MY INQUIRY

PRESENTATION
Presented by:
Khounma Mounsamlouath

My Inquiry Topic:
What difficulties do professional athletes face when transitioning into
retirement?

Points I Want to Cover:

Financial Challenges in Retirement
Emotional Challenges in Retirement
Athletes Who Became Even More Successful During Retirement

Financial Challenges in
Retirement:
Financial mistakes are often made during athletes peak incomeearning years in their playing careers
They must try not to live beyond their means, maintain a budget,
and have a long-term savings plan
It is difficult to save money in a short amount of time, considering the
average career for an athlete spans from 3 to 5 years
Sports leagues offer pensions to athletes after a certain period of time
that they spend in the game
Athletes may encounter investment scams during their retirement

Emotional Challenges in
Retirement:
The dramatic not to mention traumatic change in lifestyle can
affect [athletes] deeply, leading to all kinds of problems both mental
and social. Andrea Firth-Clark, leading sports psychologist
Loss of identity following retirement
Tunnel vision syndrome Athletes who have been conditioned to
see personal success through the lenses of training, competition and
results
Reduction in serotonin [chemical that contributes to wellbeing and
happiness] after athletes are deprived of emotional highs of elite
performance

Athletes Who Became Even More

Successful During Retirement:
Top 3 Successful Retired Athletes
1. Roger Staubach Former professional football player
Started a commercial real estate company The Staubach
Company
2. Arnold Palmer Former professional gold player
Retirement success contributed to lucrative ventures and side
businesses
3. Michael Jordan Former professional basketball player
Most success comes from corporate endorsements from Nike,
Gatorade and other companies

My Writing Process:
Brainstorming
Emotional challenges
Loss of identity
Financial challenges
Declining income
Savings/pensions
Social Security
Medicare
Whats next?
Finding new passions

Revision

Emotional challenges

Financial challenges

Loss of identity
Savings/pensions
Social Security
Medicare

Successful retired athletes

My Writing Process continued:

Feedback:
Increase scope to cover
athletes in various sports
Include more examples of
actual athletes problems in
retirement

Use of SLOs and SLCs

Critical reading

Knowledge of conventions

New Perspectives on Topic:

Retiring is not as comfortable as it seems, especially in regard to the
financial and emotional aspects of having to retire
Retired athletes deserve the same level of understanding as regular
people
Each retired athlete experiences it differently
Depression among athletes is being overlooked

What I Still Want to Know/Learn

About My Topic:
What proportion of retired athletes are battling depression?
And why havent they come out to the media about it?
Are there measures being taken to ensure that athletes do not
encounter problems in retirement?
If not, what can be done to help them transition?