Perceptions of Former Collegiate Athletes on Career Transition Programs in the NCAA

Authors: Cameren Pryor¹ and Lindsay Ross-Stewart²

Keywords: career transition, qualitative research, sport psychology

College student athletes dedicate approximately 70 hours per week to athletic and academic demands (3). With less than two percent of National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) student athletes competing on the professional level (4), most student athletes will transition out of athletics when they graduate from university. This transition time led to increased feelings of grief, sadness, loss of motivation, and depressive symptoms for some athletes (1). To prevent these negative experiences, career transition researchers have encouraged athletic departments to implement psychoeducational programming that better prepares student athletes for the psychological, behavioral, and social outcomes of sport retirement (5). However, it has been found that there is a lack of consensus on when and what is being advised to student athletes about the transition process (2). Additionally, little research has investigated the overall effectiveness of NCAA collegiate career transitioning programs through the perceptions of student athletes.

A recent literature review of career transition research (6) found there were very few studies conducted in the United States concerning athletic transition, with the limited findings highlighting retirement planning, identity loss, coping skills and support systems as the core areas that have been investigated. They reiterated the importance of psychoeducational interventions; however, they acknowledged that more research is needed to better understand the transition process and how to effectively implement career transition programing.

Past research has also highlighted the findings that career transitions appear through social, developmental, and psychological factors (5) and the importance of starting career transition education at the earliest stages of sports participation. The importance of social support has been supported by the work of Adams et al. (7) who found participants experienced a more positive transition if they felt cared for by the people that they believed understood them and what they were going through. Thus, a sense of closeness and trust between the recipient and the person providing support appeared to be crucial for support during career transitions. Of importance was the finding that athletes perceived coaches to provide more social support than parents and teammates indicating coaches should be a central part of career transition programming. Cummins and O’Boyle (8) found that athletes perceived their universities as unable to support them during the transition process with support, career advice and information on the professional role and guidance from past student athletes. Thus, the lack of career control was shown by all participants. Cummins and O’Boyle (8) recommended implementing mentoring into university programs from former student athletes to current student athletes on the transition process and potential career opportunities.

Along with social support, one’s athletic identity has been highlighted as impacting an athlete’s experience with career transition. Specifically, the more an athlete identifies with their athletic role, the less likely they are to have a well-defined career plan (9) and therefore struggle during career transition. Furthering this finding, researchers found that athletic identity was positively correlated to retirement outcomes and negatively correlated with decreased self-esteem, feelings of uncontrollability and ‘vagueness’ about the future (10). It has also been shown that athletes who retired due to injury have greater adjustment difficulties (10). Furthermore, researchers found that the strength and exclusivity of the athletic role during sport participation increased an athlete’s potential vulnerability to psychiatric distress after leaving sport (11), and higher levels of emotional adjustment difficulties (12). In contrast to these negative connections to athletic identity, Cabrita et. al, (13) found that athletes with higher athletic identity have higher levels of career decision making self- efficacy. They suggested this may be due to the efficacy they gain from sport transferring to their career decision making efficacy. Further research is needed to better understand these potentially conflicting findings on the relationship between athletic identity and career transition.

Menke and Germany (14), identified consistent themes athletes identified when discussing their feelings and thoughts related to coping with transition out of sport including the positive of gains or strength of transferable skills as well as the negative experiences of a loss of identity, feelings of loss, sadness, anxiety, loss of motivation and depressive symptoms. It has been shown that global self-esteem and physical self-perceptions decreased during the transition out of elite sport (15). Additionally, it was found that retired athletes that experience difficulties with their bodies have decreased feelings of pride, satisfaction, happiness, and confidence regarding their physical selves. These experiences can contribute to stressful reactions to retiring out of sport. Of extra importance is the finding that sport individuals that experience bodily changes accompanied with high athletic identity can experience increased psychiatric distress and self-esteem issues when transitioning (15).

Taken together, the above information highlights the need for career transition programming and combining a plan for post-sport retirement with talking about the emotions experienced during the transition process. Past researchers have suggested that sport psychology practitioners and mental health professionals work with athletic teams to encourage the development of the student athlete by consistently speaking to them about career related topics and encouraging student athletes to explore and engage in expanding their interests outside of sport as well as supporting the use of health care resources for former high-level athletes (16).

