High-level athletes to have “game plan” for life after sport

The Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, and a network of sports institutions have launched “the world’s first high-performance wellness and transition program,” according to COC chief executive officer Chris Overholt.
This program builds on existing life skills services offered by Canadian sports centres, but is designed to be of a broader scope and accessible regardless of geography. Both professional athletes and Olympians, who don’t have the same financial cushion, often have difficulty with life after sport.
Game Plan will cover five areas: career management, networking, education, skill development, and health, including mental health awareness and resources. Current and aspiring professional athletes, Olympians and Paralympians are eligible for access to this program, and remain eligible for two years after their retirement date.
The idea for Game Plan began to take shape shortly after the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when Overholt met with a group of Olympic athletes. In an interview with CBC News, Overholt described their stories as “mind-blowing,” referring to the difficulties these individuals had with “ the professional transition [and] some of the mental-health challenges.”
Former Olympic women’s hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser called it “a massive responsibility” for sports organizations to take care of their players. She wrote an essay earlier this year about her friend Steve Montador, calling out to the hockey community as a whole to do more for players at risk.
Wickenheiser wrote in her essay that one of the issues Montador struggled with was the end of his NHL career and with it, his livelihood. Montador died at age 35, and Wickenheiser described him as “floundering” in his life after sport.
Wickenheiser told CBC News, “What I saw in Steve and some other athletes I’ve known through the years is they don’t think about [life after the game] until it’s over and then there’s this real gap and the floundering that exists there.”
Former Olympic rower Dr. Kirsten Barnes performed a study in which she found that athletes who worried about their lives after sport experienced negative impacts on their performance in competition. Alleviating that concern could improve their performance and help them win medals, which has benefits for the COC and CPC aside from their moral obligations to their players.
In a press release, the Canadian Sport Institute stated, “Having a transition plan reduces stress, minimizes distractions and help athletes focus on their current goals in order to perform to their maximum potential.”
“We learned that athletes need more support when they leave their athletic careers,” said the Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State responsible for Sport in a press release.  “That is why the Government of Canada invested $120,000 in the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific for the development of Game Plan in 2014-15.”
Other partners of the program include Deloitte, a professional services firm that has extended its partnership with Team Canada through 2032, as well as human resources firm Morneau Shepell as a mental health partner until 2020. RBC has also joined to help athletes from a financial management standpoint, independent of its own program that helps Olympians gain work experience.
Phase I of Game Plan was launched in 2014, featuring a website where athletes can connect with a team of experts in career development, goal setting, and transition planning. Phase II, set for 2015, will include online transition training modules for athletes and the announcement of athlete mentors.
Overholt told CBC News that he feels these organizations have “a moral duty of care,” and Wickenheiser described Game Plan as “on the leading edge of what’s out there right now.”