS, programme providers and athletes should consider whether athletes are prepared for handling their new coaching or mentoring task (Park et al., 2012).

The Zeigarnik’s (1927) effect refers to the phenomenon whereby people are likely to recall uncompleted tasks (Park et al., 2012). If an individual has high desires for a task, his uncompleted task recall rate was much higher than that of those with relatively lower desires. Harvey, Orbuch and Weber (1990) suggest that this effect is closely associated with an

individual’s pursuit of mental closure on a particular event. According to Harvey et al. (1990), account-making (story-telling) processes might provide closure on uncompleted events and tasks, consistent with Grove et al. (1998).

Although there may be gaps and links between the needs and ambitions of athletes and organisational programmes, which can be furthered in future research, their study has shown the potential benefits of career transition programmes at the organisational level by

investigating the programme developed by IIS (Park et al., 2012). This supports the rationale for the current thesis, that there is a need for further research on organisational programmes that support sport career transition and address the discrepancies between what athletes need and what organisational programmes provide.