During sport retirement, many athletes cognitively make the decision to grieve the loss of their sport by participating in healthy and unhealthy coping behaviors for extra support. Acceptance, account making, positive reinterpretation, planning, active coping, mental disengagement and seeking social support for emotional reasons are all strategies that have been reported (12). Account-making (the construction of a story about a traumatic event (i.e., it’s nature, what happened, how one feel’s about it, and what it means for the future; citation) and confiding (portions of one’s account, are revealed to others) has also been shown to be an effective tool as it helps athletes to understand their retirement experience, understand their emotions and to acknowledge an identity that is outside of sport.

Recent literature reviews have encouraged viewing transition from a lifespan perspective involving pre-career, post-career, and other domains of an athlete’s life (17), and preparing for retirement before it happens, creating a strong alliance with trust (client and counselor), exploring the emotions accompanied with the transition, interventions, and knowledge of transferable skills, addressing athlete’s overall competency of transferable skills, developing a support network, and evaluating the effectiveness of the athletes transitions out of sport and the effectiveness of counseling interventions. Based on the literature review, the researchers recommended that counselors may be effective in assisting athletes to plan for life after sport by helping them understand and realize that the skills they have acquired through sport can help them be successful in other areas of life (18).  

Furthering our understanding of best practice, researchers have recommended empathy and attentive listening need to be utilized to help athletes make sense of their experiences and it has been recommended that programming should look at the development of interventions from different psychological perspectives for athletes in transition (5). Overall, researchers suggest the need to examine the effectiveness of these models and devote attention to interventions from different psychological perspectives. Lastly, they highlight the finding that helping athletes become aware of the transferrable skills can help facilitate successful career planning. 

Researchers have continuously suggested the need for psychoeducational interventions that address the psychological, behavioral, social effects and the loss of athletic identity has on a sport individual when transitioning from sport and the need to start this programming early in an athlete’s college career (e.g., 5). Being that there is a lack of consensus on when and how to speak to athletes about career transition, and a lack of connection between research suggested guidelines and applied programming at the college level, further understanding of this area is needed. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate former NCAA athlete’s perceptions of current career transition programs in NCAA Athletic Departments. A secondary purpose was to investigate former collegiate athlete’s perceptions of their experience transitioning from sport and how these experiences affected their current lives.

Materials and Methods
Methods
Setting, Recruiting, Sampling, and Consent

            All participants were recruited via social media. Posts were made on both researchers’ Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages, as well as shared on their program social media sites. People were encouraged to share the posts with people they may have known who would be interested. Potential participants were instructed on how to reach the primary researcher if they were interested in participation. The primary researcher then spoke with each potential participant to make sure they were a former NCAA athlete who finished their career within the last five years but did not suffer a career ending injury or quit their college career (which were the exclusion criteria). Those that qualified were interviewed over zoom for this study. Zoom was chosen as it allowed for participants from across the United States and increased the accessibility of the study to participants. Prior to the interview the participants were sent the informed consent form and gave consent to participate. They then gave verbal consent on zoom while the session was being recorded. Participants were also given the opportunity to ask any clarification questions about the study they may have had after reading the informed consent.

 Participants

The participants of this study were six retired collegiate student athletes who previously competed in NCAA athletic programs and completed their athletic careers in the five years. The participants were two males and four females. Participants were represented from various sports consisting of basketball, track & field, softball, baseball, and golf. The athletes were from Division I (n=four), Division II (n=one), and Division III (n=one).

Data Collection Tools

Career Transition Interview

As there is a lack of set tools for assessing the psychological impact of career transition for college athletes, and to hear the voices of those who have experiences career transition, – semi structured, questions (some open and some closed based on need) were developed for this study. The goal was to allow the participants to reflect on their personal experiences with career transition programming at the universities they competed in and their overall transition experience. The important themes recognized in previous athletic career transition literature were used to develop questions for the interviews focused on their career transition program experience and their experiences post-tradition career. A specific focus was made to keep the questions neutral in language so as not to lead the participants in any direction. During the interviews, based on the participant’s comments, follow up questions were asked, and discussion was encouraged with the athlete to gain their views outside of the predetermined questions, as needed the closed questions were aimed at understanding the organization of any career transition programing they may have had during their athletic career (e.g., “Did your university have an athletic career transition program or workshop? And “How often did this program occur at your university?”) as well as understanding their demographics (e.g., “What is your age” “What sport did you play”).  year were you when you participated in this program?). To better understand their experiences and truly give the participants a chance to process their experiences in their own words, open-ended questions were used. Example questions included “What was your athletic career transition experience like?,” “How did transitioning from sport make you feel?” and “During your transition experience, what did you do/not do to cope?

