The past few weeks have brought a flood of athlete retirement news. From New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu to Buffalo Bills linebacker Lorenzo Carter, athletes across the nation have decided to hang up their cleats for good.
Despite the glamorous lifestyle and big payday that comes with professional sports stardom, retiring can be a tough transition for many athletes. After years of shelling out thousands for elite coaching and equipment and sacrificing a regular paycheck, it can be difficult to adjust to life on the sidelines. A recent scoping review found that retired athletes who struggle to adapt can experience negative psychological states like depression and anxiety.
In order to avoid those negative psychological states, it’s important for athletes to plan ahead and surround themselves with a network of support services. Those networks should include family, friends and mentors. They should also include a therapist who can help them navigate the emotional side of retirement.
For many athletes, the hardest aspect of retiring is finding a sense of self-identity outside of their sport. This can be particularly challenging for young athletes who have spent their entire lives focused on their sport.
To help ease this shift, a number of athletes have found success in post-retirement careers. Several of them have taken on coaching, public speaking and philanthropy roles. Others, like swimmer Michael Phelps, have returned to competition as part of NBC’s Olympic coverage or as product endorsers. Some even found new athletic pursuits, like long-distance runner Laura Weightman or Croatian high jumper Ivana Vlasic.