How our experiences in competition can serve us well in managing difficult situations in life after. In the competitive world, we experience the positive and negative sides of stress in the form of pressure situations in a contest. On the up side, pressure elevates our performance. We step up when the outcome of a situation […]
Laughing Through the Aches
Why a sense of humor is a key to life after sports. Several years ago, when I was working as the principal of an elementary school, we held a ‘sports day’ as a part of winter carnival week. Staff and students dressed up in clothing that represented their favorite team or sport. Wanting to get […]
The Unique Challenges of COVID-19 as an Ending to Competitive Careers
The recent pandemic has brought about an abrupt ending to a considerable number of athletic careers. Given our previous look at “The Manner of Endings” – how might those athletes who have seen their competitive careers end on this unusual note make this transition in as healthy a manner as possible? By staying connected to […]
Ebbs and Flows
The cyclical nature of sports, and how that relates to fulfillment. One of the realities of life as a competitive athlete is that our lives are very much subject to the cycles of our sport. Those cycles exist within different scopes of time, ranging from a year (Think preseason-season-postseason-offseason) or a competition (More like game […]
The Post-Competition Paradox of Priorities
Why we can feel successful but not fulfilled in life after competition. Most people who live in the more serious levels of sport have the same list in their heads while they are competing. We compile a list of all the cool things we are going to do once we are done competing. It could […]
The Need to Belong: Our place in a team or sport as a fulfillment of a basic need.
From our earliest years, sports can provide a sense of belonging and acceptance. The experience is built into the structure of sport. In team sports, we are accepted as a part of the group, uniforms identify us as such, and we are drawn together by competition on a regular basis. While the outward trappings of […]