Mental Health Performance - How Sport Psychologists Help Athletes Decide When To Retire From Sports
About the Author
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & performance specialist. He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), PTSD, ADD / ADHD and achieve flow states through the techniques of Brainspotting & Neurofeedback. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Table Of Contents
Introduction: Athletes, Sport Psychologists & Trying To Decide When To Retire
Part I. How Sport Psychologists And Sports Professionals Should Explain Athlete Retirement
Part II. Specific Considerations Athletes, Coaches & Sport Psychologists Should Factor Into Retirement
Part III. Strategies Athletes Can Use To Smooth Out The Retirement Process
Introduction: Athletes, Sport Psychologists & Trying To Decide When To Retire
When athletes are training and competing in sports, one of the last things that they are thinking about is when they will finally retire. This is understandable as it is important to stay in the moment and focus on what is immediately in front of you as a performer. However, many sport psychologists do no favors for the athletes they work with when they do not have conversations about retirement from sport. Furthermore, there are many instances where not only does the sport psychologist recognize that an athlete should retire, but the athlete wonders this as well.
Because this is such a common issue that I believe adversely affects many athlete’s mental health outcomes, I wanted to use this issue of the Training Report to discuss athlete retirement. First, we will explore what athlete retirement actually is, next we will review what types of considerations athletes should factor into their retirement decision. Finally, I will review strategies that athletes can use to make the retirement process as smooth as possible. With that being said, let’s first begin by reviewing what athlete retirement actually is.
Part I. How Sport Psychologists And Sports Professionals Should Explain Athlete Retirement
Defining athlete retirement may seem obvious and simple, but there are some complexities that must be factored into understanding this term. Based on my professional experience, I believe that athlete retirement can be defined as when an athlete decides to permanently leave their sport from both a competition and training level. There are usually two scenarios where this happens: the first scenario is when an athlete experiences a, abrupt, violent, severe injury that permanently prevents athletes from competing, and the second is a gradual process where over a long course of time the athlete voluntarily decides to exit.
Sport psychologists and Certified Mental Performance Consultants (CMPC) have a crucial role to play in both these scenarios of athlete retirement, but they need to understand how vastly different these experiences will be. Athletes want to end their careers on with a story-book ending walking off into the sunset. Unfortunately, the odds strongly suggest that athletes will be forced into retirement due to experiences related to an abrupt medical issue that forces them out of the sport they love, and this experience will likely be violent in nature and traumatic for the athlete. The second scenario where there is a gradual exit will also be traumatic for the athlete, but this will most likely be a grinding experience for the athlete and their support system with elements of psychological burnout involved.
Part II. Specific Considerations Athletes, Coaches & Sport Psychologists Should Factor Into Retirement
For athletes in the second category that are deciding on a longer timeline if they should retire, there are some specific factors that they can turn to, in order to help them make that decision. One important factor when deciding on athlete retirement is what are the long-term health concerns that the athlete is facing down. Many athletes perform with a long history of injuries and may be able to perform at a high level, but they should also consider if the future injuries that they will incur will be worth the investment of their body. Sometimes all members of the athlete’s support system need to have honest conversations with them about the importance of their health compared to their love of the sport.
The next thing that athletes need to consider is how their mental health is being affected by their involvement in sport. Sports are often romanticized by the public at large, but many people do not understand the trauma that many athletes incur through their participation. As such, athletes need to factor in if their mental health would be improved by no longer having to deal with the sociological pressures (e.g. toxic fans sending threats to athletes over social media, abusive coaches, etc.), the financial pressures (e.g. pleasing sponsors), the body trauma that affects an athlete’s mental health (e.g. the chronic pain from injuries) or the constant psychological pressure of performing. If an athlete feels as if their mental health will only further deteriorate through performance, retirement may be an option.
Part III. Strategies Athletes Can Use To Smooth Out The Retirement Process
There are many different approaches that athletes can use to make this decision, but I wanted to provide 2 approaches that I have found helpful when working with this population. When making the conclusion that athlete retirement is necessary, athletes need to have additional passions or ‘missions’ that they can be involved in. Based on my experience, athletes need to engage with activities that require mastery and are completely unrelated to how they previously lived their life (e.g. playing an instrument, training their artistic talents, engaging in academic pursuits, or finding business ventures that excited them).
Another strategy that can help smooth out the athlete retirement process is by athletes engaging in therapy to process their time as a competitor. Athletes need to take the time to process and recognize all that they have been through, acknowledging both the good and bad aspects of their sport performance, and how leaving behind their sport can actually be quite a traumatic experience. Creating space to process the trauma of participation and exiting the sport will be critical for athletes that are trying to move forward with their lives. One of the best approaches to deal with the athlete retirement process is Brainspotting. The reason for this is because odds are, the retirement process will be traumatic and therefore will need a trauma-informed approach.
Note To Reader:
If you are an athlete reading this segment of the TRAINING REPORT, hopefully this content was helpful! I put the Training Report together because I felt like many of the discussions on issues such as the Yips/mental blocks, strength training & other subject matter on athlete performance concepts were really missing the mark on these ideas (e.g. how trauma is the direct cause of the Yips). If you are interested in learning more, make sure to subscribe below for when I put out new content on issues related to sport psychology & athlete performance! Also, if you are looking to work with a mental performance specialist, you are in the right place! USE THIS LINK to reach out to me to see if my services are the right fit for your goals!
ARE YOU ON THE LIST?
Make sure you’re signed up to Ben’s mailing list to receive news & updates on new strategies in sport psychology, upcoming workshops & products. Don’t wait, sign up now!
Check Out The Previous Training Reports!
