Life After Sports: Rebuilding Your Identity
Happy New Year! We are kicking off 2025 by starting a new series on life after sports this month.
Recently, I was on a podcast with my long-time friend, Dave Carroll, In the podcast, we talked about a lot of things from faith to family, but one of the interesting topics that we brought up was life after sports. To this day, my last collegiate game still stings. I went on to talk about how I lost my last game by a buzzer-beater and was totally crushed. I have vivid memories of the next few days for me. I took the next day off. It was like mourning for me. The death of a long career. The day after, I went to the university rec center with the intention of lifting weights. I had no idea how to live a “civilian” life but exercising felt like the right thing to do. The weights at the gym were upstairs. I walked upstairs and suddenly realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I was so accustomed to having a weight program written out for me. I turned around and walked out of the gym.
This was the first in a long series of moments in my life over the next few years of getting adjusted to life without sports. Transitioning from my entire life revolving around sports to having nothing in replacement was one of the toughest things I had to go through.
The Challenge of Transition
Sports often provide comfort in more ways than on the playing field. It gives athletes structure and routine. When I was in college, practically my entire day was scheduled out for me. Ironically, my life had been this structured from the time I started playing competitively. This creates a huge void in the life of athletes.
Previously, I discussed the topic of athletic identity foreclosure. Most of what we discussed in that post is that foreclosure happens because of an over-identification with sports. The tendency with this, however, is to believe that those who struggle with foreclosure become this way because of an obsession with their sport. I would argue that a re-identification process happens regardless of how tied an athlete is to their sport.
Steps to Rebuild Your Identity
So if a re-identification happens because of so much time working on the craft of one sport, how can athletes begin this process?
Reflect on Your Journey
Using myself as an example, there is some part of me that will always identify as an athlete. I’ve come to accept that. It was such a major part of my life and helped mold me into the person I am today. However, I can realize that despite all of the achievements and recognition athletics is not all-encompassing to who I am. The skills that I learned in sports can help me beyond the playing field.
Explore New Passions and Interest
This would be a perfect time to try new hobbies or to volunteer. When I finished my playing career, I immersed myself in helping with the children’s ministry at my church. It was completely different from the intensity of playing televised games and having thousands of fans screaming down on you and frankly, I needed that. I needed a change in pace. Helping in this avenue helped to lead me to coaching and finding other hobbies that I’ve grown to love such as endurance sports. These are all very helpful in the transition phase for athletes.
Build a Support System
Surround yourself with mentors, peers, and family. This is a tough time. There really is no other way about it. The higher the competition level that you go, typically, the more difficult the adjustment to life after sports is. Having someone to talk to and help navigate this time with you is crucial.
Wrapping Up
Transitioning out of sports can be a daunting journey but while it is the end of one journey, it is the start of an exciting new one. Finding new hobbies, and having a community to support you during this time will ease a lot of the troubles that one might typically run into.
In Case You Missed It
Right before Christmas, I announced that I am starting a new business. You can check out all that I am offering here. The purpose is the help athletes, parents, and coaches with their identity outside of sport and aid with life after sport. Be on the lookout for more resources that will be offered in the future that deal with this topic.
I would love to connect with you! Please reach out and let me know what you think about these topics. Thank you so much for your support!