From Taped Up to Mic’d Up: Experiences of Former Athletes and the Meaning of Athletic Identity in Sports Media Spaces

Abstract

When elite-level athletes transition out of their sport, they often experience feelings of loss and questions about their self-worth. It is not uncommon for former athletes to turn to sports media for a new start, and as they do so, they enter a profession that is engaged in its own process of redefining itself as new genres of sports media continue to emerge, a process that has forced legacy outlets to find innovative ways to compete and reimagine what constitutes effective sports journalism. Taking these simultaneous ongoing struggles into consideration, this research uses a qualitative approach grounded in the sociocultural tradition to first explore how former athletes working in sports media negotiate their sense of self and, secondly, make meaning around the value of athletic experience in the profession. Using one-on-one, in-depth interviews with 13 former athletes working in sports media, this research assesses how former athletic experience is situated and understood among sports media professionals, with a particular focus on what being a former athlete means to the notion of professional competency. The analysis produced three themes, which focus on notions of identity, professionalism, and the gendered implications underpinning these shared meanings.