For the vast majority of collegiate student athletes, sport retirement is an inevitable transition that they will face when finished with college. This study examined the impact a career development course had on fourth and fifth year student athletes who were faced with the sport retirement transition. Twenty-five student athletes who enrolled in the course over two quarters were compared to forty-two student athletes who participated as control group subjects not enrolled in the course. All subjects were tested on career maturity (Career Maturity Inventory), career self-efficacy (Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale), and their readiness to retire (Life Transitions Inventory for Athletes).
Students who enrolled in the career development course were trained in the areas of (1) identity exploration, particularly how to identify transferable skills from sports, (2) goal setting, and how to set realistic, achievable non-sport goals, (3) decision making, especially regarding career options and possibly graduate school, (4) communication skills, how to effectively network and interview with employers, (5) career training skills, such as resume writing and conducting an informational interview, and (6) future planning. The course was designed to give support to student athletes coping with this period in their life and to train them in the skills necessary for life after sports. Results of the study found that although participants in the course consistently scored in the expected direction on all three tests, these results were rarely statistically significant, owing in part to small sample size. Effect sizes, on the other hand, consistently were yielded moderate to high.
A description of the career program (Positive Transitions), demographic data of the subjects who participated in the study, the research design, and results of the study are provided. Implications for the development of career transition programs are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.