Facilitating and Supporting the Elite Athlete-to-Coach Transition: Lessons Learned from Norwegian Coaches and Federations

Abstract

Elite athletic career termination is inevitable in high performance sport. Whether due to interest, injury, age or combination of factors, athletes will undergo a shift in their professional and personal identity. While retirement out of sport has been scrutinized to both understand and support athletes, we have not thought through what the athlete-to-coach, within-sport retirement, signifies for the person undergoing it and for our applied practice and lack the approach(es) for supporting it. Based on recent research advances, we build on a range of resources to be developed in supporting athletes during the transition and in the coaching profession. Knowing how fast athletes transit to coaching, justifies how demanding and confusing this transition is. We [athletes] are like kids leaving home and sport seems to be failing us as a good parent. (Sigurd Pettersen, ski jumping, winner Four Hills Tournament 03-04, assistant coach US Women's ski jumping 04-05) Knowledge and interventions on athlete retirement and post-career transition outside sport have grown considerably (Park et al., 2013). Only recently has post-career transitioning inside sport, where an athlete transits from training and competing to coaching, attracted researchers' attention (e.g.,

Bridging Boundaries Between Life and Sport: Exploring Sports Coaches’ Micro Role Transitions

“…No such model exists for coaches and limited research has examined coaches' transitions within and beyond the context of sport. The few studies that have been conducted predominantly focus on significant life events, including transitioning from athlete to coach (Chroni & Dieffenbach, 2022;Chroni et al, 2020) and exiting the coaching profession (e.g., Knight et al, 2015).…”

Position Paper: Rationale for a Focused Attention on Mental Health of High-Performance Sports Coaches

“…Unfortunately, these transitions are often un-or under-supported, creating additional stress, particularly for novice coaches who lack essential skills and knowledge that would facilitate job satisfaction and performance (Chroni et al, 2020). Organizations and federations need to increase awareness and knowledge regarding strategies that support preparation for going into sport coaching as well as provide education, resources, and on-going professional development support for transitioning coaches (Chroni & Dieffenbach, 2021).…”

“…In addition, the range of within sport transitions (Chroni & Dieffenbach, 2021) from lower to higher levels of competitions (e.g., going from national to international, or junior to senior), from assistant to head coach, transitions between sports and ultimately, transitions out of sport, also require attention and support (Kenttä et al, 2016). New contexts create new contextual demands for the coach that may require a reassessment and realignment of existing resources for mitigating and managing the stress, or the development of new ones.…”

Del césped al banquillo: trayectorias de futbolistas semiprofesionales en su transición de jugar a entrenar

“…La transición de deportista a entrenador se produce de manera natural en todo el mundo y en todos los deportes (Blackett, Evans y Piggott, 2018;Chroni y Dieffenbach, 2022;Kavanagh, 2010), pero los escasos conocimientos que tenemos sobre ella nos limitan a la hora de proporcionar preparación y apoyo a quienes la experimentan (Chroni, Pettersen y Dieffenbach, 2020). Concretamente, en el presente estudio nos centraremos en investigar las trayectorias de futbolistas con talento que han desarrollado una transición desde futbolistas semiprofesionales hasta convertirse en entrenadores.…”