Procedures

Data Analyses

 A six phase Reflexive thematic approach was used with the essentialist/realist method for qualitative data (19-22). This method is used to identify, analyze, and report patterns (themes) within a given data set. Additionally, it is used to describe and interpret the meaning and importance of the patterns (themes) found. The Essentialist/Realist method is used to report experiences, meanings, and the reality of participants (19), which was used to analyze the perceptions and personalized experiences from former collegiate athletes. Of importance for this approach is to acknowledge that we all perceive the environment and impact it through those perceptions. Therefore, giving as much room for the exact voice of the participants is needed to minimize the participants experiences being reported through the researcher’s lens alone. Therefore, this paper gives significant space to each participant’s voice, which is possible due to the sample size of six people. Utilizing the ‘top-down approach’ also known as deductive approach (23), this study analyzed semantic themes that are suggested within previous career transition literature to implement into athletic career transition programming for student athletes However, ideas that emerged that did not fit within current literature were also noted and coded to add to the already existing literature. In qualitative research, the researchers and coders must assess their biases and perceptions as it relates to the research topic. In this study, the data was coded by two coders, the primary researcher, a former collegiate athlete whose career ended two years before data analysis recognized that her own experiences were a potential bias to the study. Therefore, several methods of checking trustworthiness were used (See Trustworthiness section below). The second coder was not involved in the study at all and was not a former collegiate athlete, nor were they familiar with the literature in the area.

Following the guidelines of Braun and Clarke (19-23) both coders followed a six-step process. Prior to coding all interviews were electronically transcribed using zoom transcription services, and all transcriptions were checked for accuracy against the recorded interviews. To start the coding process both coders familiarized themselves with the data by reading all the transcripts. The coders then independently recorded points of interest in the transcripts as they began to generate the initial codes, making sure to code each piece of data available. Data could be an individual word (e.g., the answer “yes” to a closed question) or as long as a few sentences (e.g., “Even though I did not struggle a lot, I think it still would have been nice to have a transition program in those later years of college just to learn how to be an adult on your own without sports ruling your life”). Focusing on the context of a comment opposed to the length when deciding on a code was done in line with the recommendations of past researchers (e.g., 20). Next, coders began to develop themes with past research in career transition in mind. Again, this deductive approach did not mean discarding data that did not fit in a prior identified theme, but instead recognized past information while new themes that emerged were also identified and titled with this new information being an addition to our current understanding of the career transition experience in the field. The coders then compared their codes and themes and when in disagreement engaged in thoughtful discourse explaining their rationale for their coding choice, while being cognizant of their potential biases. This process led to agreement between the coders in the few places where there was initial disagreement. Finally, the overall themes and codes are explained in detail in this manuscript as is noted as an important step in thematic analysis.

Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness was assessed in multiple ways to increase the credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of the study (19-22;24, 25). In addition to an acknowledgement of the researcher’s viewpoint and the reality that all researcher’s perspective’s impact their analysis, both coders of the data assessed their own views and were systematic in assessing the impact of these views throughout the research. Furthermore, as the lead researcher of this study was a former NCAA athlete, and as such recognized that this may have led to potential biases peer debriefing was used to increase credibility. Furthermore, a third coder, who was familiar with the research in the field but did not conduct the interviews or participate in the original data analysis was brought in to engaged in negative case analysis to assess any divergent data and discuss these findings to make sure they were appropriately accounted for in the data coding. Internal auditing was also done by two researchers who were not a part of this study, nor familiar with the research on career transition in sport, to highlight and address any potentially biased interpretations of the data. The detailed documentation of the procedures used for this study at each stage following the guidelines of the APA Journal Article Reporting Standards for Qualitative Research (2018), along with using thick description in this manuscript was done to increase dependability and transferability.
Results
The major themes that emerged throughout the data were lack of athletic career transition programming, high athletic identity, lack of psychological support, social support, coping mechanisms and the Covid-19 pandemic. Note that participants’ names have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Pseudonyms given are representative of names that match the self- reported gender and race of each participant.

