Life After Sports

Scotty Jenkins

Nisshanth Perumalsamy

Like many other Olympic sports, talent-transfer athletes make up a majority of
the talent pool in Team Handball. Talent-transfer athletes find team handball
after excelling in other team and individual sports. 

Within the sport of team handball, there are dozens of different skills that
translate easily from other major American sports. Basketball, football, and
soccer all have similar skills that an athlete needs to have to excel.

The U.S. National Men's Team Handball roster has a number of players who found a
unique path to competing at the highest level of the sport. Some came from a
career in major college sports and others continued to play handball after
finding it in the intramural or club level.

Luke Bolte [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Luke-Bolte]
 * Before discovering Team Handball in college, Bolte was a star basketball
   player at Hopewell-Loudon High School in Tiffin, Ohio.
 * While majoring in Business at Ohio State University, the 6-foot-5 Bolte
   played the OSU Team Handball Club and found success at the national level.
 * The 21-year-old Bolte is one of the younger members of the U.S. National
   Team.

Drew Donlan [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Andrew-Donlin]
 * Drew grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota playing football, basketball, and
   baseball growing up.
 * While attending the U.S. Air Force Academy he tried to walk onto the football
   team but was led in another direction. Many people believed that his skill
   set was better suited for handball
 * Drew is the first American handball player to score a goal in the European
   Handball Cup competition and the Spanish Asobal League.

Cedar Bellows [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Cedar-Bellows]
 * Before Handball, Cedar honed her athletic skills through basketball,
   baseball, softball, track and field, rodeo, and NPC fitness competitions.
 * Later discovered handball and played her first official season in 2019
 * Played in 13 National Team games last season

Bill Bigham [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Bill-Bigham]
 * Originally from Manhattan Beach, California, Bill's main sport was football.
   He even played for the University Of North Carolina from 1997 to 2000.
 * Discovered handball in college and fell in love with its similarities to
   basketball, football, and baseball.
 * 20 years later, he has competed in multiple handball world championships in
   both beach and indoor competitions and currently serves on the board of
   directors for USA Team Handball since 2010.

Chalmers Brown
[https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Chalmers-Brown]
 * Before rediscovering handball during the Rio 2016 Olympics, Chalmers grew up
   playing basketball, track & field, cross country, rugby, football, and
   ultimate frisbee in his hometown New Jersey.
 * Was sitting on the couch watching the Rio Olympics and fell in love with the
   sport. Ended up moving to California where he began his beach handball
   journey
 * Chalmers was voted the Most Valuable Defender in the 2020 Copa Internacional
   de Balonmano Playa Volcán tournament

Kathy Darling [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Kathy-Darling]
 * Kathy was a star athlete growing up, being named a four-time All American in
   and Javelin and Discus throw during her time at Johns Hopkins University from
   1999-2003
 * She first started playing handball in 2005 and found success in the sport
   very quickly.
 * Kathy is also the creator and designer of the latest USATH logo.

Rajarshi Chattopadyay
[https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Rajarshi-Chattopadhyay]
 * Before discovering handball, Rajarshi was a star tennis player at Richard
   Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland.
 * Discovered handball while watching the 2016 Olympics and knew he had to get
   involved.
 * He chose to pursue indoor Handball and has won 1st place in multiple handball
   tournaments.

Jordan Fithian
[https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Jordan-Fithian]
 * Grew up as an urban legend, Jordan graduated high school as the all-time
   leading scorer and state champion in basketball, while being a two-time state
   champion soccer goalkeeper
 * 4 years after being named Mr. Kansans Basketball and Kansans Gatorade Player
   of the year, Jordan began playing Handball in 2008.
 * In 2016, his team won the 2016 USATH Open National Championships, Elite
   Division

Jade Hayes [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Jade-Hayes]
 * Prior to handball, Jade was a star volleyball player for the University of
   Missouri and the University of Central Florida
 * She then discovered Handball while living at Hermosa Beach
 * Now she is a part of the Team Handball beach team

