What happens when you don’t make the NHL? A qualitative investigation of the experiences of retired major junior hockey players

Research on career and life transitions has expanded to include unique sport transitions facing elite athletes. However, the psychological, social, and physical adjustments associated with athletic career transition and retirement continue to be under-researched (Smith & McManus, 2008), despite a significant body of literature suggesting that athletes who lack transitional coping skills are at greater risk of adverse outcomes (Cecic-Erpic, Wylleman, & Zupancic, 2004;Stephan, Bilard, Ninot, & Delignieres, 2003; Wylleman, Alferman, & Lavallee, 2004). Although conceptual models of career sport transition have gained support over the past several decades, studies examining the factors that help or hinder athletic career transitions in sport continue to be rare (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007). This results in a lack of effective interventions available to address the transitional needs of athletes before, during, and after career transition (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007; Smith & McManus, 2008; Taylor, Ogilvie, & Lavallee, 2005).

Nowhere is the emphasis on effective athletic career transitions more important than in Canadian major junior hockey. At just 16 years old, many major junior hockey players move away from home to pursue dreams of one day playing in the National Hockey League. Players are forced to adapt to a new city, new school, new teammates, and new coaching staff and after being traded to another organization, the transition process begins anew. Although recent literature has begun to investigate the retirement experiences of elite athletes in other competitive sports, very little is known about major junior hockey players’ experiences (Allain, 2013). Others have described the Canadian major junior hockey league (CHL) as a closed community, plagued by suspicious coaches and management officials that commonly restrict access to the institution and its players (Robinson, 1998). Players have been reported to perpetuate the league’s insulation from external scrutiny through carefully worded accounts that guard the best interests of the institution and, subsequently, their personal athletic careers (Allain, 2013).

In an attempt to capture the authentic stories of major junior hockey players, the proposed research project aims to collect retrospective accounts of retired CHL athletes’ experiences to better understand the factors that facilitate and impede athletic career transitions. This pilot study will assume a qualitative research design, using a sample of approximately eight former major junior hockey athletes who recently retired from the sport. The participants will be selected through purposive sampling methods via the personal contacts of the researcher. Congruent with previous qualitative studies investigating athletic retirement (Lavallee & Robinson, 2007), the interviews will trace career transition experiences from a temporal perspective—collecting information regarding the participants’ experiences as elite hockey players, the circumstances surrounding their retirement from the major junior hockey, and their experiences around transition away from elite sport. Audio-recorded interviews will then undergo interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify emergent themes across the participant’s reported experiences.

The proposed project and similar research studies are essential in the effort to better understand the factors that impact the career transitions of major junior hockey athletes. Not only would these findings be relevant to researchers studying athletic career transitions but resulting trends may also have the potential to inform sports psychology and career counselling interventions at the practitioner level (Park, Lavallee, & Tod, 2013; Robinson et al., 2007; Smith & McManus, 2008). As the older sister of a former major junior hockey player and a Skate Canada professional figure skating coach, I have a vested interest in giving voice to athletes’ experiences. I believe that the results of proposed research study have the potential to inform athletes, parents, coaches, and sport administrators about how to better foster healthy athletic and personal development. This research project is not only an opportunity generate the awareness necessary to improve the competitive and athletic transition experiences of Canadian major junior hockey players; rather, such research also has the potential to inform institutional and league changes that facilitate athletes’ success even after they have stepped off the ice and hung up their skates.

Author Bio

Lauren K. McCoy is a graduate student in the Master of Science Counselling Psychology program at the University of Calgary. She completed her Bachelor of Science – Psychology Specialization & Industrial Internship Degree at the University of Alberta. As a Skate Canada professional figure skating coach, she is passionate about giving voice to the experiences of elite athletes and improving career transitions away from competitive sport.

References

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Cecic-Erpic, S., Wylleman, P., & Zupancic, M. (2004). The effect of athletic and non-athletic factors on the sports career termination process. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 45-59.doi:10.1016/S1469-0292(02)00046-8

Lavallee, D., & Robinson, H. K. (2007). In pursuit of an identity: A qualitative exploration of retirement from women’s artistic gymnastics. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8,119-141. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2006.05.003

Park, S., Lavallee, D., & Tod, D. (2013). Athletes’ career transition out of sport: A systematic review. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 6(1), 22-53. doi:10.1080/1750984X.2012.687053

Robinson, L. (1998). Crossing the line: violence and sexual assault in Canada’s national sport. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.

Robinson, D., Barnes, K. B., Nixon, G., Gunn, T., Bardick, A. D., & Jerry, P. (2007). The counselling needs of Alberta junior hockey league players: Implications for school counsellors. Alberta Counsellor, 29, 22-35.

Stephan, Y., Bilard, J., Ninot, G., & Delignieres, D. (2003) Repercussions of transition out of elite sport on subjective well-being: a one year study. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 15(4), 354-371. doi:10.1080/714044202

Taylor, J., Ogilvie, B., & Lavallee, D. (2005). Career transition among elite athletes: Is there life after sports? In J. M. Williams (Ed.), Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (5^th ed, pp. 595-615). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill.

Wylleman, P., Alferman, D., & Lavallee, D. (2004). Career transitions in sport: European perspectives. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 7-20. doi:10.1016/S1469-0292(02)00049-3