With the announcement today that Michael Bridges has made the decision to lace up the boots for the Newcastle Jets after retiring last year, it begs the question: When is it really over?
The list of sports stars who make the heavy decision that their career is over, only to make a comeback is endless.
From the world’s greats like Michael Jordan and Diego Maradona to local heroes like Ian Thorpe and Libby Trickett who, with their best years ahead of them, having achieved everything that is worth achieving in their respective sports, decide that the flame that lit the fire in the belly has somehow been reignited.
So, when is it really over? Decisions for sports stars to cut short their careers are personal and quite often, have come after a great deal of thought. Their reasons can vary from spending more time with the family, after grinding out 5am starts every day for the last 15 years, to injury and even simply “the love has gone”. But at the expense of this sounding like an emotional ballad to an ex- lover, where does the love go and how does one rekindle that love after a year of retirement?
Sport is, at its very essence, an emotional game. It drags you in, and has you sitting on the edge of your seat. And for its gladiators who venture out every weekend to test their craft with the codes elite, it’s much the same. It provides the highest highs and he lowest lows. It carries the weight of a town, city, state or country and, at the end of the day; there is a victor and a loser.
But unlike the rest of us who attend the daily grind, at our desks or in the workplace, professional sports people experience a transition that is so foreign to them after retirement, that they struggle to handle the next “chapter” of their life.
There is no doubt that there is a competitive streak in each professional sports person that is hard to replicate in life after sport, although many do achieve success in the corporate world climbing the ladder (like Mark Coyne) or as motivational speakers (Duncan Armstrong), or even in coaching. But when the lure of returning to the arena proves too difficult to pass up, with “unfinished business” to take care of, many stars return to close the final chapter in their illustrious careers… again.
But what happens when the love is gone, after returning to the sport that made them, for the second time, and when is it really over?
sheek
Guest
I guess part of it too might be that once you are out of the limelight, you're suddenly "unwanted". For sportsmen & sportswomen this might be one of the hardest things to cope with - when the public is no longer interested in you, & is chasing the "next big thing". The intrusion on private life might have been annoying when you were in the limelight but now, suddenly, once out of the limelight, you crave it again. Perhaps one of the best initial retirements was by Kelly Slater. Retiring in his late 20s, he returned spectacularly to the sport of surfing nearing his mid-30s. In his case, he needed the break to reignite his desire & enthusiasm. But for every successful Slater, there are plenty who don't succeed in their second, or third, comeback.....
Annette Lynch
Guest
Having 'retired' 3 times from my sport of beach volleyball, I found that it was easier to let go of sport when I was focused forward on what I could do now in my life - with new goals, new direction and new passion. It's not enough to just 'not play sport'. One needs to find something new to direct that competitive spirit towards - something rewarding. Sometimes athletes lack the self-belief in their ability beyond sport and feel sport is all they are good at - hence why they return. More attention needs to be given to preparing athletes for life after sport - not just finding a new career, but coping with it.