The Duration of the Sports Career as a Determinant of the Second Professional Career.

Theoretical background: A sports career is a specific activity because it starts at an early age, lasts a relatively short time, and usually athletes are most successful when their peers are just starting to develop their typical professional careers. In previous research on the second careers of ex-athletes, mainly the top performers were described, forgetting that many athletes play in the lower leagues and sport is also their main profession. In this study, athletes who played at different levels of competition were analysed. Purpose of the article: The article aims to determine how the length of a sports career affects the second professional career of former athletes. Research methods: The studied population were Polish basketball players of working-age after finishing their sports careers. The survey was conducted online in 2021 and 301 people took part in it. The average duration of a sports career of participants was 10.13 years. Former basketball players were divided into 2 groups according to their career length. The first group consisted of those whose basketball careers lasted at least 10 years (160 people), and the second group consisted of those whose careers were shorter than 10 years (141 people). Main findings: Former players whose sports careers lasted for at least 10 years are more satisfied with them than those whose sports careers were shorter, but they assess their current career prospects worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]