Kathryn Lane Blog 2 - 19 June 2020
2020: A year to be forgotten or a year where real progress was made?
“2020 is cancelled”. “The world has gone mad!”. “I can’t believe this is happening!”. Just some of the comments that have been made on social media and overheard in everyday conversations throughout the first six months of this year.
From a sporting point of view, it’s easy to take the stance that 2020 is a year to be forgotten (unless you’re a Liverpool fan). The Olympic and Paralympic Games – the peak of most athletes’ careers – has been postponed; the Premier League disrupted by a long mid-season break; the cricket season massively delayed; rugby unsure if the rest if the season will go ahead… I could go on. COVID-19 has affected sport from a financial standpoint and, closer to home, has affected athletes on a much more personal level too.
But 2020 may be a year where real progress is made. Of course, there won’t be any new Olympic or Paralympic records as many would have been hoping for, but it’s given us all the time to slow down, think, and reflect on what is really important; we’ve been forced into being creative and innovative. I think everyone has now become a pub quiz genius, bake off champion and master at entertaining themselves to relieve the boredom of lockdown.
From an athlete perspective, there have been a lot of challenges to navigate. Team sports have had to work out how to stay connected and maintain the camaraderie that many have missed during lockdown. The majority of athletes haven’t been able to access their usual training facilities or equipment. And of course, there is the ongoing battle of motivating yourself to train hard, often on your own, in the middle of a global pandemic where there are 101 other things to be worrying about.
But what if all these hurdles mean that athletes emerge as more well-rounded people on the other side? I wanted to look back over the past six months and address some of the events that have happened across the world. Then look at how athletes have responded so inspirationally, which has demonstrated that they are more than just athletes – they’re also amazing people.
January seems like a distant memory now, but the year began with the tragic bushfires across Australia. An area of 46 million acres (roughly twice the size of South Korea) was burned, with 3,000 homes being destroyed and 33 people left dead.
Athletes were some of the biggest supporters to help the country recover from the bushfire catastrophe. Tennis player Nick Kyrgios donated $200 dollars for every serve he aced that summer; cricketers were donating money for every six hit or wicket taken; the GB Women’s hockey squad auctioned off signed sticks; and Lewis Hamilton donated $500,000.
Athletes came together to support an incredible cause and helped the bushfire response in their own way, demonstrating kindness and generosity.
March was the beginning of the one of the most difficult periods of time for athletes aspiring to go to the 2020 Games. On March 23, lockdown measures were put in place across Britain, meaning athletes were unable to train with teammates or access their usual facilities. Then the Games themselves were postponed for a year on March 24.
I can only begin to imagine how mentally tough this must have been. But the overwhelming response I saw from athletes was an acknowledgment that this was the right thing to do. Sometimes, as an athlete, it can seem like sport is the most important thing in the world, but here it was clear that everyone’s health was far more important, demonstrating selflessness and maturity.
Despite the bad news March brought, April was the month of developing new ways of training. The whole of the UK seemed to catch the running bug for a while, with NHS 5k Strava times congesting social media.
But for athletes (many of whom were already familiar with running), it was an opportunity to adapt and get creative with training facilities. I’ve seen garages turned into gyms, TRXs hung from trees, garden sheds converted into rowing machine rooms, and country lanes used as running tracks. Some of my favourite new ways of training have involved pets – everything from yoga to HIIT workouts – as they seem to love getting involved! This novelty of training at home demonstrated how committed athletes are to their profession and their creativity in finding new ways to train.
As the days ticked on through May, and the novelty of training at home seemed to wear off, many athletes turned their heads to other activities. Along with the rest of the UK, making sourdough and banana bread became a popular activity, but lots of athletes looked past their sporting careers and started thinking about what they were going to do after sport. (At this point, I imagine the EIS Performance Lifestyle team must have been rejoicing that their message was finally getting through!)
Many companies have been running online webinars covering a variety of topics to help athletes consider their options outside of sport and there’s been time to finish off university degrees or professional qualifications that have previously been put on hold due to training commitments. What’s been especially great is seeing some of the ideas that athletes have come up with themselves – new podcasts created, Instagram TV interviews, professional looking websites built, and business plans written. This extra time might mean that the group of athletes retiring after Tokyo 2021 will be better prepared than ever for the leap into the real world of work. For me, the behaviours I saw in May demonstrated a focus on the person, not just the athlete.
And so, into June. I couldn’t write about the first six months of 2020 without addressing the tragic death of George Floyd and the incredible global response of the Black Lives Matter campaign.
Coming from a sport that has a predominantly white privileged playing population, it has been amazing to see some of the conversations this has sparked, from grassroots to elite level. There is still a long way to go, especially in certain sports, and without a doubt, these conversations should have taken place many years ago. But I can see positive steps forward being taken, whether that is people going out of their way to be proactively anti-racist or educating themselves using Netflix documentaries, articles and books.
Many athletes have been proactive in advocating these behaviours, especially through social media. With the following that many athletes have, they have the power to influence a huge variety of people, including young athletes, and have been setting the right example with their responses to the Black Lives Matter campaign. June certainly is a month that will not be forgotten in 2020 and I hope one that will go down in history as the beginning of the end of systemic racism.
Despite many of the events of 2020 not being directly sporting related, they will all ultimately have a huge impact on sport, and on athletes as individuals. From my own point of view, 2020 is not a year that should be written off or forgotten. There has already been a huge amount of progress made, and we’re only halfway through the year. Imagine how much progress could be made in another six months…
We are delighted to welcome on board our second athlete blogger, former England and GB hockey athlete Kathryn Lane. Kathryn also writes her own blog called Athlete to Businesswoman (Hopefully) which can be found here, which she started writing after being cut from the GB women's squad. Kathryn says: "Like a lot of retiring athletes, I was struggling to get a job, or even an interview due to my lack of conventional business experience. I continued writing to help other athletes prepare for retirement, and open the eyes of people outside of sport, who might not understand all the transferrable skills elite athletes have to offer. Hopefully I can offer a little insight for people both in and outside of sport." We're so pleased to have her on board!
Kathryn Lane Blog 1 - 3 April 2020
A five-year Games cycle – Positive or negative for transition?
With the announcement finally coming last week that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be pushed back until 2021, it got me reflecting on whether this is a good or a bad thing. Obviously, in terms of health and well-being, it was a completely logical choice – as amazing as sport is, there are bigger things going on in the world right now and everyone’s health is the utmost priority.
For some athletes, it may be extremely beneficial. Perhaps you’re recovering from an ACL injury and this gives you an extra 12 months to get back up to speed. Maybe you’re a slightly newer professional athlete and the postponement will mean you have more time to prove yourself. For some, you may be fairly indifferent; life doesn’t change too much, the Games just happen one year later – no big deal!
And for others, it may be an absolute nightmare. You might have made plans for after the Games; maybe you’re starting a job in the autumn which now needs to be pushed back a year. Maybe you were planning on retiring and starting a family. Or maybe you’re so fed up of your coach that you were holding on for a few more months, but now you’ve had another 12 added on and you’re not sure you can deal with it for that long!
The outbreak of COVID-19 has meant that every training facility in the country has been shut down and your training schedules have been thrown up in the air. There’s been a lot of creative alternatives to normal training environments going on – beach running, garages being converted into gyms, virtual S&C sessions, TRXs being hung off the back of bedroom doors… the list goes on. From what I’ve seen, it looks like everyone is embracing training from home and doing a pretty good job of it too.
