Chicago Fire Soccer Club (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There must be something in the air.  Having mentioned Sugar Ray Leonard in December – in the context of sportspeople leaving the competitive arena to pursue new challenges -there seem to be plenty of others doing the same thing.

Robbie Rogers has stepped away from his US club, Chicago Fire, to discover himself away from football (he also played for Leeds United).  Additionally he  acknowledged he is a gay man in the blog post about leaving the sport.  The two announcements are hopefully not inter-related.  There’s no reason football should be less able to meet the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual players than other sports…is there? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21479520

Then there is the surprising phenomenon of former Olympic competitors signing on at the Jobcentre.   The BBC reports, former pentathlete Georgina Harland has a philosophical take on life after a sporting career.  She says:

“You have had this one goal for so long and never questioned it.  Then suddenly it’s not there anymore…You are used to aspiring to be, literally, the best in the world.  But you have to make compromises. What is success in the normal workplace and what does success mean to me?… You can find a job that will satisfy you. It may never be what it was like when you were competing, but you can find something that satisfies in a different way”

Unintentionally those observations are sound bits of advice for anyone going through a life transition, perhaps linked to redundancy or another major change of circumstances.  Find out what ‘success’ means for you and you are part way to uncovering what type of employment may provide it for you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/21443649

Related articles

• Former Leeds and USA midfielder Robbie Rogers reveals he is gay (telegraph.co.uk)