Willard Johnson
[https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Willard-Johnson]
 * Before handball, Willard Johnson was an elite handball player, winning high
   school championships, playing at MIT, and even playing basketball
   professionally overseas.
 * During one of his overseas hoop adventures to Iceland, Willard discovered and
   fell in love with handball.
 * Now he plays beach handball and has placed first place in the 2019 North
   American & Caribbean Handball Confederation (NORCA) Championships

Michael Lee [https://www.teamusa.org/usa-team-handball/athletes/Michael-Lee]
 * Michael Lee grew up in Auburn, Alabama playing baseball and basketball.
 * While volunteering at a Biomechanics Lab at Auburn University, he learned
   about handball and wanted to get involved.
 * Soon after, he was named the captain of the USATH Junior National Team in
   2016

Olympic Talent-Transfer: How These Former College Athletes Made The USA Handball Team

By Q. Williams: A mindset & performance coach for Athletes Beyond Sports
[https://gmtm.com/virtuals/126/athletes-soul-your-team-beyond-sports]


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Every athlete out there is hiding something. They’re hiding something in the
back of their mind, that they think about constantly.

They don’t want to ruffle any feathers with it...

They’re afraid of what others will think... their coaches, teammates, or even
their fans.

They’d rather just not even talk about it... to avoid the discomfort.

They don’t want to be “that” person on the team.

They don’t want to bring up the question of... what is beyond sports?

A lot of athletes are afraid that if they take their eye off their sport for
just one moment, they’ll lose out on opportunities and not maximize their
potential in their sport.

If they don’t focus all of their time and energy on their sport - training and
studying nonstop, and always being “on” - that will mean they’re not “all in.”
Taking even one day off could feel as if they aren't fully committed and that
lost time time could come back to bite them when they finally get their
opportunity to shine on the biggest stage.


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Can you relate to this?
See, this framework has served athletes until now. It’s helped them get to where
they are today. Whether it's Kobe Bryant's "Winning Is Everything" mentality or
Tiger Woods work ethic, the feeling that you must be ready when your time comes
can be a valuable motivator. It’s worked!

But, just because it works doesn’t mean it’s not ripe for innovation.

See, athletes that think in this kind of “all-or-nothing” fashion - they’re
thinking in a framework of “sacrifice”...

It's always "Either/Or", "Give or Take", "This or That", or "Win or Lose".

And this framework (aka mental paradigm) is what’s keeping a lot of athletes
STUCK.

In the mental performance space, we talk a lot about another way to look at
growth, and it’s through a holistic lens. When your sports performance and life
are viewed from a holistic perspective, you realize that when one area of your
life grows and deepens, it allows all other areas of your life to expand as
well.


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"Time spent in one arena does not mean time lost in another."
The truth is: athletes that build their life resume beyond sports create a
win-win for themselves. As I like to say, guys... winning isn’t everything
[https://www.q-williams.com/blog/why-winning-isnt-everything]!

And there’s data to support this now. In a study of over 600 professional
athletes, it turned out that preparing for life beyond sports had a performance
enhancing affect. The study titled, “Engagement in sport career transition
planning enhances performance
[https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/15452291/Lavallee_Engagement_in_SportCareerTransition_Author_2018.pdf]
,” showed that athletes that prioritized their lives and careers beyond sports
(by leveraging career prep services, advisors, and networking), they actually
had longer careers in their sports.

At Athletes Soul [https://gmtm.com/organizations/247514/athletes-soul], we
believe that the reasons for the performance enhancement are bountiful. But we
broke it down into 3 main benefits, and how they operate.


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Here are the 3 main benefits to exploring yourself beyond sports, while still
playing:


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Boost Your Confidence
A lot of athletes feel the need to “put on a face” in the locker room or around
their coaches... And they might not realize it, but it’s costing them precious
energy.

It can be exhausting to put on a front. More importantly, every time someone
compromises their authentic self, they compromise their confidence. After all,
confidence is simply trusting yourself.

Can your authentic self trust you to be yourself? By knowing yourself beyond
sports, you can be yourself in sports, and perform with more confidence.


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Boost Your Leverage
Let’s face it... as humans, we need each other. But codependence or reliance on
others can create unhealthy habits and identities that get wrapped up in a
sport, a team, or a set of accomplishments.

