Abstract
This project explored the unique athletic career experiences of Canadian major junior hockey (CHL) players and examined factors that may facilitate or hinder athletic career transitions. Six retired major junior hockey players’ experiences were collected using semi-structured, qualitative interviews that were analyzed in accordance with the interpretative phenomenological analysis method. Themes identified in each participant’s account of their CHL experiences were compared and contrasted across all participants to generate an in-depth portrayal that gave voice to participants’ career experiences and transitions. The factors reported as having facilitated or hindered athletic career transitions among former major junior hockey players did not differ from studies conducted with other elite athletes; however, participants’ accounts of unique athletic career experiences highlighted a number of transitional risk factors and a comparatively low number of coping strategies or accessible resources both during the major junior athletic career and following athletic retirement.
