Personal strategies for managing a second career: The experiences of Spanish Olympians

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how Olympians experience the transition to a second career, to identify the strategies they may or may not implement in order to prepare for it, and to determine the main factors that influence this process. Using a phenomenological approach we asked 26 Spanish Olympians (13 men and 13 women) from different summer Olympic sports about their experiences when it came to preparing for and entering a new place of work. The results revealed two main groups. The ‘strategists’ were Olympians with an awareness of their future and a deep understanding of their work environment, who took specific steps (academic training, entering a new job before ending their sporting career, saving money, taking advantage of their sporting capital and voluntary retirement) in order to enter their second career. The family was shown to be a key influence for Olympians in this group. At the other end of the spectrum were the ‘non-strategists’, those who did not combine their career in sport with an academic or vocational career. What set these Olympians apart was a lack of awareness regarding the need to prepare for their future career and that they did not implement strategies that might help them in this regard. In this group the family appeared somewhat indifferent to the question of what would happen when the athlete’s sporting career ended. These findings could serve as a platform from which to develop programs and assist athletes according to the group with which they are identified.

Keywords

new workplace Olympians second career strategies transition

Introduction

Many professional sportsmen and women, and especially Olympians, devote most of their daily lives to sport–training two, three or even four times a day. These are athletes who make a living out of their physical performance, their results and their successes. However, their sporting career will typically last for a relatively short period of time, and a day will come when either they are no longer able to perform or, for some other reason, they decide to retire from elite competitive sport. At this point they will need to seek another way of making a living, and must face the inevitability of a second career (Conzelmann and Nagel, 2003; Nagel and Conzelmann, 2006; Pallarés et al., 2011; Puig and Vilanova, 2006; Rosenberg, 1980). Regardless of whether it is related to sport, this new profession requires prior preparation (Ek et al., 2005; Puig and Vilanova, 2006). Indeed, there is a need to build up human capital through the acquisition of core competences (Arthur et al., 1999), skills and professional expertise (Van der Heijden, 2002), and to employ a range of strategies in the planning and development of a career (McCabe, 2008).However, not all professional athletes approach a second career in the same way and there is considerable variety in the degree to which they prepare for it.

The present study focuses specifically on Spanish Olympians and aims to explore both their experiences of the transition to a second career and the strategies which, based on these experiences, they may or may not implement while still competing, in order to prepare for a new career. In this paper, the term strategy is understood as ‘the pattern of a set of actions that succeed each other in time’ (Mintzberg et al., 1997: 3). Thus, it is not simply a matter of ‘doing things’ (actions) but also of planning them from a time perspective. Strategy, therefore, involves both an awareness of time (capacity for foresight, time management, a long-term view, etc.) and the taking of action (studying, saving, gaining work experience, etc.). In advanced modern societies strategies of this kind develop in the context of a process of transition (Chudzikowski, 2012) and a labour market that makes specific demands which sportsmen and sportswomen must face (Castells, 2000).

In the sociology of sport the concept of transition has long been used as a theoretical framework for studying social behaviour and phenomena. This concept implies taking a longitudinal perspective on the object of analysis so that it can be studied over time and in the contexts in which it develops. The notion of transition has proved useful for example, in research on entry to the sport-related labour market in Western Europe. In this society, access to stable employment is a process through which the individual gradually becomes integrated within the specific culture of an organization and is eventually able to consolidate and improve their position (Heinemann, 1998: 216; Le Roux et al., 1999: 40). As such it constitutes a transition rather than a one-off event. This concept has also been widely used in the analysis of sport behaviour among young people. Youth is a period of transition between childhood and adulthood, one in which compulsory education comes to an end and where individuals become more independent of their families, entering into their first romantic relationships, obtaining their first job, or enrolling in university. In this regard, the notion of transition has been shown in numerous studies over the last two or three decades to provide a useful platform for understanding the irregularities, drop-outs or changes of discipline that characterize the behaviour of young athletes (Falls and Wilson, 2012; Knop et al., 1996; Puig, 1995; Sisjord and Van Reusel, 1997; White and Coakley, 1986). The present research is conducted from within this tradition.

