Professor Vaughn
Composition 1213
November 28, 2012
Retirement for Professional Sports
Growing up watching professional sports, I have found certain athletes stand apart from
the rest such as Dennis Rodmen due to his outrageous looks and actions or Michael Jordan
because he was the simply the best. Junior Seau was another player that stood out and he
stood out because he was one of the greatest National Football League linebackers of all
time. Junior was a twelve-time pro bowl linebacker and an eight-time first team all pro
linebacker. He played from 1991 to 2006 then retired for the first time. Junior came back
the next year out of retirement and played three more seasons and retired again in 2010.
On May 2, 2012 Junior Seau was found dead in his home after committing suicide. He
lived in San Diego California and was loved by everyone. To this day no one knows the
exact reason why he did this. There have been many other similar instances, but Junior’s
is the most recent and also the most puzzling. I wondered what could make a
multi-millionaire, who is loved by so many people, do something so tragic. Just two years
after retirement he commits suicide and no one saw it coming. When I researched this, I
learned that most athletes feel lost and helpless after retirement (Lavallee, 119). Because
many athletes struggle with retirement there needs to be a system put in place to assist
these athletes through the retirement process and into a normal life.
Most people overlook the athlete’s retirement process because they believe it should be
easy since they have basically everything they need in money and fame. However, it is far
from easy for them because athletes have been encouraged to dedicate their whole life to
their sport therefore after they retire they know very little about who they are and what
they want to do with their lives. One major difference that needs to be taken into account is
the age of these retiring athletes. The average age of a retiring National Football League
athlete is around 28 so these athletes are still very young compared to any other type of
retirement. Junior Seau was 37 when he first retired, which is considered very old for an
National Football League player, but then he returned and played until he was 41. Another
important question is why do these athletes feel lost and helpless after retirement? My first
