Solidarity and camaraderie—A psychosocial examination of contact sport athletes’ career transitions

Abstract

When examining the difficulties contact sport athletes face in their career transitions, it is of serious value to investigate the unique role that the social experience of camaraderie and solidarity have had on the athletes during their careers. Consequently, the inability to recreate meaningful relationships after sport might play a significant role in shaping some of the difficulties—including psychological, motivational, emotional, and social struggles—that have been highlighted when considering the career transitions of this population. This paper examines the psychosocial dynamics of this loss by accessing qualitative research methods that evoke the subject experience of the athletes. When expressing accounts of their own lived-experience of this transition, participants often noted how difficult it was to recreate unique aspects of being a teammate—trust, sacrifice, resilience, fitting a specifically defined role, blunt honesty, and singular closeness—in their workplaces, life, and relationships after sport.

Keywords

• athletic career transition
• contact sports
• solidarity
• camaraderie
• social vacuum