By investigating and identifying who they are beyond sports, athletes can have
their own north star, their own core identity, and be less influenced by other
people’s standards. Less swayed by the winds of cultural norms.

You can be a true leader on a team, and be different. Choose different, and
innovate as an athlete, so you can perform with more leverage, on and off the
field.


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Boost Your Focus & Flow
Lots of athletes don’t even realize there are things stressing them beyond
sports. But there are! Whether it’s family pressures or shifting dynamics,
financial stress, school stress, or uncertainty about the future... everyone has
stressors. And athletes are experts at focusing and cutting out the clutter.

But by mitigating external stress at the source (and not just using sports as a
coping mechanism to dull or avoid stress), athletes can live stress-free, be
more focused, and be less prone to injury (Li et al., 2017
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.00042/full%23B51]; 
Moreland et al., 2018
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.00042/full%23B65])


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The most interesting part of exploring yourself beyond sports...
These benefits are not just athletic performance enhancements... but they’re
life enhancements.

With such a heavy pressure on athletes to produce, keep up with social media,
NIL, and STILL manage to have a normal college experience... athletes need every
edge they can get to settle their stress. 

Plus, you might not meet your “full potential” in and out of sports if you
don’t.

When you max out your life beyond sports, you max out your life in sports. It’s
a true WIN-WIN (see what we did there?). There’s more where that came from,
beyond sports.

Trust us, we’ve been there.

And we know, it’s uncomfortable to talk about...
Having a third party perspective is a huge advantage in these situations. So you
can be fully transparent, you can be yourself, and you can be supported without
the risk of conflicting interests.

That’s why we created the ultimate solution... for athletes to open up in a
confidential environment, and explore themselves beyond sports, so they can
boost their athletic, mental, and social performance Beyond Sports.


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Are you ready to explore Beyond Sports?
Athletes Soul has partnered with Q. Williams to offer a FREE 10-week personal
development program titled Beyond Sports
[https://gmtm.com/virtuals/126/athletes-soul-your-team-beyond-sports], designed
to help athletes learn about themselves beyond sport. It includes weekly group
coaching sessions and educational videos.

Program goals:

 * Help you learn about yourself outside of sports
 * Develop your emotional awareness and coping techniques
 * Help you set life goals and take steps to prepare for life beyond sports
 * Build social connections with other athletes and former athletes

You can sign up for the next cohort here: 
https://gmtm.com/virtuals/126/athletes-soul-your-team-beyond-sports


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Q. Williams [https://www.q-williams.com/] is a mental performance coach for
current and retired athletes. Q. became a Gator Bowl Champion as a 2-sport
athlete at Northwestern University, where he holds a Bachelor's and Master’s
Degree in Sports Management. Q. is a coach for Athletes Soul
[https://gmtm.com/organizations/247514/athletes-soul], an Official Provider for
the Pro Football Hall of Fame Behavioral Health and the founder of his coaching
program the World Class Method.

Beyond Sports: Three Benefits Of Finding Yourself Off Of The Field

Athletes have unique abilities that go well beyond the classroom and their
respective playing fields. It's been in the NCAA promotional commercials for
years: "There are over 400,000 NCAA student-athletes, and most of us will go pro
in something other than sports."

But before you've even reached the college level, what does your choice in
schools mean to your career and your ability to compete in athletics. The
average high-school athlete excels at more than just their sport, meaning it
would be irresponsible to pick a university or college based only on sports.

Realistically, your passions off of the field will be the foundation of your
career after sports. Whether it is a musical talent like playing the guitar, the
ability to perform in theater, or a voice like an angel, athletes should
consider more than just their statlines when they start their recruiting
journey.

As athletes prepare to search for athletic and academic opportunities beyond
high school, it is important to understand that big time universities are not
your only option for continuing your athletic or academic endeavors. For
athletes who are also artistically inclined, it might be best to research
athletics in liberal arts schools for higher education.

If you are an athlete interested in more creative programs of study in college,
keep reading to understand your options for growth and support in all your
talent niches.


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What Is A Liberal Arts School?
The goal of liberal arts schools is to create individuals who value free
thought. A curriculum at a liberal arts school focuses more on students who are
multifaceted rather than those who want to focus on one core career or academic
content area.