In relation specifically to research on ending a sporting career the literature includes a number of career transition models (Lavallee and Wylleman, 2000; Schlossberg, 1981) that consider transition as a process of coping with or adapting to a new life or career situation, a process in which several sets of factors are involved. After reviewing numerous studies on retirement from sport, Alfermann and Stambulova (2007) and Stambulova et al. (2009) identified four key factors that determine the features of this transition: (1) the extent to which the decision is made freely; (2) planning for a post-sport career; (3) the type of sporting identity which the individual had; and (4) the social and personal support resources available during the transition.

The present paper considers the transition of sportsmen and sportswomen from one type of career (professional sport) to another which may or may not be sport-related. Most research on the transitions undergone by elite athletes has focused on an individual’s transition away from competitive sport (Kadlcik and Flemr, 2008; Kerr and Dacyshyn, 2000; Miller and Kerr, 2002), examining the reasons for retirement as well as the transition into life after sport (Fernandez et al., 2006; Kadlcik and Flemr, 2008; Koukouris, 1991; Sinclair and Orlick, 1993). Recently, a number of cross-cultural analyses have also been carried out (Alfermann et al., 2004; Stambulova et al., 2007). The findings of this research have proven somewhat contradictory. Some studies show that elite athletes are not disadvantaged in their post-sport professional life when compared with the normal population (González Fernández and Torregrosa, 2009; Kneyer, 1980; Lötscher et al., 1979). In Germany, for example, athletes generally have better educational qualifications and professional positions than do the normal population (Conzelmann and Nagel, 2003). Being a top-level sportsperson would thus exert a positive influence when it comes to facing a second career (Eisen and Turner, 1992; Gabler, 1997; Jackson et al., 1998; Nagel and Conzelmann, 2006). Acquired popularity might also enable the step into vocational autonomy, while both sporting achievement and established personal contacts may facilitate entry into a second professional life (Gabler, 1997; Heinemann, 1998; Nagel and Conzelmann, 2006; Puig and Vilanova, 2006; Vilanova, 2009). In contrast to the above, other studies show that being engaged in elite-level sport may be accompanied by difficulties at school, a rejection of vocational training and a limited choice of higher education studies (Hackfort et al., 1997; Jackson et al., 1998; López de Subijana et al., 2014; Vilanova and Puig, 2013). Clearly, much remains to be discovered regarding this pivotal transition.

As noted above, the other key aspect that affects understanding of the second career is the nature of the labour market, especially in terms of the growing technological demands and the changes that took place during the last quarter of the twentieth century. According to Castells (2000) the present labour market needs people with the ability to create value. Consequently, those who are able to process information, to adapt to change, who have a talent for formalization and abstraction, and who have high-level training will be particularly highly valued. In contrast, individuals who lack training and who, consequently, engage in programmed, auxiliary tasks in which the need for physical strength predominates will become progressively marginalized. This social dualization leads to transformations in the structure of employment and results in education becoming a key element, since the latter provides access to the means of information and production (Ek et al., 2005). Access to a job also involves a process of adaptation to organizations, because it is not only a matter of knowing how to execute a task but also of doing it in accordance with the culture of one’s place of work (Heinemann, 1998). The main consequence of all this is that entry into the labour market has become a laborious, complex and exacting process that takes place in the context of a series of transitions that are influenced by various factors and which require the implementation of a range of strategies. The question that concerns us here is why some athletes seem to be aware of what is required by this process and take steps to address it, whereas others do not.

With this in mind, the present paper has three aims: (1) to examine how Spanish Olympians experience the transition to a second career; (2) to identify the strategies which, based on this experience, they may or may not implement in order to prepare for it; and (3) to determine the factors that influence the behaviour observed.

Method

In order to study how our sample of Olympians experienced the transition to a second career and to examine the strategies they used in achieving this goal, it seemed essential to consider their subjectivity. In our work as tutors with elite athletes we have often been struck by the different perceptions they may have regarding the same event, such that some of them are fully aware of the importance of preparing for a second career while others seem oblivious to this need. Our view was that this difference could not be understood without exploring their inner worlds.

