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Key points
- Professional athletes are typically compensated well but are not taught how to manage their wealth.
- A startling 15.7 percent of NFL players have filed for bankruptcy within 12 years of retiring.
- Therapists use sports psychology to help professional athletes move past obstacles, including how to manage their money.
Thanks to the pandemic, March 2020 heralded 100 days without sports. Maybe you were shocked to learn the NBA suspended its season and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was canceled. Major league baseball followed suit and postponed training and opening day. Then, the Tokyo summer Olympics was postponed by a year. At this point, many people felt a huge void in their lives because there were no professional sports to watch.
Most spectators see sports as a form of vital entertainment. Professional athletes are typically compensated well because their careers are short-lived. However, their income doesn’t gradually rise and then fall. Instead, there is typically a big spike in income right from the start.
Unfortunately, many professional athletes aren't taught how to manage their financial wealth. A startling 15.7 percent of NFL players have filed for bankruptcy within 12 years of retiring,¹ despite their big salaries.
Therapists use sports psychology to help pro athletes move past obstacles, including how to manage their money. To find out more, I sat down with Dr. Michele Kerulis, a licensed counselor who specializes in the field of sport and exercise psychology and works with elite athletes in her private practice, to find out how she assists her clients.
Q: In your experience counseling college and professional athletes, what do you notice about their relationship with money and finance?
Successful college and professional athletes have unique opportunities to earn a very high income compared to the average American salary. Like many young people, some athletes lack the experience of managing an income, budgeting, and planning for the future. They are excited to be paid to play sports they love and want to focus on the current season, not the future.
Elite athletes have teams of people like agents, coaches, athletic trainers, and dieticians, to help them become successful. As a result, they might rely on their managers and agents to manage their finances without taking time to learn the details of their salaries, including taxes or other job-related expenses (like paying agents or trainers).
Q: How do you help them mentally and emotionally prepare for what may be a high-earning yet relatively short-lived career?
I have an extensive intake process where I review their sport-related and non-sport-related history. Part of this process helps me understand who they are as a person outside of their athletic identity. If an athlete cannot describe any other aspect of life that is important to them besides sports, they will have a harder time adjusting during injury rehab.
When I talk with athletes about their non-sport futures, I ask them to share about any successful retired athletes they admire. This gives us a reference point of realizing that people can be creative after their sports careers to earn money.
Next, I ask athletes about what they see themselves doing in the future or the next chapter of their lives. I encourage them to explore non-sport-related learning opportunities, like an online class or workshop, to enrich their minds.
Have you worked with athletes who have lived through financial traumas resulting from systemic racism or discrimination? How have you addressed the impact on their mental and financial health?
Some athletes were raised with their family’s financial and emotional support while others were not. Athletes have often faced discrimination and name-calling like being called a “dumb jock.” The stereotype threat, or fear of confirming a negative stereotype of yourself, intensifies when athletes are also members of marginalized groups such as underrepresented ethnicities, gender identity, physical ability, intellect, or socioeconomic status. Some athletes have experienced financial abuse at the hands of professionals who were supposed to help them manage their money.
Sometimes family members or former friends think they have the right to ask, or sometimes demand, that the athlete share their money. Athletes who grew up in poverty might feel a sense of responsibility to take care of people from their past but at times feel taken advantage of.
This kind of stress can have a negative impact on athletes’ mental and financial health. I help athletes identify feelings related to their past experiences and explore how these feelings can be helpful when gaining a deeper understanding of themselves. I suggest that they find a trusted financial advisor who can help them set realistic financial goals.
How might concepts taught and techniques from sports psychology improve general mental and financial health?
I practice from a strengths-based perspective so I help athletes identify their existing strengths to help them overcome deficits or challenges they face. Concepts such as developing a positive mindset, setting realistic goals, kinesthetic awareness, clear communication skills, being kind to others, and being a good teammate are all examples of sports psychology concepts that can be used to enhance mental health and financial health.
A takeaway
Just like professional athletes are surrounded by a team of people who are there to ensure their emotional, physical, and financial success, consider starting your own Dream Team. Start by taking an honest look at your finances and creating a game plan to maintain healthy emotional and financial habits. Who would you like to enlist to be on your Dream Team to ensure your financial success?
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