Athlete Story Podcast

When transitioning from athlete to entrepreneur, R Sasikumar notes how it was initially difficult to lose that sports mentality of external competition. Once he understood that the only competition was the “person in the mirror,” Sasi was able to create several successful businesses within the sports industry.

R Sasikumar encourages us to think internally about the things you can control, rather than blame outside factors. He says that it's only you who can decide how hard you work, and it is only you who can determine the success of your endeavours.

Many athletes are used to being constantly motivated by peripheral figures like coaches and managers. However, in the world of entrepreneurship, Sasikumar maintains that motivation must come from within. He adds that routine and a systematic approach is needed to keep motivation from wearing thin. On the other hand, he warns about having your ego stand in the way of asking for help. Trying to do everything on your own is not the solution he would opt for today. It just takes too long!

Sasi also details how he's motivated by goals. If someone calls your goal crazy, then you know you have the right goal. Because 99% of the population won’t want to do the hard work to achieve that goal. But the 1% who go the extra mile will be significantly rewarded.

In terms of advice for current or recently retired athletes, R Sasikumar says sportspeople should leverage their personal brand and translate that into a business. People invest in personality, communication and human interaction. You don’t need millions of followers to make money, you just need hundreds or thousands who are loyal to you.

R Sasikumar

“A lot of the time, we try to influence what’s around us. We make everything about the environment. When we do that, we always end up playing the blame game: “It’s their fault… It’s because of this… He said this..."

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The post Transitioning from athlete to entrepreneur appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

Marc Hauser's inspiring journey to draw attention to renewable energy of the jet stream through a record breaking skydive into the jet stream evidences the benefit of setting the bar high.

Marc Hauser is a skydiver – who is now on a mission to use sports to draw attention to renewable energy sources such as the jetstream. His jump out into the jetstream from a hot air balloon in 2018 just earned him a spot in the Guinness Records. But at the time of the jump his performance and record was actually the least of his concerns... 

You'll get that story as well as everything that went into prepping for it. Of course, I also want to dive into what is his personal takeaway from this whole experience and how he uses that today.

Marc reminds us to capitalise on our short time on Earth, encouraging us to overcome our fears which stop our progression. If you’re given two paths in life, always take the one which has risk and requires bravery. Because that’s “where the magic happens.”

Marc Hauser

Connect with Marc on LinkedIn

“I'm sure that realistic goals are absolute b*stards. Because you have to reach them! And if you don’t reach realistic goals, you're a loser. Just raise the bar a bit higher, a bit higher... till it sounds a bit ridiculous and it makes you smile. That's exactly where you should aim. Because then the goal itself starts to glow like a star.

It's always better story if you have an ambitious, crazy, funny goal. If you don't reach that goal at the end, at least it's a story. If you have realistic goals and you do not reach them, it's not even a story...” 

Marc Hauser is on a mission to use sports and adventure to draw attention to renewable energy sources through storytelling and video production.

He is a Guinness Record holder for first skydive into the jet stream.

This whole mission was documented in collaboration with BBC World in the documentary CHASING THE JETSREAM that you can get on demand here:https://vimeo.com/ondemand/chasingthejetstream

See how you can get Marc out to speak for you:​​​​​

www.wavesofsuccess.ch

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The post Setting the bar high appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

For many athletes, their first love is the sport they choose to pursue. So, when it’s time to retire, there’s a lot of complex emotions to process.

Today’s guest is Rachel Boardman, an ex-swimmer whose health stopped her from achieving her dream of becoming an Olympian. She describes feeling as if her body betrayed her, likening the emotions to that of a relationship break-up. 

Rachel decided to channel this energy into creating her podcast, Beyond The Finish Line, which focuses on what athlete’s do after their sporting career comes to an end.

In this episode, Rachel talks about her physical difficulty in trying to become a professional swimmer. She also touches on the mental struggle of not knowing what to do with her life after sport, which led her on an illuminating journey halfway across the world.

Rachel Boardman 

Former Swimmer 

and host of

Beyond The

Finish Line

Podcast

«​When you’re travelling and you’re meeting all these people from across the world. You have the same introduction conversation every time. One of the things that I noticed was, I would tell people almost immediately I used to be a swimmer. I wasn’t telling them I had a PhD. I would much rather talk about all the stories I had from my time swimming. It just clicked that I’ve been hiding this part of myself since my health stopped me from pursuing swimming. I shouldn’t be hiding it. I should embrace it and doing something with it.»

Rachel Boardman: It wasn't till a few years later when I had a break up with an actual person that I was like, "Actually, I had these exact same feelings when I left swimming." Then that was when it was like swimming was my first love-

Automated voice: You are about to be taken into a chat about sports careers and related issues between an awesome guest and your listening host, the sports insider repurposed the Olympic mogul skier and former free ride world tour athlete, Anja Bolbjerg.

INTRO with Anja Bolbjerg:

In this episode, we'll talk about breaking up with your sport and staying friends after, so stay tuned. You'll meet Rachel Boardman from the Beyond the Finish Line podcast. This is Athlete Story, your show if you want to keep a connection to your athletic identity and to other athletes while pursuing your new mission in life after sports. I'm your host, former world top 10 skier in moguls and freeride skiing. Now, way into life after sports. I invite you to join me and other former athletes here on Athlete Story for resources to help you put your former sports career to work for you in life after sports.

This image of a relationship breakup comes from former national UK swimmer, Rachel Boardman. She had to break up with swimming when her health didn't allow her to perform to the level of her technique. She found herself simply falling out of love with the sport that she used to be crazy about, but as most athletes when they retire, she had to go through some reinvention and she didn't find her new love right away and she didn't settle with swimming either. What she did was, she literally went on a walkabout in Australia, coming back with new insight about herself and a new mission, and having made peace little bit with swimming.

Today, she's hosting a successful podcast about struggles in sports and mental issues with depression and also talking to for other former athletes who are now creating their own businesses. We'll talk about all that and we'll talk about falling out of love and staying friends. Let's welcome Rachel Boardman.

Hi Rachel, welcome to the Athlete Story Podcast!

Rachel Boardman:Hi. Well, thanks for having me on the show.

Anja:Well, I'm excited to have you on this show to tell a bit about your story, especially of coming out of swimming, because I read this article about-- you talk about it like it's a breakup in a relationship and I thought that was pretty cool angle. How did that all happen? You were doing the best you were doing after a couple of years of struggle and then what?

Rachel:Yes, at 15, just before I turned 15, I had pneumonia that season, twice in the same year. Basically, from there, it took me three years from that point of being diagnosed before I did like a personal time again, which was a struggle in itself because just watching all my teammates make the progress and go hit finals and win medals, and I was just sat there still just chugging along, not seeming to get any further, but eventually, I had this one season, three seasons later, where I just seemed to be on fire. Everything was going so well. I went on a training camp in Italy and I was hitting times we were supposed--

I remember this one set that we did, and it was five 200 best average, and it was supposed to keep our times between our PB plus 10 to 12 seconds, and I was hitting PB plus four to six. [chuckles] I was like, "I shouldn't be doing this, but I am." I knew that PB was like a best time's coming, and then it did. Went to the county champs, I did a three four-second PB, which is a lot in terms of over 200. The age I was, you might only make like half a second or whatever at that age, but three or four seconds, I was just like, "This isn't real."

At that point, I was half a second off qualifying for the national champs later on in the year. Went back, did some hard training as you do, and then it got to the last few competitions before the qualification period finished. On this particular last one, there was me and there was my two of the teammates who were all competing in different age groups. I was competing in anyone one and they were in the two below.

The way that the heats were seeded and whatever, they were in the two heats before me. So, I went and watched them swim, so then get their respective qualification times for nationals and I was like, "Right, it's my turn now, ready to go." Dived in, everything was going well. You know that feeling when you're competing and you just have that feeling that it's happening, it's good?

I knew it was going to be close, because I'm coming down and out that final length, it was hard work and then really battling the time. I hit that wall, looked up at the scoreboard and my heart just sunk. I've missed that qualification time by six, one-hundredth of a second. I was just-- devastated is an understatement because of all the hard work that I put in, and I just watched my teammates going when then I'm like, "Okay, what am I going to do now?" To be honest, I didn't take the time to process that. At the time, my coach-- because where our team was sat in on poolside, there was the opposite end, where the blocks were, and he took that time to walk the whole length of the pool, right around the pool to come make sure that I was all right, which meant a lot to me, to be honest, but at that point, I was trying to hold back the tears. You probably get where I'm coming from, any kind of athlete would, because you put everything on the line. That was the end of that season for me.

Had my summer break, came back. It was my last year through my A-levels, through my college. The final year before you start university, so I had to decide what I wanted to do when I finished college, which course I wanted to do at university, and I had all these other things going on, so I never really processed that event. Well, to be fair, it's only in the last couple of months that I really pinpointed that was the start of the end for me.

Then, that whole next season, I went through these cycles where I get fit and then I'd get a cold and a chest infection and I have to take a week out of the water or whatever, and then I'd have to come back and get back fit. Just nothing was working, and I was just fed up of having to go through that process. The thoughts crept into my head like, "What's the point? Why am I doing this?" I felt like the sport that I put so much time and effort and that I loved had betrayed me almost. Then over that year, I came to the conclusion that this was the end for me, I didn't want to do it anymore, so I stepped away. I didn't just step away from swimming, I stepped away from exercise and sport completely.

I just had a complete break. It wasn't until a few years later when I had a normal relationship breakup with an actual person that I was like, "Actually, I had these exact same feelings when I left swimming." Then that was when I was like swimming was my first love, which I can guess you can relate to with skiing. Swimming was my first love and it betrayed me basically.

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Anja:Is that something that really happens for swimmers a lot? I can imagine you get a cold and it's hard to beat once you've got it because you have to go back in the pool all the time.

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Rachel:I'm not sure it's the particular cold thing, I think for me, I'm asthmatic, and I was diagnosed when I was two. My big trigger is the changing temperatures. Around springtime and around autumn time is when my asthma is really bad. Always, without fail, I'd get a really bad cold and then I get a chest infection, because whenever I get a cold it goes straight to my chest. Then I'll be on antibiotics and steroids just to get over it, and I'd have to have a couple of weeks to get over that. That was probably just a 'me thing' because of the way I am, but after I had pneumonia when I had the checkups, they do a chest X-ray, and they showed me that I had this scarring on my lung from the infection basically, and I think that didn't help.

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Anja:After this breakup, do you go out and find a new love right away or what do you do?

[laughter]

​

Rachel:I had the next goal, I guess, which was to do my degree. From an early age, I was always told, "You go [unintelligible 00:10:09]school, and then you go to university and you get your degree and then get a good job," blah, blah, blah. When I finished swimming, it was just a case of, "Well, that's not in my life now, but I've still got this to go." Luckily for me, my coach, when I turned 16, 17, he turned around to me and he said, "Our teaching system needs some teachers, do you want to qualify and be a teacher? We'll pay for it." I was like, "Yes, sure." I found that I loved it, so I carried on and I'm still doing it to an extent now.

That helped me pay my way through Uni but also kept that connection. I also threw myself into the scouting. I've been in scouts since I was born, basically. My parents were Cub Scout leaders and I took all that free time I had now that I wasn't swimming and went, "Right, I'm just putting myself in scouting," and went that route a little bit.

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Anja:What did you teach?

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Rachel:I was teaching swimming to anyone from age three up to adults.

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Anja:Your degree, what was that in?

​

Rachel:My undergraduate degree was in biomedical science. I'm a bit of a science geek. When I got to the end of that, I still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and that is completely fine, although nobody told me that it was completely fine to not have your life[unintelligible 00:11:33] by then, but it is. I always had this thing where-- I remember when I was young when I was first making my decisions on what I was going to study for my GCSE, so my age 16 exams, and my mom said, "Do what you enjoy."

I was enjoying university. I did a research project and I loved that and I loved research. I still do, I still love learning and research. I decided that I was going to apply to do some PhDs. That's what I decided to do. I decided that my university career wasn't over yet. Luckily, I managed to get on one in Nottingham, studying blood vessel permeability, so the leakiness of blood vessels. That's what I went to do for the next four years.

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Anja:The way that works is you have a basic pay while you do that?

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Rachel:Yes. I was on a scholarship, basically. I had what they call a stipend, so I got enough money to live off. All my equipment and everything to actually do the studies and my tuition fees were all paid for as well.

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Anja:It's like a doctorate, right? [crosstalk]

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Rachel:Yes.

​

Anja:I should call you Dr. Rachel. Once you have that, now what?

​

Rachel:Yes, exactly. I think one of the reasons why I pursued the PhD was, I didn't know what to do. I thought, "An extra few years, it gives me enough time to figure out what I want to do." Within about six months of starting the PhD, I had spiraled down into one of the darkest places that I've ever been. I ended up having these mental issues, I was diagnosed with depression. A part of that was to do with all the issues that I hadn't worked out from leaving swimming and part of it was because PhD wasn't for me. I ended up going home for a week to try and decide what I wanted to do. I remember my mom said that I can stop the PhD right now if I wanted, but she basically asked me, "What are you going to do if you do that?" I didn't have an answer for her. I didn't know. So, I went back and I finished. Whether that was a good thing or not, no one can take that away from me. I have learned a lot from it.

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Anja:I can call you Dr. Rachel?

​

Rachel:Exactly. [laughs] I knew that at that point that I wasn't going to pursue research or work in academia that way. I then started looking at all different avenues [unintelligible 00:14:07] that I could use my PhD for. I looked into working in industry, like working in the labs in pharmaceutical companies, doing medical writing. I really looked at medical writing because I was one of those weird people that really enjoyed writing their thesis up, like 50,000 words, and I really enjoyed doing that so I do know.

I had this one interview after I'd had my final exam. I'd this one interview, a medical writing company, and they rang me up. I remember sitting on the stairs having this phone call. Basically, they said to me that I did really well in this one part, but this other part, the writing exam, there was a couple of things that I didn't get that they basically needed me to get to say, "Yes, we want you." I just wasn't bothered. Immediately my mind switched and went, "All right, well, now I can go traveling," because at that point, I was toying with the idea and it was the only thing that really got me excited about life. I was looking at all these jobs and I was like, "Yes, I could do them, yes, they're good money, but I'm not really that excited about doing but going traveling. So, I booked a one-way flight to Australia. I traveled around there for about a couple of years, basically.

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Anja:What did you do there?

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Rachel:I did the backpacker thing, I stayed in hostels, I took the Greyhound, I went and explored. I got to see everywhere apart from Darwin in Tasmania. I got to experience different jobs that I would never have ever been able to do back home. I worked in a couple of country pubs. I worked in this one country pub in a little town called Injune in the middle of Queensland. There's like 400 people that live there and it's an hour away from the nearest town. It's like a day's drive to Brisbane. I was plunked in this pub, I was living in this pub, I was eating out of this pub. Within two days of being there, I felt like I was part of the community, which was great. I loved it there. It's one of my best experiences. One of my other best jobs I did, well, I worked on a dairy farm for three months, and that was cool. My swimming career came in to help then because I was milking cows at 4:00 AM. Those early mornings came in handy, but that would-

Anja:That's the weirdest transferable skills. I find that-

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Rachel:I know, right?

​

Anja:Building this place here and I find myself having to maneuver all these long logs and I'm like, "Yes, I feel at home Kerry. [laughs] I think it's on my shoulder. Well, so far, I've recognized two things that come up a lot when we retire from sports. One is like this; we're so used to having feedback all the time, either from a coach, from the scores for your personal best and all that. We looked for where can we get this feedback? Are we doing all right? Are we on track? I think your PhD was giving you that for a while.

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Rachel:Yes.

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Anja:It's this belonging thing, you have to figure out, "Where do I belong now?" You're traveling probably did some [unintelligible 00:17:18]

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Rachel:Yes. I don't know how much traveling you've done or whatever. Obviously, I was staying in hostels, because it's the cheapest place to stay. You're meeting all these new people from all different walks of life, different countries around the world, and you have the same conversations with these people, what I call introduction conversations. You introduce yourself, [unintelligible 00:17:39]where you're from, how long have you been traveling, where have you been, where have you not been. Tell me a little about yourself.

After a while, I noticed was one of the things that I was telling people about myself almost straightaway was, I was a swimmer. I wasn't telling them I had a PhD, because well, as soon as you tell someone you've got a PhD, they look at you and they treat you differently, because like, "You're super clever." Maybe I'm a little bit clever, but I don't count myself as clever as Einstein or someone, or any of the guys from Big Bang Theory for that matter. I was telling people about the swimming, about all the stories that I had for my time in swimming. Suddenly, I can't remember when it was, but it just clicked, I was like, "I've been hiding this part of myself for so long. Why have I been doing this? This is obviously quite a huge part of myself. I need to embrace it and do something with it."

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Anja:That's actually a sad thing is, as athletes, when we come out, we still try to, "Okay, that was that, and now, we're full-on on something new." We leave that totally behind, not always on purpose and not because we want to hide it or anything. Well, sometimes we do. Just because it's like, "What's the point now? Because now I'm doing this." I think that what you come to realize is that it is a big part of you. There are some strengths in there that you can take with you in life after sports. I don't think we should just throw it all away.

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Rachel:No, I agree. I think sometimes it's a little bit because you're so structured when you are an athlete and you're training, you almost compartmentalize pieces of your life. I know I did anyway, just so I could get everything. I could do my training, I could do my schoolwork, I could be with my family, those kind of things. When you finish, it's like you've closed off that compartment now that you don't need it anymore and you concentrate on these ones over here. It's just remembering that you can open that compartment up every now and again.

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Anja:Like you said in that article, you could stay friends after you broke up.

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Rachel:Yes, exactly.

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Anja:I know you run a podcast like this one and it talks a lot on athletes. You're also telling their stories. What else is this about and what's the name of it?

​

Rachel:My podcast is called Beyond The Finish Lineand I got the idea after I had that revelation I've just talked about that I need to be in my life. I went on this 9,000 km solo road trip for the Australian outback, which was an experience in itself. It gave me a lot of time to think. I guess sometimes I refer to it as my own little wild moment or eat, pray, love moment that was unintentional. I had this-

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Anja:What they call a walkabout...

Rachel:Yes. As I went through the journeys, I thought about the news articles and the social media stuff that I'd seen with top athletes that talked about their struggles after they left the sport and the mental health issues and I sat there just thinking, "Well, this happened to me." If it happens to me, this national level, someone who didn't make it pro or to the Olympics or whatever, and it's happening to people up here, then it must then happen to a huge amount of people, but nobody's talking about it. That was the initial inspiration for the podcast. That's one of the big things that I like to chat with the people I have on the show.

We chat about their background in sport and the transition out of the strugglesthat they have. I like to keep it conversational. I'm so grateful that everyone that I have on the show, just like you, is very open about the personal struggles that they've had and they're quite happy to share. I also have the other angle that, everyone I have in the show now runs their own business, because I believe that a lot of athletes, especially if you get to a high level, the options that they believe are open to them are like coaching or something to do with fitness. Whereas there's so many more options out there. You don't have to do a 9:00 to 5:00 job.

To be fair, I feel like a lot of the skills and attributes that you get from being an athlete, you also need as an entrepreneur. You don't have to learn them, you've already got them. You're at an advantage to all those people out there. I just wanted to highlight the stories of people that have been in that situation and now look what they're doing. We share the struggles, we share the highlights, and the tips, and I've had a whole range of people from many different sports. I've had basketballers, gymnasts, skiers like itself, a track and field, softball. I've even had the next NFL pro, cricketer, fencer. I like to get a good perspective from everywhere really.

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Anja:Did you go about it like in the very Dr. Rachel scientific way? How did you go about starting it?

​

Rachel:I have been friends online with a guy called Jamie Atkinson. We started our online business journey back in 2017 together. He's killing it now. Last May, I think, he started a podcast and he seemed to figure out the way to do it. I got in contact with him and he has started teaching people how to launch a podcast. He helped me launch my podcast. While I probably could've done it on my own, it would have taken me so much longer if I hadn't had that mentor and that coach. Again, like we have back in sport, I could've gone and taught myself through swimming, but I wouldn't have gotten half as far as I did do without an actual coach.

​

Anja:I wanted just to hang on to this because a very important message that we often forget is, "We had a coach back in sports and he'd helped out quite a bit, maybe to do things faster and more effectively and without as many mistakes. Often later on, we forget about it, trying to figure out everything ourselves. I love this, that you did it that way. How is it going?

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Rachel:It's still early days. I think I've only have been launched like two and a half months, but my launch went really, really well. Within three days, I think it was of launching, I hit the top 50 in the entrepreneur category in the UK iTunes markets, which was just ridiculous, because I don't really have an audience or an email list or anything. I hoped with the kind of strategies that Jamie taught me, that I'd get maybe into the top 200, but top 50 was just unreal.