So then I got to thinking - what more could athletes be doing with all this extra time?
Suddenly, you don’t have the long days you’re used to. Sure, there’s still a lot of hard training to be done, but there’s no longer a commute, meal prep, daily meetings or team activities to be done. Of course, some of this will be done virtually, but you, and a lot of other people in the world, will find you have a lot more time.
Therefore, my main focus at this time would be to invest in yourself.
The Games being pushed back a year could give you a massive opportunity to better prepare for what you are going to do post-Tokyo. I’m sure a lot of you will at least have a rough plan of what you were going to do after August, whether that be retiring, continuing onto another cycle or just taking some time out.
The upside of most people currently working from home is that they too have a lot of time on their hands. Without long commutes, lots of people are saving an hour or two per day. Yes, there are added complications of childcare and other caring responsibilities, but generally people have a little extra time. So now is the perfect time to connect with people and network.
Clearly work experience or internship opportunities are going to be thin on the ground at the moment, but why not ask to simply have a chat with someone about what they do? What does their average week look like? How has COVID-19 affected their line of work? What impact has it had on their clients and employees?
The whole population seems to have become better at connecting with others, speaking to friends and family and working out what is really important in life, so I have no doubt that people will be more than happy to have a virtual coffee and chat about options for life after sport.
It could lead to absolutely nothing. You might hate the sound of their industry and vow never to speak to an accountant/builder/entrepreneur/teacher (fill in the gaps yourself!) ever again. But it could also be the start of something exciting.
That half hour chat could lead to them connecting you with someone they know who is a sports fanatic and would love to take on someone with your experience in their company. If you already have a job planned, the company may be more than happy to push back your start date until January 2022 so you have some time to chill, travel and be with your family after the 2021 Games. Then you can maximise the next year of training for Tokyo without having to worry about what you’re going to do with your life afterwards – perfect!
If you don’t want to network, have a look at some learning opportunities. Professional qualifications, soft-skill development; there are lots of things available online. Investing in yourself will always be valuable, no matter what it might be.
The EIS Performance Lifestyle team are always great, and at this current time, their support is available remotely, so don’t forget to engage with it if you need to. The PL Advisors can help you find suitable courses and have some great insight into the types of personal development opportunities that are available.
I would also encourage you to sign up to the Athletes Futures Network and join their closed LinkedIn group.
Receiving their twice-yearly newsletter will ensure you don’t miss out on event opportunities and signposting to resources. And becoming a member of the LinkedIn group will allow you to connect with fellow athletes and start discussions with them about how you’re coping (or talk about something more light hearted!)
100% of athletes will have to retire at some point, so while you’ve perhaps got a little more time on your hands, why not plan for your future? Try to look on the bright side and use these extra 12 months to not only become even more awesome at your sport, but also prepare for life afterwards.
Lizzie Simmonds Blog 6 - 1 August 2019
Life Without Sport: Shaping Your Time
One of the strangest things to adjust to in life outside the bubble is a lack of routine. Training for elite sport is incredibly structured, and athletes will often go weeks and months without significant change to their weekly schedule. When I retired last year, I was quite looking forward to not living such a regimented existence but, in reality, it is actually quite daunting and hard to manage. Although the thought of weeks without being told what to do and where to be sounded liberating, it’s easy to fall into a bit of an aimless lifestyle, without much plan or purpose. Of course, some athletes will go straight into a job and be required to adopt a new kind of structure, but many will take some time away from commitments or, like me, will start to build a portfolio career in which they dictate their own schedule. Although it’s quite nice to not have the pressure of someone else shaping the architecture of my weeks, it’s also a little unnerving, and I find I have to plan things well to avoid the inevitable lackadaisical days where my main achievement is completing a season on Netflix or going to the Post Office…
For those who also struggle without the strict organisation that sport brought, here are some of the things I found work well when it comes to creating and optimising your own routine.
Finance
Although we’d all love to end our sporting careers and be ‘set for life’, with media appearances and sponsorship arrangements, this isn’t the reality for most athletes. In fact, some elite performers will have retired simply because they are unable to continue funding themselves or because their sport or event is not financially supported. Whatever your situation at the end of your career, finance will likely be on your mind and, out in the real world, you’ll have to find ways of making an income. Some athletes will have prepared and will have a job ready for them to step into as soon as they finish; others will have the good fortune to match quickly with a new career and land a job they love with minimal stress. Others, like me, won’t know exactly which direction they want to go in, and will be reluctant to commit to something full-time with the risk that they become stuck doing something they don’t love.
Although it can be uncomfortable to do so, now is the time to create a budget for yourself and to understand how much you need to earn each month to get by. Full time jobs are great for financial security, but if it’s not something you really want to do and it means giving up all your spare time for personal development, then I wouldn’t recommend jumping into one unless it’s your only option. Instead, consider something part-time that gives you plenty of space to pursue other interests. Even better, try and do some appearance work with local schools and sports clubs; his is usually a great way to earn good money and, as an added bonus, it allows you to feed your expertise back into sport, which can give you a real mental boost after investing in your own development for so long!
Appearance days are also a brilliant opportunity to try out some coaching, and many athletes find that coaching is a vocation they’d like to pursue full-time. It doesn’t have to be physical coaching either; you will have developed a vast skill set during your time as an athlete (such as goal-setting, resilience, leadership and communication skills). Many of these skills will be relevant and transferable to people in other industries. Talks and presentations in schools and businesses (even if they have no link to sport) are hugely popular and a great way to earn money. Regardless of whether this is what you want to be doing long-term, having a few days in the diary each month offers financial security and, most importantly, should give you the time and freedom to concentrate on development in other areas.
If you don’t know where to start with selling your ‘services’ to other industries, then just begin by giving people a call (or sending a few messages on LinkedIn) and asking which parts of your skill set would be relevant to their line of work. It might take a bit of trial and error for you to work out your niche, but you’ll soon start to understand what is making an impact, and you can focus on enhancing and evolving your services over time.
Personal Development
During a sporting career, an athlete invests an incredible amount of time and energy into physical improvement, learning about the nuances of their sport and developing skills that allow them to compete at the highest level. You’ll have been continually learning about the technical and tactical aspects of performance, striving to finesse every element in order to find milliseconds and millimetres. When I left that environment, I wasn’t entirely sure which direction to re-focus my energy towards, which inevitably led to some very restless (but unproductive) days!
There may be certain things that you ‘have’ to do, like the appearance work, part-time work, an internship or work experience, and you’ll hopefully also have some ‘fun’ activities in the diary too; travelling, catching up with family, or just re-engaging with that long-lost social life! Whatever your diary looks like, make sure you also dedicate time each week to personal development. Even if you don’t know what the long-term plan is, investing in learning (on whatever topic) is super important, and acquiring new skills and knowledge can be a real boost to mental wellbeing. Some ideas for starters:
- Start a course at your local college or university. Or, alternatively, there are hundreds of cheap (or free) courses online; from language courses, to coding, to cookery and project management. These can be really fun, broaden your skill set, and also give you an idea of where your passion lies outside of sport.
- Volunteer at a local sports club, school or charity. Volunteering doesn’t bring in an income but it’s a great way to develop coaching or management skills and meet new people. Having volunteering experience is also brilliant for your CV.
- Utilise your network to arrange a couple of phone calls or meetings with people from industries that you’re interested in. This involves minimal commitment (just an expression of interest) but is a great way to get insight and learn more about the skill set required for a role in that line of work.
