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I would recommend that they talk to as many people as they can who have been through it
and to really think hard about the reasons they’re making that decision just so they’re
sure that they’re making the right decision and also to plan for it and plan to not, it’s
not necessarily going to go smoothly and what they’re going to do if they’re having
a rough patch or if it’s not as glamorous and wonderful as they think because the grass
is always greener on the other side and it’s not until you’re in that new paddock that
you realise your old paddock was pretty good.
The one message I would give is plan for it. Don’t think that you’re going to be able
to ride on the back of the wave of sport forever and have other goals and interests in life.
I think having a balance in life means that if your sport’s not going so well, say you
have a bad day at training, you’ve got other areas in your life where you’re still contributing
and feeling successful so it doesn’t seem so bad if you’re not performing on the sporting
field.
I think it’s really important for coaches, support staff and the institutes that the
athletes are involved in to really strongly encourage that people have a balanced life.
I think it’s too easy when you’re an athlete to just focus on your fitness and your sporting
and your skill development because unless you’re happy in the other parts of your
life it’s hard to be happy in your sport and I know that athletes can come up with
every excuse under the sun why they don’t want to work or they don’t know what they
want to do but that should be as equally important as their performance on the field because
I don’t think it’s fair for coaches and support staff to leave athletes with nothing
else in their life when they finish and I think there needs to be responsibility on
both sides.
Probably the only thing I’d mention is the timeframe of transition and it’s so different
for everyone and I know very close friends who have been very successful athletes who
it’s taken a full four year Olympiad for them to get closure so I think it’s very
difficult to put a time frame on it and I know that you can have times of sadness and
this can come some years afterwards so although I’m feeling fabulous right now and looking
forward to my new life, I’m realistic that it might take some time to really get closure
and look back and yeah I guess just deal with the next phase of life so don’t be afraid
to seek help if you need help with your transition, medically or psychologically or anything because
that’s quite normal from what I understand.
I think it certainly is and I have only been retired for five or six months and in that
time I’ve had periods where I’ve been sad for no particularly reason. I’m healthy,
happy and my life’s going amazingly well but you know that this time in your life is
over and yeah you do have times of sadness that cannot be explained. I’m not an emotional
person. I don’t cry for no reason and yep, I had tears and I’d ring my sister and go,
“I don’t get, I’m not even sad but I’m crying” and I think that frustrated me because
as an athlete you’re strong and you’re determined and you don’t let things get
to you and well, they got to me and I didn’t even cry much during my career, even if the
coach yelled at me so I think expect the unexpected and being sad is okay but I think if the sadness
continues for too long or you can’t pull yourself out of it you do need to get help.
I was lucky enough to let it go and I think for now things are going well but who knows?
I could cry again tomorrow.