Lack of Athletic Career Transition Programming

It was found that four out of six participants experienced a positive overall career transition from athletics and described their experience as ‘easy’ and ‘smooth sailing.’ However, two of the participants in this study experienced a negative overall career transition from athletics. When it came to access to career transition programming, only two of the participants had access to transition programs from their universities. Example comments related to this are included Leah commenting, ‘I don’t even know where to begin, I felt so unprepared to go out into the world.’ and Andrea stating, ‘My transition experience was a little rocky and it had an effect on how I was mentally.’ Mary said, ‘Even though I did not struggle a lot, I think it still would have been nice to have a transition program in those later years of college just to learn how to be an adult on your own without sports ruling your life.’ Two participants recalled their athletic departments referring them to their on-campus career center for career assistance. For example, Kelly noted, ‘The programs that were available to me via the career center were focused on interviewing skills, portfolio/resume building and career fairs; none of these events catered to my athletic experience.’ Andrea who did have access to career transition programming, indicated that their school had the NCAA Life Skills Program (NCAA, 1994). She stated, ‘I definitely found this program to be helpful and I felt as though I needed those skills to be able to transition from college into the outside world.’ Although Andrea spoke highly of the Life skill program at her previous university, she still reported a negative transition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chance recalled his previous athletic department hosting optional career transition programming that he did not attend due to the programs conflicting with his schedule. ‘I felt like it would have been helpful, I just did not feel like I had the time to do it with athletics and my class schedule.’ When looking at the differences between programming across the three different division levels present in this study, both Andrea and Chance were in Division I programs. Chelsea, who participated within Division III stated, ‘We weren’t provided with a lot of resources being the lower level and I think it had to do with finances as well as compliance.’

When asked what participants would value within athletic career transition programming, participants noted the importance of programming on financial topics (budgeting, taxes, financing vehicles and homes), programs for juniors and seniors on resources for transition. For example, Chelsea stated, I think a big topic that needs to be talked about in depth is financials because as an athlete, you spend a lot of your time on the road, and you don’t necessarily go out all of the time to spend money because you are giving per- diem and gear etc. When you are not an athlete, you are not provided with those things anymore.

As well as making programming more accessible,

 I think it would be helpful to make the programs more available for everybody else. I wasn’t able to attend some of the programs because I had night classes during the times, they had the events. ‘I also think having programs that teach athletes about finances could be helpful; specifically on financing things, insurance and buying a home. (Chance)

Implementing mentorship programming was noted by the athletes with this quote by Kelly being a good representation of the athletes’ comments ‘I think having talks that help athletes learn how to speak about their skills and how to speak about that when interviewing for jobs.’ ‘I also think it would be great to bring back sport alumni and have them speak to current athletes about their careers.’ Additionally, it was also recommended that athletic departments speak to athletes about degrees and course choices that suit that athletes’ interests. Leah noted ‘I wish my academic advisor helped me more with what I could do with my degree after I graduated.’ ‘I feel like the focus was for me to get classes that worked around my practice schedule mostly.’

High athletic identity

             With years devoted to excelling within sport, many athletes find themselves identifying as an athletic individual even when their sport career ends (9). This finding was supported by the reflections from the participants in this study. Five out of six participants indicated they still identify as an athlete and considered themselves athletic. Chelsea noted, ‘I still try to live an athletic style similar to how I was when I was a competitive athlete’, while Chance noted ‘I still identify as a former athlete who still does athletic things.’ – and Leah said, ‘I still resemble as an athlete just because I’m still in shape and I’m still basically active.’ Of note, half of the participants in this study transitioned out of sport and into a career within or surrounding athletics. These participants openly discussed how this allowed them to stay identified within sport culture. For example, Kelly said ‘I now identify as a coach, which gives me sport identity; making it easier to take away the athlete part of me, but that identity is still very much part of who I am.’ Chelsea commented ‘I work within an athletic department and am still around sport every day. I enjoy that part of my job’ and Mary said,

After college I became a graduate assistant for an athletic department and it’s nice to still being in the sports world because I am still constantly around athletics.’ ‘The best thing about being a college athlete is you definitely have like a foot up; I feel like in a lot of the career world.

