Transition Experiences of Former Collegiate Women’s Soccer Athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v14i2.14523Keywords:
college sport, intercollegiate athletics, retirement, transition, women's sportAbstract
Athlete transition from American collegiate sport participation, to non-sport careers or professional sport, has been a topic of contemporary sport science research but it is still not well understood, especially in female athlete populations. Informed by extant transition theory, the current study purpose was to describe the transition experiences of former women’s collegiate soccer athletes, including both positive and negative contributing factors. Using a deductive conceptual content analysis, results showcase both positive (i.e., social support, career goals, recreational sport play) and negative (i.e., lack of a team/support, lack of soccer/competition, lack of direction) contributors to the post-collegiate sport transition for female soccer athletes sampled. The importance of athletic identity and potential transition resources were identified. Specifically, participants endorsed career guidance, physical activity/exercise, mentorship programming, and mental health resources as potentially helpful to future athletes. Study findings expanded upon relevant transition theory and former female athlete research. Our study results may inform future research and program development efforts aimed at former female collegiate athletes from soccer and other sports.
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References
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Wiese-Bjornstal, D. M. (2009). Sport injury and college athlete health across the lifespan. Journal of Intercollegiate Sports, 2, 64-80.
Wylleman, P., Alfermann, D., & Lavallee, D. (2004). Career transitions in sport: European perspectives. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 7-20.
Arvinen-Barrow, M., Grave, K., Pack, S., & Hemmings, B. (2019). Transitioning out of professional sport: The psychosocial impact of career-ending non-musculoskeletal injuries among male cricketers from England and Wales. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 13, 629-644.
Berg, B. K., Warner, S., & Das, B. M. (2015). What about sport? A public health perspective on leisure-time physical activity. Sport Management Review, 18, 20-31. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2014.09.005
Brewer, B. W., Van Raalte, J. L., & Linder, D. E. (1993). Athletic identity: Hercules’ muscles or Achilles heel? International Journal of Sport Psychology, 24, 237-254.
Brooks, K. A., Potter, A. W., Carter, J. G., & Leal, E. (2014). Risk of chronic disease and disability in former competitive collegiate athletes. Int J Phys Med Rehabil, 2, 2.
Chang, C. J., Putukian, M., Aerni, G., Diamond, A. B., Hong, E. S., Ingram, Y. M. Reardon, C. L., & Wolanin, A. T. (2020, published online ahead of print). American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement: Mental health issues and psychological factors in athletes: Detection, management, effect on performance, and prevention – Executive summary. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.
Coakley, J. (1992). Burnout among adolescent athletes: A personal failure or social problem? Sociology of Sport Journal, 9, 271-285.
Dick, R., Putukian, M., Agel, J., Evans, T. A., & Marshall, S. W. (2007). Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate women’s soccer injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System, 1988-1989 through 2002-2003. Journal of Athletic Training, 42, 278-285.
Elo, S. & Kyngӓs, H. (2007). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62, 107-115.
Erpič, S. C., Wylleman, P., & Zupančič, M. (2004). The effect of athletic and non-athletic factors on the sports career termination process. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 45-59.
Fuller, R. D. (2014). Transition experiences out of intercollegiate athletics: A meta-synthesis. The Qualitative Report, 19, 1-15.
Giannone, Z. A., Haney, C. J., Kealy, D., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2017). Athletic identity and psychiatric symptoms following retirement from varsity sports. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 63, 598-601.
Guskiewicz, K. M., Weaver, N. L., Padua, D. A., & Garrett, W. E. (2000). Epidemiology of concussion in collegiate and high school football players. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 28, 643-650.
Guskiewicz, K. M., Marshall, S. W., Bailes, J., McCrea, M., Harding, Jr. H. P., Matthews, A., Register-Mihalik, J., & Cantu, R. (2007). Recurrent concussion and risk of depression in retired professional football players. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 39, 903-909.
Grygorowicz, M., Michalowska, M., Jurga, P., Piontek, T., Jakubowska, H., & Kotwicki, T. (2019). Thirty percent of female footballers terminate their career due to injury: A retrospective study among Polish former players. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 28, 109-114.
Harry, M., Weight, E. In Press. Post-collegiate athlete transitions and the influence of a coach. Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education.