Anja:The launch phase, is that very important?

​

Rachel:Yes. I mean, it's like anything. It's about creating that buzz around it. His whole program is like four or five weeks, and those last couple of weeks, once you've got all your assets and you're doing your interviews, it's about building that hype around it. I didn't tell anybody that I was going to do this podcast, even my mom and dad didn't know. I just dropped this post on my Facebook that was like, "Something big is coming on this date," and everyone was like, "What the hell?" What's going on?" I was half expecting someone to ask me, "If you're pregnant." [laughs] They were like, "What's coming? What's coming?" My mom was like, "Why can't you just tell me? I was like, "No, you've got to wait." It was just a case of creating this high, leveraging my launch guests.

The strategy that I used, which works really well is, I launched with seven episodes, rather than just going one, two, three and then each week. I launched with seven episodes. They were all really short, they were about 10 minutes long. What I'd done, I'd sat down with my guests and I'd asked them one question, the same one question to all of the guests. I think my question was, "What would be your best piece of advice for an athlete that wants to start a business?" Then we'd talk about that. Then I'd follow up with them. I had a longer interview with them, which then got released every week.

When I launched, people weren't just downloading one episode, they were downloading seven. The way that iTunes works is, the algorithm for ranking you is to do with your downloads, your ratings, and reviews. I don't really have a list or an audience, so I had to leverage my guests. I got them to promote my show as well and get them to rate and review the show and got that audience to rate and review the show along with obviously family and friends and whatnot. That seemed to work. It got me in the top 50.

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Anja:I'd like to take advantage of this and encourage anybody who is listening right now to go rate and review this show. Of course, I'd love to hear what you think about it. Then I'd love for the listeners to know the name of your podcast. I don't think you-- Did you say what the name is?

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Rachel:Yes, it's called Beyond The Finish Line.

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Anja:You don't have a website that goes along with it?

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Rachel:No, not at the minute. I just have links to all my Facebook and my Instagram.

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Anja:Instagram, is that the best way for people to reach and follow you?

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Rachel:Yes, definitely. I am @rechboardman, R-E-C-H B-O-A-R-D-M-A-N. To be fair, if you reach out to me on Facebook as well, then I'll-- Wherever.

​

Anja:Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story and your struggles and opening up so that other people can listen to podcast as well.

​

Rachel:No worries. Thanks for having me on. I've had a great time.

​

Anja:Thank you Rachel. Take care and consider yourself part of the Athlete's Story community.

​

Rachel:Thank you.

Automated voice: Thank you for listening to Athlete's Story. You are awesome. If you are yourself, a world-class athlete or former, don't hesitate to come over on athletestory.com and check out more free stuff and resources to help you thrive in and benefit from your sports career. Dare to prepare. Then get yourself out there. Stay in touch.

[00:28:18] [END OF AUDIO]

“I think one of the reasons why I pursued the PhD was, I didn't know what to do. I thought, "An extra few years, it gives me enough time to figure out what I want to do." Within about six months of starting the PhD, I had spiralled down into one of the darkest places that I've ever been. I ended up having these mental issues, I was diagnosed with depression. A part of that was to do with all the issues that I hadn't worked out from leaving swimming and part of it was because PhD wasn't for me.”  

Rachel Boardman is a former national level swimmer who founded the Beyond The Finish Line Podcast after a searching for her purpose completing a phd and a soul searching journey to Australia. This podcast is all about lifting the lid on the struggles and challenges that athletes face once they leave their sport. Finding out how they coped with the loss of the athlete identity while carving out their own space and giving back to the sport they love.

Follow Rachel on Instagram

Join Rachel's group on Facebook

Book a conversation with Rachel

The post Breaking up with your sport – and staying friends appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

After retiring from professional handball in Denmark, Pernille Vaaben sought professional mentorship to help her navigate life after sport. Now, she finds herself in Australia as a sports marketer, working with high profile sports brands such as Nike.

In this episode, we talk about how her sporting background has given her transferrable skills like working hard, working as a team, determination and passion. Pernille highlights how companies are actively looking to the world of sport for these kinds of skills.

We also cover Pernille’s role as a sports marketer, discussing the intricacies of marketing sports and sportspeople. How sports marketing is mostly about finding the human angle and telling motivational stories of resilience.

Most importantly, Pernille delves into what it meant for her to have a mentor to assist her in her transition from her sports career and in her professional development following retirement from handball. She details how mentorship helped her realise the assets she possesses as an ex-sportswoman. We also reinforce how it’s beneficial to have more than one mentor for different perspectives.

Pernille says that mentors are incredibly receptive. When you reach out and tell your story, they’ll rarely say no. Former athletes usually have inspiring stories, and mentors often learn a lot themselves through guiding them to their next chapter in life. 

Pernille Vaaben Nielsen

​“Transitioning into employment after sports is tough. Sometimes you need a mentor to help you describe the values you have as an ex-athlete. Things like dedication, determination, resilience. These are skills that some people don’t have because they haven’t worked under the kind of pressure that athletes face. Businesses want these kinds of skills. So, if you are an athlete, reach out to mentors so you can take that next step.

Because my mentor is a former athlete, she already knew the assets that I had. She showed me my value, and why I was important to my company. There was a time that I was stressed about not wanting to say “no” to work. She explained that it’s because I was so used to pushing the limits as an athlete and taught me how to control that mentality within my job.”

Pernille Vaaben Nielsen is a former Pro Player in team handball. SInce retiring from sports she has worked in sports marketing. She has experience both from the club side of things as a Brand & Sponsorship Manager and from managing client accounts within agencies in Australia and in Europe including some of the highest profile brands. 

Connect with Pernille on LinkedIn

​

The post What can having a mentor do for you? appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

Brian says that, when looking for jobs after retiring, athletes tend to focus on what they haven’t got rather than what they have got. He thinks that athletes don’t leverage their sporting background enough. Core skills like leadership, teamwork, time management and competitiveness are what companies are looking for. You can teach practical skills to do the job, but you can’t teach what’s inside of you. Sportspeople are naturally passionate and dependable, two key traits which Brian says form part of the ‘athlete’s spirit’.

Brian acknowledges that former athletes may lack experience in the job market when they come to find employment after sport. However, he affirms that this can be counteracted by having a strong network, a good personal brand, and a story to tell. In addition, retired sportspeople should draw upon their innate coachability. Show your potential, your willingness to learn and your ability to overcome challenges. Brian jokes that this is a much more productive way of saying: “I don’t know how to do this.”

Finding the right job is crucial for ex-athletes to continue feeling whole in their career. Brian encourages you to informally read job descriptions and discover what piques your interest. There is an array of natural progressions such as: marketing, sales, sports analysis, scouting and coaching. Whatever path you choose, make sure that it harnesses that ‘athlete’s spirit’.

But a tip that I really loved was to actually “study” job descriptions in general to reverse engineer a great application.

Most former athletes have little experience in job interviews. Brian says that how you carry yourself is extremely important – putting emphasis on showing a certain degree of humility. It’s possible for ex-athletes to be too cocky. Even if you’ve previously had a high-level professional sports career, it’s inappropriate to act as if you’re superior. Show humility and respect to a new work environment.

Brian Clapp 

VP of Content and engaged learning at www.workingsports.com

“Athletes have extreme advantages against other people looking to work in the sports industry. So often, they think about skills that I haven’t been able to develop. Rather than realising the achievements and skills they have gained. There are soft skills, and then there are majorly important skills like: teamwork, leadership, time management, coachability and competitiveness. That’s what employers look for.

I interview sports execs across the world. When I ask: “What are you looking for when you hire someone?” They universally say that they can teach anyone skills to do a job. But they can’t teach them what’s inside of them. You cannot teach anyone dependability, passion or good listening.

All these things I’ve mentioned are apart of the ‘athlete spirit’. This is exactly what an athlete is. They’ve grown up this way. They’ve had to manage their life and time in a different way. They’ve had to be dedicated to training. These are huge attributes which can transfer to many sections of the sports industry.

So much is opportunity open to ex-athletes, simply because they have a special mentality. That alone puts them ahead of so many other people.”

Over the last two decades years Brian Clapp has been a fixture in the sports industry as a speaker, podcast host, content marketer, news director and sports producer. After beginning his career as a sports producer in Atlanta for CNN/Sports Illustrated, Brian switched coasts moving to Seattle to become the News Director for Fox Sports Northwest. In 2010, he began pursuing a new found passion on the digital media side, launching a successful website and eventually becoming the VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com. By creating various forms of content related to professional development in the sports industry - including podcasts, online courses, videos and speaking engagements across the country - Brian has become a highly sought after thought leader for the sports industry. 

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn

Brian Clapp: If you can give off that kind of a vibe as an athlete to say, "I'm not above you, I'm with you. We're here together. I want to make this work. I want to make you look good. I want to make me look good." If you can give that off, rather than, "I'm the big shot here," that's important.

Voice Over:Welcome to the Athlete Story Podcast, your chance to tap into wisdom from athletes and experts in world-class sports. You're about to be taken into a chat about sports careers and related issues between an awesome guest and your listening host, the sports insider, repurposed Olympic mobile skier and former Freeride World Tour athlete, Anja Bolbjerg.

[music]

Anja Bolbjerg: I have decided to put on a rerun of the Successful After Sports Summit to give you a chance to watch it all again for free. I'll also be giving away the summit playbook, which is a collection of my one-page notes from each session to help you make the most of it and guide you through the whole summit. The free online event is set to happen on April 17 to 19. Go ahead and sign up at successfulaftersports.com.

Yes, there is also a way to get immediate downloadable access to all the summit recordings, which normally sells around the $100 mark or so, but because of the particular circumstances that we're in these days, I've set it up as a name-your-own-price offer for now. You can take advantage of that when you sign up as well. You can read all about the summit at successfulaftersports.com.

This episode is actually a sample from the Successful After Sports Summit. It's one of the insider knowledge sessions from day three, where you get valuable insight from different career paths that are particularly well-suited if you want to leverage your background as a former athlete. We have sessions about performance coaching, organizing events, entrepreneurship, and this one is about how to land your dream job in the sports industry.

Have you ever considered working in the sports industry? Let me start by saying that you'll want to listen to this session even if you have absolutely no plans of working in sports at all. Just so much of what comes up in this session applies across any job market.

This is your chance to hear directly how Mr. WorkInSports himself, Brian Clapp, would go about landing his dream job in the sports industry if you're a former athlete out there today. We'll talk about how you can best leverage the fact that you have an athletic background to land a job specifically in this industry, which actually covers a whole huge range of different employers. It's like all the media companies in broadcasting, print, online. There's sports brands, teams, tours, agencies. The list is really long and the jobs are very different.

Brian has been deep in the trenches in the sports industry for more than 20 years. He started working for a big sports media company, and now, he's at the helm of the workinsports.com platform. The workinsports.com is one of the biggest job matching services in the sports industry. They currently have like 25,000 jobs posted. The platform also offers lots of both free and paid services to connect employers and job seekers and also help job seekers improve their skills. Brian is really at the forefront when it comes to this whole hiring process. He must have seen like thousands and thousands of job descriptions.

He's also the host of the WorkInSports Podcast, where he interviews people from all walks of the sports industry. We simply couldn't have asked for anyone better to give us advice on this. Let's get started. Hi, Brian. I am so excited to have you on the Successful After Sports Summit.

Brian Clapp: Thank you for having me, it's a real pleasure to be here.

Anja Bolbjerg:The Successful After Sports Summit is for former athletes, and you know how every athlete has to retire at one point, but usually, it doesn't mean go do crosswords. It means it's starting a whole new career. For a lot of athletes working in sport seems like a logical next step, and you are Mr. WorkInSports.

[laughter]

Brian Clapp: Well, thank you.

Anja Bolbjerg:It's awesome to have you on. I can't wait.

Brian Clapp: I think that that subject is a really interesting one. I've definitely spoken with a lot of athletes over my career and tried to lead them down certain paths. I'm excited that we're talking about it.

Anja Bolbjerg:First of all, I am just going at this because I think what I've tried to do is help athletes use the skills that they've acquired over a whole sports career. I think that there might be something that they can carry over to working in sports. I know working in sports is a huge sector industry. You can tell more about that because there's so many jobs. First, I want to say, is that a misconception or do you think athletes have advantages or skills that carry over?

Brian Clapp: I think athletes have extreme advantages against other people looking to work in the sports industry. I think it's actually one of those things that athletes don't leverage enough, and that they don't take advantage of what they have. Often, they think about what they don't have like, "I haven't had a chance to develop certain business skills," or, "I haven't been a scout," or, "I haven't worked in marketing," rather than realizing those things that they have accomplished and they have done.

Their soft skills and majorly important skills like teamwork, leadership, time management, coachability, competitiveness, that's what employers look for. I interview sports executives across the nation, across the world. When I really hammer into them and say, "What are you looking for when you hire someone?" What they will all say universally is, "I can teach people skills to do the job, but I can't teach them what's inside of them. I cannot teach them how to be dependable, and how to be a good listener, and how to be passionate, or be working as a team or competitive." All of these things that go into the athlete's spirit, that's exactly what an athlete is. They've grown up this way. They've had to manage their time in a different way. They've had to be dedicated to training. These are attributes.

These are massive attributes that can transfer to almost any section of the sports industry. There are probably certain sections that it makes more sense to lean into. I'm not necessarily saying an athlete could go become a data analyst unless they have a passion for statistics and have studied that. If that's so, great, add that to the potential career paths. Really, what I'm saying is, so much is open to athletes because they have this soft skill suite of talent that so many other people don't have and can't capitalize on.

That start right there puts them so far ahead of other people. We haven't even talked about the people you know and the networking and all those things that go into it. Just even that soft skill set really speaks highly to potential employers.

Anja Bolbjerg: I had Mike Baltierra from ESPN. He's executive producer of the E:60 show. He was on the Athlete Story Podcast and he said he would pretty much hire a former athlete over an MBA student anytime. Of course, there are other things that go into it. I just think that it's important for us to remember this as athletes, that some of those skills we take them for granted, and not everybody has had a chance to develop this in school.

Brian Clapp: It's a really good point. I think most athletes think these are normal skills that everybody has. That's not the case at all. You've become an elite athlete because you have those skills. Obviously, you have the skills to do whatever your competition is, but because you have elite competitiveness and because you have elite level time management and dedication and coachability is why you're an elite athlete. Those things are not normal. To be able to leverage those as a differentiating factor for yourself is so important.

I will tell you really quickly too that when I'm in charge of hiring, one of the biggest variables is when I'm choosing, do I want this person or do I want this person? The variable you don't know is how is that person going to survive in my pressure-filled environment? How are they going to do? Once they stop just talking during an interview, and I actually see how they perform on a job, how they handle pressure, how they deal with the stress of other people having expectations on them. You want to hire somebody you feel has a predictable path, that you know if you bring them in, they're going to be dependable, they're going to show up on time. They're not going to crack under the pressure.

For me, when I would hire people, if I had somebody that had a competitive background, that let me feel more confident in that they were going to deliver on all of those things. Then it was going to make me look good because they were going to do the job well. Dependability matters.

Anja Bolbjerg:Now that we're all pumped up about all these skill-set. What are some of the disadvantages you can see?

Brian Clapp: I have to ask too, where are you right now? Because this is a really cool backdrop. I keep looking around and seeing the skis in the background and all the other cool-- I really like where you are.

Anja Bolbjerg:[crosstalk] Nobody has asked. This is my studio.

Brian Clapp: It's great. I'm very jealous. I have a plain white wall behind me and you have this really cool studio.

Anja Bolbjerg:Well, it's an old barn, let's say. I have to tear it down.

Brian Clapp: No.

Anja Bolbjerg: I want to build 20-ft [unintelligible 00:09:35]facility here, but in order to do that, it has to be torn down because I don't know if you can see, but it has big cracks in the walls and stuff and for earthquake reasons, they can't reuse it.

Brian Clapp: The cracks add character. I think it looks cool. Anyway, I'm sorry, to answer your question about disadvantages. I think the biggest one, and I think this is something that can be overcome, but I think the biggest one is just overall experience in the job marketplace. Most people when they're going through a process of hiring, the first thing they want to do is ask themselves, "Does this applicant have the skills to do the job?" Because if you think about it, if I put out for a job opening and I got 300 applicants, the only way I can start to make my list a little bit smaller and get it down to my prime people to talk to, is to say, "Well, do they have the skills to do this job?"

That's sometimes where the disconnect can come because somebody that's come up as an elite athlete maybe hasn't done as many internships or volunteer opportunities or had that entry-level job or actually been in the workplace. There's been other things that have been important in their lives. That's the hardest part, but what I would say is, that's where things like the network, and the cover letter, and the story, and the brand really come and become really important, because sometimes you can bypass that initial cattle call the most. I guess you could say, "I have like 100 people applying for this job and I've got to look through all these resumes."

Well, sometimes if you're an athlete and you have other types of ways of being considered, that can help you get past that initial skill set question. I know that when I've been interviewing people for jobs before, sometimes my boss would come to me and say, "Hey, I want you to put this person in your consideration set." It may have been a former athlete. It was primarily because they knew my general manager. They knew my boss and so, they were able to say, "Hey, I'm interested in this role, I'd like to be considered." Sometimes utilizing your network and the people you know, can help you get past that question of experience and certain skills.

Anja Bolbjerg: Maybe if you play on that coachability thing, you can perhaps convince people that, "Well, I don't know how to use this particular tool, whatever, but I can learn very quickly. [laughs]

Brian Clapp: That's exactly right. A willingness to learn, a willingness to take on challenges and say, "Yes, I've proven that I can do just about anything, and therefore, this thing you need to train me on, no problem, I can do it." That's an important part of a certain level of confidence that comes through in that, and I think that's an important part of this as well. That confidence, that coachability, that competitiveness, it matters. It matters a lot, it really does.

Anja Bolbjerg: I had April Abeyta who's also worked in sports and she's producing now a sports documentary. I think she worked at Fox Sports. She said that you have to also remember that not everybody, where you come to work, care about whether you succeed or not. That might be a difference from sports environment [chuckles] where everybody's interest that you do well pretty much. There are some things there, I guess, that you have to find the right people to surround yourself with and find the support and help that you need.

Brian Clapp: It's a good point. There's a lot that goes into the culture of the job of the career that you go down and where you choose to work and be. I know for myself and the various companies that I've worked for, each one has a very distinct culture. A very distinct attitude in what success looks like and how to achieve within that organization. I think it's a really good point, in that an athlete may want to get into an organization that has more of a focus on training and development, so that they can make up that gap in skillset, and that it's a very forward-thinking organization that can say, "I want to hire people who are passionate, dedicated, coachable, competitive. I want to train them in what we need them to know and then I want to set them out on there on world and go crazy."

That's a really great environment for an athlete to be a part of, and those environments do exist. It's just sometimes finding that. Other organizations, maybe really, really big ones, they might not put as much of an effort into training. They want more people to be able to come in and get into the machine. There's definitely a perspective there on figuring out where you fit best as well.

Anja Bolbjerg: Talking about these different environments, maybe we should dive into some of the different job types, because working in sports goes from ticket sales to hosting a show on [laughs] ESPN, right?

Brian Clapp: That's right, exactly. The easiest and most logical path, I think, is on camera analysis of their sport, because they have an extreme knowledge of it that most people don't. To be able to translate that to an audience is a specific skill set. Not everybody that's a great athlete necessarily has that skill, to be able to speak to an audience and convey it in a way they'll understand it and find it interesting. Some do, and that's a very logical point.

The other one gets into the recruiting of athletes or scouting for teams or development or player development. Another one is just that in development of the person side. In the States, we have a lot of player development departments. Which essentially means, if you work for a baseball team, let's say, you might work with the 17-year-old kid who just got drafted to help them adjust to life in sports.

Again, this is a role that someone who's gone through it could be really, really good. Every league here in the states has that, and colleges as well. They focus on having almost mentors who are in player development, it's kind of a title, but they're not developing necessarily their skills on a field as a coach or their competitive arena. They are developing the person and helping them adjust to life in this new world for them. Because you know what it's like. You were a extremely competitive athlete and elite level. You started probably very young and you probably didn't know exactly how to perform, or how to handle yourself, or how to deal with sponsors or how to deal with events or-- All these things that go into being an elite athlete.

Well, now think about that. If you're past your career to be able to go back and be in that kind of developmental role and help others as they adjust to this life, is a real perfect fit. There's, of course, other roles. There's marketing roles, there's sales roles. I think sometimes it gets into, what's your passion? What is it that interests you now? Because most athletes I talk to love that competitive spirit. Sometimes something like sales can really work for that, because you're being measured on accomplishments.

