Navigating identity following release: Exploring former academy athletes’ identity redevelopment through university

This longitudinal qualitative study explored former academy athletes’ understanding of their experiences and sense of identity as they transitioned into and through university following release from professional English football and rugby academies. Sixteen undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews across two or three timepoints. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four overarching themes were developed: (a) early identity configuration and future orientation, (b) feeling lost and uncertain: post-release identity disruption, (c) identity navigation: searching for belonging at university, and (d) reconfiguring identity through university. Findings highlighted how identity development and future orientation were socially and contextually shaped and reinforced during academy life, and how release often prompted both personal and social identity disruption, as well as uncertainty about the future. However, university provided opportunities for identity continuity, expansion, and redefinition through engagement with new social groups, academic roles, and evolving relationships with sport. Over time, participants described developing more flexible and holistic identities.