Dive deeper into the reports and more on the Athlete Transition Hub.
Jacobs Futura Foundation has launched Forged in Competition, Enabling Effective Transitions, a new report exploring how athletes can be better supported as they navigate high-performance sport and life beyond competition. The report follows on from the 2024 report Forged in Competition, Tested in Transition, bringing together research, athlete perspectives, and examples from practice, setting out opportunities for a more connected, accessible, and collaborative approach to transition.
What helps athletes thrive through transition?
Transition is not a single moment at the end of a sporting career. It can begin while athletes are still competing and continue long after they leave high-performance sport. Building on evidence reviewed by Professor Lavallee of Abertay University, the report identifies four interconnected areas that shape athletes’ experiences: planning and preparation for life after sport; access to supportive relationships; identity outside sport; and involvement in future decisions.
These conditions reinforce one another. Early preparation can create greater choice and confidence. Trusted relationships can provide stability and encourage athletes to explore what comes next. Opportunities beyond competition can broaden identity, while meaningful involvement in decisions can restore agency, including when transition follows injury, deselection, or a change in funding.
Effective support is personal, practical and connected
Across the report, athletes, practitioners, and organisations point to five practical priorities:
- support the whole person behind the athlete;
- treat transition as an ongoing process, not only a retirement conversation;
- prepare athletes for life beyond sport, not simply their next job;
- help athletes find the support that is right for them at the right time; and
- create opportunities for athletes to carry their knowledge, skills, and experience forward.
The report also recognises the breadth of support already available: from publicly funded bodies and player associations to clubs, charities, independent organisations, and former athletes. That diversity is a strength, but it can make the landscape difficult to navigate. Strong provision therefore needs to be matched by stronger connections, clearer routes into support and better opportunities for organisations to understand and complement one another’s work.
A shared opportunity
No single programme or organisation can meet every athlete’s needs. Forged in Competition, Enabling Effective Transitions therefore calls on the sector to focus on three priorities: expand collaboration, normalise conversations about life beyond high-performance sport, and connect the experience for athletes so support is easier to find and navigate.
To support that ambition, Jacobs Futura Foundation has launched the Athlete Transition Hub. This open-access resource brings together research, athlete voices, practical resources, and information about organisations working across the transition landscape. It is designed to help athletes identify relevant guidance and support, while giving organisations a place to share learning, build connections and contribute to a more coordinated ecosystem.
Transition is a shared challenge, but it is also a shared opportunity. By working together and keeping athletes’ experiences at the centre, the sporting community can help more people carry the strengths forged in competition into meaningful lives beyond it.
