Non-selection as a factor contributing to retirement from Australian sport

Retirement from sport is inevitable and will occur at some stage in every athlete\u27s career. Retirement may be voluntary or involuntary and signifies a lifestyle change that may be a major impact for many athletes. Involuntary retirement may occur in relation to chronological ageing, injury or non-selection. This study undertook an in-depth examination of one type of involuntary exit from sport, that of non-selection. The purpose of this study was to explore, in-depth, the reactions and experiences of Australian athletes who were subject to non-selection from their sport. Supporting this main investigation were three sub questions which focused on factors that were problematic for the athletes, factors non-problematic for athletes and athlete recommendations to assist sporting organisations, administrators, coaches, selectors, significant others, and other athletes in dealing with non-selection from Australian sport. Two semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with seven female and eight male state and national athletes. Athletes were current or former representatives in the three team sports of field hockey, cricket and water polo and were resident in Western Australia. Inductive content analysis of verbatim transcripts was used to establish categories of patterns or themes portraying the athletes\u27 experiences of non-selection. The major theme to emerge was the lack of understanding and knowledge of the issues of non-selection and the subsequent impact on athletes. This lack of understanding was not limited to any one individual but encompassed sporting and non-sporting individuals such as the sporting officials and the athlete\u27s family members. Athletes also perceived a strong political influence in relation to their non-selection. Although non-selection was initially a difficult time for many athletes in this study their enjoyment and fulfilment from sport saw the majority continue as participants at a lower level within the same sport

Money management and views of civil partnership in same-sex couples: results from a UK survey of non-heterosexuals

Recent legislation in the UK has extended many of the legal and financial rights and responsibilities of heterosexual marriage to same-sex couples who register their partnerships. Prior to the Civil Partnership Act (2004) however, little was known about financial arrangements in same-sex couples, nor the extent to which these mirrored those of married or cohabiting heterosexuals. This paper reports the findings from the first large-scale survey in the UK to investigate finances and civil partnership beliefs in a convenience sample of non-heterosexuals: 510 individuals, of whom 386 were currently in a same-sex relationship, participated in the survey. Our findings showed less merging of finances (such as in pooling, allowance, and whole wage systems) than is typical in heterosexual married couples. The results of a series of multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that rating CP as more important, and having both names on the mortgage, significantly reduced the odds of independent (ie, separate) management of finances. Participants were almost unanimous in their endorsement of CP as a form of legal recognition, with a large majority saying that they would also consider it for themselves. © 2011 The Authors. The Sociological Review© 2011 The Editorial Board of The Sociological Review