The core academics, although they vary from college to college, focus on
humanities, social science, and science. This includes literature, philosophy,
anthropology, economics, natural sciences, and many more dynamic alternatives
for a well-rounded education.

Liberal arts schools want to foster growth in their students in a way that makes
them knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects and generate skills that
transfer to multiple scenarios of career choices.

In short, a liberal arts education will prepare student athletes with real life
skills that can be applied to a lot of career disciplines. This is especially
helpful for young adults who may not be sure of what they would like to do after
college.


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Public/State School vs. Liberal Arts School
The most prominent difference in a liberal arts college education rather than a
large university is size. The campus and class sizes will all be smaller and
provide more opportunities for one-on-one support from professors.

If you are a student who is not fond of large lecture halls and anonymity within
your school, liberal arts colleges provide much more classroom discussions
rather than lecture-based classes.

Bottom line: Your professors are going to know your name and learn what you need
to succeed. 

Liberal arts colleges focus on teaching students to learn how to learn rather
than throwing information at you in a large lecture hall.

Athletes who are seeking a more intimate college experience that fosters
individual learners rather than a one size fits all approach in a large lecture
hall would thrive in a liberal arts college.


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What Majors Are Offered At A Liberal Arts School?
Undergraduate studies are the focus of a liberal arts education. If you are
looking for opportunities for graduate studies, there are liberal arts colleges
that offer them, but their bread and butter is undergraduate.

The scope of majors offered at a university versus a liberal arts school also
tends to differ. For example, at a university your major might be English, but
there are multiple distinct types of English majors offered at a university.
These can include creative writing, colonial English, Linguistics, etc.

A liberal arts college will have much fewer extensions of a single major and
rather focus on providing necessary skills across all contents of English to
prepare students for the real world.

Tip From The Author: Make sure you do your research when researching liberal
arts schools and remember their focus is on creating critical thinkers and
critical writers in their specified area of study. The goal is to prepare
students for all facets of career options under their specific major.


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Do Liberal Arts Schools Have Sports Teams?
For athletes who are looking for a smaller school to continue their higher
education goals, do not discount liberal arts school. There are a variety of
schools that offer Division I, II, and III athletic opportunities.

The most popular sport for division I athletics at liberal arts schools is
basketball. Do not discount your sport though, it is important to do your due
diligence and research the best options for your sport.

Check out this page [https://gmtm.com/virtuals/visits] to see some of the
Liberal Arts colleges hosting Virtual Visits right now!


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Regardless of whether you plan to attend a large university or a smaller liberal
arts school, you need to research and reach out to these schools to determine if
they are the right fit for you.

No matter which fit is right for you, this is where you are going to pour your
blood, sweat, tears, and brains into the next four years of your athletic and
academic careers. There are countless options of where to continue with your
growth as a person and athlete. Do not count out smaller liberal arts
institutions.

How College Athletics Work At A Liberal Arts School

Myriam Glez

When you have been an athlete for as long as you can remember, it is hard to
imagine a life without competing on a day-to-day basis. It is even harder to
comprehend the amount of change that accompanies athletic retirement.

Any life transition isn’t easy to navigate but one that happens so early in life
when you are still trying to figure out who you are is especially difficult to
manage. With it, come a period of confusion and uncertainty.

If you or someone you know is transitioning out of competitive sports, head to
the Athletes Soul [https://gmtm.com/organizations/247514/athletes-soul] page for
interactive help throughout the process.

For me, that period of confusion came after a career as a competitive swimmer. I
spent the majority of my teens and twenties in the water, pushing myself to be
the best. But after finally stepping away from the sport, I had to face the
unknowns of no longer being an athlete.

One morning, you will wake up and you won’t have to go to the pool. Your coach
won’t tell you what to do. And just like that, your world will be changed. You
will have to decide what to do with your time and how to organize your days. You
will experiment and try to figure out who you want to be and what you want to
do. And this will take time.

With retirement from any sport, the mental and physical struggle that joins the
decision is the same.