- Do something creative. Whether it’s writing, drawing, finger painting, dancing or pottery, engaging your creative side is very different to the challenges of being an athlete, but you may just find that a creative pursuit is what makes you tick outside of sport.
Exercise
When I was considering retirement, one of the things I looked forward to the most was not having to push my body continually, given that over the last decade I’d done more exercise than most people do in a lifetime! When you step away from sport, your relationship with exercise will change; suddenly training will be optional and there won’t be someone holding you accountable for going to the gym, or giving you feedback on your performance. This can seem like a relief but stopping exercise completely can be a really bad idea. Not only is it detrimental for your highly tuned physiological systems to stop completely (I’m sure there’s some science to back this up, hence the recommendation to ‘de-train’ gradually), but you’re also highly likely to be in the habit of processing emotions through movement.
I didn’t realise until after I retired that I used time in the pool as ‘head space’; processing thoughts and emotions, planning and reflecting, and having some quiet, submerged, time away from technology, conversation and noise. Whatever the setup of your sport, there’s a good chance that you too expressed yourself, both physically and mentally, through movement. Taking this away completely can be extraordinarily damaging to mental wellbeing and general happiness, especially during a time when there is already a high degree of change and uncertainty.
That being said, it can be really hard to re-engage with your own sport once you’ve made the decision to stop. If you’ve retired due to an injury, then it may even be impossible. For months after stepping away from swimming, I found it really difficult to go to the pool, and going to the gym (which held a lot of memories of camaraderie, energy and team unity) made me want to cry. However, I also recognised that the one of the significant differences between the good days and the bad days of my transition were down to me doing some kind of exercise. Whether it was a release of feel-good hormones, familiarity with pushing my body, or space to express and process my emotions, I don’t know, but I knew that not doing anything physical quickly led to anxiety, restlessness and self-doubt. Ironically when you’re in this kind of head space, exercise can be the last thing you want to do…
If you still love engaging with your sport, even at an ‘amateur’ level, then good on you. For the rest of us, I recommend experimenting with different forms of movement. If you’re a sprinter by trade, try going out on a long bike ride. If you do an individual sport, try joining a local team. If you’re technically adept on land, try jumping in the pool. If you're an aquatic being then try something that involves running. You’ll need to park your expectations for immediate proficiency, though a natural aptitude for proprioceptive skill acquisition means you’ll probably progress and develop faster than average.
Whether it’s just one sport, or a number of activities throughout the week, keeping a routine that allows physical expression is really important for your body and your mind.
Food
When you stop training full-time, your relationship will food will also change dramatically. Depending on how much exercise you still fit in to your daily routine, you may even need to start eating like a normal person! Instead of food being crucial ‘fuel’ - energising performance and aiding recovery - it will now take a more unassuming role. Yes, it’s still important to fuel your body but your daily choices won’t have such a significant impact on your livelihood. For many competing athletes, food is somewhat of an obsession; after all, optimising calorie intake and expenditure can be a key factor in performance. Most athletes will be familiar with nutrition plans, weighing scales and callipers, with the dreaded ‘skin fold’ measurements being taken every couple of months and body weight being recorded on a weekly basis. Leaving all this behind can again seem like a relief but if, like me, you’ve competed at a high level for most of your life, the lack of structure and rules around meal times is a bit unnerving.
My biggest piece of advice is to take the pressure off meal times completely. The reality is that you probably need to eat a bit less than before (unless you’ve jumped into hardcore training for another sport), so try and be guided by your hunger rather than a rigid fuelling schedule. Try and keep the majority of what you’re eating healthy (you’ll probably feel a bit gross if you start eating rubbish!), but don’t worry too much about planning everything to the nearest calorie.
Your body too is likely to change, whether that’s losing muscle or (like me) softening around the edges! That’s the reality of leaving elite sport behind and although we (kind of) know that it’s going to happen, it can still be stressful to see the numbers changing on the scales or our physiques slowly changing in the mirror, especially if you’ve always taken pride in how many of your abs can be seen through your t-shirt… When it comes to body image, every athlete is different, but it can be helpful to set some sensible expectations and remind yourself of these regularly. For most athletes, losing a bit of muscle mass or gaining a bit of weight isn’t an inherently bad thing; we’re just mentally conditioned to think that anything other than an optimally honed physique is unacceptable. Remind yourself that, over time, your body will change, and that that’s OK. Being generally fit and healthy (and happy) is now far more important than how well defined your obliques are.
Plan
Finding a new schedule will present different challenges for each athlete but planning the week ahead can help dispel some of the uneasiness that transition brings. You probably won’t get it right straight away but try and find the right balance between paid work, social activities, exercise and personal development. Even just having a small amount of structure to your days and weeks can be reassuring and having small targets to work towards, or goals to hit, keeps motivation levels up and anxiety at bay. I started printing off an A4 plan for the week ahead, with the days across the top and the times down the side. For many athletes their training schedules would have taken a similar form, but beyond sport there’s something quite liberating about filling in your own schedule and assigning your own time to tasks and activities.
Processing Time
Remember to take time to do some mental processing and reflect on your journey too. There’s a good chance that your emotions will be a bit heightened and clear-thinking hard to find, especially in the first few weeks and months. Take the pressure off finding all the answers immediately and enjoy being free to start setting the stage for the next part of your life.
Lizzie Simmonds Blog 5 - 26 February 2019
If I’m Not An Athlete Then What Am I?
One of the most common issues for athletes transitioning out of sport is the loss of identity that inevitably accompanies the hanging up of your goggles, boots, spikes, oars or racquet. After retiring nine months ago, it’s something I've struggled with too, and after a bit of reflection, it’s not too difficult to see why - after all, identifying as an athlete is pretty much all I’ve ever known.
There are, of course, exceptions, but the majority of athletes are consumed by sport from a fairly young age (I swum a mile when I was six years old, and my hair barely dried for the next 20 years). Going through your teenage years as an elite, or semi-elite, athlete, has some challenges, such as correctly managing your education and social development alongside sport, but it is usually a hugely positive commitment for a young adult. At an age when most kids are messing around with their mates, playing on their Xbox, or Snapchatting every two minutes, the young athlete goes on a pretty intensive course of learning how to optimally prioritise tasks, time and energy.
Whilst many teenagers have to be dragged out of bed in the morning, a young athlete will be up before sunrise, dragging their parents out of bed to take them to the pool, track or gym. Whilst their friends moan about homework, a young athlete will have a routine that allows them to complete their homework and train after school, with enough time leftover to relax and watch that latest episode of Love Island. Whilst their schoolmates are happy to grab a bag of chips for lunch, a young athlete will be learning about correctly fuelling their body, choosing their food carefully to optimise recovery from the morning’s session, or to prepare for the afternoon’s. It’s a steep learning curve, and not all those who begin the journey make it through to the end, but the skills that young athletes acquire during those developmental years - the dedication, focus, commitment to excellence, time management and communication - undoubtedly give them the foundations for being successful, not only in sport, but in their schooling, hobbies and future careers.
