Navigating Athletic Identity, Retirement Transitions, and Self-Discovery

Athletes might face a myriad of psychosocial difficulties when they retire from professional or elite level competition. This book explores the nuances of those struggles, focusing on identity reconstruction and the processing of grief related to the loss of self and sport.

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There appears to be a gap in the literature when it comes to examining the role that grief and loss might play while athletes undergo the reconstruction of their identity post-sport. Navigating Athletic Identity, Retirement Transitions, and Self-Discovery: Exiting the Arena investigates the long and often studied concept of identity in athletes from the perspective of transitioning identity as a potential form of loss. Ultimately, we posit that identity transition should also be understood as a form of identity loss, and research conceptualizing the grieving process that athletes experience in that transition should be studied more deeply.