The Retirement Experiences of Elite Female Gymnasts: Self Identity and the Physical Self

By K. Warriner, D. Lavallee. 2008

177 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study explored experiences of retirement from elite sport among a sample of retired female gymnasts. Given the young age at which female gymnasts begin and end their sport careers, particular attention was afforded to the role of identity and the physical self in the process of adaptation. Retrospective, semi-structured interviews were conducted and interview transcripts analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Analysis indicated that retirement from gymnastics engendered adjustment difficulties for six of the seven participants. Identity loss was particularly salient, and for two gymnasts, physical changes associated with retirement were a further source of distress. The challenge of athletic retirement was intensified because the gymnasts had heavily invested in sport during adolescence, a period demarcated for the pursuit of an identity. Furthermore, their retirement coincided with a time when adolescents typically undergo profound changes physiologically. Practical suggestions to facilitate athletes’ disengagement from sport are discussed.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ad3bb65e9b955d65a1af6be6e6ac10c5a95ab90c

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In Developmental and Educational Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

Sporting embodiment: sports studies and the (continuing) promise of phenomenology (2009, methodology): “Warriner and Lavallee (2008), for example, in their IPA study of”
Athletes' career transition out of sport: a systematic review (2013, methodology): “Planning for post-sport life included psychological preparation before sport career end, and having a clear goal outside of sport gave retired athletes a feeling of comfort (e.g., Warriner & Lavallee, 2008; Young, Pearce, Kane, & Pain, 2006).”
A meta-study of athletic identity research in sport psychology: Current status and future directions (2016, methodology): “…to elite sport Inductive and deductive analysis (Patton, 2002); coding as outlined by Strauss & Corbin (1998) Semi-structured interviews Warriner & Lavallee (2008) Career termination Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, Jarman, & Osborn, 1999) Structured interviews…”
Living, resisting, and playing the part of athlete: Narrative tensions in elite sport (2013, background): “His story challenges the argument that achieving excellence prohibits exploration of alternative roles and behaviours (Warriner & Lavallee, 2008) and requires the sacrifice of relationships (Holt & Dunn, 2004).”