Upon considering how best to achieve this objective it seemed that one of the most fruitful strategies would be to take a phenomenological approach. One of the primary aims of phenomenology ‘is to gain a deep understanding of the nature or meaning of our everyday experiences’ (Moustakas, 1994: 26). In this regard, understanding why some but not all athletes are aware of the need to implement strategies that can help them with the transition to a second career is, we believe, a question that has to do with how they perceive their future after a career in elite competitive sport. Indeed, the way they view their future is one of the keys to understanding the strategies they may or may not implement. If their future is not perceived as something important, or is simply something that is not thought about, then they will be unlikely to take any action in this respect; in other words, they will not implement strategies to help them enter a second career. In terms of the basic principles of phenomenology, one could say that if people are unaware of the what (i.e. the need to prepare for a second career) and the context that affects it, then it will be difficult for them to identify clearly the how (i.e. the best strategies for doing so) (Creswell, 2007: 252–253; Moustakas, 1994). In this sense, the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of the phenomenological perspective are inextricably linked.

In the sport context, phenomenology has been effectively applied to extend the knowledge of areas such as the quality of life of elite athletes (Brady and Shambrook, 2003), coping in sport (Nicholls et al., 2005), sporting bodies (Hockey and Collinson, 2007) and playing when hurt (Turner et al., 2002). Taken as a whole, this growing body of research supports our contention that a phenomenological approach is an excellent way of gaining insight into athletes’ experiences during the transition to a second career and the strategies they implement in the process. Specifically, such an approach can help provide a more detailed understanding of their lived experience with respect to these two aspects.

Participants

The participants were 26 Olympians (13 men and 13 women), between 22 and 48 years of age. Three criteria were applied when selecting potential interviewees: they must all have taken part in at least one of the following Olympics: Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney or Athens; they must all already have a new professional activity and be working in Catalonia;¹ and this new career must have begun at least four years before the interviews took place, such that their entry into the labour market was well consolidated. This four-year period was chosen because it is regarded as the average required for integration into the labour market in Spain (Martínez del Castillo and Puig, 2002). By applying these criteria we avoided a mixture of Olympians from very different periods and contexts, and were able to ensure that the sporting conditions they had experienced were similar, because in 1988 the Spanish Olympic Sport Association (ADO) established a programme through which athletes began to receive important support resources. The criteria also meant that participants had faced similar labour market characteristics, since the period in question included both the 1984 and 1994 Spanish labour market reforms (Ferreiro and Serrano, 2001).The choice of a single region (Catalonia) likewise meant that socio-economic characteristics were similar. A further consequence of applying these inclusion criteria was that at the time of the interviews different lengths of time had elapsed since they had ended their sporting career (range: 4 to 12 years).

A mixed sampling strategy incorporating both purposive and snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. The selected Olympians were first contacted by phone and asked whether or not they would be willing to take part in the study. They all agreed to do so. A convenient time and place was then established in order to conduct the face-to-face interviews.

Interviews

In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in which participants were asked general open-ended questions regarding how they perceived their future after retiring from elite competitive sport and what they had done in order to prepare for this. By using a phenomenological approach we gave interviewees the opportunity to be the experts, while the researchers were able to move beyond brief description towards in-depth comprehension of the Olympians experiences (Creswell, 2007). Given that a retrospective design of this kind may produce a recall bias, additional introductory questions were used in order to take the respondent back to the situation and diminish the selective memory effect. With the consent of participants (Creswell, 2007), all interviews were audio recorded and then transcribed verbatim. The interviews lasted between 90 minutes and two hours.

Data analysis

The approach to data analysis was based on the techniques recommended by Creswell (2007). All the written transcripts were read several times in order to obtain an overall sense of their content. From each transcript, we identified significant phrases or sentences that referred directly to how athletes considered a second career prior to retiring from competitive sport. These significant statements were then clustered into emergent themes, in line with the theoretical perspective (transition and strategies) described in the introduction to this paper. The results of this process were finally integrated into an in-depth, exhaustive description of the phenomenon: the way in which they considered (or not) the transition to a second career and the strategies they implemented (or not) in order to make the transition.

