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The purpose of this study was to explore the transition experiences of high-performance athletes. More specifically, this study investigated reasons for retirement from sport, individual coping strategies, support networks used by transitional athletes, and other variables that may have impacted on the athlete’s adjustment process. Retired high-performance athletes ( N = 199) with international competitive experience completed the Athlete Retirement Questionnaire, a 34-item instrument developed for this study. Analysis showed that those athletes who adjusted smoothly tended to retire after they achieved their sport related goals or because they had achieved their goals in sport. In addition, athletes who had a more difficult transition tended to feel incompetent outside of sport and to also feel that keeping busy was not an effective coping strategy. Practical implications are presented.
Sinclair et al. (Tue,) studied this question.