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The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport
The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport

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2 Performance lifestyle

In recognition of the challenges that career transitions in sport can bring about, it is now commonplace for elite level athletes to have access to ‘athlete lifestyle’ or ‘performance lifestyle’ programmes to help them to prepare for the transitions they will face. The athletes in Activity 1 both referred to the performance lifestyle support they received from the English Institute of Sport (EIS) and cited this as helping them to develop their life outside their sports.

Performance lifestyle can be defined as ‘tailored, individualised coaching, mentoring and counselling services that support performance athletes, coaches and key personnel in all aspects of an athlete’s life – ensuring they successfully manage the transitions, challenges and choices encountered within the performance environment and in life away from sport’ (Sport Scotland, 2018). The video below explores the role of a performance lifestyle advisor.

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Transcript: Video 3

ANDY FARROW:
My name is Andy Farrow. I'm the performance lifestyle advisor here at the VIS. We use a method of positive psychology. And looking at all the different facets of an individual and how we can ensure that they flourish in various aspects of their life.
TAYLA HONEY:
I've generally liaised with Andy. And she's been great for me in terms of uni and helping me sort out any timetabling issues that I have. And generally, just picking subjects and course completion times. So I've found her really handy in that regard.
ANDY FARROW:
We do individual consultations with the athletes, and working on their dual career.
TAYLA HONEY:
Definitely, my stress level have reduced. Like, I didn't really know too much about my course and prerequisites and credit points, and things like that. And she was really good in explaining all that to me and putting my mind at ease.
ANDY FARROW:
We really try to ensure that we can assist them balance their sport and their life. And sometimes, it's a bit of a juggling act for the athletes.
TAYLA HONEY:
Success in sport and life to me means having a dual career and being able to fall back on something that you're also passionate about.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

End transcript: Video 3
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Video _unit4.3.1 Video 3
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In the next activity you will reflect on the benefits of performance lifestyle programmes for athletes.

Activity _unit4.3.1 Activity 2 Preparing for life after sport

Timing: Allow about 30 minutes

Watch Video 4 which explores some research undertaken by David Lavallee (2019) on performance lifestyle. As you watch the video make a list of the benefits for athletes engaging in performance lifestyle programmes, and then think about how you could apply principles of these programmes to your own situation (as an athlete, coach or parent).

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Transcript: Video 4

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR:
Giorgio Chiellini is starting his 15th straight season for Juventus. He says studying for a masters in business administration in his free time has helped make him a better player.
GIORGIO CHIELLINI:
[SPEAKING ITALIAN] It gave me a big help. In football if you are not active mentally, if you are not lucid and quick thinking about reading situations you won’t reach a high level.
NARRATOR:
Professor David Lavallee recently published an academic study that shows Chiellini is right. Generally, athletes who study for a second career have a more successful sports career. Professor Lavallee tracked 632 players in Australia's National Rugby League over three years and found those actively preparing for their career transition were more likely to be selected for matches and enjoy a longer sports career.
DAVID LAVALLEE:
Those people that were more engaged in their career, and their educational planning, planning for their retirement, actually stayed in the club for longer, and they stayed in the game for longer. There were benefits to the individual, there were benefits to the club, there were benefits to the game overall.
This is the first study in the world that has actually proved this link. From our perspective, we see it as a missing link.
Iris Slappendel was a pro cyclist for 15 years. She was Dutch champion in 2014. In her free time, she studied for a design degree. She also made cycling clothing, and equipment.
IRIS SLAPPENDEL:
I had all these trainers or coaches who told me either please stop doing all the other stuff that you're doing and just focus on cycling. But I think that's a choice you make. And I felt quite happy doing it the way I did. I'm really convinced it can give you energy as well, that can make you a better athlete if you have any interest in normal life.
DAVID LAVALLEE:
This is the future. I think that for the next 20 years, this is where the performance gains will be seen within sport. I think it will be in the well-being and the welfare area. And I don't think there'll be marginal gain. I think it'll be much significant, much more significant than marginal gains.
I think this is great opportunity in football to be able to-- probably more than any other sport.
GIORGIO CHIELLINI:
[SPEAKING ITALIAN] Studying helped me take away the tension and pressure that we have in football.
DAVID LAVALLEE:
If you do something outside of sport, you are in many ways reducing the stress that you might have with the uncertainty of not doing something else. And a lot of players' identity is very much tied up within the sport. They're very much encouraged from a young age to continue to focus just on one thing, and they foreclose on their identity.
NARRATOR:
Peter Enckelman spent 14 years playing as a goalkeeper for clubs in England and Scotland. Like many of his teammates, he did not plan for life after football. After he left the game, he began a new career with international career company, DHL.
PETER ENCKLEMAN:
As soon as you've got football at UK, you forgot about education. All that went out the window. I was always thinking what am I going to do when I grow up I mean, you're 36, you would like to think you're grown up. But when you're in the footballing world, it's kind of a dressing room mentality sets in. You're 17, it's 37. It's just, don't think about the future.
DAVID LAVALLEE:
Players, coaches, senior management, managers, I think should recognise that if you place greater value on the holistic development of players rather than focusing on just winning in its own right, it actually has a better opportunity to lead to winning. And that's a very different way of thinking from the perspective of just the winning at all costs.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

End transcript: Video 4
Video 4
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Discussion

Performance lifestyle programmes are believed to be effective in helping athletes to prepare for career transitions. For example, in his study of rugby league players which is discussed in Video 4, Lavallee found that players who engaged with pre-retirement planning support services were not only better prepared for career transitions, but also derived performance advantages such as being more likely to be selected for teams or having longer careers. It was suggested that performance gains might be due to the players having fewer concerns about the future, resulting in greater levels of satisfaction and enhanced capacity to focus on their sports performance. In the video, Lavallee suggests that this holistic approach to developing athletes − which focuses on athlete welfare and wellbeing − is superior to a ‘win at all costs’ approach as it still leads to winning and successful performance.

It is important to note that while only high level athletes tend to have access to performance lifestyle programmes, that doesn’t mean that lower level athletes should miss out. Transitions are still highly significant for these athletes too and similar support should be offered by significant others around these athletes, such as coaches, parents or teammates.

If you are one of these significant others you can incorporate principles from the programmes in the videos into your own practice by speaking to your athletes about the importance of preparing for transitions in their sporting careers and developing their identity outside sport. You may, for example, encourage an athlete to look at local college or university courses or encourage them to socialise with friends when not training or get a part-time job. Telling athletes that developing their identity outside sport can actually improve their performance − as shown in Lavallee’s (2019) research − could well be a good motivation!

These programmes are all about preparing athletes for transition and developing plans to cope. In the next section you will investigate in more detail what developing a career transition plan might involve.