Career Development After Professional Football Michael Shahnasarian
Career Consultants of America, Inc.
Professional football places extraordinary demands on players. Very few, if any other, occupations are as physically and psychologically consuming. The unique demands of professional football have been found to be especially problematic to players and their families as their careers transition from football. This article's primary purpose is to elucidate a number of career development issues many former players encounter, thus enabling the counselor to better facilitate the career transitions of these and other professional athletes. The Transition from Football A 1986 survey (Pitts, Popovich, & Bober) commissioned by the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) found that the average length of a professional football player's career in the National Football League (NFL) was only 3.2 years. Because of the extended playing season, the prevalence of astroturf, and the increasing size of players, more players are actually driven out of football due to injury than voluntarily choosing to retire from the game. Sixty-six percent of the players who retired from football since 1970 characterized their transition as being accompanied with emotional and personal problems; these reports are especially common among those who leave football with an injury. Among the most prevalent problems reported by players who have left the game are financial difficulties, divorce, substance abuse, and problems with career development. Michael S h a h n a s a r i a n , Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Career Consultants of America, Inc., in Tampa, Florida. Address correspondence to: 10920 J u n i p e r u s Place, Tampa, FL 33618. Journal of Career Development, Vol. 18(4), Summer 1992
© 1992Human SciencesPress, Inc.
299
300
Journal of Career Development
The fact that fev~er than one third of all players who enter the NFL have earned a college degree (Pitts, Popovich, & Bober, 1986) can account for some of the career difficulties associated with players' transitions from football. It is understandable that since 1970 former players report more resentment and greater difficulty with their career transitions from football. One study even linked playing professional football to reduced life expectancy (Groves, 1989). Some counselors have gone so far as to portray the typical football player as a victim, used unfairly by the very game that impassioned him. The same players who, for the greater part of their lives, have been coveted, highly supervised and directed, and, in m a n y ways coddled and isolated from life outside football, often feel cast aside once their contributions to the game are no longer valued. Having developed a lifestyle commensurate with the relatively high earnings offered in professional sports, many players quickly realize financial difficulties once their pay from football is severed. Since the competitive demands and consuming nature of professional football requires an intense focus on the game and actually discourages players from attending to anything that might divert their attention away from football, players' thoughts on their career development after football are often suppressed. Consequently, career decision making and career development skills among professional football players are in too m a n y cases developmentally regressed. This intense focus on football is not only fostered by the inherent traits common to professional athletes, but quite often by sports psychologists and coaches as well. For most professional football players, a long, successful and lucrative career in the NFL has been a lifetime dream and thoughts of any other alternative are discouraged as being self-defeating and, consequently, are not entertained. The storybook dream of a professional football player's c a r e e r - both during his active years and in the years following r e t i r e m e n t - of course, is realized by very few. For m a n y players in the process of leaving professional football, this is the first time that the thought of a career outside football is seriously considered. The cojoint stresses of making a major life transition, career decision making, financial concerns, and the former player's overriding self-identity issues impacts not only the player, but the player's family as well. This stress is further compounded in cases where a player leaves football with a permanent injury. In sum, young m e n - - m o s t retiring in their mid-20's--who have committed a lifetime to pursuing a passion and a dream too often one
Michael S h a h n a s a r i a n
301
day find that they are ill-prepared to make the career transition from football. Many ultimately experience a life crisis that adversely affects the career development and psychological well-being of themselves and their families.
Helping the Former Player Counseling the former professional football player begins with understanding and empathy. To have reached the pinnacle of excellence in any occupation and then to be forced to establish a new vocational identity is a destiny few individuals experience. As one former player described the stress of players' career transitions from professional football, " . . . the fall is so much harder for us than it is for the average person because we have so much higher to fall from." This reference was in regard to the high visibility and fame afforded professional football players v i s a vis the media, high earnings, and stature among fans and the general public. For many players, the period immediately following their departures from the game is marked by the emotional dynamics of unemployment common to individuals who have experienced job loss (Amundson & Borgen, 1982; Borgen & Admundson, 1987). It is important for the counselor to describe the various psychological phases the player is likely to experience and to examine the implications of the career change on the former players' self-concept and vocational identity. Suspicion and mistrust--sometimes developed from negative experiences with agents, management, treating physicians, and individuals who have sought the former athlete out as a prospective investor--are other areas that may deserve attention during the early counseling process. The counselor-directed assessment and career exploration process is an especially important phase of the former athlete's career decision making, as these individuals quite often have done little of this type of introspection and analysis. To many former athletes the world of work is largely unknown, and making a career decision can take on the overwhelming perspective common to adolescents and young adults. Ongoing coaching and support are invaluable to the athlete who has responded well to taking instruction and working in a structured fashion characteristic of professional sports. In sum, helping professional football players resolve their career transitions begins with insight into the pervasive implications that
302
J o u r n a l of Career Development
their athletic careers have had on their psychological and vocational identity. Additional research is clearly needed to better understand the career issues and special needs of these athletes and their families during this trying life transition.
