Key result
Higher levels of engagement in pre-retirement planning were positively associated with team selection (p=0.008), team tenure (p<0.01), and career tenure (p<0.01) among professional rugby players.
Why the study?
Retirement can be a major loss for professional athletes, yet many resist career transition planning programs; whether planning for retirement can improve sporting performance was unknown.
Observational (n=632)
Yes
Effect estimate: R2 = 0.19 for team selection, R2 = 0.23 for team tenure, R2 = 0.27 for career tenure
p-value: p=<0.01
May support career planning interventions in elite athletes; leaves open causality and generalizability pending prospective confirmation.
Retirement from sport has the potential to be a major loss for professional athletes. Yet, many athletes resist engaging in career transition planning programs prior to their retirement. This research note reports the findings from an investigation on whether planning for an inevitable resource loss event (i.e., retirement from professional sport) can accrue gains (i.e., sporting performance). Data for this study was sourced from the National Rugby League, a top-level men’s professional sports league in Australasia, and included 28,516 performance selection observations for 632 players over three seasons. The findings demonstrated that higher levels of engagement in preretirement planning were positively associated with team selection, team tenure, and career tenure. Preretirement planning was also found to exert its effect on performance through the experience of career transition practitioners and the number of intervention support sessions the athletes participated in. Results are discussed in relation to conservation of resources and cognitive dissonance theories.
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David Lavallee (2018) conducted an observational in Professional rugby players (n=632). Engagement in pre-retirement planning vs. Lower levels of engagement was evaluated on Sporting performance (team selection, team tenure, and career tenure) (R2 = 0.19 for team selection, R2 = 0.23 for team tenure, R2 = 0.27 for career tenure, p=<0.01). Higher levels of engagement in pre-retirement planning were positively associated with team selection (p=0.008), team tenure (p<0.01), and career tenure (p<0.01) among professional rugby players.
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