Zak Cheney-Rice from Mic.com wrote an article titled Here’s What Happens to the 98% of College Athletes Who Don’t Go Pro. You can read his article here, but before you do, read just the quotes about student-athletes success quoted in the article that we have listed below.
“One of the reasons why it is so hard for athletes to transition out of their sport at all levels is because they have probably had a lot of success in that sport,” she says. “Maybe they have had more success in their sport than in any other area of their life. Therefore, they are defined by their sport success.”
“The more you devote yourself to something, like swimming, and the more sacrifices you make for it, the harder it is to let it go,” says Taylor Reynolds, another former Northwestern swimmer.
“I miss it so much,” says Jenny Wilson, a former swimmer at Northwestern University. “There is a huge void in my life.”
“Even when athletes are happy about moving on and starting the next phase of their life and excited about that possibility they’re also simultaneously experiencing the sense of loss,” Silby adds.
“Unfortunately, we don’t really talk about it very much or prepare athletes for it,” says sports psychologist Caroline Silby.
When you take that away, the very core of their importance … you take that away from their lives, they feel they become less of a person,” says sports psychologist Mark Anshell. “They’re less valued as an individual and it’s a real blow to their personality, to their self-esteem, to their sense of importance to the world.”
The two questions we are asking are:
- Can a commitment to service during an athlete’s 4-years in college help athletes transition out of competitive sports and fill the “void” that sports have had?
- How do help nurture self-worth that exists beyond athletic achievement?