Falling Upward’ into Sports Retirement: A Rohrsian Exploration of the Sports Retirement Experience

Luke Jones, Nick J. Watson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Retirement from sport is widely reported as a challenging time of transition in the lives of elite athletes and is one that has been explored from a range of different perspectives both by sport psychologists and socio-cultural scholars of sport. However, of late, a small number of scholars have considered athlete career transition within the context of religion and spirituality, identifying the religious identity and belief of athletes as central to their transition experiences. That said, this work does not go as far as developing a theological understanding of sports retirement. Here, we explore and frame the phenomenon of sports retirement through the theological lens put forward by the neo-Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr in his book Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life. In this paper, we suggest how Rohr’s ideas might help develop an alternative and more nuanced understanding of sports retirement, building on those currently promoted in sport psychology and the sociology of sport the literature.
Original languageEnglish
Article number56
Number of pages10
JournalReligion
Volume15
Issue number1
Early online date31 Dec 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jan 2024

Funding

This research received no external funding

Keywords

  • Richard Rohr
  • falling upward
  • spirituality
  • sports retirement
  • transition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Religious studies

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