I've never worked in sales. It was never really my thing, but I know a lot of people that have been athletes, that have been extremely successful in that. A lot of college athletes that never made it to the pros go back and start working in sales, because they like that competitive nature of like, "I got more sales this month than they did and I hit my goals and I knew what I needed to achieve and I did it. I got more revenue this year than I did last year." They like those data points they can use to enhance their feeling of competitiveness that they're now lacking because they're not out there on the field.

There's so many different type of roles. I think leaning into where your passion is and what fits for you, I don't think you want to just work in sports because it's all you know. I think you also want to find that thing that makes sense for you moving forward in your career that's going to make you feel energized, make you feel like you still have some of those traits of being close to the events. Because I know, even though I only played on a very low level, you miss that feeling of being amongst it. About being in the moment and amongst teammates or amongst coaching staffs and at the events.

Sometimes, even just roles that can be still in the arena or at the slopes or wherever it may be can just be that fit that makes you still feel whole as you go through the rest of your career path.

Anja Bolbjerg: Let me just first say, if you need any inspiration, you can go to the workinsports.com platform, because you have I think, tens of thousands of jobs posted. You can get inspiration for all the kind of jobs that are in--

Brian Clapp: We have 25,000 jobs right now. What I tell people all the time is, some of the best ways to figure out where you fit or what feels right to you, is to go on a site like ours and read some job descriptions and see; Does that sound interesting to me? Does that sound like it could be fun? Does it fit my skill set? Sometimes you just type in a keyword and you put in there: skiing and see if any skiing jobs come back. You type in tennis or you type in golf or you type in whatever it is. See what comes back in your niche and what your specialty is and what your experience is, and just start looking a little bit.

Read the job descriptions. No pressure, just read the job description and say, "Sounds kind of neat." Then you can start to actually go a little bit deeper. You can say, "Okay, this job sounds interesting. Here are the 10 things they say that they want the person we hired to be able to do. Well, I've got a couple of those skills, but I don't have all of them." Maybe you start to say to yourself, "Here is a couple of things I could learn that will help me stand out when I try to apply for a job like this." It might be something very simple, but if you can watch a couple of YouTube videos or do a couple tutorials or--

Sometimes it'll be a job that will say, "We'd really love it if somebody knew how to use Photoshop." Well, some of those tools can be really fun to learn and you can learn them using Youtube videos. If you spend a couple afternoons learning the basics, now you've got that on your resume. When you apply for the job, you're hitting another thing that they need and they want. You found a job that you think is interesting, you figured out what they needed, you learned a little bit more, and now you're even more ready for it. You add that to your already all those soft skills, all the things we've talked about that make athletes so unique and you're unstoppable.

Anja Bolbjerg: That's an awesome tip and that answered the next question I was going to ask. [chuckles]

Brian Clapp: Oh, sorry.

[laughter]

Anja Bolbjerg: That's great. We can then walk right into, now we heard this word job description, and a lot of us have never applied for jobs. Maybe we can dive into a bit of the process that this involves.

Brian Clapp: I'll walk through it from you. When I was the news director for Fox Sports Northwest, if I had an opening for an associate producer, or a reporter, or an anchor or director, any of those roles, we would write up a job description and write down exactly what we needed and what we expected out of the role, what was to be almost our top 10 skills that we'd say, "We need somebody that can do this, this, and this." Then I'd send it to our Human Resources Department, and they'd say, "Great, we'll go out there and find you a bunch of resumes." They'd come back with 50 people, 100 people, whatever would be who matched what I needed.

The job description to it goes out to sites like ours, and it gets published or the team sites or wherever it may be. There's different places to get placed, and it's really like an open book test. It's telling you exactly what we want.

Now, my general rule of thumb is sometimes people take it way too literally, they say to themselves, "Well, they say they want these 10 things, and I only have seven of them, so I'm not qualified."

What you want to do is have at least 70% of the requirements for the job. They don't expect you to have everything. Sometimes it's a complete dream list, but I've done this before. I've pushed a job out for a director, let's say, and I had 10 things on there, and five of them would be my dream come true, and five of them were, I really need them to have these skills.

I tell people all the time if you hit on 50% to 70% or better of the job requirements, then you're in the right realm. It's worth applying to and seeing if it works. If you're not a match for it at all, you've never directed, but why are you applying for it? You don't have the skills to do the job. I think it's very important to look at these job descriptions because you start to get a rhythm for the industry, you start to understand patterns and see what is an important skill.

I'd mentioned Photoshop earlier, there's a lot of fun things like that, but you'd be surprised how things like a Photoshop pop up on a lot of different job descriptions because that ability to take a sales presentation and give it some dramatic flair using Photoshop or imagery or make it look more professional is a powerful skill set. The reason I bring that up is because as you look at job descriptions, you might see other things. You might see to work on this side of the industry, I really needed to know nonlinear editing or whatever, I'm just throwing things out there.

The more you look at job descriptions, the more you start to understand, here's what's in demand. Here's what people want across the industry, and you can start to cater your experience that way and say, "Okay, it's pretty clear. I need to learn this thing. I think the job descriptions end up being an open book like they are an open book test, like when you took in high school, and they'd say, "You could look at your notes." That was like, "Yes." This is the same kind of thing.

When you go into an interview, or you are writing your resume, or you're writing up your cover letter, they're basically telling you, "This is what we want." You have to sell yourself as having those things.

Anja Bolbjerg:When you do that, and you have those 7 out of the 10, what do you do about the three? Do you ignore them? Or do you say, "Well, I don't know this, but how is it going to be?

Brian Clapp: It's a really good question. I tend to tell people to lean into their strengths and really tell a good story about why they're so strong in those areas, but then also you want to give that-- If you give off the vibe, and this is what athletes really need to sell, if you give off the vibe that you're extremely coachable. Basically, you're answering that question without coming right out and say, "I don't know how to do this, but I could learn." Instead, you're saying, "I can learn anything. I can take on any challenge. I've worked through these problems before."

Again, getting to a cover letter type of situation. I think that's where somebody can tell their story a little bit more. One of the biggest mistakes I see that people do, they have their resume, and then they write a cover letter, which is basically just turning their resume into paragraph form. It's just turning their resume into a story. What I'd rather see people do is take the opportunity to tell me a story. Tell me why you're competitive? Tell me an example of you being coachable?

You could say something like, I kept failing at this task that my coach kept trying to get me to do, and I worked on it day and night until I got to a point where it all made sense to me, and then in my next event, I was able to take on this thing. I'm saying there's an opportunity there to get somebody feeling motivated about you and sometimes those stories, those ability to connect with the employer on more than just a two-dimensional resume that doesn't really tell your story, to be able to connect that way and give them something to feel excited about can be powerful.

I remember reading through hundreds of cover letters, and it was always like, "This is a waste of space." It's not telling me anything, but when somebody would tell me a story that got me hooked on who they are, and got me excited about their potential in my building, that spoke to me a lot and I know that's true with a lot of other people that hire in the industry, is to be able to give me, don't just tell me you're coachable, show me. Give me a story. Give me an example. Give me something that really drives at home. Talk to me about time management, about how you had to do 15 different things every day to make sure you were at an elite level. Talk to me about all those different things that make you special and unique and that's a huge opportunity in a cover letter.

Anja Bolbjerg: A lot of the athletes that retired recently or within the last maybe 5, 10 years already have an online presence. My generation we didn't, but they already have an online presence. Can you refer to that somehow in your- [crosstalk]

Brian Clapp: Like competitively, videos of them competing? Or do you mean just like?

Anja Bolbjerg:It's another way to get to know you before possible interview, but I don't know, do employees go that far that they actually look for that?

Brian Clapp: They do. I think it does make sense, especially if you have a singular place that you can drive them. If an athlete has their own personal website that has some of their social media videos on it, or some of them goofing around, or some of them training or whatever, if they're all in one spot, and you can include that as part of your resume cover letter, I think that makes perfect sense. Build it out almost like a LinkedIn profile where it shows a little bit of you professionally, but it also has some of your personality and experiences and resume, both your competitive resume but also your experience resume. I think that's huge. I think that's great.

People hire people. I'm hiring somebody and I want to get to know that person. I want to feel like I know them because again, what happens is I go through this entire process of trying to figure out who is the right person to offer my job opening to, that's a big deal. I have to go through hundreds of people, I get it down to one. Well then there's a really important moment happens, I have to go to my bos0,s and before I go to this other person, I have to go to my boss and I have to convince them that this is the right person.

You know what? It makes it a lot easier and a lot more comfortable for me if I feel I know that other person if I feel comfortable with their ability and attitude and all of those things. Now I can go to my boss with my head held high feeling like, "This is definitely the person." All those little things you're talking about: their website, their personal branding, all of those things help tell that story. Help get me to know you. Help get me to understand you so that then I can go with confidence to my boss and say, "This is the one."

Anja Bolbjerg:Now are there any no-goes like anything that you should absolutely not mention?

Brian Clapp:Parties.

Anja Bolbjerg:Huge turn-offs.

Brian Clapp: Yes, no, I'd seriously, had people that have sent in a part of their social media profile on some way, and it was them being drunk at a party and you're like, "I don't think this is what you wanted to send me." Really just make sure to keep that clean, you can keep that somewhere else, somewhere private. There are people that don't realize that they make a wrong impression when they don't follow the details.

I've had people send me a demo reel, which is an example of them to be a reporter or an anchor, and they spell their own name wrong on it. These little things, these little details that you have to really pay attention to because people like me are looking also for reasons not to hire you. We're also looking for, what is the downside of hiring this person? If you make that easy for me, and you give me something right upfront to say, "Yes, this makes me worried. This scares me," it's easy to start to dismiss that person. You come up with reasons not to hire them, rather than to hire them. Don't make it easy on somebody like me, present all the best qualities of yourself and don't leave any mistakes.

Anja Bolbjerg:You mentioned networking, and using your network and relations. Is that really useful?

Brian Clapp: It is, and I'll explain it all. As an athlete, you have access to things that most of us don't. While you're thinking to yourself, "Well, no, I train and I compete." Well, what you're also seeing is coaching techniques. You're seeing sales and marketing and sponsorship deals, and interaction, and personal development, and all these different things that go into the process of putting on an event. You're seeing event management, and so I think actually, as people start to get near the end of their career when they start to see that happening, they really need to focus on--

The two years before they think they're finishing and the two years after, are really that prime time because you're still viable in your career or you're still recognizable in your career, right afterwards and you can reach out to people who are putting on the events for your events or that are in charge of sales or in charge of marketing. You've still got enough name recognition that they're going to say, "Yes, sure, let's talk." You can reach out to people and immediately have credibility and say, "Hey, I'm coming near the end of my career or I just finished up retiring. I've always thought about going into marketing. I've seen you work for the last 10 years. I would love to just sit down and have coffee with you someday and ask you some questions." That's really powerful stuff. That's a leverage and an opportunity that most athletes have that the rest of us don't.

Being in with that, I tell college students all the time, when you play in college, you have a direct line to the athletic director and the marketing staff and the sales staff and the operations staff, you need to leverage that. You need to go get to know these people. You need to start to talk to them and smile at them and go grab them coffee someday because that network effect matters. The more people you start to know are the same people that are going to say, "Hey, I heard about this opening over here. My buddy works there. Can I push your resume out to them or can I recommend you?"

Building that out and using that leverage is so important. I would also say that connectivity of network and knowing people, it's something you have to nurture. You can't just say, "I met this person once for coffee." You need to keep talking and being present with them and following up and having conversations and adding value to them.

If they're in marketing and you're someday thinking like, "I saw this really cool ad campaign somewhere, they might enjoy this," send it to them and say, "Hey, I saw this and I thought of you. I thought this would be cool and you might want to see this." Or if there's some new statistic that you see like, this event they're working on broke attendance records, send it to them and say, "Hey, I saw this, congratulations." It's building this relationship with the people.

What I try to tell people all the time is that networking isn't a numbers game where you need to have 5,000 connections. You need to have the right 20. You need to have the right 50 or whatever that number is, that you can keep in touch with, that they are interesting to you. You're interested in what they're doing. It makes sense to you to be friends with them or get to know them. Then if you are, if they're doing things that are interesting, you're going to want to keep in touch with them.

Then that's going to lead to other people that they know. They're going to say, "You need to meet this person. They're super cool." Then, "You need to talk to this person," or, "I heard about this other event over there where they're hiring." That's how it all starts to work. Leveraging that insider knowledge you have, that insider access is really important at this phase.

Anja Bolbjerg:Now that you have your resume, you have done your networking, the next phase, I guess, is that if you manage to stand out somehow is interview. How does that work and how do you prepare for that?

Brian Clapp:Here's the fun part about an interview. An interview is generally usually they've already determined that they like you in some level. They are enough interested in you. Either you have the right skill set for the job or they're impressed with who you are enough that they want to bring you in to talk to you.

The most important part of the interview process is that they're trying to figure out if you're a fit, do you fit in this culture? Will you interact well with the rest of the staff? Are you excited? Are you passionate? Do you really want to be here? They're trying to figure out how you as a person are going to work in their organization.

It tends to be less about skill. Sometimes they may have you demonstrate something or talk that you can accomplish a certain task or things of that nature. For the most part, they've already crossed that level. They wouldn't bother bringing you in unless they thought you could do the job. They're not going to spend their time on that.

If they brought you in for the interview, this is your chance to really sell you. I'm telling you, they're looking for passion and excitement. That's really it. That you're coachable and all those other skills we've talked about, those soft skills have to come through in an interview process. This is your chance. I interviewed hundreds of people, and when somebody sits across from me and seems like they are reading from a script or they're just trying to memorize the right things to say, that's not impressive to me.

I want somebody that is energetic and excited and ready to go and fired up and like, "This is where I want to be." You want to give off this vibe that I want to be here. I want to be impacting your business moving forward. I want to learn. I want to grow. Giving off that vibe of excitement and enthusiasm can overcome any deficit in potential skill or experience.

I think the best thing that anyone can do, and I don't mean inauthentic, like, "Woohoo, big party time." I want somebody that can be convincing that they spent their life playing the sport dedicated to it. It matters to them. This is something that they feel in their bones and they want to still be a part of. It's confidence mixed with enthusiasm that comes through and it is just being authentic. I think that's one of the key things, is people sometimes come off very planned or inauthentic or scripted.

The ability to really be yourself and convey that to somebody, because like I said, people hire people not hiring the script or the words or anything else that you're bringing. I'm hiring you and I want to know you. I want you to tell me who you really are. I want to feel like you're being totally sincere with me. If I feel that, that makes a big difference. I think interviews are about charisma and authenticity, really selling yourself and your passion.

Anja Bolbjerg:Can you be too confident? Do you have to respect some kind of hierarchy?

Brian Clapp: There is. You can be too cocky. You have to respect. The other thing, too, is that some people who are in hiring may be threatened by the brand of the athlete. If it's a high level, high-performing athlete, they may feel intimidated by them. Therefore, you definitely don't want to come off too cocky or too much like you are in charge or that you're above them. You have to come in with some humility and give an attitude of I want to learn. I want to grow. I'm excited about this.

If you can convey that message, that can help to quell some of that fear for the interviewer. I'll be completely honest with you, I've worked with hundreds of athletes. When I was first starting out in my career dealing with a professional athlete, there was an intimidation factor. I would look at them and say, like, "Wow, you're a star and I'm just a guy." You can turn that knob almost and fix it really quickly when the athlete-- I worked with Shaun Alexander, who was an MVP in the NFL, so he was one of the best players in the NFL. I worked with him for a really long time. One of the first times I met him, he was just this humble, nice, shake your hand, look you in the eye, say hello, pat you on the back kind of guy, and you immediately felt welcomed into his world.

If you can give off that vibe as an athlete to say, "I'm not above you, I'm with you. We're here together. I want to make this work. I want to make you look good. I want to make me look good. I want to build this business. I want to do this together." If you can give that off rather than a, "I'm the big shot here," that goes, that's important.

Anja Bolbjerg:Because you might already have that stamp a little bit beforehand, so humility probably goes more in this.

Brian Clapp:Humility goes a long way. It does. It can be almost surprising to people sometimes that a major athlete who they've seen on TV or watched in the Olympics or whatever it may be, comes in and is humble and nice and kind and they're just like another person in the building. That can be like a, "Good. Okay. Great. This can work." It almost puts everybody at ease.

Anja Bolbjerg: I want to get back to it, because this is the competition, the interview because that's where you have the final candidates. That's why you can start to think about, "Well, I'm up against these people who have formal education. I don't have that." I want to mention I heard one of your recent podcasts that 95% of the college educational system believe that their students come out qualified for work with the right skills. It was something like 16% of the employers who believe that.

Brian Clapp: Yes, it's fascinating. There were two different statistics that were really interesting, that only 40% of students feel like they're totally prepared entering the workforce after they graduate. They feel like they don't have knowledge on how to write the resumé, on how to job search, how to network, how to interview. They don't feel like they have those skills.

Only 40% of people who've paid for this entire college career feel actually prepared to enter the workforce. Then they said they interviewed both employers and potential employees and it was even greater disconnect. The employers thought, "These guys aren't ready." I think as an athlete who maybe hasn't had as much of the formal education side, possibly, they might not be at as much of a disadvantage as they think, because a lot of kids that are graduating college or getting out there in the workforce and they don't feel prepared either. It's again, picking the right culture that has an attitude towards training and working with people and hiring the right staff, I think can make a huge difference for sure.

Anja Bolbjerg:Then this whole process is your shot at it, then afterwards is where you get to develop. I know you guys have worked out an online academy to help people who want to work in sports, acquire these skills. I think you have a course in networking, one in how to do interviews? I think they're four course--

Brian Clapp: Yes. There's four. You're right. What we've done is we created these four different online courses, but we can bundle them together and sell them as one big package. This was based on exactly the fears of students, once they graduate enter the workforce, they feel like they don't have the right experience. They feel like they don't have the right network and they don't know how to interview and they don't know how to build their resume or their personal brand.

Those are the four main modules that we built. We go really deep into getting the right type of experience that the industry demands. Again, looking at what is in the job descriptions and what people are saying they want, and then figuring out how to work yourself back into a pattern of getting those skills and filling in those gaps in your experience, we do a lot on that. We do a lot on networking, actual mechanism of networking and how to do it, but also how to build a relationship, how to follow up with people, and how to deepen that relationship.

We do a lot with resumes and cover letters and personal brand as far as social media goes. The final module is really in-depth on interviewing. Everything from a phone interview to a video interview, we're doing today, to face-to-face with somebody to a group interview, how to ask follow-up questions when you're in the interview process, because at the end of every interview, they say, "Do you have any questions for me?" If you don't, that's not a very good sign. You want to be a curious person who has more intrigue and wants to know different things.

We talk about setting that stuff up beforehand so you have an idea of what questions you might want to ask when you are pushed with that.

We built this to be an online tool that anyone can access and use and can continue to learn how to nail this actual process of getting a job because that can be the hard part. You can learn Photoshop or nonlinear editing or marketing plans or setting the strategy for salesteam. You can learn those things, sure. It's not enough people that are talking about, "What do you actually need to do in order to get hired, those actual job searching skills and all those other things we talked about. That's why we put that together into an online course.

Anja Bolbjerg: I think that's awesome. I think that it's a great time we're living in where we have this possibility of bridging the gaps where we might be lacking something and we can always find an online course or something on it.

Brian Clapp:Actually, it's funny. I'm the host of our WorkInSports podcast, and as you mentioned, thank you. When I was first deciding that I was going to do a podcast, I watched YouTube videos to figure out how. I bought equipment, I watched YouTube videos on how to use it, get everything set up, build my Studio, all that kind of thing. You don't have to go back to school some of these times. There's access to YouTube videos or online courses or simple things you can learn in a weekend that can really set you up for success. It's all out there. It is really cool.

Anja Bolbjerg:Well, I want to thank you for putting this resource up. From what I hear, because I follow your podcast, you're helping a lot of people, both students and former athletes and people who want to work in sports and how to get in there. There is an abundance of information on your platform. I feel good about [inaudible 00:43:28]

Brian Clapp: Thank you, Anja. That's so nice of you to say. We really love doing it. It's fun for us to be able to know that we're helping other people. We're sharing our advice, and that's an important thing to be able to give back and to say, "Hey, this can make a difference for you." Thank you. I'm glad that it's working.

[chuckles]

Anja Bolbjerg:All right. Well, thank you for taking the time to share this with us and consider yourself a part of the community here.

