Always Forward

Location: Heber City, UT

I think the most important thing for a retiring athlete is to have a plan in place for how the transition process will work. I was always afraid that life without sport would be no life at all. I felt like the coaches and administrators around us instilled in our teams a misplaced fear of the outside world. For the longest time, I based much of my self-worth upon how I was doing in training and my competition results, even though I’ve always had activities, like school, on the side to compensate for rough periods. In the end, I feel like sport to some degree teaches athletes to judge people based upon their results, whether they’re competitive results or metrics from other fields, such as business or general popularity.

As I’ve moved away from sport, ever more I’m realizing that, one, you shouldn’t judge people based upon their results, and two, you shouldn’t judge people, period. Once I changed my attitude, the world and us, its people, have become far more interesting. The world outside sport is far more dynamic than the simple rote focus on training, improvement, and medals. Don’t get me wrong, my experiences in sport have been instrumental in creating who I am today and taught me how to pursue dreams by setting goals and enlisting motivation and determination to reach them. But no longer do I view sport as the end; it is only a partial means to realizing our potential as human beings.

I’m grateful that my parents pushed me to keep my education going, even as I was training and racing. After the Olympics ended, I had just one semester of university remaining to earn my bachelors. I can’t imagine going to school at age 25 as a freshman. And I can’t imagine not going to school.

I think the hardest thing about life after sport is finding direction. In sport, there’s only one direction, improving in your particular discipline and setting performance-based and results-based goals. There is a natural pipeline from low skill level and mediocre results to high skill level and top results. In life, things are never this clear. There are multiple dimensions. This is incredibly liberating, but for someone who has been spending much of his life on a narrow track, this was difficult for me to comprehend. No single activity will ever again solely define my life as sport has for the most part the past several years.

So, I’m happy that this is a decision I’ve been contemplating for the past two years and it’s one I have made, rather than one I am forced into by a career-ending injury, for example. If you’re an athlete, I’d recommend that you at least consider what you’ll do after your final race is run. Start preparing now for that reality, because it will come fast and it might be unexpected. If you choose to ignore the future, then you will be left with only memories of the past once that day comes. And there’s so much out there beyond sport to do, to accomplish, and to live.

Brian

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