The themes generated were as follows.

Awareness of time (always, at some point, never).

Actions taken (academic training, working before ending their sporting career, saving money, taking advantage of their sporting capital and voluntary retirement).

Significant others (family, coach, club, partner, siblings).

Subjective perception of their actual job (feeling lucky, satisfaction, resignation).

Methodological rigor was established through the application of verification and validation (Creswell, 2007). The process of verification involved a literature search, the use of an adequate sample and interviewing until data saturation was reached (Meadows and Morse, 2001). Validation was achieved through data analysis and the coding of all transcripts by one researcher. However, before regarding the coding frame as definitive a second researcher re-examined the data to see if any new codes might emerge or whether there was any overlap between existing ones.The validation process was also supported by external audits. The qualitative data analysis was conducted using Atlas.ti 5 software.

In order to ensure the anonymity of all participants the names used when presenting the results are pseudonyms, the nature of the sports played has been omitted and place names have been changed.

Results

Examination of the emergent themes in relation to how Olympians experienced their future after retiring from elite competitive sport and the strategies they may or may not have implemented in order to face this challenge enabled us to identify two broad groups, which we refer to as the strategists and the non-strategists (Table 1). The fundamental difference between them is that athletes in the former group were fully aware of the need to prepare for a second career, whereas those in the latter group were not. It is this difference in awareness that led to the strategists taking specific actions to prepare for a second career (academic training, working before ending their sporting career, saving money, taking advantage of their sporting capital and voluntary retirement), in contrast to the lack of action shown by the non-strategists.

Table 1.

Classification of athletes according to how their perceived their future after retiring from elite competitive sport.

	Future awareness		Strategy	Agents	Results
Strategists (16)	Always (9M, 4W)	They were fully aware that they wouldn’t always be able to make a living from their sport, and they knew they needed to do something else	Studying, working before ending their sporting career, saving money, taking advantage of their sporting capital and voluntary retirement	Positive influence of the family, club, siblings, partner, coach, federation	Professions engaged in: sports manager, physiotherapist, IT technician, product manager, physicist, health and safety inspector Emotional state:

	At some point (3W)	Because of their age they started to be aware of the future	Studying, working		Feeling lucky, happy and satisfied

Non-strategists (10)	Living in a bubble (4M, 4W)	Not aware of their future at all	In most cases, almost no strategy during their sporting career. Some of them developed strategies after ending their sporting career.	No influence or negative influence of family, coach	Professions engaged in: sports monitor and receptionist, sports monitor, teacher, sports mentor and coach, shop assistant, policeman, sports monitor and lifeguard

	With worries (2 W)	Worry, especially at the end of their sporting career	They wanted to develop strategies but they were so involved in sport that they never get round to it.		Emotional state: Resignation, regret, feeling lucky, satisfied

M: men; W: women.

It should be noted, however, that although these two broad categories are useful for capturing streams of experience in relation to the phenomenon analysed, there are also different degrees within each one. It can be seen in Table 1 that the strategists group can be divided into those who always recognized the need to prepare for a second career and those who began to recognize this after a certain point as they approached the end of their sporting career. Similarly, some non-strategists never showed any interest in preparing for a second career and remained oblivious to its importance, whereas others did become aware of this need but only when it was already too late to take any productive steps.

In the remainder of this section we will describe in greater detail the ‘what’ that was experienced by each group of athletes with respect to their future, as well as the contextual factors that explain the differences between the two groups in terms of how they perceived this and the strategies they did or did not implement in order to meet the challenge (Creswell, 2007: 61; Moustakas, 1994).

The strategists

The interviews showed that most former Olympians in this group had, throughout their sporting career, been aware of their future and were clear that they would not always be able to make a living from sport. Maria (now a health and safety inspector) stated:

…my sport is one that allows you to live well, on a par with other kinds of work, but you know then when you have to retire, which you do when you’re still quite young… well, that’s it… what I mean is, there’s no job waiting for you.

