Sport has a profound effect on the lives and development of athletes. For the most part, it is accepted—if not assumed—that sport has a positive impact on athletes. Although sport is beneficial for the vast majority of participants, athletics can have detrimental effects on personal development. Career transitions, in particular, can be a source of problems for many athletes. Once athletes’ careers end, they must find new interests and develop a renewed sense of purpose and meaning—this can be very difficult. There are several reasons for difficult career transitions, such as: making one’s
identity (self-worth) dependent on competitive participation; fear of the unknown; perceiving a lack of control in one’s own life; and unhealthy changes in diet and exercise (Taylor & Ogilvie, 1998). As with most issues, the key is prevention and awareness. By respecting the problem, and acknowledging its antecedents, coaches and administrators can take steps to reduce the difficulties of post-competitive transition. Fortunately, dealing with the challenges of career transitions has auxiliary benefits for other aspects of personal and team development. These secondary benefits include: healthier, more motivated, happier, and focused players; greater
community and social support for the team, sport and individual; and greater alumni appreciation and support.

The Problem
In the United Sates, 48% of college athletes expect to compete professionally; only 2% of them will attain this goal (Kennedy & Dimick, 1987)! The problem is that many players often over-invest in their athletic careers—thereby stunting their development as healthy, well-rounded people. Sinclair and Orlick (1993) found that 33% of athletes had serious problems with at least one aspect of the post-career transition; 15% did not feel that they handled the transition well; and a disappointing 11% were not satisfied with their lives after sport. I do not know if these numbers are worse than the statistics for people that did not ever compete in sport, but that is not the issue. Many athletes experience a lower quality of life because of their involvement in sport. It is the responsibility of everyone in sport to help athletes to make the most of their post-athletic lives.

Sources of Problems
It is unlikely that every aspect of a player’s life will fall apart once his career is over. The reality is that there will be a great number of things that are not effected by the transition; while other aspects of their lives will have benefited from sport involvement. The idea is to make the most of one’s strengths, and manage one’s weaknesses. The first step is to understand why athletes have poor transitions. Once the causes of this problem are understood, we can consider prevention and coping issues.

Self-Concept. The most important issue with respect to the well-being of any athlete is that of self-concept, (i.e., “self-worth” and “identity”). Self-concept is the critical mediating factor in determining quality of life—especially with respect to career transitions. Generally speaking, it is healthiest to develop a balanced Global Self-Concept, which includes four domains: academic, social, emotional, and physical (Shavelson, Hubner, & Stanton, 1976). Self-concept is closely related to the development of self-worth, which has five categories: scholastic competence, social acceptance, behavioural conduct, athletic competence, and physical appearance (Harter, 1983, 1990). Having a broad, balanced identity is important because it promotes confidence, self-esteem, courage (to explore one’s limits and new experiences). A global self-concept has the same benefits of a diverse portfolio: it is a safety-net against adversity.

Football can restrict a person’s development by narrowing their experiences and perspective. Players may neglect academic, social, emotional or physical development while pursuing their goals in football (Gill, 2000). For example, an O-Lineman may evaluate his body positively (because his mass facilitated his efficacy), but when he stops playing, there is a dramatic potential for change in his self-concept. His body is no longer ‘ideal,’ it is ‘fat and intimidating to others.’ Although football promotes social development in some ways, social norms and rules in football circles are not completely
generalizable. The result may not only include a general deficiency in social skills, but also a degree of ignorance, or over-confidence that their football social behaviours are appropriate for all contexts. As is the case for every other domain of self-concept, emotional concept can be facilitated, or impeded, by involvement in sport. Football can teach a person to accept responsibility and to deal with adversity, or it can reinforce immaturity and dependence. Academic development can be harmed in a number of ways. One of the best examples is that players will perceive the challenges and the importance of football to be greater than their scholastic endeavours. As such, players may dedicate too many resources toward athletic development. Players must understand the value and importance of being well-rounded individuals. Coaches and sport administrators must promote these values and facilitate individual development off the field.

