Random Post 1 - Athletic Identity

Letting Go of Athletic Identity 

by Camille Burman

 On November 14, 2018, I signed a National Letter of Intent signifying my commitment to play beach volleyball at Texas Christian University. Since I was eleven years old, I always dreamed of the pride and gratification that my signing day would bring. Yet, I felt hesitant officially inking my signature on the document that day. 

Choosing a college is already a tough decision, but add in playing a D1 sport and your decision becomes even more complicated. After thinking about what I really want out of my future, I saw two options: attend TCU and pursue my ideal career in professional beach volleyball or funnel through the community college system and quit playing entirely. My biggest fear was losing my identity as an athlete and disappointing my team and family. I ended up choosing the community college route and guess what? Everything turned out fine! This is an extremely common fear that I not only saw in my beach volleyball friends, but noticed in other athletes across all sports. 

When you start playing a sport at a young age it is so easy to make the whole sport your only identity. I met all my friends through volleyball and I was very involved in the social bubble of the sport. I'm not discouraging anyone from prioritizing and pursuing a career in their sport. In fact, I think there are tons of positives to being an athlete. But, I think it is important to bring awareness to some of the negatives that come with identifying as an athlete. 

There are many difficulties that come with adjusting after the end of an athletic career or grappling with career ending injuries. For example, my senior year of high school I was battling the restlessness that came with being injured and out for over 6 months. Those couple of months forced me to realize that playing professional volleyball wasn't my only career option and that there were endless other career paths that I could take. I felt that quitting competitive volleyball was a waste of my parents, coaches, and team's time and energy. We tend to tie our athletic success with our overall success as a person when in reality, the majority of young athletes will end up working in a career outside of their sport. 

Personally, I think that choosing to not pursue beach volleyball was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I currently play club beach and indoor volleyball at USC so I'm still able to get my fix in. Volleyball makes up a huge part of my identity, but I have learned to not let my whole identity revolve around volleyball alone. I know that it is a huge leap to look for activities and friends outside of a sport, but I promise that there are countless passions and hobbies that can provide the same fulfillment and gratification.  I just hope that other young athletes are able to recognize that their whole self worth does not lie within their sport.