What young athletes also develop is a strong identity: “I am an athlete”. Four powerful words that will be the beginning of many Olympic/Paralympic dreams, Grand Slam smashes, or Tour de France wins. Of course, we had goals too - to become the best in the county, then regional champion, then national champion. To beat the older kids, to qualify for senior domestic competitions and then finally, to compete as a senior athlete for your chance to stand up and represent your country at an international event. No athlete, young or old, is immune to the intoxicating draw of high-level competition, and the drive for success and progression fuels many of those early morning training wake-up calls, the brutal training sessions, and that tormented decision between chicken nuggets or vegetable stir fry.
But what really keeps a young sportsperson driving forwards, week in, week out, without compromise, is the identity they have started to forge. Let me explain how this works. The majority of training is somewhat tired, rough round the edges and slow… that’s the point of training! Push yourself out of your comfort zone, hurt your body, and then, when it comes to rested competition, you will hopefully be able to fire faster and stronger than you’ve ever been before. But that means, by its very nature, that the majority of training does not involve fast times, fresh legs or shiny PBs. If athletes relied on always seeing tangible progress, in order to keep motivation and momentum, then many of us would have quit years ago. You don’t get feedback every day that you’re on track to reach your goals, you don’t always get times that tell you that you’re world-leading, and you don’t often get information that tells you you’re in perfect form to win medals and break records. So we don’t rely solely on tangible progress markers. Instead, we have our identity. Being an elite athlete gives us impetus to push through those tough sessions and difficult choices. Yes, the Olympic dream gives us vision, but it is this identity that gives us our security, motivation and drive, and in turn dictates the everyday actions we take. We don’t question getting up in the morning or pushing ourselves to tears. We are merely acting in accordance with the identity we have created. We don’t always get it right - numerous mistakes will be made along the way - but we gradually evolve from a regular teenager into a dedicated, focused athletic being.
Over the years, a young sportsman or woman will continue to substantiate this identity with our sporting successes - medals, records, personal bests and qualification standards - reconfirming ‘the athlete’ we are becoming. Other interests and pursuits will often fall at the wayside, as we begin to eat, sleep and breathe our sport. Our daily routines prioritise training and recovery; our calendar is scheduled around competition seasons. When things get tough, we will stand in front of the mirror and say: “This is what I do. This is what it means to be an athlete. This is who I am. I can do this.” Through the inevitable ups and downs, the wins and losses, we will never lose this identity. That is, until we retire…
Elite sport is a strange vocation because, once an athlete retires, we can’t really just ‘dip’ back in to our profession at a later date. Many of the identity associations above also ring true for other industries. I imagine a musically talented youngster would also start to build a strong identification with being a musician. A young chess prodigy would begin to say: “I am a chess player”. A youngster who shows serious promise in the acting arena would gradually start to identify as an actor. Any pursuit of excellence requires hours of dedication and focus. But most people who make a career out of music, or chess, or acting even, can usually do this for their entire life. Even if they choose other careers later on, they could still feasibly return to their previous vocation relatively easily. Sport is different. There will come a point in every athlete’s life where they cannot feasibly continue, whether this is due to injury, performance or motivation. Whereas the musician, chess player and actor can all reasonably adopt that permanent identity, once an athlete transitions out of sport, we technically cease to be athletes any more.
To make things even harder, we’ve often sacrificed the ‘experimental’ stage of our lives, whilst we pursued our dreams in sport. For most people, their teenage years and twenties are basically spent finding out who they are and what they like. These are the years spent in school, in college, university, on grad schemes, internships, first jobs, second jobs, third jobs. Not everybody has their life figured out by the age of 30, but most people have enjoyed at least a decade of experimentation, travel, socialising, working and, crucially, figuring out who they are. Every young person goes on a necessary journey of identity formation, with their experiences, interactions and environment all shaping the future person they become.
Young athletes are equally malleable, but this identity ‘forging’ often happens in a more focused, single-minded way. We travel with our sport, we socialise with our teammates, we experiment with our training programmes and we work bloody hard to reach the top of the game. But not many spend a whole lot of time trying new things and experiencing different environments. Being a sportsperson defined almost my entire existence so, as an athlete retiring from sport at the age of 27, I inevitably felt more of an identity loss than a non-sporting peer would if they had left their career path.
And loss is exactly how it felt.
Identity is a hugely important part of the human psyche, and when it’s taken away, or abruptly changed, the resulting emotion is grief. For years, sport defined me. In school there were two Lizzies in our class, so I was known to some ‘hilarious’ teachers as “Damp Lizzie” because my hair was always wet (not very flattering, I know!). Later on, I would retain sports-related nicknames from my non-sporting peers, with “Swimmo” still being a firm favourite for many of my social group. Our identity is one of the most important parts of us; it defines me as me, and you as you. It’s what separates individuals, and our ability to self-identify is one of the things that makes us different from the rest of the animal kingdom. So it’s unsurprising that I still stumble when people ask me what I do for a living, because my automated response is to tell them about my preparations for the next major competition. And it makes sense of why I feel slightly weird about people calling me “Swimmo”, when the most swimming I do these days is the occasional half hour splash in the public lane…
So, how can us athletes manage this abrupt change in direction and identity?
Well, that depends on where an athlete might find themselves in their particular sporting journey…
For athletes still competing
You are an athlete. That identity will define many of the decisions you make on a daily basis, and your purpose will be driven by acting in accordance with this. There is a good chance that it will be the strongest driving force you will feel each day. You’ll have goals, targets and objectives that give you vision, but you will also rely on your identity to help you push through when things get tough. This is a huge part of sport, and adopting this all-encompassing identity is part of what makes you great at what you do.
But it isn’t everything.
Although you may not recognise it at the time, you are much more than you think, beyond your performance on the pitch, field, track etc. Even though sport may occupy most of your waking thoughts and actions, you don’t have to limit yourself to a singular existence. So, ask yourself what are the other components that make you, well, you? To begin with you are a son, or a daughter. You may be a sibling. You may be a partner. You may be a parent or a carer. You will undoubtedly be a teammate and a friend. You may be a coach to others, or a captain. You will be an influencer and a leader. You will be a role model. You will be an ambassador for sponsors, a representative for your sport. You will be a speaker, a tweeter, a blogger, a vlogger. You may be a mentor to other athletes, or a voice campaigning for change. You may be a travel enthusiast, a photographer, an artist. You may be a student, or a teacher. You may be a cook, a chef or a baker. You may be an academic, a director, an employee, or a contractor. Yes, you are an athlete. But you are so much more as well. Recognise that, whilst sport plays a hugely significant part in defining you, it doesn’t define your entirety.
Start to consider your interests outside sport. This doesn’t mean missing training sessions or getting distracted from your goals, but begin to use your down time to explore the other things that make you tick. It doesn’t have to be a traditional academic studying route, but experiment with your hobbies and with your ideas. Find an online course, or an evening class, or just begin by watching YouTube videos about things that interest you. Photography, web design, business, clay modelling, chess, guitar, chemical engineering, journalism, coaching, charcoal drawing, architecture, pastry, yoga instructing, opera singing, calligraphy. Pick one, pick ten, pick all of them. Sometimes, when we’re excelling at sport, it can be hard to pursue other interests as an ‘amateur’ - to be average at something, and to be ordinary at other skills. Whilst the likelihood is that, given practice in many of these other activities you will also start to excel, the goal here isn’t to be the best in the world at guitar or calligraphy. The objective is to extend your identity to more than just your sporting performance. Continue doing this alongside your sporting career and you will begin to forge an identity that is centred around you as a human being, and not just you as an athlete.
