Transcript

ALEX DANSON:

So one of the most important things for me throughout my career was to always feel a sense of preparedness for when I did transition out, or when I did retire, or when I wasn't selected, or when I maybe had an injury and had to come out.

So one of the transitions that I did always thoroughly prepare myself for, more mentally probably than anything else, was deselection. And it was always something, from very early on in my career, I wanted to prepare myself for. So the way I did that was study because, you know, at the age of 16, I never dreamed for a million years that I would be playing-- I'd have an 18-year career.

So my plan was to become a teacher, so I did my degree. I always placed a really high importance on work experience. So don't get me wrong, my sport was always, you know, the thing at the forefront of my mind and that was where I put all of my energies. But I would always make sure I did my best to spend time in a workplace.

In 2018, one of my biggest honours was to lead the England team out at a home World Cup in London. It was incredible. The stadiums were full, it was a celebration of hockey, we were playing the best teams in the world. We had really high hopes, unfortunately that tournament didn't end where we wanted it to and we got knocked out in the quarter-finals.

But I had every intention of playing for another two years until the Tokyo games, perhaps leading out my team, if I was selected and still doing a good job. And then after that World Cup we had the opportunity to go away on holiday and it was a really fabulous, beautiful place.

But unfortunately, I had an accident while I was out there and I fell and hit the back of my head really very hard on a brick wall. And I came back from Kenya very, very unwell. And for the next six weeks I deteriorated and deteriorated. I could hardly walk at the beginning, I couldn't tolerate any light, any noise, couldn't hold a conversation-- I'd just be in a dark room for months and months.

So I went from leading my country out, to not being able to really process a normal day-- just to get through a day was an enormous challenge. I think my character was that I didn't want to leave hockey on those terms, I wanted to be able to try and make it back, try and come back for Tokyo.

And I gave it a go for a few weeks, but I knew I couldn't compete at that anymore, so I officially retired in February of this year. A lot of the feelings you have associated with transition and retirement, I think I had very early on in my head injury.

You know, the isolation, the losing your identity overnight, suddenly not being present when that first tournament happens, and you're not there. Somebody else is leading the team out. All of those things, which are incredibly difficult, I dealt with when I was really quite unwell.

A year and a half later when I essentially gave in my retirement notice, I'd already dealt with those and I was very grateful I'd lived my career in a manner, which meant I had no regrets.

I think one of the biggest challenges is, within sport, when you transition out of that game when you hadn't planned to. So whether it be through injury, through deselection, you're suddenly in a world that you don't want to be in because I want to be still there competing. And there are so many options but you have to make them for yourselves.

And some people are very, very lucky, they come out of an international career and there are options there, readily available. Some people come out of an international career and you have to create your own. Either way, you still have to think about, well, where do my skill sets best take me? What am I most interested in?

And I would encourage anybody, which I did do after I retired, would be to sit down and think about what your plan is within that first year of retirement, because it's a very, very strange place to be. You suddenly don't have the routine, you suddenly don't have that one purpose.

I think the one thing I've learned is that, when you retire out of elite sport people don't all go to the same job-- the variety is enormous. And that's what I mean around skill sets being very, very diverse.

I've got one of my dear friends, who retired a couple of years ago, is now an executive to coaching. I've got another friend that's teaching. I've got another friend that's running Airbnb and on a fishery on a farm. So there's lots of very different areas that people have gone into. There's also other athlete colleagues that have gone into the media or who have gone into journalism.

So it's about working out, I think, first and foremost, is the next journey or part of your life, do you still want it to be connected to your sport? And there's very, very specific areas in which you can stay involved. Whether it be coaching, whether it be journalism, whether it be governance.

Or do you want to do something completely afresh? And then if it is completely afresh, it's finding the right qualifications. But understanding you have the bedrock of those key skills and those values that will support you in your next journey.