Once the cheering stops: The life of a retired pro-athlete

After reading the two articles and watching the ESPN documentary, I feel more informed about players after they retire from their professional athletic careers.

In society, there is a huge focus on the current athletes and the sport itself. Not too many people think about the players after their career ends. Unless you were a superstar like Michael Jordan or etc, you are often overlooked after your career. The life of the retired athlete according to the articles and documentary can differ. In the documentary, the people that are interviewed explain how most athletes end up broke and filing for bankruptcy or some end up making more money than they did when they were athletes. They explained how often times athletes have such a bad habit of spending money, they don't realize that they aren't bringing in enough money to live their lifestyle anymore. They also say, the athletes who were successful were the ones who put aside money and decided that they need to have a plan after retiring from sports.

The transition from playing to retiring was hard for some and easy for others. The situation differed. Like stated, some athletes had a plan after their sports career would end. Those were the ones who were successful, went back to school, operated businesses, and even invested money. There were others who had accumulated so much money, they continued to live a comfortable lifestyle until they were forced to try to budget. One example they gave in the documentary was that some athletes had commitments of paying for family expenses or child support and through the transition was not able to afford these commitments. Depending on how well you planned, deemed if you were successful after retiring.

I think that these athletes struggle with the transition because they often times are under the impression that they are going to be consistently making their salary. In the articles/documentary, we learned that some athletes will get hurt and get a small severance check. This severance check is no where near what their salary is. With them developing the habit of unrealistic spending, they are so comfortable with their lifestyle they don't know any other way to live. I think this reflects society because be deem athletes successful based on popularity and  how much money you make. If athletes main focus is money, then they can get lost on what to do when they don't have that reliable paycheck.

I believe that major sport organizations need to continue to perform and better their rookie programs in order to educate young athletes about the life changes that they are going through. I think most people don't realize how drastic your life changes. In the documentary one athlete said, you become an instant millionaire. I think that is crazy to think about.

According to an article titled Life after Sport, they said an important quote: "It is often said a sports star will die twice, once after retirement". This quote demonstrates how these athletes are not prepared to live outside of their professional athletic lives. It shows that society needs to show how money isn't a resource that you can obtain whenever you want. You have to work hard for it even after you retire. I think major sport organizations need to prepare athletes for the world outside of professional sports.

References: ESPN's "30 for 30
ESPN_retired athletes
NYT_retired athletes
http://www.thesportinmind.com/articles/life-after-sport-depression-in-retired-athletes/