Changing Games

What does a successful transition from professional sport actually look like?

Mark Lambert spent 17 years playing professional rugby for Harlequins. He pursued qualifications, prepared for life after rugby and appeared well placed for retirement.

Yet he still found the first couple of years challenging.

In this episode of Changing Games, Mark joins Dave Lewis to discuss what retirement changes beyond your job, and what athletes can do during their careers to prepare.

Now working with the Rugby Players Association to support current and retired players, Mark shares his perspective on identity, relationships, health, career exploration and the importance of staying connected.

We discuss:

• Why pursuing interests outside sport can help you perform while you're still playing.
• Why qualifications and financial security are important, but don't address every challenge of retirement.
• How to explore future careers when you don't know what you want to do.
• Why relationships and social connection deserve as much attention as career preparation.
• How retirement changes routines, family dynamics and your sense of identity.
• Why Mark believes he's now probably the happiest he's ever been.

Mark also explains why he encourages athletes to be inquisitive, seek mentors and use their playing careers to discover what they enjoy — and what they don't.

About Changing Games

The conversations athletes don't always have while they're playing.

Hosted by former professional rugby player Dave Lewis, Changing Games explores the decisions, experiences and challenges that shape life during and after elite sport.

Links and resources

Meet Your Mountain — Harlequins fundraising page: https://www.givengain.com/project/harlequins-raising-funds-for-2-causes-131783

Changing Games Substack https://substack.com/@changinggames

Changing Games on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/changing-games/id6806969041

Chapters

00:00 Can you be fully committed to sport while preparing for life afterwards?

02:23 The pressure to make sport your entire identity

06:28 The value of stepping outside the sporting bubble

10:28 What a successful transition looks like

13:15 Prepared on paper, but not emotionally

17:14 Money, purpose and financial security

20:29 Finding out what you want to do next

24:50 Why life after rugby can be better

32:58 Why players delay preparing for retirement

36:09 What to do with one hour a week

37:44 How retirement changes relationships and routines

40:03 Understanding what motivates you

43:28 Mark's most important advice for athletes

Pete Laverick went from barely posting on Instagram to building an audience of more than 100,000 people across different platforms.

But he didn't start creating content because he wanted to become an influencer.

Pete wanted more opportunities to work as an MC in Hong Kong. He realised that if an event organiser looked him up online, there was very little evidence of what he could do. So he worked backwards from the outcome he wanted, opened a spreadsheet, wrote down 65 ideas and started posting one video every Wednesday.

Today, Pete is a full-time content creator, MC and accountability coach, working with global brands and major sporting events.

In this episode, we talk about what happened between those two points — and what athletes can learn from it.

We explore:

• Why Pete wishes he'd made more of the opportunities available to him while playing professional rugby
• How he went from barely posting online to building an audience of more than 100,000
• The exact process he used to start creating content
• Why athletes shouldn't wait until they've figured out their next career before they start exploring
• Using small experiments to discover what you enjoy — and what you don't
• Why financial runway gave Pete greater freedom to leave a career that wasn't right for him
• The importance of systems, consistency and process-based goals
• Why getting more repetitions can increase your “surface area of luck”
• What Pete would do with three hours if he were a professional athlete thinking about life after sport today

Find Pete

Pete's website: https://www.petelaverick.com/

Instagram: @petelaverick
LinkedIn: Pete Laverick

Get the ideas from Changing Games

I write regularly about the ideas and lessons I take from these conversations, alongside money, decision-making and life transitions.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://substack.com/@changinggames

Listen to Changing Games

Follow the podcast for future conversations with elite athletes and people working with them about the decisions, experiences and challenges that shape life during and after sport.

Elite athletes are often told that the skills that made them successful in sport will transfer naturally into whatever comes next.

Tim Stoller thinks that's a misconception.

Tim is the founder of Forged in Sport, where he works with elite athletes who want to build businesses alongside and after their sporting careers.

In this episode, we talk about the difference between transferable skills and transferable behaviours, and why some of the behaviours that help athletes succeed in sport may actually need to be unlearned in business.

We also explore:

• Why the hardest move is often going from zero to one
• How to test a business idea before spending significant time or money on it
• The three questions Tim asks athletes who want to start a business
• Why perfectionism can hold athletes back after sport
• How to create your own scoreboard when there isn't an obvious measure of success
• Why your sporting network might not be the network you need for your future
• The relationship between status and identity after elite sport
• How athletes can use the access their sporting career gives them before it disappears

Find Tim & Forged in Sport

Forged in Sport: https://www.forgedinsport.com/

Tim also talks about the free Forged in Sport community and tools available to athletes who are thinking about starting a business or already building one.

Get more from Changing Games

I write regularly about the ideas and lessons I take from these conversations, alongside financial planning, decision-making and life transitions.

Subscribe to my writing: (1) Davey Lewis | Substack

Listen to Changing Games

Follow the podcast to hear future conversations with elite athletes and people working with them about the decisions, experiences and challenges that shape life during and after sport.

What if the best time to prepare for life after sport is while you're still playing?

In the first episode of Changing Games, former professional rugby player and broadcaster Will Hooley shares how he deliberately prepared for his transition long before hanging up his boots.

Rather than waiting until retirement, Will used his playing career to build relationships, gain experience in broadcasting, and create opportunities beyond the game. Today, he's a broadcaster and Technical Director for Major League Rugby, but his second career didn't begin when rugby ended. It began years earlier.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why athletes should start preparing long before retirement.
• How curiosity creates career opportunities.
• The importance of building relationships while you're still playing.
• Why taking control of your own future matters.
• How Will transitioned from professional rugby to broadcasting.

Whether you're a current athlete, recently retired, or navigating uncertainty in your own career, this episode offers practical lessons on preparing for what's next—before you have to.

Go deeper

Subscribe on Changing Games Substack for practical insights on athlete transition, decision-making under uncertainty, human behaviour, and personal finance.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with someone who'd benefit from the conversation.

Changing Games: Honest conversations about life during and after sport

What happens when the thing you’ve spent most of your life pursuing comes to an end? After 12 years in professional sport, host Dave Lewis. knows how valuable honest conversations about life during and after a career can be.

Through Changing Games, he brings those conversations to a wider audience, exploring the decisions, experiences, and challenges that shape elite athletes’ lives beyond the game.

In the first episode, Dave speaks with his good friend Will Hooley.

Follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so you don’t miss it, and share it with an athlete or someone you think would benefit from these conversations.