Retirement from Competitive Sport: The Experiences of Kenyan Soccer Athletes

Abstract

Career building is a monumental task especially in performance oriented entreprises such as competitive soccer. Beyond career building, career transition/termination is riddled with diverse outcomes accentuated under different theories. The purpose of this study was to unearth causes of retirement, coping strategies, problems experienced and perceived intervention programmes needed to address the plight of retired soccer athletes in Kenya. Data was collected through questionnaires from n = 18 retired soccer athletes. Finding indicate that subjects retired from soccer due to different causes, bordering on age and conflict with sports administrators, employ diverse coping strategies, experience numerous problems and a myriad of intervention programmes are tenable. It is recommended that sports administrators and other consultants need to actively engage their athletes in pre-retirement planning and intervention programmes need to be put in place to address the plight of retired soccer athletes.