As an athlete – whatever discipline you may compete in – looking ahead is incredibly important. It’s a short career, however high up the ladder you get and it’s vital you’ve always got an idea in the back of your mind of what you’re going to do when your time competing is up. You’ll have picked up loads of skills that you will be able to transfer to a multitude of different careers.

To help give you an idea of how you might be able to apply your skills to a post-competition career, we’ve teamed up with one of our Sporting Champions Elite Athletes, Paralympic swimming Champion (alongside many other successes) Maisie Summers-Newton and motorcycle racer and 2016 British Superstock Champion, Taylor Mackenzie. They’ve joined Sporting Champions Ambassador and athletics legend Colin Jackson to discuss this very topic at one of our recent Sporting Champions Mentoring events.

Whatever your skillset – whether it’s your physical prowess, in-depth knowledge of your sport, problem-solving abilities, intellect or anything else, it’s absolutely to plan and prepare for a future beyond competition. Maisie, for example, despite her burgeoning success in the pool is already planning for a career as a primary school teacher once her time at the top level is over. They also talk about what you can do while you’re still competing to help set you up for your future career and when to begin that thought process.

Maisie, Taylor and Colin discuss so much around how important it is be looking ahead and to make sure you have a plan in place for your post-competitive career that we won’t go into it all here. Simply watch the video, enjoy and learn!