ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to define crisis-transitions, explain why they happen, and share how to help athletes to cope with them. There are several lines of research that provide findings deemed useful for helping clients in crisis-transitions. Research on less successful transition coping revealed that, for transitioning athletes, additional barriers may arise when some of their identities are centralized at the expense of others. Helping athletes to prevent and/or cope with crisis-transitions is a part of supporting their striving for career excellence. Theoretical frameworks that may help practitioners approach counseling in crisis-transitions include the athletic career transition model, the holistic athletic career model, and the lifespan model of developmental challenge. Athlete-career trajectories are influenced by their success in coping with various kinds of career transitions and developmental crises. Using the holistic and developmental perspectives, encouraging athletes to share stories, empathetic listening, aiding clients’ understanding of the crisis-situation, and related coping alternatives are key aspects of success in crisis-transition counseling.