Similarly, Antonio (now a sports manager) noted:

that stage where you’re competing is really good, it’s very satisfying on a personal level, but in terms of employment it offers you nothing. So, I’ve always had to live a kind of parallel life.

There was also a small group of former Olympians (in this case, three women) who became more aware of their future when they reached a certain age. For example, Marta (now a physiotherapist) said:

You want to win titles, to be the best … but the years go by, you get tired of travelling, and it’s then that you realize that you haven’t studied anything, you don’t have anything to fall back on … and then you start thinking about what you will do afterwards […] that happened to me when I was 25.

The analysis also revealed that among strategists the family played a very important role when it came to being aware of the future. As Sara said, ‘my family always encouraged me to compete in my sport, but at the same time they wanted to make sure I was also preparing for the future’. This is particularly relevant to the decision about whether or not to study. Indeed, the parents of these strategists strongly advised – almost forced – their sons and daughters to study during their adolescence. As Juan (now a sports manager) explained:

My Dad said to me: look, there’s only one thing I want to say to you… if you want to play then you also have to finish your secondary education and then do your university entrance exams, and I don’t care if it takes you 5, 7, 8, 9 or 10 years to finish your degree […] So in that regard my parents have had a really big influence.

The results obtained also show that eleven of the families (and especially the father) in the strategists group had a high level of education and a professional career. In Spain, those with higher levels of education have better career opportunities and this is an aspect that is recognized by important sectors of the population (Sarasa et al., 2013).

Comments such as those noted above illustrate how the strategists realized the importance of developing competences and skills that would enable them to enter a second career. One of the former Olympians (now a sports manager) who fitted this profile stated:

It was clear to me that I couldn’t just ask for a job by saying I was an Olympic champion. Have you got a job for me? What can you offer me? I have a bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree and I’ve got work experience”.

Other similar comments of this kind included ‘what was clear to me was that without qualifications you won’t get anywhere nowadays’, or, ‘what kind of job can you find without qualifications?’.

Those Olympians who went down the university route subsequently entered a second career related to their studies, and they reported being satisfied with their jobs. A complementary strategy to obtaining university qualifications that was used by many Olympians was to take up a job or jobs either as a volunteer or for a trial period, or perhaps to accept a paid job before their sporting career ended. For example, Ramon (now an IT technician) said that he began working for a telecommunications firm before retiring from sport. Adopting this kind of strategy meant that Olympians already had a degree of work experience and contacts by the time they finished their sporting career, and combining the two activities also enabled them to make a more gradual transition from sport to another job. Furthermore, those who already had a new job when they retired from sport avoided the feeling of not knowing what to do. For example, Gabriel (now a product manager) stated, ‘I was lucky, as after retiring I didn’t go through that stage of not knowing what to do, that feeling of hearing the alarm go off and not knowing how you’re going to fill the day’. In this regard it is worth noting that the Olympians who managed to combine both activities the longest (i.e. sport and work in a related field) are those who found work in sports organizations.

The third key strategy was putting some money aside so that it wouldn’t be necessary to accept the first job that was offered. As Juan (now a sports manager) said:

Although I had some very tempting offers, I was sure I didn’t want to be a coach. I could wait until I found a job I liked. But you have to remember, I could afford this luxury because I had my savings to fall back on.

Although the amount that an individual athlete will be able to save will depend on the sport in question all the former Olympians who fitted this profile had taken this strategy into account.

Finally, these Olympians were aware of and knew how to take advantage of their popularity and contacts. Indeed, making use of one’s contacts was a strategy that was consciously used by many in this group. As Andreu (now a physicist) noted:

When you enter the world of sport you’re fairly well known…and let’s say you have your networking, your contacts, you know lots of people and the chances of getting a job are very high.

