ABSTRACT
This chapter examines ways the school counselor can serve as a role model for this purpose, and/or facilitate a response from others close to the transitional student athlete that help to achieve such a goal. A counselor can be valuable in expressing the concerns of all athletic stakeholders in a way that communicates caring and advocates long-term health and well-being, especially when the athletic stakeholders hold differing opinions on what is best overall for the student athlete. Another way that the school counselor can assist with this process is to engage with other stakeholders who are connected to the transitioning student athlete, so that extra-curricular and community-based resources can also be part of the transition plan. It is important to be aware that sports participation also comes with the ultimate, tragic risks of permanent brain injury, permanent spinal cord injury, and heat stroke via exertion that results in brain injury as well as death, and sudden cardiac arrest.
