Problems experienced in returning of athletes WHO take a break from active sports life

In the research, it is aimed to determine what kind of problems people who quit their active sports life experience outside of sports, what they do at the solution point, what the most challenging things are when they decide to return to sports, and what they experience during the adaptation process. Qualitative research model was adopted in the study. Among the model, phenomenological (phenomenological) design was preferred. The research group consists of a total of 15 participants, 4 amateur and 11 professional. Maximum diversity sampling method was used to determine the participants. In the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data and 8 questions were asked within the scope of the interview. The audio files of the interview recorded by the researcher were transferred to the written media. The personal information of the athletes included in the study was coded as incomprehensible. The interviews that were transcribed were analyzed using descriptive and content analysis methods. As a result of the findings, it was determined that the athletes in our study experienced muscle loss and muscle disorders, frequent injuries, problems of focusing, conditioning and adaptation to the team, apathy and weight gain when starting their branches again. In order to adapt to their team again, it is seen that they try to keep their morale and motivation high by finding them in the training field early and participating in team trainings, as well as mental training with individual trainings. In addition, when they do not do sports, they experience unhealthy diet and weight gain, irregular life and economic problems, feelings of unhappiness and emptiness, psychological problems, discipline and self-confidence problems. Regarding the reflections of returning to sports on their social lives, some of the athletes have positive changes in the perspective of the environment, disciplined life, increase in self-confidence, physical and mental well-being, positive social life, popular athlete identity, prestige, meeting different people, in-team communication and increase in self-confidence. It has been determined that some of them experience the feeling of falling into a void, feel unhealthy, unhappiness, eat unbalanced and sleep irregularly, their social environment has changed and they have acquired bad habits. As a result, it is seen that the athletes who take a break from their active sports life experience some problems when they return to their active sports life and they make a great effort to solve them.