Transitioning Out of Professional Sport: The Psychosocial Impact of Career-Ending Non-Musculoskeletal Injuries Among Male Cricketers From England and Wales

in Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology

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Monna Arvinen-Barrow University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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Kelsey DeGrave Midwestern University

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Stephen Pack University of Hertfordshire

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Brian Hemmings Private Practice

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2017-0040
Keywords:
forced retirement from sport; interpretative phenomenological analysis; qualitative study
In Print:
Volume 13: Issue 4
Page Range:
629–644
Restricted access

The purpose of this study was to document the lived experiences of professional cricketers who had encountered a career-ending non-musculoskeletal injury. Three male cricketers each with over nine years of playing experience in professional cricket representing England and Wales participated in retrospective in-depth semi-structured interviews. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis revealed that at the time of the injury, the participants were at the “final stretch” of their professional sporting careers and that despite a range of unpleasant reactions to injury, all participants experienced a healthy career transition out of sport. To best prepare athletes for a life outside of sport, ensuring athletes have sufficient plans in motion early on in their careers can reduce external and internal stressors, which if not addressed, can increase sport injury risk and have a negative effect on athletes’ reactions post-injury.

Arvinen-Barrow is with the Dept. of Kinesiology - Integrative Health Care and Performance Unit, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI. DeGrave is with the Dept. of Clinical Psychology, Midwestern University. Pack is with the Dept. of Psychology and Sports Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom. Hemmings is with Private Practice, United Kingdom.

Address author correspondence to Monna Arvinen-Barrow at arvinenb@uwm.edu.
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