When the Whistle Blows Too Soon: Navigating Identity After Abrupt Athletic Retirement

When the Whistle Blows Too Soon: Navigating Identity After Abrupt Athletic Retirement

By Dr. Justin D’Arienzo, Clinical & Performance Psychologist

No formal goodbye, unprocessed emotions, isolation. We all have different ways of leaving and moving on from sport. When an injury or other significant event happens and your dreams are smashed, it is devastating.

This sentiment is one that resonates deeply with collegiate athletes as well as professional athletes who face an unexpected end to their athletic careers. Unlike retirement after a full collegiate season, where athletes can anticipate their final game, say goodbye to teammates, and prepare for what’s next, those who exit sport due to injury are often left with silence: no sendoff, no closure, just an abrupt shift from athlete to “former athlete” or “student”.

The Psychological Crisis of an Abrupt Exit

When sport ends unexpectedly, the transition isn’t just logistical, it’s an identity crisis. An athlete doesn’t just lose their role on the field; they lose a central part of who they think they are. Research shows that many athletes experience what is known to psychologists as identity foreclosure, a psychological state where one has committed entirely to a single identity (e.g., athlete) without exploration of other roles or paths, and when this identity is stripped away by injury or other event, the result is often profound grief, isolation, disorientation, and even emotional numbing. They don’t know who they are. The length of this loss of self is determined by other factors.

Athletes in this situation frequently report feeling like they are “stuck in between” as they are unable to return to their sport and yet are unprepared to embrace what comes next. Without a formal goodbye, they are denied the psychological closure and rituals that are so essential to healthy transitions.

Real Input from Real Athletes

I interviewed two athletes, one a collegiate athlete and one a collegiate and professional athlete, about their abrupt end to their sport. The first was Jake Gibbons, the current Varsity Head Swim Coach at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a former team Captain at Texas A&M, and Scholar Athlete of the Year during his senior year. He finished his senior year swim season in the Spring of 2020 and then COVID hit, and the NCAA championships were canceled. His swimming career ended with that announcement. The other athlete I interviewed was Scott Starks, a cornerback formerly with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2005 to 2009) and the University of Wisconsin (2001 to 2004), who was a team leader with several mounting injuries, and was told while at a friend’s wedding the day before gameday that he would no longer be on the roster. It was over.    

Gibbons noted, “I was seeded to finish fourth if all things were right, so it would have been an awesome way to use the word closure, kind of put a ribbon on what would have been our careers.” He said, “It was a rough way for us to call it an ending…the lack of closure was particularly hard for seniors, and virtual ceremonies felt disconnected and insufficient for processing the end of our athletic careers.” He described coping with it as, “I don’t want to complain about it too much because I know there were certainly student-athletes who lost entire seasons, or their student-athlete experience was not everything that it could have been because of the issues that COVID caused.”

Gibbons shared more about the creeping sense of laziness he felt based on the sudden lack of structure and routine. He said, “Being lazy is fun for a minute”. He next earned his master’s in public administration at Texas A&M but described the long-term loss of camaraderie with fellow swimmers he felt after suddenly losing such tight bonds working through daily challenges together. He said it made making friends after sports more difficult, believing no one else could match that level of friendship. Jake eventually found his way back with other athletes. First with Podium X, a recruiting firm specializing in matching college athletes with companies and then finally back in the same pool he trained in as a high school swimmer at Bolles, but now as the head coach.

We spoke more about the challenge athletes find when looking for a career. He said, “It is difficult to build the same type of culture, and it is okay to recognize that, and that the height of how you feel is something you will never have again…you may need to process the feeling more intentionally, you have to be ready not to ever feel the same high with work. It’s just not the same as winning a national championship. It will never be there…and you have to be okay with it.” 

