Retirement of disabled athletes: an exploratory study on causes and consequences in national athletes of Korea

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons athletes with disabilities retire, their retirement process, and their life after retirement in view of the difficulties they may encounter after retirement. This study was conducted as a qualitative study. Methods: 10 retired para-athletes from Korean national teams were selected as research participants through the snowball extraction method. The procedure consisted of a group interview and an individual interview over a total of four stages. For systematic interpretation suitable for the purpose of the study, the collected data were classified and interpreted using domain analysis and taxonomic analysis among cultural analysis methods. Results: Firstly, athletes with disabilities retired for four reasons: declining physical strength and performance, neglecting injuries, difficulties maintaining their livelihood, and a lack of business-sponsored sports team. Second, the retirement process experienced by disabled athletes appeared in three stages: a temporary retirement phase, an incomplete retirement phase, and a full retirement phase. Third, after athletes with disabilities have retired, their lives change. Although the participants enjoyed positive aspects of retirement including a rest period, they also experienced feelings of absurdity, regret, and alienation from the processes involved in social adaptation. Conclusions: The findings revealed that national athletes with disabilities retired because of a decline in physical strength and performance, neglecting their injuries, their inability to maintain their livelihood, and a lack of business-sponsored sports teams. Second, the retirement process of athletes with disabilities encompassed three stages: temporary retirement, incomplete retirement, and full retirement. Third, their retirement adaptation patterns included extra leisure time, feelings of absurdity, regret, and isolation, and financial difficulties. The study provides basic data on the retirement of athletes with disabilities for future studies.

Disabled athlete; Reasons for retirement; Retirement process; Life after retirement; Sports retirement

[1] Kang EN. A Exploratory Study on Multiple Trajectories of Life Satisfaction during Retirement Transition: Applied Latent Class Growth Analysis. Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies. 2013; 44: 85–112.

[2] Yeung DY. Adjustment to retirement: effects of resource change on physical and psychological well-being. European Journal of Ageing. 2018; 15: 301–309.

[3] Topa G, Valero E. Preparing for retirement: how self-efficacy and resource threats contribute to retirees’ satisfaction, depres-sion, and losses. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 2017; 26: 811–827.

[4] Han H, Kang E, Baek S. Factors influencing life style of retired elderly people. Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing. 2002; 4: 195–206.

[5] Barker D, Barker-Ruchti N, Rynne S, Lee J. Moving out of Sports: a Sociocultural Examination of Olympic Career Transi-tions. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching. 2014; 9: 255–270.

[6] Kontos AP. Developmental Sport and Exercise Psychology: a Lifespan Perspective. The Sport Psychologist. 2004; 18: 350–352.

[7] KimChongHwan, JaeSeung Hong. The Study of Perception on Retirement for Professional Soccer Players. Korean Journal of Sport Science. 2015; 26: 320–328.

[8] Kuettel A, Boyle E, Schmid J. Factors contributing to the quality of the transition out of elite sports in Swiss, Danish, and Polish athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2017; 29: 27–39.

[9] Seo YH. The structural relationship among athlete’s retirement expectation, psychological sense of crisis, level of retirement preparation and re-socialization. The Korean Journal of Sports Science. 2012; 21: 393–406.

[10] Fisher LA, Wrisberg CA. How to Handle Athletes Transitioning out of Sport. Athletic Therapy Today. 2007; 12: 49–50.

[11] Lally P. Identity and athletic retirement: a prospective study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2007; 8: 85–99.

[12] Won Y, Kim J. Relationship among the Type of Captain Leader-ship, Cohesion, and Perceived Athletic Performance in the Mid-dle and High School Soccer Team. The Korean Journal of Phys-ical Education. 2017; 56: 109–120.

[13] Martin LA, Fogarty GJ, Albion MJ. Changes in Athletic Iden-tity and Life Satisfaction of Elite Athletes as a Function of Re-tirement Status. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 2014; 26: 96–110.

[14] Shin KC. Study on the routine structure of the elementary school physical education classes. Seoul National University: Seoul, 2006.

[15] Tannenbaum N, Spradley JP. Participant Observation. Anthropological Quarterly. 1980; 53: 260.

[16] Guba EG. Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. ECTJ. 1981; 29: 75.

[17] Mathison S. Why Triangulate? Educational Researcher. 1988; 17: 13–17.

[18] Kim HB. Understanding adults’ participation in lifelong education with a marketing concept. Andragogy Today: International Journal of Adult & Continuing Education. 2007; 10: 87–109.

[19] Kang NW, No JK. Career barriers of retired female Taekwondo athletes. The Korean Journal of Sports Science. 2013; 11: 137–152.

[20] Park D, Won Y. Young Shin Won. Career Transition Process of former Korean National Ice Hockey Players. Korean Society for the Sociology of Sport. 2014; 27: 27–53.

[21] Jang S, Kim I. Retirement circumstances and social adaptation experience in the re-socialization process of badminton players. The Korean Journal of Physical Education. 2016; 55: 29–41.

[22] Lee SB, Cho MH. A study on social adaption of judo athletes post retirement. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2012; 24: 89–105.

[23] Kim K, Shin SH. A Study on the Foreign countries’ cases of Promotion of Athletes with disabilities -Based on the case study of Germany, England and China. Journal of Adapted Physical Activity and Exercise. 2013; 21: 57–69.

[24] Kim JT, Kim WS. Social Adaptation Process and Supporting Factors of Minor-league Professional Soccer Players after Re-tirement. Journal of Sport and Leisure Studies. 2014; 56: 105–121.

[25] Lee L. The effects of retirement experience and leisure satisfac-tion to the preparation levels for old age: Focused on the middle-aged. Ewha Woman’s University: Seoul. 2015.

[26] Lim SH. Unrealistic optimism and financial preparation for re-tirement of young adults. Ewha Woman’s University: Seoul. 2013.