Athletics has been a part of my life since I was about 5-years-old when my parents signed me up for Tiny-Tots soccer. I don’t know if that really counts since my main focus back then was to draw pictures in the dirt with my cleats instead of scoring goals, but regardless, it was the perfect introduction to a sport that would later become one of my biggest passions.
When you play a sport growing up, you lose a little bit of your awkwardness, you gain better coordination and a better understanding of the game, and eventually the sport starts to become a lot more competitive and a lot less social. Many of us grow out of our recreational teams and go on to play at the select or premier level, and some, like me, fall in love with the sport to the point that they decide to continue and play on in college.
The game begins to change you in many positive ways. You gain important skills, like how to play with a team, how to deal with adversity, and how to keep your composure in high-stress situations, among many others. These skills, in particular, will benefit you long past your time as an athlete. My athletic career has taught me so much about life and has helped shape me into the person I am today.
Unfortunately, there eventually comes a point when you must retire from your sport. Of course, you can always play in recreational leagues specifically geared towards adults, but it will never give you the same satisfaction that it did when you were in your prime. Here are just a few of the struggles that retired athletes face once they have said goodbye to the sport they love.
You lose a part of yourself
Leaving my sport was like going through a bad breakup. I cried a lot, and I went through a period where I couldn’t even touch a soccer ball without having a breakdown. I hung up my cleats and I swore to myself that I would never play again because it would never be the same. I know that sounds extreme and pretty dramatic, but at the time I couldn’t imagine letting it back into my life because it was the hardest thing in the world to let go.
When you have committed yourself like that to a sport, your team becomes your family, your coaches are your role models, and you live for the rush you get every time you take the field. Eventually, I got over the mourning phase and have recently begun to let my sport back into my life in smaller doses, but I was right; It’s not the same.
It’s hard to watch quietly from the sideline
Once you have gotten past your mourning phase, and you start attending games as a fan instead of a player, you face a whole new set of challenges. Nobody likes sitting on the sideline, but it’s much worse knowing that your time to shine is over for good. While watching other people play, your game-time mentality starts to kick in, and you become that obnoxious fan that keeps babbling about what the team should be doing differently.
It is easy to recognize the faults of the players and jump to the conclusion that, if you were given the opportunity to play and you were out on the field or the court, you could do it better. You wouldn’t have taken that bad touch, you wouldn’t have thrown up that air ball, and you wouldn’t have missed the frame of the goal—Of course not.
You constantly feel the need to fill that gaping hole in your schedule.
Throughout club soccer, I had practices two or three times a week, and in college I had practices daily (sometimes twice a day), as well as weight-training sessions throughout the week. The time commitment to a team is significant, not to mention juggling a full class schedule, other activities, and a social life. When you eliminate your athletic schedule, you are stuck with a lot of free time.
Free time is a very new concept for athletes, and it is so hard for us to just sit around. We are wired to want to be active and engage in an activity of some sort.I had to remind myself it is OK to take a breather and binge-watch Netflix, but after a while the life of a couch potato will get old and it will be time to get involved in new time-consuming activities. Change can be good, and there are many other opportunities out there if you keep an open mind.
Your competitive nature doesn’t fade. Ever.
As an athlete, your competitive spirit and drive to succeed make up a huge part of who you are. It is impossible to leave that competitiveness behind when you engage in non-sports related activities. You carry it with you in your everyday life, wherever you go, in whatever you do. Once you have retired from your sport, you start to become competitive about other things like work and school.
Being competitive isn’t a bad thing. On the contrary, I see it as an extremely positive trait to have. You are a go-getter and will stop at nothing until you have achieved your goals to the best of your ability. Even if there’s nobody around to compete with, you view yourself as competition and are constantly pushing yourself to be better.
Retiring is difficult, but your sport will always be a part of you. Your accomplishments, your memories, and the relationships you form throughout your athletic career will last a lifetime, and it is important not to lose sight of that.