Through developing these strategies the Olympians in this group have greater control over the question of when to retire, with a voluntary decision being viewed as more satisfactory. For example, Antonio (now a sports manager) said, ‘I decided to retire from sport when they offered me a job’. A further point is that the development of a new professional life alongside their sporting career provides these Olympians with a broader identity and makes the transition easier, ‘You feel like an athlete and a student at the same time, you’ve got your foot in more than one camp. So, when one finishes you know you have the other’ (Marta, now a physiotherapist).

The non-strategists

Almost all the Olympians in the non-strategists group failed throughout their sporting career to think about their future. Clara (now a sports monitor and receptionist) said, ‘Until I considered retiring from sport I never gave much thought to what I would do afterwards’. A similar comment was made by Roberto (now a sports monitor):

I don’t know, it’s as if it had to last your whole life, isn’t it. You can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. I never thought about my future.

Among non-strategists, expressions such as ‘living in a bubble’ or ‘being in an unreal world’ were used to describe their experiences. For these former Olympians, competing and training was their life, and they gave no thought to future employment and the need to prepare for it. In the words of Alba (now a teacher):

You give 100% to sport, to training. You sleep, you train and that’s it.You don’t need to worry about anything else, because it’s all arranged for you, all you have to do is train.

A similar point was made by Rosa (now sports mentor and coach), who recognized that ‘…training was [her] number one priority in life’. These comments illustrate how the identity of these athletes was founded exclusively on sport. Indeed, as a result of their dedication, they soon found that their lives were completely taken over by their sport.

For this group of former Olympians the transition to a second career was more difficult because they had no other qualifications and no experience in the world of work. As Rosa (now sports mentor and coach) put it:

It was hard to find a job, you haven’t got any experience, you don’t know where to look, what to look for (…). So you go through something like a period of depression.

Another interviewee, Clara (now a sports monitor and receptionist), said:

Going back is a tough change; it’s a shock to have to say: Now what? Going out into the outside world … There (at the high-performance centre) it’s as if you’re in a bubble (…)when you leave sport behind you tell yourself you’ve got to find a job, but what kind of job? You’re faced with a lot of doubts.

In contrast to what occurred in the strategists group the parents of non-strategists seemed to show little concern for their child’s future employment. For example, Julia (now a shop assistant) stated:

My parents never pushed me in any way. Because my father worked all day and my mother had to take care of six children … They were happy I could make a living through sport.

A similar comment was made by Oscar (now a policeman):

My family supported me in my sporting career, but the other side of things (future employment)… well, they weren’t worried and they didn’t ask me about it. You have your own life… they don’t pressure you or say anything to you.

It is worth noting in this context that none of the mothers or fathers of former Olympians in the non-strategists group had higher education qualifications or a professional career.

Interestingly, non-strategists often began by arguing that during their sporting career their training and competitive commitments meant they had had no time for other matters – such as studying or work. As the interviews progressed, however, some of them ended up acknowledging their role in this process. For example, Rosa (now a sports mentor and coach) stated the following, ‘I recognize that I lacked willpower when it came to my future, I didn’t persevere, I didn’t make enough of an effort’. Thus, in contrast to the strategists most of the Olympians in this group did not perceive the need to plan their retirement, and seemed instead to feel that they were carried along by circumstances beyond their control. This is illustrated by comments such as, ‘I retired because I was burnt out…in your head you want to go on but your body says no’ (Rosa, sports mentor and coach); or ‘They took away my funding because of my age… they wanted better results and eventually I lost my motivation, so I gave it up’ (David, sports monitor and lifeguard).

A further related point is that non-strategists often found the transition to life after competitive sport to be very difficult, as noted by Rosa, who said ‘I got into a very depressive state’. Indeed, the interviews with non-strategists showed that they had more problems with their retirement from sport and found it much harder to adjust. They also reported being less satisfied with their professional choice and/or success: ‘I work as a monitor and lifeguard, it’s not something I particularly enjoy, but there you go’; or ‘I’m not especially satisfied with my job, but there you go’ (Julia, now a shop assistant). However, it should be noted that one former Olympian in this group (Rosa, now sports mentor and coach) said she felt very fortunate to have ended up with the job she has: ‘I’m happy now with my job, I’ve been lucky, very lucky’.