For athletes who have retired
First of all, understand that your sporting results were only an outcome. It was you and your dedication, focus and commitment that created those results. Even though it’s difficult to leave behind the fast-paced world of elite sport, those attributes and skills are not lost. You still have the ability to do extraordinary things, and all the attributes that led to your success in sport are still a part of you. If you can see retirement with this perspective, then you can begin to understand that your athletic identity isn’t lost completely when you ‘hang up’ your team kit. Yes, you’ve transitioned out of the environment in which you can win medals and titles, but you can still identify as an athlete, because all the qualities, skills and idiosyncrasies that you honed during sport are still absolutely a part of who you are. Being an athlete may no longer drive your everyday direction and motivation, but it will always be a part of you.
Secondly, after sport, it can be unnerving not to be exceptional at one thing, especially if that’s all you’ve ever really done. It can feel overwhelming to even think of replacing the strength of that single, unyielding identity that you had as an athlete. But trying to replace it completely isn’t realistic, or constructive. Now it’s your turn to do what most kids did in their teenage years, or early twenties. It’s time to experiment. It’s time to give yourself a break, to stop demanding excellence, and to accept being a newcomer to many different pursuits. It’s time to say yes to every opportunity that comes your way, to experience new industries, to develop new skills, to hang around outside of your comfort zone. And it’s time to do all of this with objective perspective, making notes and keeping records of what gives you motivation and purpose.
Not everything you do will give you fulfillment, and not all of the ideas you have will materialise. But to expect that the first thing you dive into will fully replace the purpose and satisfaction that sport gave you is just unrealistic. As an athlete, you are familiar with setting yourself challenging goals. So, do exactly the same here; continually track your progress in new endeavours, re-assessing the next target as you go. In this instance, however, the goal isn’t to be immediately world-leading at your new pursuits, it’s to take the pressure off yourself, and to go on a journey of self-discovery in which you stop assuming your identity has been lost to sport, and start allowing yourself to get excited by the opportunity of creating a whole host of new identities. Being an elite athlete is super cool but, project forward 60 years and look back on your life. If elite sport was the only thing you had accomplished, I guarantee you’d feel a bit wasted. Your journey in sport has helped shape the person you are, but it is not because you were an athlete that you achieved results. It is because of the person you are, and that is something you won’t ever leave behind, even when you close the door to sport.
Lizzie Simmonds Blog 4 - 16 July 2018
After a break away from blogging, and recently announcing her retirement, we welcome back Lizzie Simmonds and hear about her experience at the recent Athlete Futures Roadshow in Bath.
On 4 June 2018, 32 sports men and women, from a range of summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports, gathered at the University of Bath for an Athlete Futures Roadshow. Run by the UK Sport Athlete Futures Network team, which comprises both UK Sport and EIS staff members, these Roadshows feature workshops, keynote speakers and panel discussions, as well as a ‘careers fair’ style exhibition, where a range of companies present unique work opportunities to British athletes.
I had previously attended one Athlete Futures event in 2016, which was on slightly larger scale, and held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The model has changed slightly since then to a series of smaller roadshow events across the country, which is a more practical way of attracting a wider reach of the nation’s current (and ex) athletes. June’s event was held in a lecture theatre at Bath University, and the slightly smaller scale worked well as it encouraged an easy-going, informal atmosphere, where athletes felt at ease to ask questions. Any athlete who is, or has ever been, on the World Class Programme was eligible to attend, free of charge. These events are a great way to meet other sportspeople, to discuss transition and career development, and to get ideas about a future, post sport.
The day began with a welcome from UK Sport’s chair Dame Katherine Grainger, followed by an incredibly powerful talk from ex-swimmer Michael Jamieson. Michael is known within sporting circles for his 2012 Olympic silver medal in the 200m breaststroke, as well as his honesty around his own battles with mental health. With Bath being a hub for elite swimming, many of us in the audience knew Michael well, but his story still captured the attention of the entire room. He spoke of the highs and lows of sport, of the emotions that come with winning and losing by the smallest of margins. He relived a period of his career when an unremitting drive to win caused him to push himself beyond the limit - to the point of physical damage - in the single-minded pursuit of success. He talked eloquently about athletes taking responsibility for their journey, of acknowledging their privilege within sport, and always being grateful for the opportunities that they’re given. He then spoke openly about periods of his career when he thought darkness would consume him, and about his journey towards finding acceptance and content. Michael retired from swimming in 2016, but now coaches young athletes at a club in London, running a programme that centres around well-being and mindfulness.
His advice to athletes leaving sport was to make sure you take some time to reflect, to process the journey, to find some closure and to come to terms with your achievements and disappointments. In his case, it took the best part of a year (including a yoga retreat to Nicaragua) to settle into retired life with renewed ambition and drive. He also talked about making mistakes along the way; about not being fearful of trying new pursuits, even if they don’t work out in the long term. It’s OK for athletes to not know exactly what your future will hold.
Following MJ’s talk, he was joined on stage by Keri-anne Payne, Jenny Jones and Sarah Barrow. A lively discussion ensued, in which Katherine asked each athlete (all now retired) about their experiences leaving behind a career in sport. It was super interesting for us guys in the audience to hear the different stories from the panel. Keri-anne started a business before she had actually retired, meaning she could step into a directorship role almost immediately - she’d prepared fully, and establishing a future occupation pre-transition gave her the security to push on for the last period of her swimming career. Keri-anne is a true testament to the notion that sport and a career can co-exist successfully.
Jenny Jones, a snowboarder by trade, had a very unique experience, as winter extreme sports are structured slightly differently to their summer counterparts. Competing in a sport that is relatively new to Lottery funding, Jenny has always operated independently and was able to establish a ‘professional’ career, sponsored externally, allowing her to continue beyond her Olympic aspirations. She and Sarah Barrow also spoke about embracing new challenges and recognising that sometimes the direction you think you want to go in won’t end up being what you actually love doing. In Sarah’s case, she was adamant that a career in journalism was her dream, but then hated the journalism course she’d chosen. She abandoned the course and has now found her passion coaching diving in Ireland.
I think the most important thing to come out of the panel discussion was that everyone’s experiences will be different - there is no one way to go about retirement. It’s about finding your feet, committing to new pursuits, but not being afraid to change tack if things aren’t working out.
After a short break (multiple snacks may or may not have been consumed), we attended a networking workshop, run by Kate Howlett, who is a consultant and transition coach at a company called Moving Ahead. She talked about maximising the network that athletes build through years on the elite circuit and about how opportunities will often come from your network’s network. Kate gave a lot of advice on how to approach networking; preparing for a conversation or meeting by being clear about your own objectives, and also how to proactively secure referrals and references.
We then had a discussion about using LinkedIn and optimising your profile, both as a current athlete, and as a retired athlete seeking new opportunities. As well as encouraging some key changes to our privacy settings, Kate explained the scope of LinkedIn, and how we can help the algorithms that run the platform to maximise our exposure within industries that are of interest to us. It was an engaging learning experience, and I think that everyone gained some practical and useful knowledge from the seminar. I noted a few people updating their settings as she spoke, and I embarrassed myself by surreptitiously adding Kate as a contact through LinkedIn mid-session, only to have my request pop up on the big screen for everyone to see!
