Life after sport

On Wednesday 26th June, I was asked to join a focus group made up of an impressive panel of former elite female athletes at the offices of Ernst & Young in the city of London.

The point of the discussion was to help more elite women athletes become exceptional business leaders when they retire from sport. The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of what women athletes might need in terms of support as they begin or continue to make the transition from sport to the next phase of their careers.

Speaking from experience, transitioning from sport to ‘everyday’ life is not easy.

When the discipline and emotional ties of elite sport are removed, quite often athletes have very little idea of how to move forward and find it hard to cope.

This is a serious matter and one that should not be dismissed or over-looked.

I strongly believe that athletes should be made aware from a very early age that competing at elite level will only make up a small part of their lives. They need to keep their eyes and their ears open for opportunities that will help them in their life after sport. They need to plan for the future.

Perhaps National Sporting Bodies should help with this and assist the athlete in finding a worthwhile occupation on retirement from sport? Should it be their duty? Particularly if they have shaped and nurtured an athlete from a very young age and profited from his or her success.

More often than not, athletes live in a bubble. You are completely committed to your sport, to the exclusion of everything else and you tend not to look beyond an Olympic cycle. Nothing is more important. Sport is all-consuming.

Athletes can leave their sporting career with no money, unless they are the top ranked athletes from high profile sports or have personal means. They enter the working world much later than the average person with little or no work experience having dedicated themselves entirely to their sport for so many years.

This is a problem. Although I personally managed to get a University degree before the London Olympic cycle and gained some work experience in my ‘down-time’ after major Championships, I have a four year ‘gap’ in my CV where I trained full-time to qualify for the Olympic Games. In effect, an elite athlete will typically retire at the age of 30-34 and will have had no previous work-place experience.

Fencing has shaped me in countless ways. Elite athletes are self-starters and driven. They have all of the qualities needed to be successful in the workplace. They are, by nature, high achievers, team players, hard-working, committed, disciplined, ambitious, dedicated, organised, resilient, strong-minded, dependable, good motivators… I could go on and on.

All of these skills are transferrable to the workplace yet many employers see retired athletes as a risk, with no concrete work experience for someone of their age. An elite athlete seeking a career in business after the age of 30 does not typically fit in with company employee development plans. In a word, the athlete is considered to be too old at 30!

According to Ernst & Young, research shows a direct correlation between girls’ participation in sport and greater achievement in higher education and employment – so why aren’t more companies jumping at the chance to employ a former female elite athlete? Why aren’t more female athletes being identified and fast-tracked into the working world upon retirement?

I believe you can get an elite athlete firing in the corporate world in a very short period of time. The elite athlete is in a sense ready to go if you give them the right support and training and if it is something that they really want to do.

Businesses need to know that every year elite athletes will be leaving sport. They are going to be eminently employable but there is probably a large percentage who fall through the net.

I was lucky enough to find the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust who have helped me enormously with my transition from elite competition to life after sport. More than that, their support has made me feel part of a team again. I cannot thank them enough.

This is why I was delighted to be invited to be part of a focus group in support of Ernst & Young’s Women Athletes Global Leadership. This same focus group was conducted in Rio and New York to make it a powerful global network.

Ernst & Young ‘get’ the qualities that a female elite athlete can bring to the workplace and they want to support them to thrive in business.

It was comforting for me to listen to the individual yet often similar experiences around the table. I think the network will be invaluable in highlighting the issues retiring athletes face and in helping more elite women athletes become exceptional leaders as they retire from sport.

What a fantastic initiative.

US Girls Rocks Festival

On Thursday 1st November I attended the Us Girls Rocks festival in London. It was a free festival aimed at getting women together and having fun taking part in sport and activity. As ambassador of the charity StreetGames I was asked to get as many women and girls aged 16+ to have a go at fencing. There were a range of activities on offer including badminton, basketball, boxing, cricket, skipping class, table tennis and zumba. It was a fantastic day out and I was so pleased to see so many young girls have fun and get involved in sport.

After teaching the girls some fencing basics they got stuck in and really went for it. For most, it was their first time fencing and they were surprised at how much harder it was in reality to what they had seen on TV. Everybody got a bit of a sweat on and had fun doing it.

Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams also popped in to the event to join in the fun and help inspire the girls. She spoke of what it takes to become the first woman ever to win an Olympic boxing title and how her life has changed since winning gold. Becoming an Olympic champion changes your life forever and Nicola deserves every bit of her success.

I was able to challenge Nicola to a fencing match and I can tell you that she has seriously fast feet. We both agreed that boxing and fencing share many similarities. Still, I was glad I was fencing her and not facing her in the ring!

Nicola has transformed the face of women’s boxing forever. Her skill set and demeanor forced non-supporters of women’s boxing to question their mindset. She is a wonderful role model for women in sport, and she has changed the stereotype of boxing as a brutal, male-dominated sport with her big smile and positive attitude.

The London 2012 Olympic Games was a fantastic opportunity for women in sport. The results the women achieved at London 2012 and the media coverage that they received was extremely positive. The more successes there are like Nicola Adams, Jess Ennis, Jade Jones and Laura Trott; the more young girls will want to emulate their role models. Women have a very important role to play in sport, just as the men do. It is ridiculous now to think that there were no female athletes nominated for the Sports personality of the Year awards in 2011. That surely has to change in 2012.

