Once the cheering stops: The life of a retired pro-athlete

     They are seen everywhere - TV, billboards, and magazines - "they" are professional athletes and contrary to the dream life they live as the media portrays, several athletes face an identity crisis upon leaving their sport. This identity crisis is triggered because athletes must face reality when their time at the top is over and unfortunately, "immaturity, dubious investments, profligate spending, poor financial planning and shotgun marriages," all play a role in a retired athlete's struggle to find a new normal (Wallis, 2012, p. 2). Due to the expendability of players, their careers are generally over before they anticipate and with little plan for the future. Filing for bankruptcy is becoming increasingly popular trend for retired athletes and one study found, "78% of NFL retirees have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress  within two years of their career ending because of joblessness or divorce" (Platt, 2014, 118). Another problem is the increasing number of ex-player suicides. Within a three year span, between 2010-2012, 12 ex-pros committed suicide for reasons that some attribute to excessive head injury resulting in emotional trauma and suicidal tendencies, especially when coupled with social and psychological factors (Tinley, 2012, 2). Those "social" and "psychological" factors are the result of facing the "real" world following a sports career and although cases of suicide are still uncommon enough to shock the public when they occur, the number of former pros dealing with similar issues is endless. In order to understand how athletes struggle with retirement, it is important to look at the power and place sports hold in American society (Tinley, 2012, 1). The American public places professional athletes on one of the highest social pedestals and when a younger, faster, and better athlete comes up, the initially described athletes are forced off that high ground and are sent crashing down to a reality they have never faced. 

     After committing to a time intensive routine of practice, weights, competition and rehabilitation at a young age, most athletes tend to find developing a daily routine after retirement difficult because their schedule is not outlined in detail, leaving them with more time on their hands than they have had at any point of their adulthood (Chadiha, 2012, 4). This is an issue that I have considered at times during my collegiate career because it is hard to imagine a life, or even a week, where my life is not dictated by practice schedules and team meetings. However, due to the student aspect of my student-athlete title, I am creating a plan for my post-graduate life with the hopes that I do not find myself with the problem of too much time on my hands. Another challenge athletes face as they transition from their professional lives to their retired lives is the way they have been "hard-wired;" focusing on one task, dismissing distractions, and quickly forgetting about costly mistakes are all critical components in a competitive athletes game (Chadiha, 2012, 3). However, those characteristics do not generally translate well into the business world where individuals must know how to multi-task, draw information from multiple sources, and make adjustments to past mistakes. Athletes must also adapt how they act and react to certain social situations, which can prove problematic because they were worshiped by the American public for a large portion of their lives (Barker, 2014, 261). I had not thought of this problem as part of the difficulty in transitioning, however I understand why it is common for former players because successful athletes tend to have big egos. 

     Because the majority of these superstar athletes come into a ridiculous amount of money at a young age, they are unaware how to take care of this money and blow it on materialistic items. This problem is amplified when they unknowingly put their earnings in the hands of dirty agents and entrepreneurs who end up stealing or losing the athletes massive amounts of money because they do not know who they can and cannot trust (30 for 30, 2012). It seems unfathomable to me how people can burn through millions of dollars in the blink of an eye, but due to the competitive nature of athletes to be the best and have the best, it seems to make more sense and it is obviously possible. Here, sports are a microcosm of society as players being to make more money than they have ever had before, they tend to spend it to have what is perceived as a better life, and that ultimately ends in their loss and social ruination (30 for 30, 2012). That parallel is easier for me to swallow and it is definitely a concern of mine as I head into self-supporting adulthood and through my education, future career, and proactivity, I plan to avoid that route at all costs. 

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Reference List

30 for 30. Dir. Billy Corben. Perf. Homer Bush & others. ESPN, 2012. Film.

Barker, D., Barker-Ruchti, N., Rynne, S., & Lee, J. (2014). Moving out of Sports: A Sociocultural        Examination of Olympic Career Transitions.International Journal Of Sports Science & Coaching, 9(2), 255-270.

Chadiha, Jeff. (2012). Life after the NFL is a struggle for many former players. ESPN. p. 1-7.

Platt, L. (2014). Life after the game. Sports Illustrated, 121(1), 116-122. 

Tinley, Scott. (2012). Why did Junior Seau kill himself? Exploring athletes and depression. Sports Illustrated. p. 1-3.

Wallis, D. (2012). Help for Pro Athletes When the Cheering Stops. The New York Times. p. 1-5.