From finding your ideal job to creating your ideal job, becoming self-employed and starting a business. The next session was with Chris Smith, a chartered accountant, business coach, and founder and owner of a number of companies. Chris talked about the necessity of having a great (and unique) business idea, and about how it’s paramount to be passionate about your idea (and not just doing it for the money). He spoke about what makes a great entrepreneur, why many start-ups fail, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that new business owners can be tripped up by. We looked at the importance of creating a business plan, both to convey your proposal to potential investors, and also to help you work through the logistics and challenges of your own ideas. He took us through the necessary practicalities of starting a business: registering with HMRC (for tax purposes), Companies House (to be officially recognised and permitted to trade), trade bodies, insurance, and the legal documentation required before you can seek to employ others. We finished up by looking at some of the ways of raising capital, through loans, bursaries and external funds, including the classic ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’! All in all, it was a very interesting seminar, and there was a lot of hasty scribbling from those athletes in the room who have a budding idea that could evolve into a future career.
Lessons and lectures concluded, we finished the official proceedings in another room where 13 companies and educational institutions from across the country were offering opportunities, academic advancement and graduate schemes to us guys. Each company had a couple of representatives present, with information, brochures and videos, explaining what their business did, and how we could get involved. All of the representatives recognised that, despite many of the athletes in the room not having followed a traditional academic path, we have a unique set of skills to offer to their industry, and so there was a mutual understanding that networking could present opportunities to all parties. I spent an hour or so chatting to different people in the room and came away with a number of ideas for my own transition.
To finish off the afternoon, myself and a small group of athletes joined Katherine and some UK Sport representatives for dinner and a lively discussion about the progression of UK Sport. Post Tokyo, the funding structure could possibly change, so it’s important for UK Sport to hear from athletes to ensure that funding is allocated in the most efficient and beneficial way possible. Athletes from swimming, triathlon, pentathlon and skeleton were around the table, and it was interesting to hear about how other sports prioritise funding. For example, in swimming, being funded for technical equipment is not that important - a race suit costs about £300, but British Swimming is sponsored and supported by swimming equipment companies, and therefore sufficient racing equipment is provided to most elite swimmers for major competitions. On the other hand, a skeleton sled costs tens of thousands of pounds, and therefore UK Sport funding that prioritises technical equipment is absolutely vital for skeleton, to ensure their athletes can train and compete optimally.
The main conclusion from the dinner was that differences between sports really do necessitate an individualised approach to the prioritisations of funding. We also collectively highlighted some consistent areas where funding could be streamlined more effectively, and certain sectors where funding allocations required heightened accountability from individual sports. It was great to be part of the conversation about making funding work for athletes, and I’m grateful to have been offered the opportunity to contribute to the progression of UK Sport’s funding schemes. It’s important for decisions to remain athlete-driven, and I hope our ideas can be used constructively in the coming years. UK Sport are currently running a Public Consultation on the future funding of elite sport which they are encouraging everyone to complete, especially athletes, so if you’d like to have your say, please click here to complete it.
Overall, the Athlete Futures Roadshow was greatly beneficial, both for those who have retired from elite sport and for those who are still competing but starting to think proactively about transition and their future. UK Sport are making significant inroads into supporting this area more comprehensively, and days like these really do offer athletes a unique opportunity to be proactive about their future development.
There is one more Athlete Futures Roadshow still to come this year taking place at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester on 24 October between 1 and 6pm. If you would like to attend, please email athletefuturesnetwork@uksport.gov.uk.
Lizzie Simmonds Blog 3 - 4 December 2017
This month, our resident athlete blogger Lizzie Simmonds talk about the many transferable skills athletes have that they can take with them into a career beyond sport.
If you’ve spent the majority of your life swimming up and down a pool, sprinting around a running track, or pursuing any other athletic endeavour, then you’ve probably not had very much time to indulge in traditional work experience. Whilst on paper this may be detrimental to your future career prospects, experience in elite sport will have undoubtedly left you with an abundance of life skills that make you exceptionally valuable to a hiring employer.
Of course, for some jobs, specific qualifications and requirements are non-negotiable. You’re not going to get very far into a career in medicine based on soft skills and personal qualities alone (or I wouldn’t want you as my GP if you have). Likewise, it’s difficult to get a foot through the door in scientific fields, law and engineering without having the necessary certification that accounts for years of learning and training. There is huge value in being able to tick the box that says you have a degree, diploma or qualification and, for many jobs, ticking that box will be a prerequisite for successful applicants.
But university is not right for everyone, so if you’re mid-way through an athletic career and have not achieved the traditional academic certifications, don’t panic! For some, dropping out of education prematurely is the only option as they try to balance studying with a 30-hour training week. For others, a 6-week training camp that clashes with an exam period during Olympic year may mean it’s a no-brainer to postpone their degree. For some, academic study is a welcome distraction; for others it’s an unwelcome intrusion on their focused lives and routines. There are some athletes who manage to acquire financial support through sponsorship and bursaries, but others don’t fancy starting adult life with a crippling student debt. Every athlete is individual, so although I’m a huge advocate for pursuing education if able to, there are various reasons why balancing academia and sport can be challenging. And whilst you will certainly need a degree for some specific jobs, the academic world doesn’t always mimic real life, and there is a great deal of additional value to be placed on the experiences you will have had through a career in elite sport.
Below are just some examples of skills that most athletes will have developed through sport and, more importantly, how and why these can be applied to other pursuits.
Leadership Skills and Team Work
This is an obvious one, especially if you’re involved with a team sport, have competed in a relay event or have experience captaining a squad. Part of the discipline of being a high performer includes taking the initiative and guiding and motivating the people around you to get the best result out of everyone. Even if you compete in an individual sport, athletes are never really working alone – most continually interact with a support network of coaches, physios, nutritionists, psychologists, sports scientists and performance lifestyle advisors. The natural ability for athletes to inspire and guide others extends beyond sport. When the time comes to co-ordinate with colleagues and team members in a working environment, athletes find it second nature to take the lead. Part of being an elite sporting performer also means understanding and supporting the needs of other athletes around you. Recognising that people operate differently (in both sport and other fields), and being able to develop an environment where individualism thrives, is another reason why sportsmen and women progress quickly in the workplace.
Goal Setting & Application
Many people in many different walks of life set goals for themselves. A lot of people aspire to be academically successful, dream of being rich, or want to change the world in some capacity. The majority of the general population fall short of these ambitions. The difference between athletes and others is that athletes usually have an innate ability to apply themselves to goals, and the tenacity to persevere when things get tough. We’re also very familiar with the process of breaking goals down into achievable short-term objectives, continually monitoring and adjusting progress, and single-mindedly pursuing a target until it is achieved. Even if you never attained the accolades of Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps or Mo Farah, the practice of repeatedly challenging yourself to become better – to achieve what may seem impossible – is a habit for life. When given a task by your boss in the future, or set an assignment in a new industry, athletes find it straightforward to analyse tasks, identify methods for solving problems, and commit themselves to succeeding at the challenge. Additionally, athletes are good at taking responsibility for the outcome of tasks. In sport, we’re accountable for our interactions, our training and, ultimately, the end result on competition day. This transfers seamlessly to other pursuits, where we’re more likely to accept responsibility and less likely to blame others if things don’t go well.
