Should Sports be Your Identity?

Sports as an identity has been seen as a daunting idea to most. According to Trine University, “Athletes that focus their lives on their sport may lose who they are without it, so retirement could be detrimental to their psychological identity.” This idea of sports being a part of athlete’s identity has been in question for years. There are ideas that once an athlete’s career ends, they should leave it in the past and no longer affiliate with being an athlete. And there are others who believe sports will always be a part of your identity forever regardless of future involvement in sports. When an athlete’s career ends, it is important to remember, you will always be an athlete.

According to the Player Development Project, there are two ways athletes deal with retiring from their sport. Those being, “1. Athletes who keep their entire athletic identity when they leave sport and do not want to let go and move on. 2. Athletes who completely dismiss their athletic careers and discard it in order to move forward. Both scenarios are not healthy. There must be a balance”. Throughout my research, a common denominator of how athletes can move forward when their career ends, is finding the balance between holding on and letting go. Finding the balance can be daunting to athletes because for millions of athletes, being an athlete is all they know what to be.

How Sports Impacts Other Aspects of Life

Speaking from personal experience, being a dedicated athlete growing up has its perks of self-discovery and development of life skills, and can also give you relationships you may have never thought would be possible or foreseeable without sports. I moved on to ask my interviewees about how they think sports have impacted other aspects of their lives such as relationships or careers. Maddie discussed how soccer gave her the opportunity to meet people from different places because she played soccer. “I got to travel to different places, I met girls I didn’t go to school with, and I met some of my best friends because I chose to play collegiate soccer. I would not have met a lot of the people in my life if it weren’t for soccer.”

When I asked Kate and Jacey this question, I wanted to keep in mind that they are still involved in sports, so I asked them if they were not involved in sports with their career, how playing sports would’ve impacted their lives. Kate stated, “I don’t think I would be as happy as I am if I wasn’t involved in sports. It brings every opportunity in my life in some aspect, sports teach you so much at a young age, and I think the people who really dedicate themselves to their sport, learn so many life lessons. Playing sports prepares you for the next phase of your life whether it has sports or not in it. You are more involved with the people you work with; you build deeper connections rather than surface level”.

And lastly Jacey stated, “Even if I was not involved in collegiate sports, I would have always been involved in sports because I was a physical education teacher. I never thought my life would not have sports”. All three of these people have been athletes their whole lives, but all of them essentially insinuate how the relationships they made through sports, is what keeps them close to sports. Jacey went on further to discuss how if she had not been approached to coach at North Central College, she never would’ve made lifelong friends like Kate. She also mentioned how being involved in sports gave her more of an appreciation for certain relationships she created which would not have been possible without sports.

I wanted to look into how sports can provide preparation for athletes moving on from their sports. According to JobSkills, sports fosters leadership skills, discipline, and a greater sense of confidence. These attributes that are created through playing sports, can ultimately help athletes land jobs, and allow them to go further in their career. Another point noted in this research discussed how employers love to see someone who can think quickly and be ready to take action- which are two things athletes were bred to be able to do naturally. In addition, a good quality that athletes take with them when they go into the professional world is the ability to foster good teamwork skills according to TrueSport. Being able to work with a team is an essential part of playing sports, which forces athletes to develop teamwork skills at an early age.

Sports as the Sole Identity

Every athlete has been told to not revolve their identity in athletics alone, because one day it will end, and athletes need to be able to move forward. This issue does not have a one size fits all solution because everyone values their sport in different ways. According to Sport Digest, athletes can experience an imbalance of identity and begin to only focus on sport as their identity. This can be harmful in ways once an athlete’s career ends and the next chapter of their life begins. And a statement made by Athletes Connected, that athletes should remember, is that sports are what we do, not who we are.

 I asked each of my interviewees how much of their identity they saw in sports. When I asked Maddie to describe her identity, she stated that she was a daughter, a student, and someone who works hard for what she wants. When I asked Kate and Jacey this question, I asked how they would describe their identity as an athlete and as a coach. Kate stated, “I was the type of player that believed my identity was about being an athlete. But now as I am on the other side of things where I get to coach the next generation of athletes, being just an athlete shouldn’t be your identity. We want our players to be successful while they’re here but more so than that, we want them to be successful after those four years”. Jacey had a similar response which was, “I was the type of player that didn’t care how I was perceived on the field. I wanted to win and sometimes the things I said could have been worded differently to my teammates. But as I sit as a coach today, the best thing I got out of being a graduate assistant is the relationship I have built with the players, I wanted to be someone who helps you along the road, and that is always my goal”.

To hear all 3 of these people, discuss throughout my interviews that sports was a part of their identity and always will be, but for reasons other than you may think truly made me understand why we play sports. A research study by BMC Psychology, stated that athletes play sports because it influences self-esteem, competency, success, and promotes performance. After research and interviews, it has come to my attention that sports can create a top performer in all aspects of life, not just in sports.

Balancing Self and Sport

I had the intention of finding out how to disassociate sports from our identity at the beginning of my research and interviews. But as I continued to research and talk to my interviewees; there is no way to disassociate from sports. Of course, Kate and Jacey are involved in sports, but they always brought up how their past of playing shaped them into who they are today, and how they want to lead the next generation. Maddie mentioned early on in our interview that sports are not her whole identity but were rather a part of it. I found it absolutely beautiful how none of them discussed how they like to win or receive medals for playing sports, but the people and life lessons they learned is the part of the sport identity that stays with you. When you are nearing the end of your athletic career, and fear that you won’t know what to do when it’s over because sports has been your life for years; know that it’s normal to have that fear. However, there are solutions to navigate that feeling of uncertainty.

Those solutions are finding balance in holding on to those life lessons, skills, and qualities you learned from playing sports, but also letting go of the things you cannot get back like practices and games. Secondly, according to Purpose Soul Athletics, giving gratitude to the career you had, regardless of how long you had it; can allow you to hold on to the good and let go of what you no longer need. And finally, holding on to the people you met along the way that helped shape you into the person you are today, that part of your sport identity, is a blessing and can give you more opportunities to grow. By practicing these three tips, you can use your sport identity to grow in other aspects of life.