Your body will change. You will experiment with exercise. You may continue to
train intensely because, after all, you call yourself an athlete and you still
want to look like one. Or you will stop completely because you trained so much
for so many years. You will feel bad about yourself for not exercising and you
will go through the fitness yoyo until you eventually find some balance.

Your appetite might be different. You might indulge in things you weren’t
allowed to eat before or you will continue to tightly control what you eat. The
later may give you comfort that all isn’t lost and that after all you do have
some control. Or you might feel guilty for indulging. Adjusting your nutrition,
like everything else, will take time, trial and errors and learning what it
means to be healthy as a “normal human”.

Your teammates will continue their daily training routine. They will continue to
go to the pool and to live the dream. But the charm will be broken for you. You
will want to stay involved but being on the pool deck and around your teammates
will not help. It will be a constant reminder that you do not belong anymore.

Transitioning away from sport isn’t easy and it won’t happen overnight. You will
experience a range of new emotions that will leave you confused and uncertain:
frustration, disappointment, sadness, anger, isolation, emptiness, insecurity,
fear, inadequacy, indifference, bitterness, anxiety. You didn’t even know you
could experience all these things. Sometimes it will be difficult to comprehend
all your emotions and you will be surprised that you can feel sad and happy at
once.

Prior to this experience, your world was simple and organized. You had clear
goals and you knew what you had to do to achieve those goals. You were an
athlete, a swimmer. You had a purpose. But now, that this is gone, what are you
supposed to do?

Periods of chaos are usually great opportunities for growth and development and,
believe me, there is a lot to accomplish and to enjoy outside of the pool. But
to get there, you will need to figure things out for yourself and make choices
that you didn’t even have to consider before.

But you don’t have to do this on your own and there are ways to facilitate the
process so that you can come out of your transition with clarity, purpose and
direction. First, talk to people, open up about how you feel. Even if, like any
athlete, you think you can deal with this on your own and you believe that you
have everything under control. Most likely, you don’t. This is a huge life
transition and talking about it will help you come to terms with everything in a
healthy way. You do not want to carry over negative feelings to your next
chapter in life.

I am encouraging you to be pro-active though. Don’t wait for someone to come
save you. Also, it is much easier to build your support network before you are
in a difficult place. Think about who you trust, identity different roles you
want people to play for you (mentor, confident, champion), select individuals
who can hold those roles and communicate what you expect from them, how and
when. This is how you build an intentional support system. That way when things
get tough, you can just reach out and they will immediately know you need their
help.

Check this event out: Athletes Soul: Your Team Beyond Sports
[https://gmtm.com/virtuals/126/athletes-soul-your-team-beyond-sports]
Additionally, set some time to reflect on your overall journey as an athlete
while you are still competing. I have seen too many athletes carrying
disappointment about their career years after it ended. It is such a shame.
After having spent so much time in your sport, you don’t want to look back with
bitterness and regrets.

But in order to let go, you will really need to take the time to release
negative emotions and even more time to celebrate what you have achieved through
your sport. It isn’t all negative, far from it! If you look at your entire
journey, no doubts that there are many fond memories of teammates, coaches,
training camps, competitions, and travel. Focus on these, cherish and celebrate
them and let go of the less enjoyable ones.

This is also a good time to articulate what you have learned: emotional skills,
technical expertise, physical aptitudes. This should help you gain some
perspective and slowly shift to a more positive mindset post-athletics.

My advice: select one positive memory or skill to remember and celebrate each
day until you feel that your negative feelings have dissipated. At some point,
you will be able to accept all aspects of your sporting career including your
failures and understand that, along with your successes, they contribute to who
you are today. Then you will finally be able to move forward.

As a swimmer, you certainly have worked on your mental performance skills. You
may have done it naturally or practiced them with a mental coach. These
techniques (visualization, positive self-talk, resiliency, emotion regulation)
will come handy throughout your whole life and it is good to learn early on how
to transfer them from sport to life situations. Check out some of the Swim Like
A Fish webinar [https://swimlikeafish.org/pre-race-techniques-for-swimmers] and
blog post on How To Train Your Mental Game
[https://swimlikeafish.org/pre-race-techniques-for-swimmers].

