Abstract
Over 90 percent of basketball student athletes in South Korea retire early due to physical, social, or psychological challenges. after they do so, they may struggle to adapt to their school lives and to live the rest of their lives as non-student athletes. In light of these challenges, elite and recreational sports organizations which had operated separately for several decades were merged in 2015 in order to create a more supportive environment for young athletes.
The purpose of this study was to explore students' experience with early retirement and to assess the initiatives planned by Korea's newly integrated sports organizations using a psychological-based model, the Developmental Model of Sport Participation(Côté, Baker, & Abernethy, 2007).
Four early-retired student athletes and two employees at sports organizations dedicated to student basketball were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. To increase credibility, this study utilized techniques including member checking, investigator triangulation, and data source triangulation.
Early-retired student basketball athletes stated that they felt negative emotions such as sorrow, anger, and regret about their early retirement at the time they left basketball. In addition, the DMSP is closely related to the new integrated organizations' objectives, it could therefore positively influence students' experiences of early retirement.
The Korean sports system has provided only one model for athlete development: early specialization, which may cause physical, social, or psychological harm. Therefore, the DMSP could be an effective guideline for Korea's new sports organization and may help it to create a new pathway for students to become elite basketball athletes. It could thus alleviate the negative implications of early retirement among Korean student athletes.