Discussion

This study contributes to the existing literature on career transitions by examining how a group of Spanish Olympians perceived their future after retirement from competitive sport and by identifying the strategies they implemented in order to face this challenge. Specifically, it aimed to shed light on the ways in which they prepare for their professional future before their sporting career comes to an end. The analysis of these aspects led us to define two broad groups, which we referred to as strategists and non-strategists. Olympians who were classified as strategists built up more human capital through the acquisition of core competences during their sports career (Arthur et al., 1999), and, as suggested by Castells (2000), they were able to create value that could help them enter a new workplace.

The analysis also showed how an awareness of time (i.e. of the future) and the ability to take practical steps (specific strategies) both play important roles in the transition to a second career. This finding supports the view that the resources needed for successful entry into the labour market must be developed at an earlier age (Ek et al., 2005). In this regard the persistent encouragement of the family (especially as a result of their own qualifications and professional career), trainers and clubs was seen as very important.

Previous studies have shown that educational status is closely related to difficulties arising at the occupational level (Ek et al., 2005). For most of our interviewees the kind of job they obtained after retiring from sport was consistent with their qualifications. Indeed, more highly educated Olympians had greater professional knowledge and more employment opportunities and, consequently, they experienced fewer difficulties when seeking to enter and develop a second career (Cecić Erpič et al., 2004; Murphy et al., 1996; Williams-Ryce, 1996).

Research has also suggested that some athletes are not disadvantaged in their post-sport professional life when compared with the general population (González Fernández and Torregrosa, 2009; Kneyer, 1980; Lötscher et al., 1979; Vilanova, 2009). As we noted earlier, athletes in Germany generally have better educational qualifications and professional positions than do the normal population (Conzelmann and Nagel, 2003). This was certainly the case of our strategists group and it is consistent with the view that being an elite athlete has a positive effect when it comes to facing a second career (Conzelmann and Nagel, 2003; Eisen and Turner, 1992; Gabler, 1997; González Fernández and Torregrosa, 2009). However, for both strategists and non-strategists, factors such as acquired popularity might also enable the step into vocational autonomy, while sporting achievement and established personal contacts may facilitate entry into a second professional life (Gabler, 1997; Heinemann, 1998; Nagel and Conzelmann, 2006; Puig and Vilanova, 2006). Whatever the case, our findings also support the idea that Olympians have a limited choice of studies and, for some of them, especially the non-strategists, being engaged in top-level sport is accompanied by difficulties in school and a rejection of vocational training (Hackfort et al., 1997; Jackson et al., 1998; López de Subijana et al., 2014; Vilanova and Puig, 2013), mainly because they lack awareness regarding their professional future.

The results show that the strategies developed by Olympians lead to clear differences in the quality of the subsequent career transition. This finding provides support for previous studies which found that athletes who planned their retirement in advance reported feeling more in control of the retirement process and had higher levels of self-efficacy with regard to post-athletic career adaptation (Alfermann and Stambulova, 2007; Blinde and Stratta, 1992; McPherson, 1980; Taylor and Ogilvie, 1994; Webb et al., 1998). As stated by Alfermann and Stambulova (2007), athletes who plan their retirement (strategists) in advance do not waste their energy going in wrong directions and they are able to mobilize and use their resources more effectively than are those athletes who do not plan ahead (the non-strategists).

Our findings are also in line with those from previous studies where it was argued that an involuntary and unplanned retirement may complicate the adjustment process shortly after career termination (Blinde and Stratta, 1992; Stambulova et al., 2009). Among our interviewees the strategists planned their career termination and its timing was often linked to a specific event such as finishing further education or securing new employment, as was the case with the German athletes in the study by Stambulova et al. (2009).

Identity is another factor that has been shown to be important for coping with retirement (Brewer et al., 2000; Grove et al., 1997; Stier, 2007). Among our interviewees the identity of strategists was based on more than just sport, whereas the more narrowly focused identity of non-strategists meant that they found the transition to a new career more difficult.