Brian Clapp: Thank you, Anja. I really appreciate it.

Voice over: Thank you for listening to Athlete Story. You are awesome. If you are yourself a World Class athlete or former, don't hesitate to come over on athletestory.com and check out more free stuff and resources to help you thrive in and benefit from your sports career. Dare to prepare, then get yourself out there. Stay in touch.

[00:44:15] [END OF AUDIO]

The post Land your dream job in sports industry appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

Today’s guest is revolutionizing the appeal of sailing for a new generation!

I think it's fascinating how big of a role that marketing and messaging plays in our decisions every day, even in sports. I'm not talking about how sponsors use sports and athletes to market their products. I'm talking about how sports itself needs to use marketing to stay relevant and interesting and keep recruiting new athletes. 

Former elite athlete, Nynne Ammundsen, loves working with events and seeing the impact events can have on people and the community. She realizes that a sport is an offer like any other offer, competing for people's attention.

Today Nynne is Brand Manager for the Danish Sailing Champions League where she's been working with the team to popularize a not so easily accessible sport with to find creative rethinking of the offer of sailing as a competitive sport.

In this episode, we talk about the challenges associated with assembling and marketing the sailing league. Nynne tells us about the initiatives set up by the Sejlsportsligaen (the Danish name) and special initiatives they've come up with like WOW (Women On Water). We also discuss the emerging E-Sports industry and how its being utilised within sailing.

Nynne Ammundsen 

World Champion 2014 in Duatlon and Brand Manager for the the Danish Sailing League

«​In a way, my main advantage is that I do not have any previous experience in sailing at this level. So, from my point of view, it's good because I will question mark things which sailors take for granted. Sometimes you need a different message to get new people on board. If you keep repeating certain words which non-sailors do not understand, then sailing will never be as popular a sport as we hope it will be soon.»

It's easier to grab a ball and go play somewhere than to start in the sport of sailing. Or to go sign up at a local gym to get in shape. So how do you attract people to the sport of sailing? That's a real question that sports like sailing have to deal with. Every sport offers something different as a bonus to the 'get in shape' part but it's not always clear before you are deep into the sport... Here's the intro to the newest episode on Athlete Story Podcast where brand manager for the Danish Sailing Champions League, @Sejlsportsligaen. #athlete story #sailing #championsleaguesailing #wow #womenonwater #competitivesport #sportsmarketing #sportsbranding #rethinkingsport #rebranding #womeninsport #womenandsport #sportevent #sportspodcast #newepisode #igtv

A post shared by Athlete Story (@athletestorypodcast) on Mar 30, 2020 at 8:06am PDT

Former elite athlete, Nynne Ammundsen, started working in events as a great way to combine her passion for and insight into the world of sports with a professional career. When she moved to Singapore for a couple of years she became  a concept developer and coach within Asia’s largest Triathlon Association: MetaSport. After returning to Denmark, she began to work as a coordinator for major sporting events, such as the Copenhagen Velothon and various Powerman Championships across Scandinavia. 

Connect with Nynne on LinkedIn

WOW Women on Water is an initiative to extend the sport of sailing and what it has to offer into a networking opportunity for women and a way to teach the transferable lessons from sailing to business and life.

Join WOW on Facebook

Anja Bolbjerg:Weather is a pretty important factor in sailing, how do you add in that factor in E environment?

Nynne Ammundsen:Well, when you're sailing the weather is always really nice, if you can say that.

Voice over:Welcome to the Athlete Story podcast. Your chance to tap into wisdom from athletes and experts in World Class sports. You are about to be taken into a chat about sports careers and related issues between an awesome guest and your listening host, the sports Insider, repurposed Olympic mobile skier and former freeride World Tour athlete, Anja Bolbjerg.

INTRO Anja:These are difficult times pretty much globally now. I feel bad for athletes who are out there, seeing their big events being canceled or their career cut short or maybe even the Olympics being canceled. It's just one of those things that's beyond our control. If this concerns you, it's okay to be upset of course and be frustrated. Try to look at what you can do instead. There may be something you can catch up on. We have to deal with it best way possible. Everybody's making sacrifices these days and that seems to be the only way to combat this common enemy.

Please, please, please, whether you're still active or you've retired from sports, take care of yourself. Don't of course let yourself get unfit, but it's really important that you don't go into overtraining mode as well because you really need your immune system. I don't mean to sound panicky or anything but please take care of yourself and feel free to reach out if you want to have a chat with me. Now let's move on with today's episode.

A sport is an offer, like any activity or product out there, it has to compete with other offers for people's time, attention and money. Sports marketing people of course know this but it's usually not top of mind for Federation's or athletes. The sports who understand this, they tend to grow and those who don't, they tend to slow. Stay tuned to hear how the sport of sailing is currently on a wave of refreshing and revisiting their offer in order to make it more accessible and to leverage the uniqueness of their sport.

This is Athlete Story, your show if you want to keep a connection to your athletic identity and to the world of sports and to other athletes while pursuing your new mission in life after sports. I'm your host, Anja Bolbjerg, a former world top 10 Skier in mobiles and freeride skiing now way into life after sports. I'd like to invite you to join other former athletes and me here on Athlete Story for resources to help you put your former sports career to work for you in life after sports.

I think it's fascinating how big of a role that marketing and messaging plays in our decisions every day, even in sports. I'm not talking about how sponsors use sports and athletes to market their products. I'm talking about how sports itself needs to use marketing to stay relevant and interesting and keep recruiting new athletes. Now, for you having been part of these tours and tournaments and competitions, I'm sure you've seen things that could be done differently. Think a little bit out of that established box. In skiing we had a big movement around the turn of the millennium, 20 years ago.

Skiing was losing popularity and a couple of handfuls of athletes, young athletes in skiing took matters in their own hands and created this new school movement, it was called. I think we have to do an episode on that one day but today, it's about the sport of sailing and how they're doing the home makeover both in the offer and in the marketing to make it easier to get out in the water, and to spin on the unique benefits that sailing has to offer.

I've invited Nynne Ammundsen from the new Sailing Champions League to come tell us the story about how they're building a more commercial tour and refreshing the offer of sailing as a competitive sport. Let's welcome Nynne Ammundsen. Before we dive in, I just want to tease the successful after-sports summit that will help you kick off this next decade from home or wherever you choose to tune in from. You see, this is an online conference where I'm bringing on super relevant experts to help you create a life after sports on your terms.

We cover everything from defining what that even means to you, to diving into your identity beyond sports, to practical ways to position yourself as well as career inspiration. That's whether you want to land your dream job or create your own business. Head on over to athletesstory.com/successful after sports to sign up for more information and get the special offer for the Athlete's Story podcast listeners.

Anja: Hi, Nynne. Welcome to the Athlete's Story podcast.

Nynne Ammundsen:Thank you very much.

Anja:I really wanted to invite you on to tell us about what you're doing in the sport of sailing, because it's quite I think revolutionary, is a good word for that. You broke out from the official sailing Federation or if I understand it correctly, and did your own tour as an association called--

Nynne:The Danish sailing league?

Anja:Yes.

Nynne:We are a breakout as if you can say that. Actually, we started together with the Federation, and the Federation is still a big part of our league, if you can say so. They support us economic with some fundings yearly and also we use them a lot due to contact to each of the clubs and the whole community though. It's true that we figured out at some point that it was better actually to start on our own regarding sponsors and the whole management about the tour, or the league, if you can say so. Usually, we call it the Danish sailing league.

Anja:You commercialized the whole concept of competitive sailing a little bit, right?

Nynne:That's true. It actually started in Germany, we here in Denmark figured out that it was quite a good idea. The concept was really nice. The sailing league actually started as a concept in Germany and we just copy-pasted as good as we could. In Denmark that time it was the project manager called Peter Walton, who is still the project manager, who started it together with the German. First it was German who had the German sailing league, the Bundesliga and then Denmark came on the year after.

Then actually now it's 23 countries who's doing the league and most of them is commercialized. It makes really good sense because we own the boats and we raise a lot all over the country. The setup is really good for our own setup, actually.

Anja:Who participates in this?

Nynne:The participation are the clubs in Denmark. To participate you need to be a member of the Danish Federation, the sailing Federation. It's actually all the clubs in Denmark who can participate. We have a first division and we have a second division. If you are new club joining the league, you need to start in second division and then you need to sail as good as you can to get into the First Division. It's 18 clubs in each of the divisions. The first division is the 18 best clubs, the teams in Denmark and it's of course the same in the second league.

Anja:Why is it better, in your words to do it like this than the way it's always been done?

Nynne:I think one of the main reason is it's a bit complicated for the Federation's only to have this really focused concept as a league sailing. The Federation needs to take care of sailors who is just beginning, five years old sailors. They need to take care of a lot of all the volunteers work and for example, Boyens if you are just sailing on tour, if you are just cruising, and they need to take care of so many different things, and that's a really big task for the Federation.

For that reason, this league sailing does not really fit into the Federation's system, actually, I would say. We are really close, but sometimes it just makes better sense to have when it's such a small thing, if you can say that, for the whole Federation to make it as a more commercialized size, make it as a more commercialized concept. Still with input, and a lot of, I would say development with a federation. We just have so many ideas, which the Federation for some reason cannot be in connection with, or maybe responsible for because it's not really in their mission.

It's in our mission to be commercialized. As a federation, you are not supposed to be 100% commercialized, basically not in Denmark, I would say.

Anja:If you are in some other sport, and you say, "Well, I think I can make a better tour than what we have already in my sport." What does it take to start a whole tour like that? Where do you even begin?

Nynne:I think I would really make sure that I had my staff ready. It really takes the right staff to make a tour. We see it in different sports, in different organizations, you need to have a man who's willing to work his ass out. If you don't have that certain person, it's really difficult. We see it in the different countries as well. We have a certain person in France who's just willing to almost die for his league. It's the same in Germany and we see it in Sweden and we see it in different other concepts within the sailing league, within the woman on water and our E sailing concept too.

You need that certain person who is willing to break a leg or how would you say it? To succeed.

Anja:Is it a privately-owned? Could you say, "Now we've built this brand, the league here, now let's put it for sale and see who wants to buy it?" Can you do that or is it still a Federation's brand?

Nynne:I think it's different to each country, because each country has different obligations to the Federation. From our point of view, I think we would definitely need to speak to the Federation first. I think from our business perspective, it would be a better idea I think to have a sponsor on board saying, "This is your brand, you are part of the league now. You can commercialize, you can use our branding, you can use the sailors, the clubs, the whole concept into your own business strategy." As we see with Carlsberg recently. They actually made a whole 2020 strategy about sailing. SAIL'22 it was called and it was all about what you learn from sailing.

How you react, the team spirit, how you need to be able to take a decision every second, almost when you're on the water and even though you think you have a goal in front of you, the finish line, then you need to change strategy almost all the time to reach your finish line. That part of how would you say sailing as a concept is from our point of view, a better way to develop sailing than just sailors. We really appreciate our partners than just selling the concept.

Anja:How do they use it? Do they use it for their own staff? Or is it more like to be associated with a good sailing education and the lessons that lie in there?

Nynne:Definitely, the first is to mention strategy that the CEO, Cees 't Hart, he published it a few months ago and now they are working hard on it as I figure out in Carlsberg these days. It's a strategy for 2020 so it's got some years to run on still.

Anja:Then I know that you've made a collateral product, which is women on water, WOW, can you tell us more about that?

Nynne:The story is quite nice actually. We had a Danish team who was sailing the finals of the sailing Champions League, all the best teams all over the world, sailing in this sailing league concept. It could be Germany, it could be France, Sweden, Norway, Russia, the best teams from each country get into the final and we had the Danish team. We actually had a few but one team was only female sailors and they were shining. We sailed the final in Porto Cervo which is really, really nice area, really good waves, wind, boats, everything is just really nice and the Danish team just blowed away everyone, even the hosting club too.

We figured out when we were down there, there was a shame that they couldn't really have anyone to sail against. It was all female sailors on that boat and that was it. There was maybe one or two girls on the other boats, but otherwise it was actually just men. The Danish team from the Royal Danish Yacht Club, KDY, said, "We want some female sailors to compete too otherwise we will never get better [crosstalk] so how can we do that." We set with the two of the Danish sailors Henriette Koch former Olympic sailor and Josefine Boel who's a metro sailor and we just figured out, "We need to do this, we need to get some women on water."

That's actually where it started. We asked out saying, "What can we do?" They said, "We just need to be on our own. It's more safe." We figured out that actually is just to set up a framework where the female sailors just go sailing on their own. If there's a man on board, then the man will more or less take over and then we are back to scratch. We actually set up some events and some concepts and networks meeting where it's only for female sailors and slowly but surely, they are coming out saying, "Oh, I would like to sail too but down where I live, we're not that many female sailors and every time we go out, it's almost every time the men who is taking over and then we're back to square."

We were like, "Yes, exactly, we know that story." We've actually just said to the men, "Just give us one day where we can sail in the boats." For example, could be a Thursday, so Thursday in a certain club, it's only female sailors. Then slowly but surely we're growing. We raised only four female sailors and we were a little bit unsure if the timing was right. Did we have enough female sailors who was actually willing to compete against each other in Denmark? Because the popularity of female sailors is a bit now and then unsure to define, because we don't really know there's a lot of female sailors who used to sail and then they had kids and they came back and it was a bit unsure for us.

Actually the race was sold out in a few days and we had a waiting list. We started out really well with the first event in Sunday in Copenhagen, and we're doing it actually third time now, third year. We had to increase the number of participants, we had to increase the number of teams. We had teams from all over the world actually Portugal, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland. It's a huge success and we actually sold as we spoke about before, we sold the concept to different countries now. WOW is established in Hungaria, Sweden, Portugal, Switzerland is doing it slowly but surely, other sailing federations is figuring out that this is a really good way to get women on board.

Anja:It's unique in sailing that way. You have to do this in order for women to actually get to lead a boat and do their thing and not just follow orders.

Nynne:Yes. Well, in the Olympic sailing, the females are really, really good, but due to certain different things, then kids come in and work take some times and then it can be difficult for the female sailors to get back on track. For this project, the sailing league concept is that you just show up, you sail, and you leave. You don't have to prepare your boat, you don't have to figure out what to do with the sails during the winter and everything. It's a little bit more expensive, though, but the league takes care of everything. We call it like you have full fitness, you just go train and go home and that's what it's all about. We make it really, really easy for the sailors [crosstalk].

Anja:All you need really is a couple of teammates and then you can just show up, the boat will be there.

Nynne:We've tried to make it really, really easy to go on the water just for a few hours actually. Also, that is just a thing because it can be really, really windy and cold and so on. Just a few hours is actually enough. You don't have to be on the water training super hard for seven hours. That can kill all kind of enthusiasm.

Anja:Then I think you do more events around the sailing as well to help women network better and connect with each other.

Nynne:Yes, but that's a way of commercializing too. We hope that together with WOW network, which we established could get just attached to some major companies who actually thought like Carlsberg, "Oh, this sailing concept is quite nice and we would like to cooperate with a company like this." We've got some few companies on board, we've not really managed to get a huge sponsor yet, which will be really nice because as a commercial part, you have to work for your own salary almost every day.

Anja:If there's anybody out there listening thinking, "This is interesting." What do you offer sponsors?

Nynne:We offer them a huge range of different options. It depends on which company it is. Of course, our current sponsor, we just signed with a new partner, they are with us every day, because without our cause, we couldn't do the league. They are a major part of our life actually every day. We offer them a lot of hospitalities and we offer them visibility on our web page and our social media. We do all the press releases for them for every race, actually, we do some press releases and of course, they have their own boat if they fancy so they can go and practice to figure out and to show the employees what it is sailing actually can do.

Because even though you're not a proper sailor, probably you never sailed before, you can actually go and do a really good job on the boats. Just that team spirit is worth a lot of money for a lot of companies. That's what we're trying to do when we have our small little pitch out there.

Anja:You said you sold it to all these countries, so do you help them get started? Is like a franchise they get all these things and gadgets to set it up and have to follow up? How is the business model there?

Nynne:It's a kind of a franchise. They get the logo, they get the first how to do, what to set out, what is it like we call it the Danish case, what do you do to get started? Because it's actually when you just have the idea and how would you say it if you're motivated to start, then it's actually just to go-- It makes really good sense when you're running. We actually help them get it going, start the first press release, the logo, the invitation for the first event, how would you organize it? What does it look like when you're sailing? How would you cooperate? How would you coordinate and all that kind of stuff.

It's actually down to logistics and the planning because sailing in Portugal, for example, they are way ahead of us in some ways, and in that way we help each other. Because we figured out how the logo is, the branding, how we would like the events to be, we are the mother of the brand. We like to franchise it and get them on board, but it is really different sailing while in Cascais, for example, in Portugal is a lot different to sailing while in Copenhagen and Denmark and compared to Hungaria.

Anja:It's not like it's the same experience wherever you go in the world, that kind of thing.

Nynne:No. One size does not fit all, in this case. I think it's really good because otherwise we might have some nations who would fail actually, so we better customize it a bit.

Anja:Can you participate like say, in a Danish event then say, "I want to go to Portugal and participate there." Can you still come as a foreigner and participate there?

Nynne:Yes, you can, but then we will set you up with a team so you'll not be like on your own. We have our Facebook page where we connect a Woman on Water on Facebook, connect sailors who would like to go on a sailing event or just go sailing somewhere in Denmark or outside Denmark, we can help too.

Anja:That's Women on Water Facebook?

Nynne:On Facebook, yes.

Anja:Is

that an open group that you can apply to join?

Nynne:Yes, it is. Then you can just send us a text message and we will forward it to one of our ambassadors around the country.

Anja:Nice, [chuckles] that's a cool concept.

Nynne:Thank you.

Anja:You've been playing around with, I don’t know, how far you’re with it, but E-sailing and this whole esports, I’m a little behind. It is totally new to me. What's the point with esports and E-sailing?

Nynne:It's exploding, as you know, in all over the world and in different kind of sports too. Our mother, the Danish Sailing Federation has been invited to join the esports, and because we think it's really interesting part for club development which is what the league does too, we thought that it might be a way to go. We said, “Yes, take us. We would like to be part of the team who's developing.”

We actually cooperate with one of the best e-sailors in Denmark. He is the best these days, Lukas Mohr. Then this Danish Sailing League, our project called Youngsters, which is sailing for young people from 13 to 22, and then the Danish Sailing Federation. We had made this application in autumn 2019 for the Denmark Sports Federation. Then we got a really good funding to start up this project. These days, we are just about to publish the whole setup with ambassadors, flyers, stickers, everything, events. The Danish Championship is just around the corner, the first one ever in e-sailing. It's really, really big these days.

Anja:I can say, like, skiing was my sport, weather is a pretty important factor in sailing. How do you add in that factor in e-environment? [chuckles]

Nynne:Well, in e-sailing, the weather's always really nice. As for example, in cycling, you cycle and then you will be super sweaty and it will be hard and you will do your best on the bike, but e-sailing is different. You're more doing the tactics. You're playing on your iPad or on the computer. It's more on the focus on the rules and to be tactical on the cause and the buoyancy at different kind of boats. We actually practice different boats type. For you skiing, it will may be going alpine and then also doing-- I'm not so much into skiing, but a different kind of skiing too. We compete in different boats in e-sailing. It will make you to a better sailor when you go on the water, when the weather's better. [chuckles]

Anja:There is that purpose with it that you do want to take people from E and out on the water.

Nynne:Yes, for sure. It's a part of the development plan for the coming years. We want to develop sailing and we want to be more popular. We think that e-sailing is a part or an area where we can catch some people who is into e-sports and actually get them into the federations and get them down to the clubs, and then go sailing, hopefully, when the weather's really nice. The e-sailing concept is for non-sailors too. My background is not from sailing, but I am competing in the e-sailing too. I wouldn't say a top 10, but I do manage to get around the buoyancy and finish at a certain point.

That's a really good way to practice because also for sailing, as for skiing and for a lot of other sports, damaging your gear is really, really expensive. Pushing it really to the limit, see how far you can go, go up when go down when you can actually do a lot of practice without any damage, which is really, really nice for the sailors and for the club, of course.

Anja:Let's get that story before we wrap it up here. Because you were an athlete as well and competed in triathlon, how did you transition from being an athlete and over into working in sailing and events like this?

Nynne:I did some pro-racing tour, road racing, and triathlon when I used to live in Singapore. It was actually all my experience as an athlete, doing the check in, putting my bag on the rungs, where is the starting area, where's my nutrition, all that stuff that I took with me as a project manager for first duathlon and then for this sailing, but I think my force for the sailing league is that I do not have any kind of experience with sailing. I did a few things many, many years ago if you choose, but it wasn't at this level at all.

