Background and purpose Sport psychologists have, since the 1970-1980s, focused their attention on the concept of transitions faced by athletes. While originally described in terms of anecdotal evidence of the process of retirement from high-level competitive and professional sports, the concept of transitions has, during the past decade, become a well delineated topic of study among the sport psychology community. This introductory article provides an overview of the major developments within this thematic field of research, as well as a description of the pallet of interventions used with athletes in transition. In conclusion, avenues for further research and future developments in working with athletes are proposed. Methods Use was made of the references on the topic of career transitions faced by athletes in highlevel competitive and professional sports -a number which has steadily grown during the past decade -including journal publications, thematic books, conference symposia and workshop abstracts, position statements and publications by a special interest group on career transitions in sports. Results and conclusions Analysis reveals that the concept of transition is currently viewed in a holistic, life-span perspective which spans the athletic and post-athletic career and which includes transitions occurring in the athletic career as well as those occurring in other domains of athletes' lives. This "beginning-to-end" approach is illustrated with a developmental model on transitions faced by athletes at athletic, individual, psychosocial, and academic/vocational level. At the level of interventions, analysis suggests that the focus in interventions with athletes in transition has shifted from the use of traditional therapeutic approaches to cope with the possible traumatic experience of the termination of the athletic career, to that of career transitions and athlete life skill programs aimed at providing support and education to athletes making athletic and non-athletic transitions. Finally, suggestions for future conceptual developments include the need to extent the available knowledge on, among others, the characteristics of specific transitions (e.g., non-normative transitions, in-career transitions), on the influence of sport-, gender-or cultural-specific factors in the quality of the transitional process, as well as on the user-friendliness and applicability of sports career transition interventions and programs across the range of athletes.

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Elite athletes will be confronted during as well as after their athletic career with transitional challenges that will impact the course and progress of their athletic development. This article provides in first instance a description of a lifespan model exemplifying a "whole career/whole person" conceptualization of career transitions in the elite athletic career. Second, four specific career transitions in the development of talented and elite athletes are detailed with special attention for high-intensity sports (HIS). Finally, perspectives are formulated on future lifespan research and the provision of career support services in HIS.

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