After Your Athletic Career

Those of you who have previously played or are currently playing a sport, whether at the high school, college, or professional level, probably know that eventually it comes to an end. You may not be skilled enough to move onto the next level, or you may get hurt or retire on your own terms. I personally played baseball ever since I can remember, and finished my career playing division one baseball for four years at The State University of New York at Buffalo (aka SUNY Buffalo, aka UB). Following that I moved on to graduate school to study physical therapy, which I’m still doing. Towards the end of my baseball-playing days, I started diversifying my interests and hobbies. This way, I was able to avoid the pitfall of losing my athletic identity and not knowing what to do with myself when it was all over. 

              This loss of identity is something that I have seen occur to other players who have invested so much of themselves into the sport, and have not worked on other things outside of that bubble. When it comes time for their athletic careers to end, they do not know what to do because they cannot identify themselves with anything other than their sport. These people are always talked about in relation to the sport they play (Jonny the football player, Sally the soccer player, etc.) and do not associate themselves with other activities.

              Now you can argue that if you don’t give 100% to the sport, you definitely won’t make it to the professional level. While this may hold true, professional-level sports are only for the 1% of the 1%. Even for them, it has to end eventually. 

              Losing your athletic identity can be devastating for those who have nothing to fall back on. We’ve all run into the guy reliving the glory days of his past athletic career in high school or college. This brings me back to the point that you must have other hobbies and interests so you can take all that productive energy and determination to succeed and focus it on other paths. For me, it was physical therapy and training for powerlifting. I also believe that because strength and conditioning plays such a vital role in athletics, many athletes do end up continually competing in strength sports such and powerlifting and strong man, or endurance sports like marathon running and Ironman. Imagine all the possibilities you have, as a former athlete who has developed the skills and drive for excellence that can be carried over to other things in life. Sounds like you’d be pretty good at whatever else you set your mind to with that level of determination and drive. This is just something to consider as the end of your playing days draws nearer, as sad as it might be to think about. Set yourself up for future success by developing other talents that you can pour yourself into after your athletic career, whether they still revolve around the sport (without playing it), or are entirely different endeavors.   

Ryan Goodell, CSCS