Our studies all point in the same direction: athletes who want to navigate the transition out of sport well benefit from a strong sense of identity and from groups to fall back on. But knowing what helps is one thing; actually guiding athletes through it is another. That is why we developed More Than Sport, the first programme designed specifically to help athletes manage their identity and social network as they leave sport.
More Than Sport guides athletes through five short modules. Along the way, you create a personal Social Identity Map, a validated tool with which you literally map your most important groups and social identities. This makes visible which connections you have, which are under strain, and which you can nurture or expand. The five modules take you through that process step by step:
- Preparing. Understanding what leaving elite sport means for your identity.
- Powering. Drawing strength from the identities and groups you already have.
- Positioning. Mapping your social world with your Social Identity Map.
- Planning. Deciding which groups to keep and which new ones to build.
- Persevering. Keeping your connections and your new sense of self strong over the longer term.
More Than Sport is grounded in science from the outset. The programme was developed following the Medical Research Council guidelines for complex interventions, an approach in which an intervention is developed, tested and refined in stages, so that it rests on a solid scientific foundation.
The five modules of the More Than Sport programme:
