Career Transition Support for the Motorsport Community
The Evidence Base
“Half of retired sportspeople have concerns over mental and emotional wellbeing”
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BBC State of Sport 2018 report
We believe that every person in the motor racing industry should have access to high quality, tailored career transition support.
Here, we bring together some of the research that underpins our work.
A selection of extracts from articles and research demonstrating the need for career transition support for sportspeople and dancers.
BBC State of Sport 2018 report
Headline: Half of retired sportspeople have concerns over mental and emotional wellbeing
“Retired athletes also told the BBC they "lose their identity" when they finish playing sport, experiencing "loss", "regret" and "devastation".
One in two ex-players of the 800 who responded to the Professional Players' Federation (PPF) survey did not feel in control of their lives within two years of finishing their careers.”
Key State of Sport findings:
Many former sportspeople report a loss of identity after retiring and struggle to move on in life.
The struggle to find a new purpose can lead to more serious problems such as depression, self-harm, addiction and financial problems.
Even the best-prepared athletes struggle - retirement can be like a grieving process.
A focus on success can hinder an athlete's prospects of planning for life after retirement.
Sport has improved in recent years in the welfare and transition help it provides to athletes. Baroness Grey-Thompson's 2017 duty of care report as part of the UK Government's sport strategy, Sporting Future, recommended further steps.
However, many people interviewed say more investment is needed in transition programmes and an independent national governing body.
Other notable responses from the survey:
Only four in 10 of those who felt they had an issue with their mental and emotional wellbeing had sought help.
Fewer than one in 10 former players had sought help for drug, alcohol or gambling problems.
Only three in 10 former players were able to choose when they stopped playing professional sport.
Just over half of respondents reported financial difficulties in the five years after stopping playing.
2. Key Conclusions from the Professional Players Federation study of the mental, physical and financial wellbeing of retired professional sportsmen
Cultivate a culture which reinforces the benefits of asking for help.
Continue to build support networks to help players prepare for life after sport.
Understand the importance to players of feeling fulfilled by the sporting career. Encourage them to focus on their achievements, not their failures
Recognise the more challenging transition faced by players whose careers end prematurely/abruptly
Support players after retirement – especially through the key transition stage (1-2 years)
3. Making Changes in Advance Research Report
“Dance is a career that entails an extraordinarily high level of passion, commitment, extensive periods of training, and a professional life that is relatively brief, since many dancers have to retire in their early thirties and some even earlier....For professional dancers reaching the end of their performing careers, this confluence of factors creates economic, psychological, and educational difficulties for which they are often ill-equipped and which are likely to have a profound effect on the rest of their lives. Having lived in a relatively inward-looking and intensely focused world, they find themselves suddenly cast out from the stimulus and support that the dance world provided. Our research indicates that the skills and experience that professional dancers accumulate during their dancing years, including self-discipline, team work and stamina, are significant and transferable resources that are in danger of being wasted as their active dancing careers come to an end. Thus, inadequacy of career transition support not only creates significant challenges for individual dancers, but also imposes a social cost in the form of wasted human capital.”
In this case it would be entirely possible to replace the word ‘dancer’ with ‘racer’ and reach identical conclusions.
4. Making Changes: Facilitating the Transition of Dancers to Post-Performance Careers Research Report
p.62
“The survey results also show a markedly higher level of post-transition career satisfaction among those fully prepared to meet transition than among those not fully prepared. An unweighted mean of 84 percent of the fully prepared dancers indicated career satisfaction, whereas only 51 percent of those not fully prepared reported being satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their post-transition career… The implication of these results is not surprising: Preparedness to meet the challenges of transition, however that preparation is obtained, gives the individual dancer a marked advantage in dealing with the transition process and in attaining a favorable outcome in terms of income and job-satisfaction in the post-transition career.”
5. Real life stories
Lizzie Simmonds, retired Olympic swimmer on retirement
Jens Voigt, retired professional road bicycle racer on transition
Chris Collins, retired professional hockey player
Hayley Wickenheiser, retired professional hockey player
6. Some existing support organisations for athletes and dancers