A Model Program To help players make positive career transitions from professional football, a service and support organization is being formed in Tampa, Florida. The S.C.O.R.E. Foundation, an acronym that stands for Sports, Careers, Options, Research, and Education, is a proposed cooperative effort between both former and active players, National Football League management, The National Football League Players Association, and corporations. Its mission is to facilitate the career development of active and former players. Ultimately, the Foundation aims to expand its mission beyond professional football and into the college and high school levels. The S.C.O.R.E. Foundation espouses a proactive, early intervention approach to assisting players in exploring career options and making career decisions prior to their departure from professional football. A proposed model program, presented in the format of a football game plan, follows.
First Quarter Players are first invited to participate in a comprehensive vocational assessment program. The vocational assessment generates a profile of the player in terms of work values, interests, aptitudes, and personality factors. Through individual counseling, life circumstances relative to the player's career decision making are also explored. A career counselor meets with the player following the assessment to interpret the player's profile and to make recommendations for proceeding with the career decision making process. With the counselor's help, a list of viable career options is generated and the player is referred to additional information resources to facilitate career exploration.
Second Quarter With the aid of information generated from the player's vocational assessment, the counselor helps the player identify and evaluate po-
Michael Shahnasarian
303
tential education and training programs. Players are encouraged to pursue their professional development during the off season. The counselor acts as a coach and a mentor, monitoring the player's progress and assisting the player in making adjustments to his game plan as needed.
Third Quarter Through partnerships formed with organizations from a broad range of industries, the S.C.O.R.E. Foundation makes available t o players a varied choice of internship options. These internship opt i o n s - a l l which take place during the off season--offer players an opportunity to gain on-the-job experience in a number of functional areas, within a variety of industries. Of course, the internship opportunity could very well consummate into a full-time job after the player's professional football career has ended. A player will ideally have an opportunity to experience more than one internship experience before his professional football career ends.
Fourth Quarter Prior to his retirement from football, the player has an opportunity to meet again with his career counselor. The focus of this meeting is on reviewing the player's vocational assessment results, inventorying marketable skills, reviewing the player's work and internship experiences and assessing the associated levels of fulfillment, and on planning how the player will make his career transition from professional football. Finally, the counselor and player together draft a new game plan. This game plan outlines the player's short term and long term career goals, identifies career planning milestones, necessary resources to attain the career goals outlined, and specifies alternative actions the player might consider.
Summary Unquestionably, the career development of professional football players has been largely neglected. The S.C.O.R.E. Foundation offers an opportunity to help make professional players' transitions from football positive. S.C.O.R.E.'s focus is on early intervention. Through a cooperative partnership between players, management, and industry, the S.C.O.R.E. Foundation aims to offer players the benefit of
304
Journal of Career Development
professional career counseling, quality decision making, education, and reality testing vis a vis internship placements. Simply put, the S.C.O.R.E. Foundation offers a win-win outcome for all involved. References Amundson, N.E., & Borgen, W.A. (1982). The dynamics of unemployment: Job loss and job search. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 60, 562-564. Borgen, A.W., & Amundson, N.E. (1987). The dynamics of unemployment. Journal of Counseling and Development, 66, 180- 184. Groves, D. (1989). Pro football: Do players pay with their health? The Physician and Sports Medicine, 12, 127-131. Pitts, B.J., Popovich, M.N., & Bober, A.T. (1986). Life After Football: A Survey of Former NFL Players. Unpublished manuscript.