Performing Under Pressure
Stress is a part of adult life, and how we manage it often defines not only how successful we are, but how happy we are too. Representing your country on an international level brings a unique pressure, and experiencing this intense and competitive environment teaches athletes a lot about the way they personally handle stress. Even if you freaked out and panicked as a youngster, the likelihood is that, over time, experimentation and psychological training have equipped you with individualised skills and tools to cope with demanding situations. Admittedly, when you enter the ‘real world’ there may not be many occasions to equal an Olympic Games final, but the body doesn’t necessarily distinguish between stressful scenarios; to our brains, stress is stress. This means that whether you need meditation, motivation, family chat, distractions (or any other form of stress busting tactic), you’re probably already in a position to not only manage future career pressure, but thrive in challenging circumstances.
Handling Disappointment & Failure
Not every athlete reaches their ultimate goal. In fact, a very small percentage of sportsmen and women will achieve absolutely everything that they dreamt of doing. And even if you’re one of the lucky few, it’s almost unheard of to complete a career without any disappointments, dips in performance, injuries or setbacks. If you’re put off by one substandard performance then you won’t make it very far as an elite athlete, so sportsmen and women develop formidable resilience when dealing with undesirable outcomes. Although it can feel rubbish at the time, we grow familiar with the process of reflecting on what when wrong, analysing how we could have achieved a different result, and learning from each experience so that we have a better chance of succeeding in the future. This process is true of any pursuit that takes you out of your comfort zone, and there will be times in a person’s career where mistakes are made and objectives are not met. How people deal with negative situations, by establishing techniques to manage disappointment and learn from mistakes, can be a defining factor in how successful you will ultimately be.
Communication
Communication is key in pretty much every area of life. In sport, interacting efficiently and proactively with your support team of coaches and staff is paramount to success. The same is true in the workplace; you will need similar skills to communicate effectively with your line manager, operations director, CEO etc. Your interpersonal skills can and will influence your progression through a career, and luckily you’re likely to have honed these skills over the course of your athletic journey. Even if you become your own boss in the future, the way in which you’re able to communicate with the people around you – clients, customers, or colleagues – will determine the extent to which they commit to your cause. This links back to leadership – if you’re willing to invest in people development (and communication is key to this), then your employees will become your most valuable asset; increasing their capacity will naturally increase your company’s output.
As an athlete, you will be equally proficient at interacting with your peers (fellow athletes), regardless of age, nationality, ethnicity or gender. You know that everyone’s journey is different and you have complete respect for your contemporaries. Again, this links seamlessly to the workplace, where understanding individual traits, and ignoring unfounded biases, will allow proactive communication, even with those who have differing goals or views.
Discipline, Motivation, Focus & Commitment to Excellence
Nobody would question the dedication that elite athletes have to their cause. The media will always pounce upon the more glamorous moments of success, but it’s widely appreciated how much time and energy goes into a successful sporting career. The ability to persevere for years, despite injuries or setbacks, is often nothing short of superhuman. Experience in committing yourself so purely to the pursuit of excellence is a trait that gives you a much higher chance of succeeding in other areas of life. It makes sense for companies to invest time and money into employees that are likely to ‘stick it out’. It’s one of the reasons why a (wise) employer may bypass the fact that you’re lacking the ‘required’ qualifications when hiring for a job, because character traits and innate ambition give you the upper hand in other areas. It’s easy to teach someone new, job-specific, technical skills. It’s much harder (if not impossible) to teach natural motivation and self-discipline. In terms of learning, athletes are constantly doing just that; receiving feedback, adjusting technique, acquiring new skills in order to improve. In the workplace, the same will be true – athletes will be unhappy to settle for stagnant positions, but will always push to learn, improve and progress.
It may difficult right now to see exactly how your sporting journey will contribute to your future life but rest assured, you will be acquiring an armoury of personal skills that can put you ahead of the game. The key is recognising these transferable skills and understanding how they can not only translate to a new discipline, but, in fact, give you a very real advantage in a future career.
Lizzie Simmonds Blog 2 - 25 October 2017
Lizzie Simmonds continues her exploration into the ways in which current athletes can actively prepare for a life after sport. This week, she shares her experiences of Moving Ahead’s Athlete2Business Mentoring Programme. For more information on the initiative, and to sign up for the next programme, click here. The deadline for the next sign-up is 10 November and if you have any questions about the programme, you can contact Monica@moving-ahead.org.
Last year, when I signed up to Moving Ahead’s Athlete2Business Mentoring Programme, I have to admit I had mixed expectations. Although the premise of matching World Class athletes with renowned business leaders seemed like a great idea, I was pretty nervous about being mentored by someone who had nothing to do with sport, might scoff at my lack of business experience, and be unable to relate to the training lifestyle I lead.
I had, however, made a promise to myself that I would start saying yes to more opportunities outside the sporting sphere in a bid to expand my network and find some direction for the future. So I dutifully entered some contact details into Moving Ahead’s online form and crossed my fingers and toes, desperately hoping I’d be matched with a mentor with whom I had some shared career interests.
“Your mentor, Simon, has thirty four years experience as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, and has been a partner for nearly 23 years within the Audit Division…”
OK, interesting start. Along with some other very accomplished titles and accolades (which I had to Google to find out what they meant), Simon has had an incredibly successful career in the finance industry. Sitting on boards and chairing committees, he sounded like a bit of a superstar in the world of accounts. I was very impressed but, given that I’d rather be poked in the eye with a fork than work in audit, I wasn’t exactly sure how well we’d connect…
Fast-forward a couple of weeks and we’d both missed the Moving Ahead intro event (me because of training commitments, Simon because he’d misplaced his abacus), so we arranged a phone conversation to kick things off. My initial concerns about potential awkwardness quickly melted away as we spent an hour chatting informally about our lives and our expectations for the mentoring programme. Luckily Simon was more prepared than me (I think he’d done this before), and easily guided the conversation towards my goals, both as a current athlete and for life after sport.
His job in the mentoring role, he explained, was to help me tease through my mental processes, giving me advice, guidance and feedback along the way. He was also there to challenge me to identify and develop personal strengths and weaknesses. His responsibility extended to always listening (without judgement) to my ideas and aspirations, whilst helping facilitate the progression of those ideas. Thumbs up from me so far!
I was going through a difficult time in my swimming career – after competing in Beijing and London I’d missed out on Rio, and I felt incredibly disillusioned with the sporting world. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure whether training for another cycle was what I wanted, but was terrified of hanging up my goggles for good. I was asking a lot of questions of myself and of the people around me, in an unsuccessful attempt to find some direction. I quickly realised, through chatting to Simon, that virtually my entire support network was also caught up in the world that I was trying to get clarity on. Even my family, who had been alongside me for the whole journey and ultimately just wanted me to be happy, didn’t quite know how to disentangle me from the last decade’s web of sporting successes and failures.
Talking to someone completely external to the sporting world really helped bring me some perspective on what I’d already achieved, and what my options were going forward. Over a series of phone calls and meetings, Simon helped me to consolidate my jumbled thoughts, extricate which were useful and proactive, and discard the ones that were just emotional uncertainties. My confidence had been knocked but I realised I wasn’t done with the sport yet – I just needed the courage to make some changes and then throw myself fearlessly back into becoming the best athlete I could be.
A new coach and training programme had my sporting focus quickly back on track, and so our conversations moved to some more generalised questions directed at my aspirations for life after sport. I, like a lot of athletes who’ve been focused on sport for a very long time, didn’t (and still don’t have) a completely clear idea of what I want to be "when I grow up". But whether you know you want a very specific job in a niche industry, or you just have whimsical dream be your own boss one day, it can be useful to have some additional guidance to help you develop ideas and establish processes that enable you to prepare for your future career.