Fear & Insecurity. The termination of football careers at the high school and
university levels are usually accompanied by other life changes. The result can be an almost scary and chaotic instability. On the day of a football player’s last game, he moves from an extremely organized, predictable, well defined, and comfortable situation, to an uncertain future with new rules requiring new skill sets. The end of a player’s days on the field can also be emotional, and perhaps even incomplete and unfulfilling—which compounds the negative potential of the situation (Taylor & Ogilvie, 1998). Because the changes that a player experiences may be overwhelming—and often the causes of the termination are outside of the athlete’s control—a player is likely to perceive a lack of control in his own life. This perceived lack of control can be psychologically harmful. However, if a player anticipates and prepares for the transition, he will have a greater sense of control and self-worth.
Health Concerns. The short-term changes in physical training/exercise, nutrition balance, and body image can be extraordinary. Not only can these changes affect selfconcept, but there may also be chemical and behavioural changes (which intern have emotional and psychological effects). Behavioural changes to player’s routines create social and emotional voids, while increasing the amount of available free time; this can become a problem if that time is not used effectively (another reason to develop a global self-concept).

Tips for Coping & Prevention
The following recommendations have been assembled from Cowen (1983), Scanlan, Carpenter, Schmidt, Simons, & Keeler (1993), and Taylor & Ogilvie (1998):
· Create a mature environment that recognizes the inevitable transition that will occur.
· Promote involvement in other activities early on in a player’s career. These activities do not have to conflict with football, they can compliment football and personal development.
· Promote the development of a broad support system for each player, which
incorporates social, family, intellectual, educational, occupational, and spiritual endeavours.
· Give players access to information about academic counselling, career planning, financial management, and self-help resources etc…help your players to redirect the effort that they have invested in football into new aspects of their lives.
· Promote early planning (and personal development) that focuses on life after
football. Ex.) coaching, touch football, officiating, alumni support, or professional endeavours
· Maximize the positive potential within each person, while accepting that they must re-evaluate their sense of Self within a new context.
· Developing alumni organization allows players to give back to the team, while providing the retired players with a transitional support system that is invaluable. Keep in mind that football players (through high school and university ages) are strongly influenced by their coaches. As coaches, you have both the opportunity and the responsibility, to promote and facilitate the personal development of your players. Make sure that your players do not become psychologically, or socially, dependant on the team. Do not allow football to stunt the development of your players as whole persons.

Prevention is critical!

References
Cowen, R.L. (1983). Primary prevention in mental health: Past, present and future. In R. Felnes, I.
Jason, J. Moritsuqu, & S. Farber (Eds.), Preventive Psychology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 11-25). New York: Pergamon.
Gill, D.L. (2000). Psychological Dynamics of Sport and Exercise (2nd Ed.). Champaign IL: Human Kinetics.
Harter, (1983). Developmental perspectives on the self-esteem. In E.M Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology: Social and personality development (Vol. 4, pp.275-385). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Harter, (1990). Causes, correlates and the functional role of global self-worth: A life-span perspective.
In R.J. Sternberg & J. Kolligan (Eds.), Competence considered (pp. 67-97). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kennedy, S.R. & Dimick, K.M. (1987). Career maturity and professional sports expectations of college football and basketball players. Journal of College Student Personnel, 28, 293-297.
Scanlan, T.K., Carpenter, P.J., Schmidt, G.W., Simons, J.P., & Keeler, B. (1993). An introduction to the Sport Commitment Model. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 15, 1-15.
Shavelson, R.J., Hubner, J.J., & Stanton, G.C. (1976). Self-concept: Validation of construct interpretations. Review of Educational Research, 46, 407-441.
Sinclair, D.A. & Orlick, T. (1993). Positive transitions from high-performance sport. The Sport Psychologist, 7, 138-150.
Taylor, J. & Ogilvie, B. (1998). Career transitions among elite athletes: Is there life after sports? In J.M. Williams (Ed.), Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance (3rd Ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.