Major decisions need to be taken at national and local government level and by sports administrators if there is to be an increase in young girls taking up sport. For now, our wonderful female role models like Nicola Adams and events like the US Girls Rocks festivals are doing a great job in promoting women in sport.

The Boodles, 21st June 2012

Thanks to my lovely media agents at The Emilia Group, yesterday I got to spend the whole day enjoying world class tennis at The Boodles.  The tennis tournament itself is set within the beautiful grounds of Stoke Park, but what I found most incredible was the unique spectator experience enjoyed by all. With an intimate crowd of 1,500 and no seat further that eight metres from the action, you can imagine the kind of viewing and involvement that you feel in the game. It was superb. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a venue where I was so close to the live action, let alone world class action.

I got to see Andy Murray play current World number one Novak Djokovic. I almost felt like I was playing the game with them. There’s nothing better. The players seemed to love it too, especially Djokovik, the ultimate crowd pleaser and funny man on court. When it started spitting with rain, he got his towel out and started ‘wiping’ down the grass, he joked around with the ball girls and even high-fived a lady in the front row after landing a particularly beautiful shot. It was a joy to see the players so relaxed and enjoying their tennis. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a competitive exhibition match. An athlete always plays to win – it’s in their DNA. There was just a different feel to the match. A playful feel. They both tried out moves they might not risk at a major tournament, and seeing Murray land an incredible jump shot through his legs made for quite an exciting point. It was pure entertainment, and the perfect pre-Wimbledon warm-up for both players. Djokovic won in two straight sets and he looked on fine form.

I was also pleased to see a piece that I had written about tennis and fencing in the Boodles programme. It looked great, and I was glad that so many people got to read about fencing. I compared fencing to tennis and drew on their similarities in foot movement, hand-eye coordination, speed, agility as well as reading and reacting to a situation and making the correct decision under pressure. I imagine Rodger Federer would make a very good fencer. He has great foot speed and subtle hands. Gael Monfils is springy and has lightening reflexes and fast feet – great qualities to have in fencing. Rafael Nadal probably has a bit too much upper body muscle to suit fencing because as I explained in the programme, fencers tend not to develop big upper body muscles as it becomes restrictive. Your legs and feet are what will get you out of dangerous situations in fencing, the same way that tennis players’ legs get themselves out of trouble in a rally.

My final highlight was meeting the lovely Zoe Hardman who was the host and MC for the day. She gave me some great tips on presenting and working the camera. She was fabulous; very generous with her time and gave me much inspiration for what I might like to do next.

The Boodles was one of my best tennis experiences so far for the sheer intimacy of play. Did I mention they also served up the most delicious, fluffiest scones I have ever tasted? I’ll definitely be back next year.

StreetGames, Millwall Community Project

I am delighted to say that I have recently joined StreetGames as an ambassador. StreetGames is a sports charity that brings sport to the doorstep of young people in disadvantaged communities across the UK.

It is something I was keen to get involved in not least because I believe that participation in sport can have a hugely positive impact on a young person’s life, but also because I thought it a great opportunity to bring fencing to the community; a sport that is often wrongly perceived as elitist, expensive and inaccessible.

So on a rare day off on Thursday 29^th March, I went to Millwall on a beautiful sunny day to visit a fantastic group of young people. The day got off to a great start with the official hand over of kit. Thanks to access to a Coca-Cola bursary it meant that four StreetGames projects were provided with Leon Paul starter ‘Go-Fence’ kits and coaching.

The group was great, full of energy, eager to learn and ready to battle it out! Fencing is a sport that most of the group had never associated with or come into contact with and so it was nice to see it connect so well. The young people were engaged from start to finish and a pleasure to coach. I saw some definite talent in the group and I hope that it will inspire some of them to take up fencing in the future. Either way, a lot of fun was had and I enjoyed seeing the smiles on their faces.

Sport has the ability to bring together people of all ages and walks of life. Sport can be the glue that brings together and develops young people in the community and StreetGames does exactly that.

I am really proud to be a part of StreetGames and I’m looking forward to working with young people in their communities around the country. It is something I’d like to become more involved in when I finish fencing and I have more time to give.

On a side note, I also had great fun with Paul Cockerton from the Daily Mirror. I gave him a fencing lesson which was filmed and will hopefully be up on their website soon. I’ll keep you posted. He was quite the Errol Flynn! 

Team 2012 Appearance

On Wednesday, my team-mate Sophie Troiano and I did an appearance at Lord’s Cricket Ground for Team 2012 presented by Visa. Team 2012 is the official support programme for British athletes. It aims to raise up to £25 million to support the coaching and training of the group of 1,200 athletes who will make up Team GB and Paralympics GB in London 2012.

Sophie and I kicked off a seminar for Team 2012 with a fencing demonstration in the pavilion at Lord’s. We then got up on stage for a quick interview about our training, our life as athletes and our ambitions for 2012.

We had a great morning at Lord’s and want to thank Team 2012 for all their support! We even managed to bump into the official team GB mascots Wenlock and Mandeville who were on great form! Check out the photographs of our encounter above.