As an example, a goal of mine is to start my own business over the next year or so. Although I have a load of good ideas (I think!), I was finding it difficult to translate ideas into action, having never started a business before. As well as extensive help from Performance Lifestyle Advisors (the EIS gurus who help athletes balance sport and life), Simon has helped me sculpt my ideas into a vaguely cohesive business plan, allowing me to lay the foundations for setting up by myself. He'll often play devil's advocate and challenge how a concept will work in reality, or make suggestions that I hadn't even considered. Regular check-ins add to my personal accountability - nobody wants to say they'll do something and then a month later have to admit that they didn't do it because Facebook distracted them with videos of babies eating slices of lemon... (seriously, Google it).
Even if you have absolutely no idea which direction your life will take you after sport, it’s an opportunity to learn from the experience of someone who has been very successful in their chosen career. We talk a lot about transferable skills and how the habits that help athletes succeed at an elite level can be applied to corporate situations (which is good news for us guys who accidentally forgot to get a degree). Think of skills such as mental resilience, application to daily goals, motivation, team work and leadership. All traits that you, as an elite athlete, will find it easy to excel at, and all traits that would make you incredibly valuable to a company. Chatting to Simon has helped me identify how I could bring value to a future employer, and also highlighted some areas in which I probably need to focus more attention, or gain more experience.
In terms of requirements for the mentoring programme, all you need to do is be prepared to set the agenda – this is about you and your progress after all. You need to be open-minded and honest, and be motivated enough to listen to the advice and guidance of whoever you’re working with. Moving Ahead provide a useful handbook prior to the first meeting, which lays out the expectations you should have before you begin. There are also some specific questions which you can start to think about - helpful for kick-starting conversations if you're not a natural chatterbox like me!
In most sports, there usually exists a hierarchy of mentoring to some extent; coaches, support staff, lifestyle advisors (and often other athletes) are continually offering guidance and direction to less experienced sportsmen and women. But what Moving Ahead are offering here is a unique opportunity to learn from the expertise and perspective of someone who has been incredibly successful outside the sporting sphere. The programme is nine months long, but I hope to continue working with Simon into the future as the experience has been invaluable in helping me plan for a life after sport. Needless to say he hasn't yet persuaded me that a career in accountancy is the right path for me...
We would like to welcome our first ever Athlete Futures Network blogger, Olympic swimmer Lizzie Simmonds. Although still currently competing, Lizzie has already started to think about her future, a career after sport and that all important transition period. Over the next year or so, we'll hear from Lizzie as she thinks about what's coming next. We hope her blogs will provide advice and guidance to anyone in a similar position.
Lizzie Simmonds Blog 1 - 4 October 2017
The other day, whilst in the middle of a 6km swim session, I worked out that I’ve swum, on average, 2.2 million metres per year for the last 14 years. So, in my lifetime I’ve swum approximately the circumference of the globe. Ever since I can remember, swimming has been my number one priority, from winning that first trophy at club champs, to being a double European champion and racing in the final at a home Olympic Games.
After doing something you love for so long, something that you've committed yourself entirely to, it’s difficult to start thinking about what comes next. Leaving a career in elite sport can range from vaguely daunting to outright terrifying, and I’m experienced (old) enough now to have seen many of my contemporaries make the transition out of sport and into the ‘real’ world. Some have fared better than others, using the intrinsic motivation that made them so successful at sport to immediately thrive in their new roles. Others have found the metamorphosis from superstar to ‘normal person’ unbearably challenging.
It makes sense. After all, it's a huge life adjustment. In some respects, parallels can be drawn between being an elite athlete and serving in the military. The stakes are obviously very different, and I don’t mean to imply that spinning my arms backwards matches risking life and limb for your country. But the regimented lifestyle is very similar; instructions on when we will and won’t be training, what time we must get up, when we can and can’t take time off, what we should and shouldn’t eat; weekly, monthly, yearly. Every day, our focus is undivided; the motivation for the task is clear, the application is absolute and indisputable; practice is institutionalised. We expect only the best from ourselves and those around us. It’s not surprising, therefore, to see in athletes nearing the end of their careers some of the same issues you do with soldiers leaving the forces, such as loss of personal identity and career direction.
So when 'us' athletes stop, and give up this regimented discipline, what does happen next? Sometimes it depends on the relationship an athlete has with their sport at the time of retirement. Those who have set a date for the transition are understandably more often prepared for what happens next. Those who are ‘forced out’ unexpectedly, through injury, illness, or disappointing performance, can easily lose a sense of control over their destiny. Having their ambitions halted so abruptly, and often prematurely, can be incredibly difficult to process.
No matter what the terms are at the end of a career in elite sport, and no matter how successful the athlete was over that career, one thing is clear: every sporting journey will inevitably come to a close, and the next phase is bound to include significant lifestyle adjustments that may well take some getting used to.
So what can athletes who are still competing and thriving on the high performance landscape do to prepare for this transition? I’ve been competing on British teams for the past 12 years and know that my time left in the sport isn’t infinite. I’ve just qualified for the Commonwealth Games next year on the Gold Coast in Australia, so my number one priority is still, without question, my weekly training schedule, pushing my body to new limits, and preparing to perform better than I have ever done before. But in my downtime, I’ve started to actively look at my options for the next phase of my life, whenever that comes.
In the past I, like many athletes I know, side-lined education on the back of being a very talented sporting youngster. I did my GCSEs at the same time as I prepared for my first World Champs, muddled through a couple of A Levels and sweet talked my way into university, only to abandon my degree halfway through to focus on qualifying for my third Olympics (I ended up not making the team and in hindsight, maybe should have finished my studies!).
I never gave much thought to what comes next, because I was too busy living 'in the moment’, and it felt like a weakness to be looking at CV writing or interview practice when training required so much effort and dedication. Why would I waste time on other pursuits when my goals were so clear and I was applying myself to them so completely? Whilst this is the view of many athletes, and indeed even more coaches, it is, in my current mindset, a misguided one.
The elite sporting system in this country is geared entirely to performance – athletes who perform are rewarded, funded, and supported. Athletes who can no longer perform are soon replaced by those who can. This is the way of sport. It's how it’s always been, and how it always will be, but it’s a fragile arrangement, and your security as an athlete can often be only a sustained injury or a poor race season away from disappearing. No matter how noble an athlete's intentions might be, this is usually in the back of our minds and can be an added pressure come competition season. Developing future life options and ideas, a fall back plan, Plan B, or whatever you want to call it can, I believe, help with this pressure because it puts the sporting world back into perspective and reduces the gravitas associated with under-performance.
If you’ve got a good degree, experience in a specific industry, or a network of people who you know will assist your future career plans, then you can apply yourself absolutely to the day-to-day business of training and the sporting challenges that come your way, secure in the knowledge that whatever the performance outcome, you are prepared for what comes next. Athletes who get into trouble, mentally, are usually those whose identity is built entirely around their sporting achievements, who then struggle enormously when underperformance results in the deconstruction of that identity.
With that in mind, even though I’m still ‘in the game’, I’ve started saying ‘yes’ to more opportunities outside the sporting realm; started signing up to networking events and careers fairs, transition programmes and personal development schemes. Over the coming months I will be continuing to share experiences from my transition preparation, recommending ways in which current athletes can not only lay the groundwork for the future, but can enhance their sporting careers by doing so. I hope my blogs will not only entertain but also inform and give you something to think about, whatever stage you’re at in your career.