An In-depth Appraisal of Transitional Experiences in Elite Cricket

Psychologists regularly encounter athletes experiencing difficulties on their retirement (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007). Retirement from professional sport requires an element of adjustment from the individual concerned, which may include the resolution of the loss of sport in one’s life, the formation of an alternative principal identity, and the substitution of the athlete’s physical and emotional engagement in sport with an alternative. Transitions out of professional cricket have never been fully explored, with the majority of research into transition adaptation carried out on a multi-sport basis. Early studies suggested that transitional experiences may vary from sport to sport (e.g. Ball, 1976; Greendorfer & Blinde, 1985) yet cricket appears to have been overlooked in sport psychology research. Furthermore, it has been recently reported that cricketers specifically are 75% more likely than the general population in the United Kingdom to suffer from clinical psychological disorders on retirement (Frith, 2001 p.14). This objective of this study was to build upon existing literature and research in the sporting career transitions area by undertaking a qualitative study of individuals’ experiences in professional cricket to determine the quality and intricacies of their transitional experience. It is proposed that the information obtained from this study could be utilised by the sporting organisations for the purposes of improving and updating their ‘Performance Lifestyle Programme’.