Houston, M. N., Hoch, M. C., & Hoch, J. M. (2016). Health-Related Quality of Life in athletes: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Athletic Training, 51, 442-453.
Huang, J. H., Jacobs, D. F., Derevensky, J. L., Gupta, R., & Paskus, T. S. (2007). Gambling and health risk behaviors among US college collegiate athletes: Findings from a national study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40, 390-397.
Irick, E. (2017). Collegiate athlete participation: 1981-82-2016-17. Retrieved from NCAA website: https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2016-17NCAA-0472_ParticRatesReport-FINAL_20171120.pdf
Kerr, Z. Y., DeFreese, J. D., & Marshall, S. W. (2014). Current physical and mental health of former collegiate athletes. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2, 2325967114544107.
Kerr, Z. Y., Thomas, L. C., Simon, J. E., McCrea, M., & Guskiewicz, K. M. (2018). Association between history of multiple concussions and health outcomes among former college football players: 15-year follow-up from the NCAA concussion study (1999-2001). The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 46, 1733-1741.
Krippendorff, K. (1989). Content analysis. In E. Barnouw, G. Gerbner, W. Schramm, T. L. Worth, & L. Gross (Eds.), International encyclopedia of communication (Vol. 1, pp. 403-407). New York: NY: Oxford University Press.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA; 2020). NCAA demographics database. Retrieved from NCAA website: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/ncaa-demographics-database
Prien, A., Prinz, B., Dvořák, J., & Junge, A. (2017). Health problems in former elite female football players: Prevalence and risk factors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 27, 1404-1410.
Prinz, B., Dvořák, J., & Junge, A. (2016). Symptoms and risk factors of depression during and after the football career of elite female players. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 2:e000124. doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2016-000124
Reifsteck, E. J., & Davis Brooks, D. (2018). A transition program to help student-athletes move on to lifetime physical activity. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 9, 21-31. doi: 10.1080/21520704.2017.1303011
Reifsteck, E. J., Gill, D. L., & Labban, J. D. (2016). “Athletes” and “exercisers”: Understanding identity, motivation, and physical activity participation in former collegiate athletes. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 5, 25-38.
Rubin, L. M., & Lough, N. L. (2015). Perspectives of Title IX pioneers: Equity, equality and need. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 8, 109-130.
Simon, J. E., & Docherty, C. L. (2014). Current health-related quality of life is lower in former Division I collegiate athletes than in non–collegiate athletes. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 42, 423-429.
Snedden, T. R., Scerpella, J., Kliethermes, S. A., Norman, R. S., Blyholder, L., Sanfilippo, J., McGuine, T. A., & Heiderscheit, B. (2019). Sport and physical activity level impacts health-related quality of life among collegiate students. American Journal of Health Promotion, 33, 675-682.
Stambulova, N., Franck, A., & Weibull, F. (2012). Assessment of the transition from junior-to-senior sports in Swedish athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 10, 79-95.
Stryker, S., & Burke, P. J. (2000). The past, present, and future of identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 284-297,
Taylor, J., & Ogilvie, B. C. (1994). A conceptual model of adaptation to retirement among athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 6, 1-20.
Weight, E.A., Bonfiglio, A., DeFreese, J.D., Kerr, Z., & Osborne, B. (2018). Occupational measures of former NCAA athletes and traditional students. The International Journal of Sport Management, 19, 1-26.
Wiese-Bjornstal, D. M. (2009). Sport injury and college athlete health across the lifespan. Journal of Intercollegiate Sports, 2, 64-80.
Wylleman, P., Alfermann, D., & Lavallee, D. (2004). Career transitions in sport: European perspectives. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 7-20.
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2021-09-04
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Copyright (c) 2021 J.D. DeFreese, Erianne Weight, Jamie DeCicco, Aliza Nedimyer, Zachary Kerr, Kevin Carneiro, Jason Mihalik, Avinash Chandran
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How to Cite
DeFreese, J., Weight, E., DeCicco, J., Nedimyer, A., Kerr, Z., Carneiro, K., Mihalik, J., & Chandran, A. (2021). Transition Experiences of Former Collegiate Women’s Soccer Athletes. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v14i2.14523