Two participants discussed the transferability of the skills they learned as athletes, and how these gave them an advantage throughout the job search process. For example, Chance said ‘Just from my experience playing in college athletics, it helped me in terms of interviews and getting in the position to get a job.’ When asked what skills from sport helped him get his current position, he discussed leadership, communication, teamwork/collaboration, and confidence. He commented, ‘Leadership and communication; these were big for coming out of college athletes. I think it helped. As well as just like you get the confidence for like playing in front of people, so that helped with confidence and interviews and everything like that.’ ‘Being able to do team work as well; a lot of jobs like that as you obviously have to work in teams and collaborate with other people within your company.’

Lack of Psychological support

Although the strength and exclusivity of the athletic role during sport participation may increase an athlete’s potential vulnerability to psychiatric distress after leaving sport (11), none of the participants reported experiencing athletic career transition programming that addressed the psychological effects that a transition can have on a sport individual. Although only one participant expressed experiencing mental health difficulties during her transition, five out of six participants spoke on the need for mental health to be addressed in athletic career transition programming. For example, Kelly noted,

“I think having a mental health professional to provide tools and be real with athletes, like hey it is not going to be a smooth sailing process once you finally hang up the cleats, here are some tools to help you cope with this process better.”

 Leah on the other hand focused on the importance of wellness checks, ‘I do believe that for athletes who will transition, psychologists should come in and do a wellness check or just be an ear for somebody would be an amazing thing because college athletics is a mental trip.’

Coping

Coping strategies are used to help student athletes better adjust to sport retirement. Participants in this study reported that they coped with their transition out of sport by finding ways to get their mind off this process. Chelsea said, ‘I definitely did try to find ways to get my mind off of the fact that I’m not going to practice.’ Mary noted, ‘You try and find outlets you know, to still be competitive and find other ways to use your talents but it takes a little bit of time to find those things’ while Andrea stated, ‘I exercised to relieve the stress I had and that helped a lot.’ Although some of the participants found positive ways to cope with their transition, one participant utilized negative ways to cope with their transition. Leah said, ‘I was being real nonchalant. I was trying to like mask it with everything will work out fine, but I was panicking.’ During this time, she mentioned that she participated in drinking alcohol and smoking. She said, ‘another way that I coped truthfully during that time in all honesty; was drinking and smoking. I was like a spiral, like I did not know what to do.’ None of the participants indicated experiencing programming that spoke on positive ways to cope with transitioning out of athletics. By implementing this in programming, negative coping mechanisms during transitions can be prevented.

Social Support

             During athletic transitions, the participants utilized social support and informal information given to them about the transition process before and during their journey. It was found that the participants recalled receiving support from coaches, athletic advisors, family, and friends. Although the participants in the study did not receive as much support within their athletic departments, it was noted that they all utilized their social networks as support systems during their transitions. Andrea said, ‘I definitely needed some social support and I talked to my coach. He would hit me and just ask me if I was doing okay and stuff like that.’ Kelly stated, ‘I connected with my coaches a lot about the transition process as a player and my plans to pursue coaching as a career’ and ‘My coaches had a good grasp on what transitioning was like especially when they have played sport for so long.’ Kelly also noted the importance of friends and family, ‘My friends and family were also a good support system.’ The role of professors was also noted, ‘The professors I interacted with were very helpful to prepare me for what comes next, and I had an older sibling that played college sports, so I definitely relied on help from him.’

Covid-19 Pandemic

             The final theme that emerged from the data and affected two out of six participants in the year 2020 was the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic for the year 2020 ended college sports prematurely causing more athletes to experience a traumatic end to their athletic season and for some, a traumatic end to their athletic careers. The participants in this study who experienced this expressed not being supported by their athletic departments which increased their feelings of not being prepared for what was next for them. For example, Leah stated, ‘We were told that we weren’t going to get our season and that was it; our season was stripped away.’ When asked if there were any resources or emotional support provided for her, she said she could not recall any. She did reflect on being offered an extra season, which would grant her a fifth year of eligibility. She said she declined this opportunity in hopes of being able to put more time towards starting her career. Andrea, whose transition experience was also affected by the pandemic described her athletic career as ending suddenly, which took a toll on her mental health. She stated, ‘I never had anybody to talk to about how to move forward or continue on with the degree I earned.’ ‘I just remember thinking, what am I going to do next?’ ‘We never had a good closing statement.’ When asked if there were any resources or emotional support available to her, she recalled her athletic advisor reaching out to her via email and text message but decided to not respond due to feeling overwhelmed.

