Elodie Wendling

About Dr. Wendling

Dr. Elodie Wendling started to work as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Sport Management at Washington State University in August 2023. Her dissertation work, assessing career identity status, career and psychosocial functioning, and transition experiences of former NCAA college athletes, was funded by the NCAA Graduate Student Research Grant. Upon graduation, she went on to work as an Assistant Professor in Sport Administration at Georgia State University from 2019-2021 where she taught graduate and doctoral level courses. She then taught in the online graduate sport management program at UF from 2021-2023. Her primary line of research focuses on the personal and career development of youth, intercollegiate, and professional athletes. Through this research agenda, she has examined concepts such as career planning, athletic career transition, academic-athletic role conflict, elite youth sport participation, and relative age effects. One of her primary research interests involves the career identity development of elite athletes during the transition to life after sport. The overarching goal of this research is to examine identity formation processes and resources that can help both current and former elite athletes establish a career identity beyond their athletic career, enhance their well-being and promote optimal psychosocial functioning post-sport life. Given the unsettling effect that can be caused by career identity confusion, a better understanding of career identity development processes can facilitate athletes’ adjustments once they leave the high-level competitive sport landscape.

Elodie is a former NCAA Division I athlete who played college tennis for the Owls at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Before pursuing her doctoral degree at UF, she worked as a career counselor at Barry University for three years. When she is not working, she enjoys playing pickleball, hiking, traveling, listening to music, and watching sport.

Education

• University of Florida, Ph.D. in Health & Human Performance with a major in Sport Management, 2019.
• Barry University, Master of Science in Sport Management, 2011.
• Florida Atlantic University, Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Economics, 2008.

Teaching interests

Sport Finance, Sport Economics, Research Methods, Athlete Development, Management and Leadership, Sport Sociology, and Sport Ethics.

Research interests

Career Identity Development, Sport Career Transition, College and Professional Sport, Athletes Well-Being

Recent journal articles

• Chun, Y., Wendling, E., & Sagas, M. (2023). Identity work of athletes: A systematic review of the literature. Sports, 11, Article 203. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports11100203
• Wendling, E., & Sagas, M. (2022). Career identity statuses derived from the Career Identity Development Inventory: A person-centered approach. Psychological Reports. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941221146703.
• Chun, Y., Sagas, M., & Wendling, E. (2022). The intervening effects of perceived organizational support on COVID-19 pandemic stress, job burnout, and occupational turnover intentions of collegiate sport athlete-facing professionals. Sustainability, 14, Article 6807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116807.
• Wendling, E., & Sagas, M. (2022). Development and Validation of the Career Identity Development Inventory (CIDI). Journal of Career Assessment, 30, 678-696. https://doi.org/10.1177/10690727211063374.
• Wendling, E., & Sagas, M. (2021). Is there a reformation into identity achievement for life after elite sport? A journey of identity growth paradox during the liminal rites and identity moratorium. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 644839. https://doi/org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644839.
• Wendling, E., & Sagas, M. (2020). An application of the Social Cognitive Career Theory model of Career Self-Management to college athletes’ career planning for life after college sport. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00009.