Starks shared a similar story of shock, identity crisis, struggle, and then a reinvention of himself. He noted, “From the time that football retired me, I knew that it was coming soon at that time. Just by the writing on the wall and just the way I felt, my body felt, and the way my mind works, I just knew that it was about that time…even still, it was hard because for many years I was able to rely on my body to be my primary source of income. Then all of a sudden it’s like, hey, you can’t use your body. You have to use your brain, which is fine. It’s just like, okay, well, what’s the next steps. My first thought was about trying to get back in, but that was a very half-hearted effort.”

He shared more about his personal journey and how the career shift from a professional football player was especially hard on his marriage. After finding his bearings, he interviewed for a coaching position with University of Florida but was not selected. He then returned to the University of Wisconsin, joining their coaching staff and finishing his undergraduate degree. He then became an entrepreneur purchasing two Team Playball franchise licenses and selling them three years later. He later transitioned into medical sales where he has been for six years. 

He spoke about the real challenges of suddenly leaving professional sports which he referred to as a “fishbowl.” He said of leaving professional sports, “You don’t have the connections and people don’t return your calls…You think it is all reality and once you get pushed out of that fishbowl, it is a whole new world…You have to use different talent. Defending a receiver does not help you in corporate America. And you can never go back. It’s like a doctor getting their license revoked and never being able to practice medicine again.”

He explained that he also successfully coped with the transition due to his strong group of friends from college who were his roommates. He remains close to them today. He spoke of Johnathan Orr (Titans and Raiders) and Alex Lewis (Lions and Omaha Nighthawks) and how they were bound by their belief in Christ, and their identities were not all about football.

Like Gibbons, Starks relayed, “There are things about professional sports that you can’t recreate… competition, gameday experience, and comradery…and you always miss those things, and you supplement by coaching, leading kids, but you will never experience that again.”

He shared that in addition to his medical sales work, he continues to bridge athletics with corporate America by helping other athletes land jobs. He said, “I connect with a lot of guys in corporate America who see the value of athletes and I package athletes’ skill sets in a way that corporations value which he said he has done with Podium X. He said, “Podium X gives us a voice and a way to package those skills that are more attractive.”

What the Research Tells Us

1. Identity Disruption Is Real: The transition out of sport can lead to a loss of one’s self-concept. Self-concept relates to the interplay of one’s personal identity, social identity, and athletic identity, and when one’s athletic identity dominates and is infused in these other identities, this abrupt shift has more of a significant impact.  It’s therefore important to explore and be aware of your other attributes and values, strengths learned because of sport like perseverance and grit, and having social connections unrelated to sports.   
2. Lack of Formal Closure Delays Healing: Rituals like Senior Day or Athletic Banquets are important rituals that provide psychological closer. They reaffirm one’s self concept, allow the athlete to celebrate their accomplishments, and communicate to the athletes their continued connection with the university and team post-graduation. Without a structured exit and in isolation, athletes may struggle more in processing their exit. It’s like a death without a funeral. Consider creating your own ritual with family and friends.
3. Support Structures Matter: Athletes fare better when they belong to multiple social groups. Those with connections outside of their sport, whether academic, familial, or social, are more resilient when their sport ends unexpectedly. Certainly, having a strong athletic family is crucial to an athlete’s sense of self and performance, but adding other social connections expand one’s future social and business networks and this will mitigate the potential abrupt loss of the athletic family. 

Transition from Sport Focus to Career Focus

Being able to reframe life events from negative to positive is a skill that athletics teach us. All athletes have had to embrace the suck of intense training intervals, convincing themselves they enjoy it or that it was an opportunity to get stronger and faster. It’s important to see an abrupt sport retirement as a similar opportunity for growth and to expand other social connections, maintain sport related friendships, explore other interests, and begin the career pursuit regardless of how many years one has remaining in college. Just like you were successful in sport, you will be successful in life harnessing that same positive attitude, grit, and ability to pivot, just like Gibbons and Stark. No matter your manner of exit, if you are a college or professional athlete uncertain how to bridge your athletic experience with corporate America, Podium X is the answer. Check it out today.