Lady and the champ: The shared career experiences and retirement transition of a champion jockey and his partner

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q2 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

Psychology of Sport and Exercise Pub Date : 2025-07-17 DOI:10.1016/j.psychsport.2025.102943

Erin Reddington, Stacy Winter

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Abstract

Elite sporting careers are made up of a succession of transitions and adjustments across multiple layers. Part of the microenvironment is an athlete's romantic partner who moves through the transitions alongside them, being impacted along the way. Though researchers are yet to explore jockeys and their partners experiences within the horse racing context. Framed through the transition environment working model (Henriksen et al., 2024) and supported by the family systems theory (Broderick, 1993), this study aimed to explore the career experiences and retirement transition of a retired Champion jockey as perceived by him and his female partner. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, four semi-structured interviews were conducted with the two participants, Richard and Lizzie Hughes (M age = 46.5, SD = 2.1) who consented to their identities being disclosed. Three themes were constructed: “It was all worth it”; “You can't have the good times without the bad”; and “It's been a journey but one I clearly wouldn't change”. Findings of this study highlighted the influence of the micro-level environment in shaping transition experiences, which ultimately impacted the partner too. Secondly, addiction and obsessive passion were found throughout transition experiences. Thirdly, despite being normative the retirement transition process presented emotional and physical challenges across jockey and partner. In all, the study provided a novel insight of the experiences and perceptions of both jockey and partner. Further research attention and applied support avenues for both parties are warranted, since their experiences are closely intertwined.

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女士和冠军：一位冠军骑师和他的搭档分享职业经历和退休过渡

精英的运动生涯是由多层次的一系列过渡和调整组成的。微环境的一部分是运动员的浪漫伴侣，他和他们一起经历过渡，一路上受到影响。尽管研究人员还没有在赛马的背景下探索骑师和他们的伴侣的经历。本研究以过渡环境工作模型（Henriksen et al., 2024）为框架，以家庭系统理论（Broderick, 1993）为支撑，旨在探讨一名退役冠军骑师及其女性伴侣对职业经历和退休过渡的感知。采用解释性现象学分析，对两位参与者Richard和Lizzie Hughes （M年龄= 46.5,SD = 2.1）进行了四次半结构化访谈，他们同意披露自己的身份。他们构建了三个主题：“一切都是值得的”；“没有坏时光就没有好时光”；“这是一段旅程，但我显然不会改变”。这项研究的结果强调了微观层面的环境在塑造过渡体验方面的影响，最终也影响了伴侣。其次，成瘾和强迫性激情是在整个过渡经历中发现的。第三，尽管退休过渡过程是规范的，但骑师和合伙人在情感和身体上都存在挑战。总之，这项研究提供了一个关于骑师和搭档的经验和看法的新见解。由于双方的经历紧密地交织在一起，因此有必要对双方进行进一步的研究、关注和应用支持途径。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Psychology of Sport and Exercise 医学-心理学

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

5.90%

发文量

172

审稿时长

69 days

期刊介绍： Psychology of Sport and Exercise is an international forum for scholarly reports in the psychology of sport and exercise, broadly defined. The journal is open to the use of diverse methodological approaches. Manuscripts that will be considered for publication will present results from high quality empirical research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, commentaries concerning already published PSE papers or topics of general interest for PSE readers, protocol papers for trials, and reports of professional practice (which will need to demonstrate academic rigour and go beyond mere description). The CONSORT guidelines consort-statement need to be followed for protocol papers for trials; authors should present a flow diagramme and attach with their cover letter the CONSORT checklist. For meta-analysis, the PRISMA prisma-statement guidelines should be followed; authors should present a flow diagramme and attach with their cover letter the PRISMA checklist. For systematic reviews it is recommended that the PRISMA guidelines are followed, although it is not compulsory. Authors interested in submitting replications of published studies need to contact the Editors-in-Chief before they start their replication. We are not interested in manuscripts that aim to test the psychometric properties of an existing scale from English to another language, unless new validation methods are used which address previously unanswered research questions.