And don’t forget to take care of yourself, wellness is half the battle when it
comes to a successful transition. Eat well, try to exercise a little bit every
day, don’t compromise on sleep and keep some structure to your day. Entirely
losing your routine and exercise regimen will result in dramatic chemistry
changes in your body that could impact your mental health.


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Myriam Glez [https://gmtm.com/articles/author/myriam] is a former Olympic
swimmer and Chairman of Athletes Soul
[https://gmtm.com/organizations/247514/athletes-soul], a support solution for
retiring athletes from every sport.

Life After Sports: Advice For Adjusting To Life Without Training And Competition

Aria Modirmassihai

Work unions are very common in all sorts of fields, from factory labor unions to
professional groups, it is very common for a common workforce to have a group of
representatives acting on their behalf. Professional sports have been doing this
for years, with groups like the NBA and NFL Player’s Associations advocating for
a more player-friendly landscape.

Over the years these groups have made many strides towards shifting rules to
help players both financially and socially have more control over their careers.
Now the benefits of union representation will be extended onto collegiate
athletes as well.

This past Tuesday was the official launching of the College Football Players
Association, an organization that will help make college sports more
player-friendly. The move comes fresh off the heels of the new NIL laws that
will allow college athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness. As
well as a reform on transfer rules that will give college players the
opportunity to transfer 1 time in their careers without needing to sit out for
an entire season.

The founder of the new player’s organization, Jason Stahl, said that he began
this new venture too, “make sure that college football players are finally
organized to have a collective voice in the decision-making within their sport”.
Rhetoric that until now always seemed more political rather than genuine when
coming from NCAA officials.

"In the summer of 2020 college football players called for the creation of a
CFBPA while returning to play in the midst of a pandemic,'' Explained Stahl,
"Today, that dream becomes reality.”

The College Football Player’s Association or CFPA will look to begin recruiting
members right away. Different membership plans will be offered. Current players
will pay a fee of $24 a month, while high school players and past college
players will pay $12 and $50 a month respectively. The parents of athletes can
also gain membership by paying $20 per month, which is a unique adaptation for
this player’s association.

The formation of the CFPA comes as a culmination of several efforts to help give
players more of a voice in matters that concern them. The United College Athlete
Advocates(UCAA) have created an online forum for players to discuss different
issues and make their opinions heard. At the federal level, Senators Bernie
Sanders and Chris Murphy have proposed legislation that would allow for the CFPA
to engage in collective bargaining negotiations with the NCAA. A luxury that
only professional athletes have so far been able to participate in.

Efforts have been made in the past to help form coalitions for athletes in
school but they have routinely been shot down. But in this new world, one where
athletes have more options for themselves, and therefore more leverage, players
have finally been awarded the representation they have always longed for.

Currently, the association only includes Football players, their families, and
alumni, but eventually, the hope of the players is for athletes of all sports to
gain more say in TV deals, group endorsements, and official licensing
agreements.

CFBPA: New College Football Players Association to Represent Student-Athletes

After competing for the French National Team at the Sydney Olympics, Myriam retired from Synchronized Swimming to attend business school. She worked for Accorhotels in marketing and sponsorship in France, Thailand and Australia and eventually resumed her sporting career to compete for the Australian National Team in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Following her second retirement, Myriam combined her business and sports knowledge to return to sport and worked in high performance and sport management in England and in the U.S for several years before founding Athletes Soul. ​

In this podcast, Myriam and Joey go through some of the ways Myriam was empowered as a female athlete and ways that we can continue to make sure others like her are as well.

The Power of Female Sports - Podcast with Myriam Gletz and Joey Grant

VTO Sports in Dallas Texas - Lineman 1v1's

Connor is a co-founder of GMTM Sports, an athlete social network designed to connect organizations to the talent sources they need for recruitment and success. Andrew began his fencing career at an early age, attended Penn State University, and later joined Team USA to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. He's headed back again with his eyes on the podium and his future career when fencing isn't an option.

Connor - https://gmtm.com/athletes/3/connor-dietz
Andrew - https://gmtm.com/athletes/1335718/andrew-mackiewicz