The end of my Sporting Career

“I am coming to the end of my Sporting career……….what do I do next??!!”

This is a question most athletes who have played full-time, professional sport will face at some point in their career. In fact, it is not just athletes, but it is also the coaches and officials who have also devoted the best years of their working lives to their passion, sport.

Ideal Transition Period

Hopefully there is an ideal transition period where athlete, coach or match official has a planned exit strategy and a new career path on which to embark. Sadly, such people remain in the minority.

And of course, those that do have this chance are also in much better positions than those who through injury, or not being able to match the demands of their professional sport, are cast aside earlier than the individual would like or had envisaged……….where do they go? Who do they rely upon for help and guidance?

There was an interesting article in the Australian Financial Review recently where various former athletes were interviewed about their transition from high profile sport into the world of business
http://www.afr.com/leadership/careers/a-new-playing-field-20150101-12gply (need to go in through Google & not AFR site as will be blocked)

Sporting Organisations Need to Help

Sporting organisations across the board have become more cognisant of the need to help sporting people as they leave a sport. There are many Career & Welfare programs, staffed positions, and Player Associations which assist clubs and sports support athletes during and after their careers. In some respects, I think they do this better than business does.

However, the sportsperson is their own worst enemy many times. They simply do not want to think about retiring, or giving up what they have done for 15-20 years since they were young teenagers.

The athlete, the coach and the official have lived and breathed their sport to the exclusion of many things that their counterparts outside sport generally have not. It is simply because they have found that they have a skill set and a passion for playing, coaching or officiating sport – which is of course what we all seek in our respective daily work lives.

So why would you want to give up, something that you are good at; something that you love doing; and something that you get reasonably well paid to do!

As a consequence, many if not most, do not want to look too far ahead, because ‘outside the sanctity of the dressing room’ is a world that they are not sure of. It is a world where the sporting skill sets they have relied upon for years do not seem to fit. And it means that there will be a need to establish new networks of people who have other interests and goals than sport.

Assist the Transition

As I mentioned sporting bodies, Player associations are all looking at ways to assist the Transition. I am involved with International Leaders (www.internationalleaders.com)  which has regional networks in Queensland (www.qldleaders.com.au), NSW (www.nswleaders.com.au) Victoria (www.vicleaders.com.au), NZ (www.nzleaders.co.nz)  with South Australia and West Australia commencing early 2016.

We are commencing a Sports leadership transition program for sports people who are looking to transition into business post-sport. It is a program designed to provide expert knowledge from a range of mentors across all aspects of business. At the same time, provide a support network around them so that the individual is not left floundering with where and to whom can I take my business; or to whom can I sit down with over coffee or a series of meetings to discuss my next steps.

It is an exciting development for Leaders, and we look forward to being part of helping those athletes, coaches and officials who are making the transition from sport to business, a successful one.

FREE 3 Part Video Series…

Learn with John – How to succeed in creating a High Performance Team Now!!!!

 

Get it FREE Now

Share This Post:

Get The First Chapter Of Our eBook For FREE!

Short description of the resource and explanation why it might be useful for one’s choice.

Related Posts

The Ashes

The Ashes


What Business can learn cricket. I was recently asked a series of questions about the significance of The Ashes. I coached the last Australian team to win in England in 2001. I coached a further 3 Ashes contests winning at home in 2003-04, losing a remarkable series in 2005, and…
Read Full Article
Art Skill Mindfulness

Leadership and the art or skill of Mindfulness


There have been plenty of articles written on this topic such as the one included by HBR – ARTICLE LINK The article discusses some of the work of Daniel Goleman, one of the great proponents of EI. The article also discusses the range of techniques to allow people especially busy…
Read Full Article

PROVEN TEACHING METHODS

Here’s The Three Ways You Can Work
With Us To Achieve Better, Lasting Results.

A coach and a leader with a unique perspective on the world, John is at home in any environment which seeks change, a desire for peak performance, and a vision to be the world’s best.

Speaking

Speaking

Are you planning to reach your Everest…be at the top of your game like a world champion team? Master Coach and Strategist John Buchanan will give you the road map, the tools and the inspiration you need to reach your summit.

Coaching

Coaching

This world champion coaching model will provide you, your team and your business with a road map to the top and the sacrificial acts that world champion teams embrace to give the best chance of having a “PB day”, every day at work.

Online Programs

Online Programs

I will be building relevant, insightful, practical courses and modules which will help you as a Leader and/or Coach to quickly make changes to the way you lead your teams, and indeed, the teams you want to create.