This thesis focuses on talent development, and especially the conditions concerning talent development in Denmark. International studies have shown that former elite athletes suffer from loss of identity due to sports retirement or withdrawal. After retirement, they can no longer identify with their athletic identity.
Instead of studying former elite athletes, the study group found it interesting and valuable to investigate young sports talents, who have decided to drop-out of their sport.
The study is a qualitative study including three in-depth interviews with three talented football players, who have chosen to drop-out. To support the empirical results from the in-depth interviews, the study group made three focus group interviews, which included all of the students from the three athletes’ high school class.
The three in-depth interviews were completed to get an insight, in how the drop-out have impacted the identities of the three football players. The interviews included questions concerning the time prior drop-out, the drop-out period, and the time following the drop-out period (present time). The three in-depth interviews were fully transcribed, while only the useful quotes from the focus group interviews were transcribed.
The result of this study shows that there has been an impact on the identities of the three talents. Even though the impact was different on each talent they all seem to have begun decreasing their athletic identity. Furthermore, the study shows a tendency in which the three talents have applied their own coping-strategies regarding the drop-out.
The findings of this study are put into perspective, trying to highlight some of the specific needs, in order to study this area of talent development even further.