From my point of view, I think the good thing from my background is that I have focused on a lot of things, nutrition too, and all that, but in our league setup, it is that I question mark some things because the sailors just take it now and then for granted. Maybe it's not the best way to organize it, maybe it's not the best way to do it, now and then you need a different saying to get other people onboard interested because if you just keep repeating different words, certain words that I as a non-sailor do not understand, then sailing will never be as a public sport as we hope it will be soon.

Anja:I think that's a great lesson to end it with it because the audience of this show are former athletes mostly, and we talk a lot about how to transition out of the sports and finding that new mission after sports. I think it's beautiful to see how you are repurposing the skills that you have from your sports, but also leveraging that over into even the things that you don't know anything about being an advantage. Do you know what I mean?

Nynne:Yes. [chuckles] You need to see it that way to succeed now and then, but I really actually think that it's a good way that people when they hire, for example, in the ski business, that a former ski athlete is a really good way to start, but not being afraid of taking other competences and backgrounds and educations into. It's a strain for a lot of companies, I would say. That's from my point of view and from my background, we came with a different funding and a different economy, and sponsors wasn't a big issue as it is here in sailing. That kind of experience is really interesting too.

Anja:Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. I think it's super exciting what you guys are doing. Good luck with the launch of your E--

Nynne:E-sailing.

Anja:To all the listeners out there, if you feel hooked on starting some kind of event, or maybe even starting at Women on Water where you're at, well, you know where to go. We have a Women on Water group on Facebook. You're on Instagram as well, right?

Nynne:Yes, and we have that with the E-sailing Denmark too. We have that with the Sejlsportsligaen, the Danish Sailing League. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and even on YouTube and LinkedIn. Please join us.

Anja:Okay. [chuckles] Thank you very much and consider yourself part of the Athletes StoryCommunity, Nynne.

Nynne:Thank you. It was a pleasure.

Advertisement:Thank you for listening to Athlete Story. You are awesome. If you are yourself a world-class athlete or former, don’t hesitate to come over on athletestory.com and check out more free stuff and resources to help you thrive in and benefit from your sports career. Dare to prepare, then get yourself out there. Stay in touch.

[00:27:11] [END OF AUDIO]

The post Rethinking and rebranding of a sport appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

Today you'll meet a remarkable athlete turned public speaker, John F Register.

When John had a really bad accident at the US Olympic trials in 400m hurdles, he was forced to make a really tough decision and rethink what would be his "new normal." 

Based on his impressive story, we talk about tough choices and transitions we are forced to make, the fears involved - and how removing something from your life can sometimes the best solution - even when it's a really tough decision.

He refers to this as our "redefining moments."  

We also talk about sharing the lessons from your story through public speaking. John helps athletes share their story so that it adds value to others and he gives us some tips. He also offers a free training call for the Athlete Story community, so make sure you let me know if you're interested in that.

John talks about how having people in his life that were close enough to believe for him what he couldn't yet see for himself, has been critical. And how we need that in those tough redefining moments to help with that initial movement onwards.

John F Register 

​​All-American Hurdler, Paralympic Silver Medalist & Public Speaker

«I began to speak to her about all my fears. And then she said the words that really stopped my downward spiral. She says: You know what, John. We're going to get through this together. You know, this is just our new normal...And when she said those words she really baselined my entire existence. Because all these fears I had were really unfounded. They were only MY fears, MY thoughts of what the future might look like. And who had put them in there? ...

And as I started, you know through my sobs and crying, my son John Jr, he jumps off the swing set. He hits the ground. He comes running over on those little 5 and half years old legs and he says: -Hey dad, did you see my big jump, you see my big jump, dad? Dad did you look at my jump?   And he comes in between myself and Alice seeing that I'm struggling.  And in those 20 meters, he's just validated me as his father. And he has created HIS new normal. And so really, they have moved on before I have moved on. And sometimes we need those individuals in our lives that are so close to our inner circle that they believe for us what we cannot yet see for ourselves. And that's critical to have that very small inner circle around us to help us with that initial movement in those redefining moments that we have and that we will have to go through. »

“I did not overcome the loss of my limb.  To overcome the loss would mean I’d have to grow it back.  What I overcame were the limits I placed on myself and that others placed on me.  This is what is universal for all of us to overcome.”  

Quote from John's website

John F Register was in the military when he was an All-American hurdler. He had it all planned out for his sports career, having qualified for the US Olympic Trials and then for a career after sports in the military. An accident costing him his one leg (literally) changed things. But that didn't stop John from continuing to achieve great things in both fields as you will hear in this episode.

Follow John on Instagram

INTRO: Do you know that feeling of having to leave something or someone behind because it's just the best decision. John Register, former track and field hurdler knows a thing or two about this from his own life story to a point that most of us cannot even begin to imagine. Stay tuned, this is Athlete Story, your show if you want to keep a connection to your athletic identity and to other athletes while pursuing your new mission in life after sports.

I'm your host Anja Bolbjerg, a former world top 10 skier in Moguls and freeride skiing now way into life after sports. I invite you to join other former athletes, send me here on Athlete Story for resources to help you put your former sports career to work for you in life after sports.

[music]

Before we dive in, I just want to tease the successful after sports summit that will help you kick off this next decade from home or wherever you choose to tune in from. You see, this is an online conference where I'm bringing on super relevant experts to help you create a life after sports on your terms. We cover everything from defining what that even means to you to diving into your identity beyond sports to practical ways to position yourself as well as career inspiration and with that's whether you want to land your dream job or create your own business.

Head on over to athletestory.com/successfulaftersports. To sign up for more information and to get a special offer for the Athlete Story Podcast.

In today's Athlete Story, we'll meet John F. Register. He's an All-American athlete running the 400-meter hurdles at US Olympic Trials when he had a bad accident. An accident that forced him to established a new normal, as he says. On this journey, his new normal, he discovered a parallel world of sports that he didn't even know about. He was soon all in and eventually qualify for the games with his new normal and won a silver medal in Paralympic long jump.

Now, I'll let him fill you in on that story. He's a professional speaker and today he shares his life lessons with other people. He's done two TEDx Talks, he teaches other athletes as well, how to extract that value and the lessons from their own stories to inspire others and make an impact. So let's welcome, John F. Register. Hi, John, welcome to the Athlete Story Podcast.

John: I'm so honored to be here. Thank you so much. I know the time zone is different but it's great to be on with an Olympian.

Anja: Yes, likewise, likewise. I wanted to have you on as an amazing athlete but also as a real champion when it comes to sharing your story and giving that inspiration when it comes to sharing the lessons that you've learned in your life or even I can say, in a life full of hurdles.

John: [laughs] Right.

Anja: If I want to keep staying that image, maybe I can say that the slight the hurdles in your lane have been just like those couple of inches taller than in the other lanes, maybe but let's dive into that and that's how you tell the story.

John: Sure, thank you. A lot of times, our lives can change with one wrong step. Our lives can also change in one right step as well. But the wrong step I took in life was I was training for the Olympic Games in the 400-meter hurdles. I had twice been to Olympic Trials, once in the high hurdles and then once in the 400-meter hurdles. Then on May 17th, 1994, when I was training for my third Olympic Trials and I was in the United States touted as the eighth fastest hurdler, on my way I was predicted to make the 1996 Olympic team,

At 5:29 in the afternoon, I was the eighth fastest hurdler, I was on my way to Officer Candidate School, the United States Army. I was really zipping around my first self 52nd hurdle race and at 5:30 PM in the afternoon, I would never run another hurdle in my life. I went across the hurdle, I snapped my leg in half, dislocated the knee which caused the severing of the artery behind the kneecap.

Seven days later because of poor circulation, my left leg was amputated right above the knee and so that was it, I was done and so how do you make that transition? What do you do next? A lot of it has to do I think with-- in this our context, is what have you put in for the outputs that you're going to get whenever you're going to make a life transition and are you ready for that transition when it happens?

In my case, I, fortunately, had a lot of things that were in my life besides track and field. I had to quickly pull those things into the forefront and begin to look at some of those areas of my life with more scrutiny.

Anja: You make it sound like it's just then this happened that happened and then you move on but I can't even begin to imagine the whole-- you see yourself as an athlete and all of a sudden you're lying there and you have to consider whether to get your leg amputee or stay in a wheelchair.

John: Yes. It is devastating. I don't mean to go over it so quickly but I can unpack it on what was going on in my mind. For the first part, we can make transitions really fast and quick depending upon what's been our life and then later on, you go back and when people ask me, "Well, how did you get over it? How did you handle that painful part of your life?" As I've gone back and re-looked at the entire process, I had high goals and high dreams of serving in our military and going on to Officer Candidate School and I had a whole career path that was laid out before me.

I had all of my transition was ready for when I made the transition after track and field to keep doing the military career. Then after that, it was to work for the military in a civilian capacity for another 20 years and do like almost a double retirement. My whole pathway was thought about and thought about in the forefront. When you look at the accolades that came behind before that day, having run for the University of Arkansas, being a 4-time all-American in the hurdles and my relay teams, I really was on this fast track and had seen and modeled other people who were on my team that were already Olympians.

I knew what it took to make the team and I was willing to do the work and the sacrifices to make it and build a support network around me. But on that day, when everything turned upside down and the leg is-- I'm looking at my leg and I know, I have to make a tough choice probably in the near future. On that day, I began going internal and a lot of my fears started coming out. I think we all have these fears.

Now the fears are in three parts, I believe. The first is the fear of myself. I am turning inward and to myself and saying, "Who's going to support me now? Will my wife still see me as her husband? Will she stay with me? Will my son who's five and a half years old, will he still value me and see me as his dad? Do I still have a job? Can I support my family in the United States Army?"

All these things were in my head because my Olympic dreams are over, I don't know if I could support my family. All those things were moving very quickly in my mind and I began to go down this downward spiral of despair. When the doctor said, "You have a choice to make", how do you make a choice like that where you are choosing to create something that is so permanent, that there's no going back from the amputated leg, you're not growing that leg back.

I think that's where we are in our lives when we, as athletes, are making a movement or transitioning, that part of our life is done, it's gone now and so what is our new identity that we have in this what I call the new normal? I think the second fear I had was fear of other people, how are other people going to view me or keep me in their box. Other people choosing to believe for me what I can or cannot do, which is based on what they believe they could or could not do if they were in my situation.

That's the second fear. How are my teammates going to look at me now? Can I be strong enough to be separated from them? Or am I going to be pulled back into that world? I'll just do one more Olympic Games. I'll do one more FIFA match. I'm going to do one more and we keep doing the one more because we're so afraid to make the transition on what the other side actually looks like. Then society. We have fears of society.

What do we listen to? What if we allowed into our mind and our brain to make us think that something is going to hold us back to our initial fears? Why do we believe those fears in the first place? For me, everybody's seen Walt Disney movie, they've seen Captain Hook, Captain Hook is an amputee in the Walt Disney movie, Peter Pan and he's an amputee and he's a villain of the movie so now, do I associate myself as a villain, as a dark, as a scary character because I see Captain Hook as a six-year-old and I'm terrified of him in this little cartoon movie? How many times do we listen to the language of other people that we don't have control over or society that dictates our initial fears? That all was going on in my mind during that initial time, but when I share that story as a keynote speaker and a professional speaker in a breakout session and during training sessions, I dive deep into what our initial fears actually are before we begin to build a process out of that.

Anja: I guess the buzzword for that is reframing. There's a lot of reframing that has to come both from the inside and from other people, and I know your wife played a role in that when you were still at the hospital.

John: Yes, absolutely. When I'm in the lowest moment, when I'm contemplating on all these things, I'm moving out in Wichita, Kansas at the time in the hospital and I'm wheeled out to an accessible playground. As I'm parked there in the wheelchair, I'm thinking about all these negative thoughts as she's playing with our son, John Jr, on the swing set. As she sees me struggling because I've just begun breaking down and started crying uncontrollably because my life is totally upside down, it's 180 degrees in a different direction and she sees that. She comes running over to me and she throws her arms around me, and she says, "What is going on?"

I begin to articulate it. I begin to speak to her all my fears. Then she says the words that really stop my downward spiral. She says, "You know what, John, we're going to get through this together. This is just our new normal. This is really just our new normal." When she said those words, she really baselined my entire existence because all these fears I had were really unfounded. They were only my fears, my thoughts, of what the future might look like. Who had put them in there? Who made me think these fears are going to be there? As I started going through my sobs and crying, my son, John Jr, he jumps off the swing set, he hits the ground and he comes running over with his little five and a half-year-old legs and says, "Hey, dad, did you see my big jump? Dad, did you look at my jump?"

He comes in between myself and Alice seeing that I'm struggling, and in those 20 meters, he's just validated me as his father and he's created his new normal and so really, they have moved on before I've moved on. Sometimes we need those individuals in our life that are so close to our inner circle that they believe for us what we cannot yet see for ourselves. That's critical to have that very small inner circle around us to help us with that initial movement in those redefining moments that we will have to go through.

Anja: Then from there on you put on your athletic mind settings and now it's rehab, you're going to get out, you jump in a pool and new things start to happen, new doors start to open. How did that all go?

John: I had a physical therapist. I was in with a lot of older citizens and they really didn't know what to do with me because I was this young kid who had this amputated leg, I'm a high performing athlete. Even though I lost a lot of weight, they saw the determination that I'm going to get back up, I'm going to beat this. That was flipping my hat back on to the athletic side because I know athletics is going to get me back in shape. My heart rate which had gone from 48 beats per minute and now it's over 100 because my body's in total shock, I've got to get that back down so I need to exercise again. The physical therapist told me to start swimming, and so I get in the water and really 25 meters, I can't even make it across the pool.

As we continue this kind of story, I get fast in the water, learn how to swim, and I get so fast in the water that somehow 22 months later, I make the Paralympic swim team. Now, I didn't know anything about Paralympics. There was no reason for me to know about Paralympics. When I first heard about it, I thought it was Special Olympics for cognitive disabilities. I thought everybody was lumped in one category, but the Paralympics are for those with physical disabilities and visual impairments, and they are the parallel games to the Olympic Games. I didn't know any of this. Who knew that there was a parallel track out there for athletes with disabilities?

I could take my training that I had done as an Olympic class athlete and it was the exact same training that I could do as a Paralympic athlete. There was no difference whatsoever. I had the mindset of that because I knew it was the training at the highest level before and so I just worked on it at the trials and I didn't think I was going to even make a Paralympic team after I knew about it. My goal was just to make it to the swim trials, because 22 months, no one's going to make a team in 22 months. I thought maybe the next squad I could do it if I dedicated myself, maybe I could make a team.

I went to the trials, and I get there, and I needed to swim like 1:06:00 to qualify to make the Paralympic standard in the 100-meter freestyle. I went and swam 1:06:01. I was just one hundredth second out of making it, but I was ecstatic. I had saved my time five seconds in 100-meter freestyle. I was like, "This is Awesome." I left before the team was announced. I went back to Virginia where I was living and the coach from Catholic University, Coach Calvin, of Catholic University, he winds up calling me and saying, "Why did you leave before the team was announced?" I said, "Well, I didn't make it. I really appreciate it. Good luck down in Atlanta, Georgia."

He says, "The time you needed in the 50-meter freestyle to make the team was 30.5 seconds and when you flip turned for the 100-meter freestyle, you were actually at 29.8 on the wall so you were under the time we needed. We picked you up for the relay team because half the distance is the only race that you can qualify for and have an official time at the flip turn in the 100 freestyle is at the 50." I didn't know that. Things that we don't know could actually be detrimental to us. That was crazy. I just almost dropped the phone and said, "You mean I'm going to Atlanta as a swimmer?" I was blown away by that.

It was then I saw athletes running with artificial limbs on the track and became my first experience with that. Then I said, "I have to have a leg made for running." The track and field bug bit me again, and I learned how to run on an artificial limb and four years later won the silver medal in Sydney, Australia in the long jump becoming, at that time, one of the only two individuals in the world to jump over 5.5 meters without a leg or a knee. [chuckles]

Anja: Wow, that's an amazing story and a nice turn of it. Are you still involved in sports?

John: In various capacities, so I am involved in sport. I just actually left the United States Olympic Committee one year ago in January after developing, I believe, a legacy in giving back to the community in a variety of capacities where we grew or planted and then gave back in that capacity, so plant seeds from how we have grown from our trees. One of those givebacks was to create the Paralympic Military Sports Program.

This program helped wounded, ill, and injured service members from, first, United States, then in Canada, then in England and then I think we did Italy too and Germany, growing those programs so that wounded, ill, injured, service members can do sports as a tool for their rehabilitation. It grew beyond my wildest dreams and my capacity. It grew very quickly. I went to Loughborough University in England and talked about how I grew the program in the United States. Prince Harry heard about it, started Invictus Games from it from our Warrior Games that we did in the United States.

It was great having a chance to talk with him and talk about how programs can grow because my big vision in the humanitarian vision of peace around the world, I believe that sports is the fastest way to have dialogue and talk. I do a lot with diplomacy now, but my big vision was to have one country that has fought with another country and vice versa and wounded those citizens and those soldiers to actually meet on the battlefield of sport and have friendly competition there to talk about how we will end the next conflict, the next wars.

The form is actually there and it does exist. It's called CISM, the World Military Games. It's in Brussels, Belgium. It was started in 1948, the same year as the Paralympic concept. I thought that was pretty interesting. We did get a CISM style of competition of track and field done in Germany. I think it was in 2008, 2009 where we had six or seven countries come in to compete. I still-- What allude me is the two countries that had fought wars against each other. I'm still trying to slowly continue to work on that and see if I can get that done.

Anja: That's a nice mission. [chuckles] I know you do work with athletes in helping them share their stories so that other people can find inspiration and value in the lessons that they've been through. How do you go about that? What does it take for an athlete's story to be valuable to others or inspirational?

John: That is a great question. I had to do a lot of discovery and so for the first time, you know, I'm a professional speaker now. One of my passions is to help athletes to tell their journey stories in such a way that it can actually earn the revenue and dollars and they can articulate their value in the marketplace because it is something. You're not just winning a medal but the entire process of becoming an Olympic athlete, a Paralympic athlete, the obstacles that we overcome, the challenges that we have we face, the dark days that we all go through and there is no guarantee of a medal on the other side of it. Most athletes that go to the Olympic or Paralympic Games, they don't win a medal. They all come back home without anything.

They represent their countries very well but most don't win medals. Only three will win medals. The stories that we have are generally not the stories about the medals that we won. They're really about the life experiences along the way that actually are tangible to other people, other audiences. I hope athletes unpack those stories as insights into where they can go.

Usually, the first question after an athlete or military service member says, "Yes, I want to tell my story. I know I got a great story." Usually, I say, "So what?" [laughs] Because everybody has one. Everybody has a story. Just because you have a great story doesn't mean it's going to sell in the marketplace where people want to hear it. People, when you tell a story they're interested only to the degree of how well your story actually impacts them in their life. We all listen like that.

What can I get from this that can help me in my life? If you just tell a great story and I have to infer everything you've told me then I'm doing a lot of work. I teach athletes how to tell a story in such a way as you are giving quality information and you are challenging the audience to actually take the information because they might not be an Olympic skier, they might not be a Paralympic athlete, they may not want to be an Olympian but how can we teach them to win the medals that are in their own lives.

That's how we get to it. That's a great transition piece because a lot of athletes will say, "Well, how much could I really make at this?" Well, there are some athletes that are making seven figures doing this. They're in the millions of dollars doing it on an annual basis. There are others that are making in the mid-six figures doing it and there are one or two there are actually eight-figure earners.

This could be a very great transition. Just in the frame of your story it helps with other areas of your life and articulating your value in the marketplace. That's really what I hope athletes get through and then I'm putting together now, hold a team of Paralympic athletes, a military service injured personnel and I have a couple of Olympians as well that have gone through some type of trauma usually mental trauma to help them share their stories into a market and then earn revenue from that for more conglomerate as I train athletes how to tell that story.

Anja: It's therapeutic to get in the same time digging into those stories. That's what I felt every time I tried- [crosstalk] To the people who say "what's so interesting about me" and then they compare themselves maybe to you or someone else say they've heard, what would you say? Does everybody have something of value to share do you think?

John: Absolutely everyone has something of value to share. I don't look at it as degrees of value because I hear a lot of athletes say, "Well, I never won a medal so therefore I can't be a speaker or I don't have anything to share."

