Magister Artium (Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science) - MA(SRES) / University student-athlete dropout continues to be a concern for many universities and has been the focus of many researchers globally. This qualitative study explored the factors that influenced students to dropout of a cricket and development programme at a university in the Western Cape metropole. Seven former student-athletes and two current administrators participated in this study. This study was guided by the Student Athlete Retention Model by Rivera (2004).