Discussion

             This study examined athletic career transition programming within the NCAA through the perceptions of former student athletes. Additionally, the impact of an athletic career transition was further explored. The results from this study provide evidence that athletic departments may not be using best practices to better support student athletes in their transition out of collegiate athletics (2). From these findings, participants received little to no programming specific to how retiring from sport affects an individual psychologically, emotionally, behaviorally, and socially as well as how it affects their overall identity (5,7,8,9). The data further shows that athletic departments may not be listening to what the research says (5) should be implemented into programming; thus, demonstrating that athletic departments may not be prioritizing the overall well-being of student athletes. Past literature has continuously encouraged practitioners within athletic departments to include programming to provide student athletes the tools to adjust to sport retirement (4) and with the lack thereof, student athletes can potentially experience more negative reactions to retiring from collegiate sport (1,11,12).

 The findings of this study were consistent with previous research with there still being a lack of consensus of what is told to student athletes about the transition process (2) shown throughout the perceptions of the former student athletes in this study. The themes (i.e., athletic career transition programming, athletic identity, psychological impact, and coping) from past research re-emerged when the participants were asked to reflect on their overall transition experience. Two additional themes that emerged were social support and the Covid-19 pandemic. Social support was not surprising as past literature has suggested it to be a positive coping mechanism for athletes in transition (7). However, the Covid-19 pandemic was a unique theme that has not often been discussed regarding athletic retirement. This provides a unique perspective to the overall findings. The perceptions of participants personal athletic transition experiences from collegiate sport were also consistent with previous literature in that most participants still resonated with the athletic role (athletic identity) (e.g., 9, 11,12), experienced mixed feelings about transitioning support and would have appreciated psychological support (8,12); utilizing positive and negative coping mechanisms and used social support networks that were available to them (7,8). With the difficulties and challenges of the unprecedented pandemic, this may have further exacerbated the lack of proper resources for student athletes transitioning from collegiate sport. This further provides evidence that proper exit strategies must be implemented within athletic departments for collegiate student athletes (5).

Limitations & Future Research

There were limitations to this study that should be discussed. The findings were derived from a participant sample consisting primarily of women or individuals that competed within the Division I level. The lack of participants from other divisions did not allow for comparison across divisions. Furthermore, although interviewing only six participants led to the ability to give each participant a voice in this paper, it was a small sample making it impossible to make set inferences on this data alone. Instead, these results should be seen as an additional piece of information, along with past research findings, that can be used for best practice in career transition. With the structured interviews conducted primarily over zoom, this may have impacted the participants openness to disclose sensitive information due to the interview format. This was demonstrated by one participant disclosing confidential information related to their mental health after the interview process was completed, and the recording of the zoom appointment stopped. Future research should consider replicating this study with an in-person structured interview, with a more diverse and larger participant sample. Future studies should consider looking at the differences in athletic career transition programming implemented within all division levels of the NCAA qualitatively.

Conclusions Implications for Practice

The purpose of this present study was to investigate if current career transition programs in NCAA Athletic Departments are using best practices, as defined by the current research in the field, based on former collegiate athlete’s perceptions of their experience with career transition programming. A secondary and equally important purpose was to investigate the overall impact athletic career transition has on former collegiate athletes’ lives. The findings of this study provided evidence on the overall impact transitioning from collegiate sport has on an athletic individual and along with past research highlight the lack of athletic career transition programming implementation into athletic departments. These findings add to the evidence that suggests that professionals should be creating programs and psychoeducational interventions that include how the transition affects an athlete psychologically, socially, emotionally, behaviorally, and how it affects their overall athletic identity, per previous athletic career transition literature. Furthermore, professionals should implement psychological support for athletic career transitions from qualified staff, programming that gives student athletes tools on mental health resources, programming on positive coping mechanisms, programming to student athletes on financial topics (e.g., budgeting, financing, housing, taxes) and implementing mentorship programs that feature student athlete alumni. Additionally, these findings support the recommendation that practitioners should consider making programming accessible to all student athletes with various schedules by having programming for student athletes in person and virtually if possible. Lastly, practitioners within athletic departments should consider receiving feedback from former student athletes like this study, to ensure that the programming implemented is using best practices to better support student athletes. It is with hope that the findings of this study encourage practitioners within NCAA athletic departments to implement effective athletic career transition programming that will provide student athletes the tools to properly prepare for the transition out of collegiate athletics.