That's the farthest thing from the truth because we do have the value and people want to know that experience and that journey. What I challenged folks on is there is a way-- I give one of my teaching moments is we try to think of things in our lives where we're coming up, I say, "Tell me a story." Most of us try to go to something that was positive and that we earn some type of success, we want to share that story. Well, stories have dissonance, they have discord, there is an antagonist and a protagonist and the farther you can get those two away from each other the greater the impact the story will actually have. Usually, l will say I want you to write me 10 stories of something that went wrong in your life and then from that, what did you learn from that. What was your lesson point that you learned from it?

That really is the beginning of amazing stories. One of my signature stories, yes, is my new normal going to cross the hurdle. I have other stories of how I met my wife. There is another story of John Junior walking me down at five-years-old, six-years-old to a creek that we used to race to, we used to run to. Now, I can't run anymore because it's artificial limb. He says, "Well, Dad can we just walk down there."

That story is powerful because he's seeing me in my new capacity and teaching me that it's not about the ru, it's about spending the quality time together. I can bridge that to the audience and say how many of you spend quality time with your family members and or the people that are most valuable in your life in work or in play or in family. That's a powerful lesson for all of us. It has nothing to do with a Paralympic silver medal.

It begins to connect the community together and can we find those nuggets of stories as we can embed them along the way and then have a dialogue and a conversation. I can say to you well, when was a time in your life that you had a challenge and then somebody else showed you that you were paying too much attention to this cell phone and you were not paying attention to the people that were right in front of you.

That brings us together and those become anchors and then couple with your Olympic story, your Paralympic story it moves the audience because they've seen you at the highest level of sporting competition.

Anja: All right. When you work with athletes doing this, where do you start? Do you start digging into those moments when something went wrong? Is that the beginning of it?

John: It's close to the beginning but it's really not. I want to get to know the individual and what's their style, how do they joke around, how they're playful when they have their moments of humor or what makes them sad and what makes them tick, what's their drive behind it because then we can find the stories that naturally fits their persona. The challenge is to be authentic and how can we show up in our most true as authentic voice because it's really hard to hear our voice. In our redefining moments that we're going through, going back on my chart, is the redefining moment that we have is where we hold into a lot of other people that want to fit us into their box. We're trying to figure out how we can stay in that box.

There are other people that have gotten out of the box and now they're on, they're so strong that we see where they are but maybe it's too big of a job for us to get there. In either case, we have to choose what it is in our life we're going to amputate to actually embrace our new normal mindset in this whole capacity of storytelling or in the capacity of who I want to show up to now in this redefining moment that I have. That's my own personal work.

I can't get that from anyone else. I can't get it from a book, I can't get it from talking to friends. They can help me on the way but I have to make the choice. I have to do the run, I'm at the top of the ski run, I got to push past the gate, I've got to do the gates and the runs. No one can do that for me. To go back to the original question of how I train athletes, it's to hear our voice first before we try to move out into something else that we don't even know quite what it is yet.

Anja: Yes, definitely. I think that groundwork or whatever you call it is essential to actually start to move in the right direction because we can all have this go, go, go mentality just to stay busy but heading not in the direction that we actually wanted.

John: Yes. It's amazing the paths that we take. It's not like I'm just going to jump over here to this other thing, it's really gradual and we can find ourselves off the path a little bit and justifying our existence. I think with athletes, you made a great point in that we don't recover well and we just jump right back into the next day. I'm going to think about my next run, my next race, whatever it might be and we don't take the time to process and recover and take that silent mode. Recovery is sometimes more important than the actual training itself, but support is really important. If we can't get back to that state, we can't train to the most optimum performance that we can do the next day in our next training session.

Anja: Exactly. Well, I think that's a great place to end it with this reminder about the recovery and sometimes taking that time out to get centered and figure out where we're heading next.

John: Absolutely.

Anja: I loved having you on here John. I would like for the audience to know, is there a way that they can get to work with you or how do you-

John: Yes. What I'm going to do is I'm going to set up a Zoom call just for people to jump on. I think it might get 100 people on and we'll just have an opening dialogue and we'll see what people want. I want to make it what the most value for other people are because I might see it one way and somebody else might see it in a different way. Getting a consensus of athletes on board to say, "Yes, I would like to be a speaker, here is what I do, here is how I like to be coached" and then I can draw and make a program for all of us and then we can put it on Zoom and we can make it a living document.

That means that we can do a Zoom call, several Zoom calls together and then we can make it on record so that somebody else coming later could actually see it. I think we'll just do the first one for no cost, free and then for just a time we'll make it very nominal for people so they can actually get it. It's for those who choose to do it. I do believe, like I do, investing in your performance for the next thing because if you don't invest in it, then we don't take it seriously enough, so we need to do some investment.

I do it every year, I always invest in my speaking career and it's elevated me every single time, so I think that's a thing. I think the first one is just to get people speed web would be good. Maybe we'll just come back on and go through your channel to share with them on when we will do that. I think other countries have the Global Speakers Federation and so that will be some resources for people to get a hold of right away if they want to choose this career path.

Anja: International speakers federation, is that what--

John: Yes, Global Speakers Federation, GSF. If you look in your country, you should see, I don't know how many are around, but it is rolling all the time. I know that Europe does have several and some in the African nations as well. South Africa I know has one, Australia has a pretty robust one, Canada has a robust one, so they're around and I think South America has one as well and the United States. We know that Olympism and Paralympism is global, so we want to make sure that anybody who wants to reach out just works anywhere. The models for compensation are different with each country but the model works and I've seen people do it from all over the world.

Anja: Excellent. If you want to see John in action, I can recommend this to TEDx Talks. Remind me again, where were they done?

John: Both were done in Colorado. I'll give you the backstory at once. One was done in Colorado Springs, it came out of my new normal talk and I talk about tolerance from the standpoint that tolerance is hierarchical and we only accept people on our terms and our conditions. It's a different flip on the word tolerance and how we do that. The first one was done in Broomfield, Colorado and that's on this new normal.

When I first started this new normal story, it's more CISM and I have a lot more outcomes from it now that actually relate to the audience, but it's a good kind of understanding if you want to see me at the early part of a development of the new normal story. I probably should post another one to see where it is now and you can see and compare and contrast.

I'll probably just let that out only for the people that come on that website and we'll do that Zoom call and I'll get a private link and you can actually see the morphing of a story. I think that will be really great to see. I would love to do that and we can compare and contrast. I'd love to go first and show my flops and mistakes and everything. It's just how this is all learned.

Anja: Yes, excellent. Well, thank you so much for that. I'm going to make sure to let everybody know when we're doing this. Yes, I look forward to it.

John: Awesome, thank you.

Anja: Thank you, John. It's been so much fun having you on. Before we say goodbye here, what is a good place to reach you personally?

John: Wonderful, thank you for that. I am all over social media, so Instagram is John F Register, John F Register on the IG and then I have a YouTube channel, I'm relaunching my YouTube channel and we're going to make it really robust on a lot of speaker community tips and things I see out in the community. Then I have a Facebook which is @J F Register, that's also on Twitter as well, @JFRegister and those are my social channels. My website is johnregister.com if you want to go there and check that out as well. I really appreciate the time today. Our motto is, "Go forth and inspire your world."

Anja: Awesome. Thank you so much, John and I look forward to connecting again soon.

John: Yes ma'am, thank you.

Anja: You have been listening to Athlete Story Podcast. Tune in again next time. If you have any fellow athletes or people who you think could benefit from listening to this, of course, I'd be very grateful if you share this podcast with them.

OUTRO: Thank you for listening to Athlete Story. You are awesome. If you are yourself a world-class athlete or former, don't hesitate to come over on athletestory.com and check out more free stuff and resources to help you thrive in and benefit from your sports career. Dare to prepare then get yourself out there. Stay in touch.

[00:36:13] [END OF AUDIO]

The post Redefining moments appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

The is the second part of the series wiht athletes who are making an impact after sport.

Maybe you’ve considered becoming an ambassador for a nonprofit or volunteering for a greater cause. As a follow-up on the last episode about making an impact after sports, we’ll meet a former athlete who started her own non-profit.

Today’s guest started The Animal Fund in 2015, with the mission to save our oceans issue by issue – from endangered whales to ocean pollution. After a career in finance, karate blackbelt and former water skiing champion, Berit Nielsen Legrand, it was time for her to take real action.

We’ll be talking about her experience with nonprofit work, what you need to consider as a former athlete before you engage with nonprofit organizations – and of course how she uses lessons from sports to get results in this new environment.

« We know that the ocean is polluted. We dont need 5 million other people out there researching, going on boats, asking for funding for the next three years because you wanna study the ocean.... We know plastic is killing our Earth... We know all these things.... There's no need to study anything anymore. Just get on with it and find solutions ! »

You can also watch a video version of this interview here.

Berit Nielsen Legrand​​ - Nonprofit founder & former Karate champion

“What we’re seeing is getting worse and worse. It’s like a diet that never worked.
Everybody knows what to do but we keep making the same mistakes!”

After sports and a successful career in finance, Berit decided to take action to save the oceans. She wanted to make an impact, so what did this champion do. Of course she went ahead and started her own nonprofit which is now growing internationally and helping with everything from simple beach cleanups to awareness, actions and education on the issue of ocean pollution and its endangered species – upon which the planet relies for oxygen! Her love and passion for the ocean and the animals has been with her since a child.

The post Starting a nonprofit organisation after sports appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

I want to introduce you to a series of athletes who are making an impact after sport. We’ll start by meeting Taekwondo champion Marlene Harnois. After ending her sports career in a bit of drama – ranked no. 1 in the world, she decided to go to Africa. We met in person at International University of Monaco for this chat.

After winning the Olympic bronze medal, Marlene Harnois found herself deselected from the French team even though she was still ranked top of the world. She tried to see how she could keep competing but when the leadership got dirty and personal, she decided to retire.

This time was hard on Marlene. But what do champions do? They move on. And so did she, as you’ll hear in this chat about retirement, and creating new opportunities for yourself by giving first.

« We know that the ocean is polluted.We dont need 5 million other people out there researching, going on boats, asking for funding for the next three years because you wanna study the ocean.... We know plastic is killing our Earth... We know all these things.... There's no need to study anything anymore. Just get on with it and find sollutions ! »

You can also watch a video version of this interview here.

