Careers After Sport

Sportsmen and sportswomen actively involved in a sporting career have to juggle work, life and sport. Moving On can help create a more sustainable, balanced approach, giving the athlete the energy to pursue their field, as well as time to plan for the future. When leaving the world of sport at the end of their sporting career a professional, semi-professional or amateur sportsman or sportswoman can encounter psychological as well as financial issues. Unlike traditional career advice, Moving On helps athletes to discover for themselves what it is that they want to do next, progressing smoothly from one stage of life to another.

Sportsmen and sportswomen have a wonderful but short career, usually ending in their late twenties to early thirties. By this time the rest of the population are getting into a comfortable mid-term stride with their careers. For athletes, it can take a while to get back into the stride of life after their sporting career ends. Cristina Versari, head of sports psychology at San Diego University, says, “When an athlete retires it takes four to eight years to adjust to a new life.”

Yet with careful planning the sportsperson can finish first. Moving On helps athletes transition from one career and lifestyle to a second equally fulfilling way of life in smooth, planned stages. It helps to give them ‘the edge’ – that focus – and to accelerate their path towards future success.

Benefits of career coaching

• Early planning for post-sporting life helps to take the pressure off the sportsperson. Instead of being distracted by reaching the end of one’s sporting career and not knowing what to do next, the athlete can focus on their game, secure in the knowledge that they have planned ahead wisely. This foresight can only improve the game for the individual player and their team or club.
   
• Injuries can unexpectedly cut a career short. Planning can also help prepare mentally for such an eventuality.
   
• Careful financial planning enables the sportsperson to invest while earning a regular income. This may entail a bit of extra work while still on the field, but the pay-off in his or her future life is well worth it. Whatever keeps the sportsperson happy and focused can only improve their performance.
   
• But emotional planning is just as vital. They might already have an idea of their future, but an idea is not enough. People often need a little push to turn theory into practice. An outside professional’s experience can help individuals figure out how to use their own ideas to their advantage so they can make good choices to support their goals. And always you need sustained focus, attention and motivation, helping the sportsperson to ‘stay the course’ so new skills become new habits.

Solutions

Moving On aims to work with sportspeople at all stages in their career. It is never too early to start planning for a post-sporting life. During coaching they will:

• Receive one-to-one coaching that focuses exclusively on them, their needs and their agenda.
   
• Be given the space to explore their future under the guidance of an expert career and life coach.
   
• Attain a clear and realistic view of what they wish to achieve, and how they can expect to achieve it.
   
• Be helped to transfer the motivation they experience on the field and track to other aspects of their lives.
   
• Be given a sound appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses, and helped to utilise their time and resources to their advantage.
   
• Be helped to visualise the next stage of their life.
   
• Receive support to focus on their future, while identifying and addressing obstacles that might stand in their way.
   
• Aim for a goal and be kept on track until they achieve it.

Moving on to a new way of life is like a sporting event. You need to plan, to prepare, to be mentally fit and fully focused on your goal.