References

1. Weigand, S., Cohen, J., & Merenstein, D. (2013). Susceptibility for depression in current and retired student athletes. Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 5(3), 263–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1941738113480464
2. Leonard, J. & Schimmel, C. (2016). Theory of Work Adjustment and Student Athlete Transition out of Sport. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 9, 62-85.
3. Hansen, A., Perry, J., Ross, M., & Montgomery, T. (2018). Facilitating a successful transition out of sport: Introduction of a collegiate student-athlete workshop. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2018.1463329
4. National Collegiate Athletics Association. (2022). Research. Retrieved from https://www.ncaa. org/research
5. Lavallee, D., Park, S., & Taylor, J. (2014). Career transition among athletes: Is there life after sports? In J. M. Williams, & V. Krane (Eds.), Applied sport psychology: personal growth to peak performance (7 ed., pp. 490-509)
6. Miller, L., & Buttell, F. P. (2018). Are NCAA Division I athletes prepared for end-of-athletic-career transition? A literature review. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 15(1), 52–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/23761407.2017.1411305
7. Adams C, Coffee P, & Lavallee D (2015) Athletes’ perceptions about the availability of social support during within-career transitions. Sport and Exercise Psychology Review, 11(2), pp. 37-48.
8. Cummins, P., & O’Boyle, I. (2014). Psychosocial factors involved in transitions from college to post-college careers for male NCAA Division-1 basketball players. Journal of Career Development, 42(1), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845314532713
9. Lally, P. S., & Kerr, G. A. (2005). The career planning, athletic identity, and student role identity of intercollegiate student athletes. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 76(3), 275–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2005.10599299
10. Webb, W. M., Nasco, S. A., Riley, S., & Headrick, B. (1998). Athlete identity and reactions to retirement from sports. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 21(3), 338–362.
11. Giannone ZA, Haney CJ, Kealy D, Ogrodniczuk JS. (2017). Athletic identity and psychiatric symptoms following retirement from varsity sports. International Journal Social Psychiatry, 63(7):598-601. https://doi:org/10.1177/0020764017724184.
12. Grove, J. R., Lavallee, D., Gordon, S., & Harvey, J. H. (1998). Account-making: A model for understanding and resolving distressful reactions to retirement from sport. The Sport Psychologist, 12(1), 52–67. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.12.1.52
13. Cabrita, T. M., Rosado, A. B., Leite, T. O., Serpa, S. O., & Sousa, P. M. (2014). The relationship between athletic identity and career decisions in athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 26(4), 471–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2014.931312
14. Menke, D. J., & Germany, M.L. (2018). Reconstructing athletic identity: College athletes and sport retirement. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 24(1), 17–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2018.1522475
15. Stephan, Y., Torregrosa, M., & Sanchez, X. (2007). The body matters: Psychophysical impact of retiring from elite sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2006.01.006
16. Kerr, Z. Y., DeFreese, J. D., & Marshall, S. W. (2014). Current Physical and Mental Health of Former Collegiate Athletes. Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2(8), 232596711454410. https://doi.org/10.1177/2325967114544107
17. Wylleman, P., Alfermann, D., & Lavallee, D. (2004). Career transitions in sport: European perspectives. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5(1), 7–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1469-0292(02)00049-3
18. McKnight, K. M., Bernes, K. B., Gunn, T., Chorney, D., Orr, D. T., & Bardick, A. D. (2009). Life after sport: Athletic career transition and transferable skills. Journal of Excellence, 13, 63-77.                     
19. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
20. Braun, V., Clarke, V., & Weate, P. (2016). Using thematic analysis in sport and exercise research. In B. Smith & A. Sparkes (Eds.), Routledge handbook of qualitative research methods in sport and exercise (pp. 191–205). London: Routledge. 
21. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D.  Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2. Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 57–71). American Psychological Association. Doi.org/10.1037/13620-004 
22. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597, doi; 10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806 
23. Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development.
24. Lincoln, YS. & Guba, EG. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. 
25. Nowell, L.S., Norris, J.M., White, D.E., Moules, N.J. (2018). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1609406917733847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847