Anja: The lessons you learn from a sports career often come from what’s around the sport. That’s from the game itself, sometimes you land on a mass of broken systems and power and politics and you have to make the best of it. Today we’ll meet Marlene Harnois who found herself in the middle of this kind of leadership mess around the London Olympics. She didn’t just manage to win an Olympic bronze with that, she took it beyond herself and did so much more.
Stay tuned. This is Athlete’s Story and I’m your host Anja Bolbjerg from World Top 10 Skier in Logos and Free Ride Skiing. Now, wait until Life After Sports, I invite you to join me and other former athletes here on Athlete’s Story for resources to help you repurpose your sports career for new exciting opportunities after sports.
After winning the Olympic bronze medal, Marlene Harnois found herself deselected from the French team even though she was still ranked top of the world. She tried to see how she could keep competing but when the leadership simply got dirty and personal, she decided it was time to retire. This full picture of the broken system she was operating in and the leadership conflict of interest didn’t really get exposed til years later when other stories like this surfaced. All this time was hard on Marlene, but what do champions do? They move on, right, and so did she as you’ll hear in this chat about retirement and creating new opportunities for yourself by giving first. Let’s welcome Olympic medalist, decorated Knight of the Order of Merit by the French president, Champion for Peace of the Peace and Sport Organization, and yes MBA candidate at the International University of Monaco. Without further ado, Marlene Harnois. Hi, Marlene.
Marlene: Hi.
Anja: Thanks for coming, I’m so happy you could make it.
Marlene: Thank you very much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Anja: Before we dive into a little bit of your sports story and all the merits, I’d like to hear about the time when you retired because you retired right after getting a bronze medal at the London Olympics, right?
Marlene: Yes. London Olympics, well Olympics has always been my dream. I started taekwondo as a little girl. I was four-years-old in Canada. When I was 14-years old I was invited by friends to come and train here so I moved to France. I was always carrying around this Olympic dreams and I won two titles as a European Champion, the world champion at the University Games, and when I medaled in the Olympic for me was the best moment ever in life. It was more difficult. The relationship I had with my coach and federations. I wanted to go back to Canada, but couldn’t get the release. I retired in very different context because it’s something that just happened. I was still ranked number one in the world, may I wanted to pursue but it happened and I just wanted to make the best out of it.
While I was an athlete in France I was very involved with the associations such as [unintelligible 00:03:02] so I’d visit hospital children every month. I was always very involved and I always liked to contribute to causes I cared about and inspire the kids and share a medal. I always felt that the most precious value of a victory lies in the impact it has on others and the values it promotes. It’s [unintelligible 00:03:24] to inspire the younger generation, I always felt that that was the true meaning of a victory, and then I wanted to share that.
I had always dreamed of doing a humanitarian mission one day. When I retired I wasn’t ready to transit into a professional career yet, so I just felt like I’m going to take some time off duty, maybe mentor [unintelligible 00:03:45] I’m really passionate about and I’ll figure it out. I decided to go to West Africa because my sport, taekwondo, is very popular in West Africa. I went to Senegal first, then I went to Ivory Coast. I was visiting schools, I was touring in schools and I was sharing my story.
Anja: Did you go on your own?
Marlene: I called friends, it was very random, I called friends that I knew from a national team there or other people, athletes from West Africa that had trained with us in France for some time. I called then I said, “I want to do [unintelligible 00:04:19],” “Come over, come over, just come.” I started touring in school, helping federation with doing seminars in suburbs, and then i went to Ivory Coast and saying I was doing a taekwondo seminar in a club but that was in the very modest suburbs and communities, the poorest communities near Abidjan, its called [unintelligible 00:04:49] community. I met two athletes, incredible talent, the proteges. When I walked in the club, I call it a club but technically it’s a school backyard, on concrete, no mats, no equipment. There were holes everywhere on the concrete so when you try to step, because they were moving, you can sprain your ankle and twist it. It was difficult, the conditions were very, very difficult, and there I was, 30 athletes, amazing talent like I had never seen before. It was amazing, and their energy, their values, they were so respectful, they were so welcoming. When I saw them, I said “Yes,” I saw two of them and I said, “Oh, my God they could be Olympic champion.” I started saying as soon as I saw them, I knew they had the potential of becoming Olympic champions, they had so much talent and so much drive and rejuvenation and courage.
I said, “Well, there goes my transition to a new project.” I decided to launch a foundation in Abidjan to promote sports, but also education. I started my foundation, stayed in the country for a few years. I went back and forth. I was really doing the training sessions with them, supporting them, trying to just be a mentor of their Olympic dream. It was funny because nobody believed that it would be possible ever. Everybody told me the country never had an Olympic medal, Olympic gold in any sport.
There was never an Olympic woman medalist ever in history. They all thought I was this naive, very enthusiastic white girl coming, discovering the country. So they didn’t take me seriously at first. They all saw that I was very nice so they supported my project.
Anja: [unintelligible 00:06:50]
Marlene: Everyone, everyone around, everybody who saw me walking. There was this Olympic medalist form France, white, that was walking around in the suburbs for years in Africa. Going to training, cleaning the floors, because we have to brush all the sand off the concrete before we train. We were struggling to have mats brought to Ivory Coast, equipment, electronic boards. When it rains, there’s no roof, so it’s complicated to train. It was a very difficult condition. Nobody could understand why I was going through all the struggle. It made no sense. Even my friends, nobody understood like, “Why are you going through all this struggle,” I was like, “You guys, I just know it.”
After all this time, they both qualified for the Rio Olympic games in 2016, and on the same day, August 19, Cheick Cissé became the first Olympic champion in the history of the Ivory Coast. Ruth Gbagbi became the first woman Olympic medalist. That was a beautiful day.
Anja: Were you there with them?
Marlene: Of course, I was standing by the ring, actually doing the common thing on French television at the same time. When Cheick won, it was the last second, it was one second left to the fight and he was losing by two points. He scored a hedgehog on the last second. On the comment on French television, I was saying, “One second, is it possible? It is possible.”[unintelligible 00:08:34], “It is possible,” and at the same time I’d removed my headphones and I started running to the ring, I jump on him and oh, my God he was sweaty.
It was archaic for me, I just jumped on him and then he ran with his flag from Ivory Coast, and then he fell. He ran. The stadium was huge. He started spraying him with his flag and he ran many times and then he just crossed on the ring, and then he came back. Oh, my God, that was, it was the most beautiful day ever. The emotion I felt that day, it was so much more powerful than when I won my medal because when I won of course it was crazy and it was my dream, but to share this all the experience and to share all the journey and see them succeed and win gold, it was the best feeling ever. It’s the best feeling ever, and even these four [unintelligible 00:09:35] he was the president of the jury, so now the roles are completely reversed where he’s the Olympic champion, he’s always the one. He is introducing me now, but I’m so grateful for that and the link and the experience it’s the best life experience ever.
Anja: Have they continued, Ivory Coast?
Marlene: Of course, next year and the following year Ruth Gbagbi the woman, became the first world champion in the history, men, women, first gold ever. Tat was in 2017 in South Korea, the World Championships, and they’re both qualified for Tokyo 2020. I’ll be there with them this summer to watch and to support.
Anja: Are they studying?
Marlene: Yes. They are both studying. I tell them how important it is because now I’m back at school, is there for an MBA at the International University of Monaco. I tell them it’s very important to have a side project and also it’s very important for me that they give back to the community to contribute when they retire as well. I want them to prepare as much as they can. For now, they’re doing, obviously, that’s well. They got that, and they’re heading for international sport of the nation. Then hopefully, [unintelligible 00:10:55]. They’re great. They are just perfect, and-
Anja: [crosstalk] Bearing all of this mindset where you consider yourself a woman and not just, [unintelligible 00:11:06].
Marlene: [crosstalk] No, but sometimes I feel like a girl. Sometimes I feel like a girl because I feel like a girl when people ask me if I work. I feel like a girl because I feel like I’ve never had a job in my life. Because I’ve always been so passionate about what I do, this every day for me is still growing. I still I’m so passionate and so driven, love what I do. After Wendy won they came back to the country, they got decorated by the president, it was huge. It was huge in Ivory Coast and in the region of West Africa along. That’s how I got and then I go as well with Peace in Sport because I felt that the goal I had with my foundation that I had launched to [unintelligible 00:11:58] had been achieved, and I wanted to have an impact on other places in the world as well, to inspire and to give back, and I got a role with Peace in Sport and I became a champion for peace in 2016.
Peace in Sports, an organization is based in Monaco, and it’s placed under the [unintelligible 00:12:19]. The goal is to promote sport as a tool for involvement in peace worldwide. There’s a club, it’s called The Champion for Peace or 100 Champions, and there’s Didier Drogba [unintelligible 00:12:36] both football players, but there’s also [unintelligible 00:12:41] tennis, there’s Alice, all these sport, and you see the nice [unintelligible 00:12:49] track and field, [unintelligible 00:12:53] . You probably know it’s key. I just felt that all too many athletes were involved. So many athletes had Organization Association, so many athletes were contributing, and I just felt that it would be nice once a year to unite all of these athletes that have charities and organization and do a field action all-together to give more impact and give more power to the message.
That sport has to be used for peace, so I decided to launch a project that’s called the Caravan for Peace, we did the first vision in 2017 and [unintelligible 00:13:34] World Champion in track and field games and that [unintelligible 00:13:39] the world champion from Mali in Taekwondo, and Baratsi from Senegal came along and we toured in the country and in Senegal and we had events through all sports with kids. But also I felt it was important to have sustainability in our project, so what we did is we [unintelligible 00:14:03] water fountains near sports stadium.
Anja: Awesome.
Marlene: Awesome, because at first I was touring, and I was promoting sport, but then I felt, ‘Oh wow, what if we don’t have water?’ Then it’s instead of contributing to the goods, then there’s a risk attached to it and I wanted to learn the risk, so I figured, ‘Okay, well, if we put water fountains near a sport base, sport field, then now the kids, obviously they’re going to go to the sport field to get the water back.” I thought it was nice to do both so we did that. In 2019, we went to Mali and we visited this place camps, we toured the region in Mali’s [unintelligible 00:14:45] trip. It was very complicated situation right now, and if the power of sport was just to give a smile to those kids and make them dream, make them hope, give them the happiness. If sport has the power to change [inaudible 00:15:03]
Anja: Did you ever think, “How can I make a difference? How is it even possible, little me, kind of?”
Marlene: Yes. It’s, that’s a giant mix. The impact or the story had we check-in will be the two hours from Ivory Coast. It’s not the mats that I brought or the equipment that made a difference. What made a difference I think is the fact that I believed in them and I supported them and I cheered for them. I think for them they were just, they believed in themselves even more because even, “Oh my God. If an Olympic champion believes we can do it and make it possible and she’s running under the rain with us. Wow, then maybe it’s possible”. I think that it’s that faith that pushed them to believe in themself and become the heroes they are now today. I always felt that just supporting someone, inspiring someone, a word that had a power to develop someone, and I just wanted to use that power of sport and see as many kids as I could and just tell them.
For me it was Taekwondo, but I think that– I love sport, obviously, with at the end of the day it’s try to have a passion, whether it’s music, whether it’s poetry, whatever it’s maths. Just have a passion, every night go to sleep, and when you wake up, go to sleep with a dream, and when you wake up do everything in your power to make that dream come true. That’s just the word or the speech that I want to pass along.
Anja: I assume that even though it’s all been so glorious and happy endings that there’s been some deceptions along the way.
Marlene: Of course, because every success is like there’s the failure part. Like you don’t become an Olympian or an Olympic medalists without losing some fights, and then these struggles they make you reinvent yourself, progress. Of course, there were many challenges in Africa. There were many, many challenges all the way along. There was the funding challenge, there was the condition challenge, we are having the partners in inter– There were so many challenges but you just have to find solutions all along the way.
Anja: Let’s go back to the studying part because I know that you studied journalism while you were still competing.
Marlene: I studied journalism, I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism from when I was at Inseec in France. I took journalism, I had my journalism degree, and then I did a Masters in sport management through [unintelligible 00:17:47] which is to give you the validate, your experience requirements and-
Anja: Why journalist?
Marlene: I was curious I guess. Why did you really, you did journalism as well, so I guess I was just curious, and I love learning all the time. I love learning and I have interest in so many different fields that journalism for me, “Oh, I’m going to get to learn all day and share conversation and talk. Wow, that’s awesome”. I took journalism, and now I’m having more, I’m doing [unintelligible 00:18:22] National School at International University of Monaco. Because I want to explore the entrepreneur way of maybe finance, business, corporation, and acquire the skills as a manager whether it’s, I have a lot of experience in the nonprofit, but it comes, I think you reach a point where you have to generate profits to be able to afford giving back to nonprofits.
I would like to find a balance, and I think it’s through sport, and now to the nonprofit experience all over the world, I require lots of experience but I wanted to acquire the academic skills as well in accounting and finance, marketing, management. I’m taking a year off this year to learn that and-
Anja: So good to be back on the school bench.
Marlene: Oh, you know what? I love it. I love being back at school. I’m like the first row always like raising my hand. I love it. I love being back in school because, and it’s especially doing an MBA because an MBA there were 15 people are in class, it’s very emphasized. You have so much diversity in terms of we all there’s, I think 10 different nationalities in my class, different backgrounds, different areas, some were finance, some other were in, like trade industry. Everybody comes from a different background. I come from a nonprofit. It’s the experience from all of us that makes it. a very good class and inspiring at the same time.
Anja: It’s funny because I often say to the athletes that are following Athlete’s Story that remember some people have an MBA to lean on, but you, you have the athlete story, and you’re going to come out with both.
Marlene: That’s what [unintelligible 00:20:18].
Anja: Plus humanitarian. Wait, you’re going to be a superwoman. [chuckles]
Marlene: One step at a time. That’s what I felt. I felt that it was always either you have your Olympic background or athlete background, or either you were academic. I just felt it was important to get a bit of both. The more experience I have and the more knowledge, the more I can structure my project and give them a bigger dimension as well.
Anja: Is that a little bit of what you’re looking for as well, getting a bit of structure in life after sports?
Marlene: Yes, of course. You need structure to have– To reach goals, you obviously need to be very, very structured. It’s very different to be structured training-wise to reach a sport goal than acquire your accounting. I needed the proper skills [unintelligible 00:21:19].
Anja: What does that mean to you to be a former athlete here in this envi– Is it something you think about in your daily life? Is it part of your identity?
Marlene: It is. Of course, it’s part of my identity being a former athlete. See, I don’t say, “I was an Olympian.” I say, “I am an Olympian,” because I feel that this sport is that– It’s not going away, but what I want is– It’s carrying on. I feel that it made me who I am, and I’m proud of it. Through sport, I’ve acquired so many important– just the mindset, the values. It’s funny because when I’m in class, most of the time I say, “Well, we do that in sport.” Everything is human resources or organizational behavior related. For me, it’s so natural because coming from the sport community, you work with teammates, you work with coach, you work in an environment, and you know how the team is important, and that in a corporate environment, it is important. You need to collaborate, to have great partners, to work in a team, to produce and achieve a result as well. It all translates. I think I raised something to the class as well coming from the [unintelligible 00:22:43].
Anja: You hinted that a little bit in the beginning. Your story has been– There’s been a little bit of politics involved in your-
Marlene: Of course.
Anja: -career as well. First, you came to France being a Canadian but, it actually changed nationality, and maybe not everybody was 100% welcoming, or how was that?
Marlene: Well, in France, at that time, they have a program. It was the International [unintelligible 00:23:12] Solidarity. Basically, I came from Canada, and I had a scholarship to train one year in France as a Canadian. It was perfect for me at that time. I came, and that year, I won all the tournaments representing Canada. They said, “Wait a minute. We’re funding, we’re hosting you. We’re training her, and she’s beating us? No, it’s not working.” They said, “Well, if you want to pursue your training here, then you have to become French.” I took the French citizenship. [unintelligible 00:23:49] as I said before, it’s really important to have a a team, to work as a team. It’s difficult. The relationship I had with my coach was very difficult. As much as I tried, sometimes it’s not possible. I wasn’t allowed to change coach because she was also the national director, and she was also the [unintelligible 00:24:14]. There were no selection criteria like in tracks. If you are in the mini log, then you’re qualified. Us, in our sport, there were no selection criteria. It was up to the national coach. A complicated thing because it’s hard to work with a coach, and the coach makes the selection. Then when I qualified for the Olympics, my quota at that time, it was non-nominative.
Anja: What did that mean?
Marlene: It means that when I qualified for the Olympics, the federation could send anyone in my weight. I qualified twice in my weight category, so then they can send whoever. There are no selection, essentially they can send whoever they want with the quota. That made it quite confusing. I was trying to make the best out of that environment, but it came to a point that if I trained for 40 years, I’m the best, I am two times European champion, I’m rank number one in the world. I qualified, and you want to send someone else with my quota to the Olympics? It’s hard. I finally went to the Olympics and medaled, but if the story could ever read itself. It was very hard. Because I couldn’t change coach, so I just go back to Canada, but with the IOC, there’s a rule that says for athletes with dual nationalities, if they want to change country, they need to be released by the former country. Otherwise, there’s a three-year delay that applies. France didn’t want to release me, and then with the three-year delay I couldn’t qualify for Rio anymore. The context of my sport retirement was very different than a traditional– Well, I say traditional, but you know what? I don’t think that anyone retires in a traditional context because when you’re on top, you always continue, and when you consider retirement it’s either due to injuries or there was like– There was always something. I think for everyone, it’s a process. It’s a process. There are ups and downs. When something happens in life, everybody tells you, “Everything happens for a reason,” and I did time. I was like, “It’s impossible. No.” When you try to make the best out of any situation, that’s when you see, “Wow.” In that day in Rio, I said, “Oh my God, yes, it really happened for a reason.” Otherwise, [crosstalk] Even today, I’m so happy where I am in life, who I am. With all my choices, I wouldn’t change anything. Even though I’m schooling, I love the journey of just enjoying every step of the way knowing that, “Okay. I want to get there. I want to do this.” As it goes by, even with the two athletes, I was with them this weekend in Monaco for [unintelligible 00:27:28] Our best memories are under the ring and [unintelligible 00:27:33] when we struggle, now, we see each other in a beautiful context of being in Monaco as Olympic champions. Our best memories or the stories we’ll always talk about is, “Do you remember that day? Oh my God. Do you remember that day I trained when I sprained my ankle [unintelligible 00:27:52] Wow.” It’s all that that makes it beautiful. It’s the struggles that gives value to the victory at the same time. Looking back at it, I wouldn’t change anything. Well, you would always do stuff differently, but it is what it is.
Anja: Here comes the $1 million question. [chuckles]
Marlene: Oh, wooh, wooh, watch out.
Anja: Where do you see yourself-
Marlene: In five years?
Anja: -in five years?
Marlene: I was asked recently how I see myself in five years. I answered happy and passionate because I think that everything else is irrelevant. As long as I’m happy and I’m passionate, then in five years, I’ll be exactly where I should be or I wanted to be or I have to be. I really think that it really comes down to that. If you’re passionate, you’ll be successful. If you’re successful, chances are you’ll be happy if it’s a success that comes from passion. For me, it’s all linked. I think that the most important is to be surrounded by people you love, to be with a great team, to share, to be– Some people or sometimes I find that people are scared. They don’t want to share their experience, or they don’t want to volunteer. If they don’t have an immediate game, they don’t want to give. Through my journey, I really observed that the more you give, the more you get, and the more you share, the more you learn, and the more you open up, the more it creates an energy, and it’s possible to achieve. I’m never going to change that.
Anja: If you were to give advice to any other athlete who wants to do humanitarian or who wants to do some type of nonprofit, what would you say? How do you get started? Would you get involved with an association or maybe–
Marlene: I would say just try and contribute. The more you try out– I tried tennis. I love tennis now. I tried, I love skiing. I love skiing. Try out new experience and that’s how you discover new things. There’s so many ways to help, there’s are associations, there’s organization, federation, or you can just do it on yourself. Sometimes people think they have to– In Africa when I was doing journalism I had someone from, I think it was [unintelligible 00:30:28] or some kind of nonprofit organization. They came, and she spoke to us. At the end of the speech, I said, “Oh my God, I really want to this one day. How can I volunteer and do a mission in Africa?” She said, “Oh, no. In Africa, we only send our employees. You cannot volunteer in Africa.” She said the volunteer is for a donation of people that asked for a donation. I said, “Oh. Well, that’s not experience I want to have.”
Then I looked, I searched on the internet for ways to really go. I didn’t know exactly if I wanted to go build shelters, I just wanted to interview. What I saw on the internet, I had to pay to do humanitarian. I said, “Well, that’s not really my vision of doing humanitarian.” I said, “Okay, what can I give now?” That was right before the Olympics. I didn’t have a lot of money to give away in a big way. I said, “Okay. Well, I don’t have money. I don’t have a structure. I don’t have enough people, but I have expertise. I have my knowledge and my sport, and that’s very valuable to some other people. I’m just going to go and give that to people.”
That’s what I did basically. That’s why I called former teammates and I said, “Okay, and we’re going to a seminar.” We’ll just go and talk to kids in school, but also I went to the Federation, I shared my experience with that. I went to clubs, and then I just spoke with the people, with the coach and I just tried to share all the expertise I had learned in southern France. In a way, that’s how you inculcate the education to the involvement of sport. For the education I met someone that had a social library. He’s based in a very extreme suburb. He has a little bookshop, but a few books on the shelter, and it’s a volunteer process. He tried to contribute to alphabet session and learn how to read and write in his bookshop. It is a bookshop, but it’s nonprofit.
I met him, I said, “Well, we have to develop that as much as we can. Then I got books from Canada, I got books from are all over. Whenever I go to Africa I could share the books. You always try to find a solution. Obviously, the more you use books, one book is a book, you do with your means. Whoever wants to contribute whatever their expertise is, they can contribute. If it’s not money or if it’s not an object or material, your knowledge has value.
Anja: Well, thank you so much for encouraging people and for doing everything that you do. I think it’s a fantastic use of a medal, first of all, and good luck in your five-year plan and beyond.
Marlene: Of course. Thank you very much and you’ve inspired me as well. You seem like a very happy and passionate person, yourself. Good luck with the podcast.
Anja: Thank you.
[00:34:00] [END OF AUDIO]

About going to the Ivory Coast to make an impact after her sports career:

«It’s not the mats that I brought – or the equipment – that made a difference. What made a difference, I think, was that I believed in them, and supported them and cheered for them.»

Marlene Harnois is an inspiring woman. After a brillant sports career, she packed her bags and went to the Ivory Coast to share her skills and experience with kids in local clubs. Four years later she could celebrate Olympic medals with two of her prodigies. She is also involved in the nonprofit Peace & Sport where she created a project called the Caravan For Peace. Currently she’s doing an MBA, fueled by her desire to have purpose and happiness in life.

The post Making an impact after sport appeared first on Anja Bolbjerg.

Do you love a good sports documentary? AFTER THE GAME is an upcoming sports documentary following a coach and two athletes on a basketball team from the late 1990’s and then catching up today to see how sports has influenced their mindset and who they are today. In this episode you’ll meet the filmmaker herself, April Abeyta. I’d also like to use this opportunity to  send you to the AFTER THE GAME crowdfunding campaign here

After The Game is a basketball documentary where we follow a few real-life female athletes who played basketball on the same team in college back when the WNBA had only just launched.

April Abeyta actually played on that team herself, so she had access to capture not only the game action but also the all the emotions, and the atmosphere and life around the game.

The theme of the movie is very core to the Athlete Story community because it revolves around the AFTER The Game part of sports and how the lessons from sports can be used and repurposed in life after sports. IN the movie, we catch up with the women today in situations where they each discover how their background in sports actually helps them tackle life’s new challenges.

I’m so excited for you to meet a real filmmaker of this upcoming sports documentary ! So let’s welcome April Abeyta for a chat about her movie : AFTER THE GAME

Anja: If you love sports documentaries stay tuned because today on Athlete Story we’ll take a closer look at one of the upcoming sports movies. It’s called After The Game and we’ll have a chat with the filmmaker herself, April Abeyta. This is Athlete Story your show if you want to keep a connection to your athletic identity and other athletes while pursuing your new mission in life.

I’m your host Anja Bolbjerg, former world top 10 skier in mobile skiing and free ride skiing. Now, pretty far into life after sports. Join me and other former athletes here and Athlete Story for resources to help you put your former sports career to work for you today. Here at Athlete Story we know that some people have an MBA to lean on you, you have your sports career. Subscribe now and get notified for every new episode.

All right, then let’s get started. After The Game is a basketball documentary, where we follow a few real life female athletes who played basketball on the same team in college, back when the WNBA had only just launched. Now, the filmmaker, April Abeyta actually played on that team herself. She had access to capture not only the game action, but also all the behind the scenes, the atmosphere, the emotions, and the whole life around the game.

Women’s basketball was not really media type back then. For sure, nobody walked around with cameras like we do today, so we can look forward to some pretty exceptional footage in the movie, I think. I guess she must have carried around big camera and caught it on tapes. Anyways, the theme of the movie is very core to the Athlete Story community because it revolves around that after the game part of sports and how the lessons from sports can be used and repurposed in life after sports.

In the movie, we will actually catch up with the women today, in situations where they each discover how their background in sports is actually helping them tackle life’s new challenges. Let’s move on to the interview. I’ll make sure to ask April to give some personal examples as well about how playing sports has influenced her own personality and lifestyle and career and why it was important to make a movie about female student athletes from the ‘90s and then follow up today.

All right, I’m so excited for you to meet this real filmmaker in the sports industry. Let’s welcome April Abeyta for chat about her movie After The Game.

Hi April. Welcome to the show, Athlete Story.

April: How’s it going?

Anja: Good. Thanks for coming on. I really appreciate it.

April: No, my pleasure. I’m happy to be chatting with you, so thank you for having me.

Anja: I’m curious about this project that you’ve been working on for quite a while I can say I think the movie called After The Game. Can you tell us a little about what that’s all about?

April: Yes, of course. After The Game is a new documentary that is really about the long-term impact of competitive athletics specifically on young women. We follow three women, [inaudible 00:03:13] the span of 20 years. We see them as student athletes for a small college in Southern California back in 1999 and their challenges, their successes, and then we correlate that flash class forward to certainly in 2017 and the third 2019, how they really translate things they learned as athletes into their professional challenges today off the court.

Anja: More specifically, they’re basketball players, right?

April: Yes. They’re on the same team, so our three characters, we follow. We actually follow the head coach of that program at the time who was also a former athlete. She played for UCLA. Actually, Mary [unintelligible 00:03:53] and she is– Has has been honored as one of the 15 greatest women basketball players in UCLA of all time. She was quite successful student athlete herself.

Then the athletes on the team in 1999 are a woman named Michelle [unintelligible 00:04:08] who was a senior going into that season and then another woman named Holly Neves, she was a junior transfer student. She was coming from a new school and trying to make her mark, find her place on a brand new team at that time. It’s like her figuring that out. You’ll see the correlation in the film how that challenge actually comes up for her in a very similar way almost 20 years later.

Anja: Is that the main theme of the movie, the lessons you learn from sports, how you can use them in life after sports?

April: Yes, exactly. Definitely. There’s a I think tied with that about what you commit and what sports can give to you, it doesn’t necessarily always pay off in the way that you think it will. There’s a great line by one of the characters in the movie where she talks about, “If you put in the work, you will be rewarded.” That reward may not translate into playing time, so you’re not necessarily going to– There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get more minutes, right?

There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get that championship, but you will be rewarded and how that pays off and I think that’s just a great theme for the movie because you see, for some of these women, not that they haven’t had successes in that 20 year span, but they continue to have different successes, that they put it in the work back in 1999, and they’re continuing to see those rewards pay off in different ways in their lives, that they didn’t expect necessarily back when they were 21, 22 years old.

Anja: I love that theme because success is such a relative term, right?

April: Yes.

Anja: It develops over the span of your life like, what you think is success when you’re 20 years old is not the same maybe as later in life.

April: Totally.

Anja: What was the most important reason for you to make this movie?

April: Well, I think there were a couple of things. When I actually started shooting these women back in 1999, it really started with just my love of sports and my respect for just women in sports and athletes. At that time, there really was no attention was paid. I wouldn’t say that we’ve made– We’ve made some strides since then, we have made huge strides in terms of just recognition and attention and quality and air time in sports broadcasting and everything like that to women in sports.

It was even worse back then, and so I really wanted to do something about it. I wanted to showcase these women, I played with these women myself, as a student athlete myself, and I knew how hard these women had worked, and how hard it was, and how talented they were. I wanted to showcase that and it just morphed over time [unintelligible 00:06:45] relationship with these women and seeing what they’ve gone through in their lives, like, well into adulthood and how they translate what they learned as student athletes either directly or indirectly because sometimes it’s a little– You don’t even realize it. It’s the little subconscious, those learnings that you have, that you only get really from sports.

That narrative, [unintelligible 00:07:06]. I felt that was really compelling and the more I started talking to other folks about it, it convinced me that this was a good time to tell that story now. As well with what was going on with these characters, in their personal lives, at this point. Sort of all of those [unintelligible 00:07:21] I guess it came together at the right time of them facing these unique challenges.

I feel there really was, I don’t know, there something special about timing right now even with the success of the USA women’s world cup and [inaudible 00:07:32] also being such a big deal and now more attention and it’s just a really good time I think to continue this message of women’s athletics and the importance of it long term and just capitalize on this movement that’s been happening over the summer.

Anja: Yes, that’s really nice. You’ve been really ahead of your time, because nowadays everybody will be filming and having footage of practice and everything but you did this back in the ’90s, right? [chuckles]

April: I got permission from the team, from the school at the time, and it may have helped because I was a student athlete myself and I was a film student. I wrapped it up into this like my studies and I– At the time when cameras weren’t so ubiquitous with everything, it took some getting used to, I think with the players and the coaches of just sticking a camera in their face constantly. [laughs]

They really got used to it and so just hours and hours of locker room talk and the training room and road trips. I think one particularly special thing about smaller universities, like Chapman University, which is where all these women were members of the Chapman University Women’s Basketball program, was that because it’s so small, you just spend even more– Think of all the traveling. You go to all the other games where maybe bigger programs can get on airplanes. No, when you’re small, you drive everywhere.

You sit in a van or a bus with your teammates for hours and hours, and hours and just you really get to know them and so capturing all those little moments of what it’s really like to be on a team, and share those moments, and learn from each other, I think was just something that also I’d made special and yes, I just knew that I wanted to see– I think when you grow up as an athlete, as you know, as a woman you just don’t get the respect sometimes.

You talk to people about what you do, or your sport, and then they would– They’re still not sure. Today for young women, but it gets downplayed. It’s like, “It’s not that hard. You’re a woman.” Or, “You guys aren’t as good.” Or, “You aren’t as tough.” That always really bothered me and so I thought the best way to combat that misconception was to film the team, and put it together so, “Well, no. Look, how hard they’re working.”

They’re doing sprints up and down the court until they puke. They’re pushing themselves to their max potential, to try to be successful at their sport and that’s admirable.

