Elite athletes - Ever wondered what they do when they quit?

I learned a lot through my elite gymnastics career, but also missed a lot of crucial years in my social life development. Such as playdates with my friend after school, making friends, and just figuring out how things worked in the normal world. Apart from that, I noticed at age 23 - yes a big jump forward - that I just didn't develop a gut feeling or any feelings at all basically. So where my friends would have a feeling about something whether they should do something or not, or if something felt right or not, I just didn't develop this at all. Since I was used to getting so much external feedback from my coaches and getting told what to do, this was another very difficult thing for me to embrace and develop at a much later age. 

Retired elite athlete struggles

The few struggles I outlined above are just a couple of challenges that I came across when I quit my elite gymnastics career. After years of thinking about what to do with my experiences, I decided I wanted to create something that could help others. I felt like I wanted to create something I wished was there when I quit my elite career. In January this year, I posted my first episode to the podcast The Normal World. A podcast where former elite athletes share their stories. Not so much about their sports careers, but about how they found their way back into normal life. I figured if I could just make something others can listen to and feel less alone it's already a success!

Can it also benefit me if I'm not a former elite athlete?

Of course, it can! The things you hear on the podcast are also applicable to any situation where you had a goal in mind and all of a sudden you achieved your goal or the goal was no longer achievable. Think about retirement where maybe you work also was your social life and now all of a sudden you don't go to work anymore. Maybe you graduated college or university and that was your main goal for 4 years or longer. Now all of a sudden you achieved that goal and you just don't know what to do next. And there are of course many more situations that you can list here. I got feedback on my podcast from many listeners that never did sports at an elite or semi-elite level and love to listen to it. So here you go, it can definitely benefit you even though you never practiced elite sports!

Personal coaching sessions from a peer mentor

So what I'm currently offering in the marketplace are personal coaching sessions with me. You can visualize them as coaching calls with a peer mentor or peer supporter. If you're going to listen to my own podcast episode where I share my own story you can hear the journey I've been through as a person. I've dealt with an eating disorder, other mental health challenges, and of course figuring out what my life would be without gymnastics. Through this journey, I've learned a lot and when I'm combining this with my bachelor's degree in PE and master's degree in Sports Science I think I'll be able to help you with some of the struggles you're going through. Just as a peer mentor that can listen to you, share how I dealt with (similar) situations, and hopefully that will help you too!

If you go to the marketplace via this link, you can see what I'm offering there at the moment. After you paid you'll receive a PDF file with a link where you can book a timeslot in my calendar. 

I'm looking forward to seeing you in my coaching call!

xoxo Annaleid