Stodden 1

Chase Stodden
Professor Agosta
UWRT 1102
4/19/2016
Athletic Identity
Sports have had a major impact in the world that we know today. It has brought people
together, it has made countries stronger, and most importantly has given people a sense of self,
be it a fan identifying with their favorite sports team or an athlete identifying with their sport.
While both of these give people a sense of self and are a part who they may be, an athlete
identifying with their sport is a stronger relationship, so to speak; this is called athletic identity.
The amount an athlete identifies with their athletic identity varies from one person to another,
and also plays a key role in what kind of an athlete they will become.
Athletic identity can be defined as the degree to which an individual identifies with the
athlete role and looks to others for acknowledgement of that role (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder,
1993). Athletic identity is not something that one is simply born with, but is an identity that is
obtained through the participation in sports and, according to the article Athletic Identity by
Pottratz, athletic identity is developed through acquisition of skills, confidence, and social
interaction during a sport. All athletes have an athletic identity, but not all athletes identities are
the same. This is because every athlete identifies with the sport they play to a different degree. If
an athlete identifies with their athletic identity to a higher degree, in the opinion of Symes in her
piece called Understanding Athletic Identity: Who Am I?, that athlete will have a stronger
athletic identity and become more elite which leads to dedication to the sport and ultimately a
stronger competitor.

Stodden 2
While being a strong and elite competitor in the world of sports is the ultimate goal for all
athletes, it does not come easy and, like all things, has its downsides. Too much of anything is
not good, a common phrase that one may hear in their lifetime, and in this case, it appears to be
true. If an athlete is not careful and let their athletic identity get the best of them, a strong athletic
identity can consume them and take over resulting in dangerous and dysfunctional practices,
says Symes. Examples of dangerous and dysfunctional practices could include performance
enhancing drugs (PEDs) or over training that may lead to injury, a term that most athletes fear
due to the absence of playing that follows injury and, worst case scenario, could lead to
retirement from being an athlete, but that is a discussion for later. In a journal called Injured
Athletes Perceived Loss of Identity: Educational Implications for Athletic Trainers, the author,
Lockhart, states that identity based on athletic performance is, by its nature, unstable and prone
to variability. Leading to the conclusion that an athlete who highly identifies with their athletic
identity receives an injury or some other reason to cause a sudden stop in being an athlete is
more psychologically detrimental and some athletes may endure a loss of identity, all
depending on the severity of the injury. Athletes with low athletic identity, on the contrary, are
described by Lockhart as athletes who view athletics as something they do rather than who they
are, and can effectively cope with life changing stresses.
PEDs have been a growing issue in sports over the past decade or so. As an athlete with a
strong athletic identity who wants to be the absolute best that they can possibly be, what better
way is there than to expose the body to PEDs? While the previous question was complete
sarcasm, from my perspective, the use of PEDs is cheating and makes me come to the conclusion
that what a supposed dedicated athlete gains from being under the influence of performance

Stodden 3
enhancing drugs is simply fake and not earned; making me, and I hope others, question such an
athletes athletic identity.
Retirement is a big ordeal for every athlete and, described by Pottratz, is something that
cannot be escaped. No athlete wants to face retirement, but, of course, no one can compete
forever, although many have tried. All athletes deal with retirement from sports differently, and
how hard retirement is on an athlete is case by case. While some may assume that all athletes
with a high athletic identity take retirement more severely, this is not always true. In professional
sports today, more and more elite athletes are retiring early, in fear of injury and long term health
effects that can come with competing at such a high level. The fear of retirement appears to be
ultimately the fear of losing ones identity. Some athletes do not know who they are without
sports because so much of their life has revolved around sports since they were a small child.
Pottratz states that it could be difficult to adjust to a life without their sport because they lack
other sources of self-worth. In an interview I conducted on ODonnell, a current college student
and an intramural athlete, he stated that his identity should not change too much because he will
always be involved in sports, whether that is attending games or coaching little league. Falling
back on keeping oneself involved in sports appears to be a common trend in the sport world
today, whether that is be a coach or a sports analyzer; it allows an athlete to gain back a sense of
their athletic identity back that may have been loss through the absence of play.
Athletes will always identify with their sport because that is what makes them an athlete.
It is a part of who they are and they are proud to call themselves an athlete, a football player, a
baseball player, or whatever their sport may be. They also want to be recognized by others as an
athlete. Therefore, to get recognition and to be able to call oneself an athlete, one has to identify
as an athlete and take on an athletic identity. Everything relating an athlete to their athletic

Stodden 4
identity relies on the athlete, whether that means how much one identifies with athletics, how
one deals with the responsibility of identifying highly with athletics, or how an athlete chooses to
handle retirement from competition.

Stodden 5
Works Cited
Lockhart, Barbara D. Injured Athletes Perceived Loss of Identity: Educational Implications for
Athletic Trainers. Athletic Training Education Journal (2010): 26-31. Web. 01 April
2016.
ODonnell, John Patrick. Personal interview. 03 April 2016.
Pottratz, Suzanne. "Athletic Identity." BelievePerform. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Symes, Rebecca. "Understanding Athletic Identity: 'Who Am I?'" Podium Sports Journal. 24
May 2010. Web. 01 April 2016.