Anja: There’s nothing like video to to tell that story. I know personally, maybe I’ve told this before, and sorry podcast listeners [laughs] if I’ve told this before, but I didn’t really feel that people understood what sport I was doing until very, very late in my career when I did have videos and could post on YouTube and stuff because yes, people just don’t relate just from words and when they see me as a person, maybe they don’t think that I will go do something like that.

I totally understand what you’re talking about and then from the respect point of view, I think that’s a very good point because we don’t see all that many women, especially in team sports. Well, in Europe maybe it’s different but in the US, where do you have for team sports where you show women only lately is the basketball coming on and soccer with the success of the team, right?

April: Yes.

Anja: Yes, so I think that it’d be cool to watch too. It would be cool to get that atmosphere of the camps and the team and the traveling and all that.

April: Yes, it definitely will feel aged just because of technology in terms of video production has changed so much so it’s all four by three, so a smaller frame and, and the quality is not quite as good as this opportunity today but I actually really embraced that, because I want the viewers to have the sense of nostalgia also when they’re looking at this older stuff and if anything it’s like yes, these women weren’t playing because they thought they were going to go play professional basketball.

I mean especially at that time I remember the WNBA was like two years old. It just wasn’t– I mean, it’s very rare today obviously for any athlete, male or woman to go play at the professional level or play like even as high level as you did in your sport but even more so back then it was really for a love of the game that they were playing and then just wanting to compete and try to be the best that they could be and yes. It’s just like that nostalgic like hopefully, that feel really comes across in the footage as well from 1999.

Anja: Right now, you’re in post-production, the end of it, right?

April: Yes, we’re getting there. We still have a lot of work but we are making really good progress and yes, we are making excellent progress on our edit, working with a music composer, currently for some original score and original music in it so yes, early 2020, we should be premiering it.

Anja: Okay. This is obviously a passion project for you since it’s been in the back of your mind having all that footage and stuff. How do you finance this project?

April: How do I finance this project? It’s a great question because financing is different for every film, whether a short film, picture film what have you. This is a combination of just personal investments, as well, as we’ve made [unintelligible 00:13:03] on our personal investment piece and then we will be running a crowdfunding campaign in about another month for the remaining finishing funds, but we’re just like, full steam ahead until we totally run out of the cash that we have on hand.

Anja: Okay. Well, if you have a link to the crowdfunding we will share it here.

April: Thank you. Yes, when we set that up we’d love to get the word out on that.

Anja: If someone else thinks, “This is really cool. I would love to make a movie about something from their sport or whatever.” What has been the hardest part or the biggest hurdle in doing all this.

Anja: That’s a great question. I mean, in any film making or video production endeavor, financing seems to be one of those things that people are always stressed about and there’s a lot of questions around but it’s not really talked about a lot in terms of how they go about financing. I find that’s always a hurdle like where will you get the money from and things like that, and how you talk to people about getting money. That’s always a challenge.

I think another thing is depending on if you’re making a documentary, the other challenge is just having the patience to see where the story leads you, right? Working with characters again, I’ve mentioned it sort of just like it was this great timing that all three of them were– This convergence of these different professional challenges for them, and seeing where that goes and like they don’t necessarily unfold the way that you expect them to and you can’t control that.

You can’t really influence that. It’s not like you can be like, “It’d be great if you did this.” There’s no directing them like you might a fiction movie or writing a script in advance so to speak. There’s none of that and so that’s I think, at least for me personally, is definitely I think a challenge given my own background has mostly been in scripted up-front work and just trying to let that unfold and see where that goes.

Again, picking up the filming again in 2017 and then just wrapping filming in 2019, that’s a span of two years just to catch up with where we’re at in their current lives today and that’s patience. That’s actually pretty short for a documentary. I’ve heard that the average time for a documentary is five years. That’s a lot of patience to let that story [inaudible 00:15:23].

Anja: A lot of courage too because you’re putting yourself out there, right? You’re putting yourself out there for judgement and–

April: Yes, especially for– I mean, my characters and I’m so grateful to all three women to really opening themselves up and sharing not only just where they’re at in the mundane day-to-day stuff but just emotionally how they’re feeling about things and they’re very open. I think it’s really helpful that as a filmmaker, if you go and really have relationships with them ahead of time and sometimes you don’t really have that luxury.

In this case, I did. I’ve known them for 20 years plus but I think that really helped just have with them being feeling comfortable and they know that I’m not here to trick them into something, I’m not here to get this gotcha moment. I’m here to really hear their story and communicate it in the best way possible. I feel honored that they trust me with their lives on camera and I’m excited for them. They haven’t seen any of edits yet so I’m excited to be able to screen it for them when we’re ready.

Anja: Yes, that would be exciting. We talked about success before. I’d like to know to you what would be a success for this movie?

April: We get people showing up to screenings. I guess because the goal with this film is I really want to get it obviously in front of as many people as possible, but I know there’s a very specific audience for this film and that is athletes, former athletes, also I think parents of young athletes. I would love for people to see this film and really think about rewards of participation in whatever sports, not just basketball, it could be skiing, it could be soccer, it could be whatever.

Maybe if we could start to think about what those other long-term methods are and encourage if they have a young daughter who’s playing sports and thinking about quitting or if they know somebody else who’s [unintelligible 00:17:25] and thinking about quitting just thinking about changing that mindset about why they participate, because there’s a good chance they’re so hung up on, “I have to go pro, I have to go get a scholarship.” Or, “I have to try to make the Olympics.” Or whatever.

These really which are awesome really lofty goals, but I think what this film shows is that it’s just not about that, it’s about the relationship you form, it’s about those things that you learn in terms of how to work with people that you may not be best friends with, but you got to find how to reach that common goal. It’s all the other things that you get forced into when you’re playing sports and I really want to get the film in front of those people so they can help encourage their daughters or their friends, or whatever. Just to keep it up and it’s okay if you’re not the division one athlete.

You can go play at a junior– [unintelligible 00:18:15] junior colleges but it’s like two year college to go and they have program and some of them are really, really competitive, and also get a lot out of that, and that’s great. Success to me is we are able to set up the community strings that we want to set up across the United States and we get people attending, and we get people just loving the film.

It will not be any scientific I guess. [chuckles] There’s no hard data that we’ll collect on it but it’ll be talking with people and hearing their thoughts on it and just seeing how their thinking about it, and if they’re thinking about the anticipation in different ways. It’s really fuzzy, sorry, it’s not like a concrete like, “We will make a gazillion dollars.” That’s not going to happen, it’s a documentary.

Financially, I would like to recoup our investment in it for our investors in film. It’s really about I get to change people’s mindset about what women’s athletics can do. Long winded answer, sorry. [chuckles].

Anja: All right. I’d love to hear just a little bit about your own story in sports because I’m sure that has a great influence on how you decided to do this movie, so can you just tell us briefly how is your own athlete story?

April: I love sports. I love playing basketball specifically from a young age. Growing up, we did a lot of little random things but probably the most competitive early on was basketball but even now it sounds like I started playing in 8th grade. Nowadays that sounds so late, they’re starting with five-year olds, it’s crazy. Did pretty well and got a chance to play at the college level.

I was playing at Chapman University with these women and I loved it. Again, I mentioned playing pro at that age I would love to have played in WNBA that was like, “Oh my God.” I knew that I wasn’t level. I’m six feet but I play center so that’s small for pro level but I try my darndest. I still had a pretty good career in college and I think that was one of the earliest lessons that I learned just thinking about. As I moved on and really focusing on my career in video production and film making and media.

I put in all the work, it didn’t exactly pay off the way I wanted to in terms of being able to take it to the next level but I still had a great career, I had these amazing relationships with really incredible fun and wonderful people connected to the sport. I started to realize, “Okay maybe it’s not this is the way it’s going to pay off.” And build like random things like going into professional.

I started my career with Fox Sports which is a sports broadcast company in the US, and like little things that would pay off I guess in terms of playing the sport would just be like connecting with the men in the office and be able to talk sports with maybe other women at that time anyways. Sounds like a stereotype and it was sort or real back then where a lot of women weren’t really– I was around in a work environment but I would be able connect with them on a different level and develop a different relationship because we could talk about sports.

Even after work go play a pick up game of basketball and because I could play, I got more respect. Weirdly I probably wouldn’t have gotten in the work environment without that because I was some young woman and just totally green in a [unintelligible 00:21:41] who she didn’t care about because I could play pick up ball with a bunch of the bosses it worked in my favor.

That was small and I started to pick up these little small things that I found just helping me in my career and I take that coupled with the work ethic that I learned through playing basketball. I just put in the work, put in the extra time, try do your best at everything that you can do because when you don’t and you start to skate by and think you can be able lazy in a moment and you see that didn’t actually really help you in the long term.

Somebody noticed that you were lazy and they’re going to remember that and then you’re like, “They’re not going to think of me to do this project, they’re not going to think of me for this promotion.” It’s always like those type of things [unintelligible 00:22:26]. Sometimes is not being conscious about that for years even just you just go about your life and then move to a different company and different relationships but then everyone always comeback like what– The things that I loved about being competitive and things I loved about even like conditioning which now at that time was like, “Oh my God I hate [unintelligible 00:22:48].” Sprint workouts or with the crazy things that our coach used to do but as you get older I guess you’re starting to appreciate that conditioning aspect of it and again the path and you put in the work– The more you practice in anything in life the better you’re going to get. I just really like realizing that and appreciating that and then being more proactive about doing that and all the non-sports things in our life you can like creative work.

Anja: And patience like you mentioned that pay off doesn’t come the following day necessarily.

April: Like creative work, sometimes people think that if you’re an artist you just have it or you’re a great writer you just have it. I’m sure that’s true for some people just like there are some athletes who are just amazing athletes they are just born that way and they buffer a lot of creative endeavors. If you keep practicing, if you want to become a good writer, write every day. That’s practice.

If you want to be a great director of photography, you go out and you shoot stuff you film things and you’ll get better. You may never get to the level that you think that you should be or want to be but you’ll definitely get better and so just applying that– They are not after all they just trying things and just and practicing and putting it in and also stretching your limits a little bit.

I’ve taken on projects or taken on roles where at the time I was like, “I don’t know if I can do it. I think I can. Sure I’ll give it a try.” And then you do it and you do a great job. The reason if not everything goes the way you wanted to you learned a lot, you still did really good work but you push yourself for the things that you can control and do the best that you can do.

Anja: I think that’s maybe one of the differences between men and women if we are talking general, that we seem to have this default I don’t know if I can do it attitude and I think that’s where sports really helps us to just well, I’ll give it a try. I remember organizing the Danish national championships for many years in skiing because I was the only skier in my country doing this.

Just to try to get the girls to compete was really, really hard. Unless there was enough of them feeling that they weren’t so competitive, then it was okay. I think that’s the thing we have. Instead of just going out and trying to give it our best, we have this default, “I’m not really going to go there because I don’t think I can do it.” Instead of just– Sports has a great power and lesson like that.

April: I totally agree. Spot on, it absolutely does. Like you said, sports I think helps you overcome that. You second guess that lack of confidence that you have initially, because you remember, like, “I didn’t know if I could do those things on the basketball court. I didn’t know if I could win that game or I didn’t know if I could hit that shot, and I did. Let’s try this.”

Or sometimes you didn’t but you try, you felt good about trying. It’s that crazy thing, you’re going to miss 100% of the shots you never take. Having that approach and I feel like I’ve seen it. Most of my professional career in video production has been in my life on the corporate side, but always done also film making and also presenting or other video production, but I regularly work with corporations and either building or managing in-house creative teams.

Now I’ve had an opportunity to work with a lot of different folks, and a lot of young women. I think that where that really sets in back when you’re talking about the lack of confidence and in it, “I’m not sure.” Really comes to when they’re talking about if they want a raise or a promotion. Where I had my own experience, I’ve had a lot of young men come to me and they have no reservation about asking about asking for promotion or a raise whether deserved or not, that’s a different strategy, that idea of asking.

I probably only have one or two women who had that same attitude and most will not ever really ask, and wait until the designated time of the annual performance review or they would ask, and you could just tell they were so scared. I would congratulate. In those instances, I would stop them and do like, “I know what you’re going to ask, I can tell. I think it’s great that you’re asking. I may not give you what you want because there’s a lot of actors involved.” But I really wanted to encourage them to conquer that fear, and have that confidence of like, “It’s okay to ask, and it may fail, you may not get what you’re asking for, but that’s okay.”

I don’t disrespect somebody because they’re asking. I saw that time and time again, that difference, first-hand, of business and corporate environment between men and women. I think the ones actually that actually didn’t have the hesitation, they might have been a former athletes, now that I think about it, actually. I’m not 100% sure if they were but they could have. I could see if they were [inaudible 00:28:03].

Anja: That might be the link between– What’s that stat? About 90% of women who are in the, in the C suite have a background in sports, maybe it’s because they asked for the promotion or asked for it.

April: Yes. I think that’s a good point. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. If you want it, you got to ask for it. That’s been my approach in my own professional career too. I’m the person who will go– It took a while to get there but I’d be the person to go in and talk to my boss or somebody, figure out who’s the decision-maker, that’s the key thing. I would just figure out who the key decision-makers are.

Same with film making too, if you’re trying to find some money, you want to talk to people who are the decision makers, and that may be the person with money and it may be somebody else that they pass that decision off to. Find out who it is and to just go ask. Don’t be a jerk about it, be nice and be ready to present why it’s whatever you’re asking for is either earned or deserved, because you do this or the other or you bring this value because at the end the day, when it comes to money specifically, it’s not about the money per se necessarily, it’s about the value and [unintelligible 00:29:14] that value to whatever that dollar amount is and what they see added.

Same with financing I think, it’s like, “What’s that value they think they’re going to get out of it for the amount that they might be investing in it.” For part of it anyways.

Anja: It seems like you knew pretty much already when you were still playing that you wanted to be in the film industry. How was that transition? Did you find it easy and natural that now it was time to do something different or did you have any–

April: No. It was [unintelligible 00:29:47] at all. It was terrible, actually. I will say today, I think is a really incredible time for film making because it’s just so much accessible now and that’s why I keep doing my own projects because it’s like, “Wait, I can’t control. I can’t make more of it.” Whereas especially when I finished film school in 2000, the tools weren’t as available. It wasn’t financially accessible. It was pretty much controlled by a small group of people.

The big studios control a lot when it comes to theatrical releases and things like that. There are so many other avenues and so many other [inaudible 00:30:29] points today that didn’t exist back then. Trying at that time was really about trying to get into the big places that already existed. I think this attitude still persists a little bit today from my own experience but certainly back then it was very closed up.

You just had a relationship with some extra to get you in the door, so to speak, to do work. The reason why I got to get into Fox Sports at that time was because I got some sort of internship and then I worked my butt off on this internship which was a free internship [inaudible 00:31:00] paid for it at all but that was okay with me because I just really wanted– I thought I really wanted to work there and I was super excited so I was going to do the best that I could do at that time.

I met some cool people there too so to the value of what I could bring which I was fortunate of that. It was very closed off but same time like this, I’m sure it is still just today but there was just a ton of ego. I’ve never been a person who just wants to, I guess kiss other people’s butts and play those games and especially the fact that I didn’t have the confidence to really put up with the ego. It was tough.

It was dealing with some nice people but a lot of jerks too and a lot of people who maybe got their sense of identity from what they were doing and were very defensive about anybody new coming and working at their business or their studio.

Anja: They weren’t necessarily there to make you be the best you could be. [laughs]

April: No, there was no that. I would share stories about just work cultures and attitudes and it’s changed a lot which I think it’s great. There’s much more of a tendency to actually want to enrich and develop employees not then. It was like you show up, you don’t ask questions, you do your job and I don’t care if you want to grow and learn and do more work [chuckles]. It wasn’t their attitude.

I’m sure that was not the case for everywhere at that time but it was just my experience coming in. Then other people having tried to break into different studios in terms of picking a job and stuff. They just really had a hard time. I ended up detouring and taking a very different route. I was working in media and film production and video but working in– After that experience, I started to be on the outskirts of that which has now become their own huge industry but working in like I mentioned them. Working in in-flight entertainment.

Working with studios but a different way of sourcing material began. Airplanes, I worked in retail media. The content that might go into a store like you see in a checkout line [inaudible 00:33:04] working in that. Also working in digital media most recently in my last role with a full-time corporate entity was digital channels that are distributing on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram so on and so forth.

I’ve learned something from all of them. I feel like I’ve applied my experiences as an athlete to all of them in different ways. It’s been a varied career for me. I’m excited to be focused on this film full-time right now.

Anja: You decided to do this movie about taking lessons from sports into life after sports? Do you have an example of how you’ve done this yourself?

April: Certainly. I feel like there’s a ton of ways. I feel like a really common aspect, I think I– I don’t know if I mentioned this but is specifically for team sports. You are thrown together with a group of people. You have a common goal. You’re put through a lot together in terms of physically just pushing yourselves and so you really have a shared experience around that but outside of that, you may not have ever been friends with these people [laughs].

You just have a common love for that sport and working hard and wanting to be competitive and the best, but that idea of trying to figure out how you work together, I mean, I was really lucky I think in some of my teams, like most people, we really I think became come close, we became friends and we maintained relationships but there are also, throughout my own athletic career, some times there are people that you just didn’t click. Not that you were enemies or anything that traumatic but you just didn’t click but again have to find a way to work together.

I think when you move off of sports and into your whatever your non-athletic related career is, you’re going to find the same thing, you can’t control everybody that you work with even if you become the CEO, you have a board of directors. [chukles] You don’t necessarily pick who you work with, but you have a common goal and you’re trying to work towards that.

You have to figure out, how you work with that person. Even if you just don’t get along, you don’t see eye to eye on things, you don’t even maybe even– You know what the goal is, the how to reach that goal, you have two different ideas about how to do that, and how to compromise and work together, and just make it happen because if you can’t do that, everybody suffers.

It’s the same thing on a sports team. If you couldn’t figure out, how to run a play together, you’re going to– For basketball anyway, you’re going to cause a turnover. If you’re not on the same page, somebody is trying to pass me the ball and I think that they’re going to shoot and pass it over here, and I’m over here, you’re never going to score. If you can’t figure out– I can think of a specific example with particular team members. This one guy, in particular, I think of working with an engineer.

He was super smart, really great. It’s like he had a chip on his shoulder and I think at that time, for myself– I probably wasn’t as empathetic to whatever was causing that chip on the shoulder for him. We just sometimes didn’t see eye to eye. We never were compatible or anything, but it started to like starting to figure out like, “I think I need to be more empathetic with this guy. I think that’s how I’m going to connect with him so we work together and solve this problem that we’re faced with trying to get this video to the technology side of the delivering some video to some clients.”

Using that, I was like, that’s a direct example of I think a specific individual where definitely, I had to stop and try to think like, “How am I even going to work with this guy?” You have to figure it out, even if I don’t want to, but I have to figure it out, I can’t not deliver the video to the client.

Anja: Okay, well, cool. I think we’ve got it all covered. If people have any questions they can just write in and we’ll get it all done.

April: I’d love to encourage anybody who’s interested in following the film, to not only follow us on Instagram but also they can check out our website at afterthegamethemovie.com and they can sign up for our newsletter. We send regular updates up to you just to see. They’ll learn about when it’s premiering in their area. Their screening the area, all those good things.

Anja: That’s afterthegamethemovie.com?

April: Yes.

Anja: Well, I’m going to wish you all the best of luck for this and I’ll make sure to post the links for your crowdfunding because I’m sure some people here who want to support a movie like that. I will for sure.

April: Thank you. Yes. I think people will love it. I think that they’ll be really– Yes, I hope they do. It’s a movie for the audiences, at the end of the day.

Anja: You’ve been great. You shared a lot of cool stuff and good wisdom from the sports world. It’s been fun. Thank you for doing this and all the best of luck to you.

[music plays]

April: Yes, thank you.

Anja: Take care, bye-bye.

April: All right, bye.

[music plays]

[00:38:32] [END OF AUDIO]

About sport and confidence :

“Sports, I think helps you overcome that to sort of second guess that lack of confidence that you have initially.”

About asking for a raise :

« It may fail. Like, you may not get what you’re asking for. But that’s okay. I don’t disrespect someone just because they’re asking »

Filmmaker,

AFTER THE GAME

April Abeyta is a filmmaker with a background in sports. After having had a great corporate career working for TV such as FOX Sports and producing movies and video content for corporations, she has dedicated the last couple of years to her passion project AFTER THE GAME.

She is an advocate for women in sports and the message of helping more young girls stay involved in sports. 

SUPPORT “AFTER THE GAME”  WITH A DONATION HERE

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