For both groups the family was a relevant factor in terms of how the athletes experienced the transition to a second career and the strategies they implemented in the process. The families of strategists were insistent and played a key role in making them aware of the need to plan for a future beyond competitive sport. In contrast, one of the aspects highlighted by non-strategists was the relative indifference shown by their families. Examination of the educational level and professional status of parents revealed notable differences between the two groups, with both these variables being superior in the strategist group. These findings are consistent with Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction, which has been confirmed on numerous occasions by empirical studies in a variety of disciplines. Because the family context of athletes is characterized by particular forms of economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital, their experience of the transition to a second career and the strategies they implement in the process will vary according to the nature of these forms of capital. Indeed, the mechanisms of social reproduction act on all levels.

In summary, our findings suggest that planning for the future and the development of strategies during their sporting career enables Olympians to make a smoother transition into new employment. These ‘strategist’ Olympians seem to have a greater freedom of choice and an identity that extends beyond sport, aspects which have been considered decisive in previous studies (Stambulova et al., 2009). The family also plays a key role in relation to whether or not athletes are aware of the need to plan for, and take active steps towards, a second career.

Conclusions

According to Alfermann et al. (2004) and Stambulova et al. (2007) the transition to a second career is a process involving (a) pre-conditions for retirement, (b) coping and related factors and (c) outcomes/long-term consequences. More specifically, this transition process is multidimensional (changes in several spheres of life), multilevel (changes on various psychological levels, from emotional reactions to personal identities) and multifactor (various interrelated factors that influence the process).

The main contribution of the present study has been to focus on how these transitions are conducted. Specifically, we have shown how the concepts of strategy and transition can be usefully combined in order to understand the relationship between how athletes experience a second career and what they do as a result. Indeed, the analysis of what these Spanish Olympians experienced regarding their second career and the strategies (how) they used in order to prepare for it has highlighted the importance of an awareness of time and the ability to take practical actions. This led us to identify two broad groups: strategists and non-strategists. In terms of supporting the transition to a second career the athletes in each of these groups would require specific kinds of help in accordance with their needs. For example, those Olympians who are able to develop their own strategies could simply be helped to implement them. Conversely, with those who do not even consider their second career it would be necessary first to make them and their support team aware of the need to prepare for a future beyond sport, because otherwise they will see no point in making use of existing support programmes.

More importantly perhaps, the present findings go some way to resolving the debate about whether being a top-level sportsperson makes it easier to enter a second career. By distinguishing Olympians according to their use of strategies our study shows that the strategists are indeed able to use their sporting career to facilitate the transition to future employment, whereas the non-strategists are unable to do so because they focus exclusively on their sporting identity, remaining disconnected from other spheres. Hence, the apparent contradiction in previous findings can be resolved by analysing not merely how athletes perceived their future but also the strategies they put in place, on the basis of these perceptions, in order to manage the transition to a second career.

Our research builds a bridge between psychology and sociology by connecting, on the one hand, athletes’ experience of the transition to a second career and the strategies they implement (the individual level) with, on the other, the importance of the family context in which this process is lived out. The findings also illustrate how mechanisms of social reproduction can influence what are apparently individual decisions.

The present study does have a number of limitations. First, and as pointed out in the method section, the retrospective design could produce a recall bias. One way for future research to counter this would be to employ prospective, longitudinal designs that follow athletes throughout their careers, interviewing athletes’ families about events, or building up timelines with the athlete to stimulate recall, etc. The second limitation is that these findings cannot be generalized beyond the study population, which comprised only a small number of Olympians. Further studies are therefore needed to obtain data from less successful athletes who nonetheless train as hard as the present respondents. Finally, and in relation to the development of strategies and the ability to combine a sporting career with other work or further/higher education, it would be interesting to compare ‘richer’ and ‘poorer’ sports, and also to make more detailed comparisons of men and women and of Olympians from different countries.

Our aim now is to examine each of these three limitations in greater depth in subsequent research.

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Institut Nacional d’Educacio Fisica de Catalunya (INEFC), the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Consejo Superior de Deportes [06UPB2005].

Notes

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