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Performance Lifestyle

UK Sport announced in August 2009 that the English Institute of Sport (EIS) would take over the strategic lead role for the Performance Lifestyle support service.

Performance Lifestyle is a personalised support service specifically designed to help each athlete create the unique environment necessary for their success.

For elite athletes to maintain a performance lifestyle they must fit many aspects of their life alongside their intensive training programme. Trained and accredited athlete advisors at the EIS aim to provide support to athletes by giving them the necessary skills to cope with the special demands of being an elite performer and to better prepare them for their life after sport.

The approach is to work closely with coaches and support specialists as part of an integrated team to minimise potential concerns, conflicts and distractions, all of which can be detrimental to performance, and at worst, may end a sporting career prematurely.

Performance Lifestyle Advisers can support athletes with time management, budgeting and finance, dealing with the media, sponsorship and negotiation/conflict management.

Advice is also available for athletes on finding suitable jobs and deciding on a future career. This could include help finding a job to supplement income that fits around the athletes training demands, work placements, or planning for a career after sport. To do this, athlete advisers develop links with local employers to promote the range of skills and experiences athletes can bring to the workplace.

The advice offered by advisers may be in a 1:1 session or as a workshop to a squad. The latter may involve coaches and parents to educate and inform the athlete’s support network. Confidentiality is paramount in building rapport and a relationship between the adviser and the athlete. Therefore, information will only be shared in the instance of the athlete giving their permission.

Performance Lifestyle is available to all athletes on the World Class Performance Programme, plus those nominated by their Home Country Institutes.

Athletes can arrange confidential individual sessions with athlete advisers based at sports institute sites throughout the UK, or attend squad and regionally organised multi-sport workshops.

Athlete advisers can also work with a sport’s staff to deliver lifestyle management activities around an annual programme or training camps. 

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