By Alyssa Hermann, Beyond the Athlete
We’ve all heard it: “Enjoy your sport while you can because one day, it’ll be gone.” It’s advice meant to make you savor the moment, but what does it actually mean to wake up and realize that part of your life is over?
For the 98% of athletes who don’t go pro, life after sports brings challenges no one really prepares you for. It’s deeper than just missing the game.
Let’s talk about five unique struggles of life after sports and how you can start preparing now.
1: Progress Doesn’t Feel Like Progress Without Clear Metrics
As an athlete, success is measurable. Run faster, lift heavier, win the game. Every effort produces results you can see, whether in your stats, your confidence, or your starting spot.
Life after sports feels completely different. Progress can start to feel pointless. No one cheers when you go to the gym three times in a row, and there’s no scoreboard to remind you how far you’ve come. I remember going to a commercial gym after college and thinking, Why does this even matter? I realized I had no idea what I was working toward anymore.
Without clear goals, it can feel overwhelming to even start. Success outside of sports is less tangible, and if you don’t create your own definition of progress, you might feel stuck.
One Way to Prepare Now:
Celebrate your “small” wins. Athletes can get so accustomed to searching for validation through external measures like wins and nods of approval from coaches. But one of the longest relationships in your life (besides sports) is the one you have with yourself. You get to be your own teammate here, and hype yourself up. Ask yourself, “what did I do
this week that pushed me outside of my comfort zone? Or, “what is one thing I did this week that made me feel really good?”
2. Your Routine Doesn’t Prioritize You
I’m a little embarrassed to say, but I used to roll my eyes at people who skipped practice or blew off workouts. I just couldn’t relate. But once I graduated, it hit me: there was no one telling me I had to take care of myself. A few months in, I realized I hadn’t worked out consistently in weeks. The only thing I did consistently was show up to work!
When you’re an athlete, your routine is built for you and revolves around your success. Workouts, recovery, nutrition, and even mental health are prioritized to help you perform at your best.
Many athletes look forward to the freedom of life after sports. I’ve had so many former athlete clients say things like, “I’ll finally have time to do whatever I want.” The reality is that free time can quickly feel overwhelming. Without structure, it’s hard to prioritize things that used to come naturally, like working out, setting goals, or even eating well.
The discipline you built as an athlete can fade fast if you don’t have somewhere to channel it. Suddenly, your routine starts revolving entirely around your job and responsibilities. What used to be about you is now about someone else’s priorities.
One Way to Prepare Now:
Start building a personal routine unrelated to sports. Build a structure now that doesn’t rely on external expectations; like drinking a glass of water right after waking up, stretching before bed, or journaling once a week. It doesn’t have to look like your old routine as an athlete, but by learning how to build consistency for yourself now, you’ll carry that habit into your life after sports.
3. You Feel Like You’ve Lost a Part of Yourself
“Who am I now?”
When you’re an athlete, it’s not just what you do. It’s who you are. People know you as the soccer player, the swimmer, or even the captain. It’s part of your identity and the version of yourself you’re most proud of.
So what happens when it’s gone?
I’ll never forget someone asking, “What do you do now?” after college. For years, my answer was, “I play soccer.” Suddenly, that wasn’t an option, and I didn’t know what else to say.
It’s tempting to pour your identity into something else, like your career, but that can lead to burnout and a sense of emptiness (speaking from personal experience here). The truth is, your confidence, drive, and leadership don’t belong to your sport. They are yours to bring into anything you pursue. It’s just a matter of rediscovering them.
One Way to Prepare Now:
Define your personal values. Who do you want to be after sports? What is the underlying reason you set goals? Use this Core Values sheet from our Life After Sports Course to choose 3 values that feel important to you. The athlete in you will always be part of your story, but there’s more to you than your sport. Begin building that version of yourself.
4. Your Confidence Takes a Hit
Do you remember the shock that came with going from 5th grade to 6th grade? Clawing your way up the ranks and finally making it as an 8th grader, only to be completely humbled by your first day as a high school freshman?
Welcome to your first couple of months after sports ends.
Going from an environment where you were considered “elite” to a space where you’re a “newbie” or as some say, a “NARP” (non-athletic regular person) can be JARRING on your confidence. Especially if a lot of your personal belief in yourself comes from your external abilities (Hint: almost every athlete gets confidence from external validation. It’s in our DNA.)
Suddenly, things that used to feel easy, like cracking jokes, trying a new workout, or volunteering to lead something, feel intimidating. You start wondering, Do I even know what I’m doing anymore?
This is normal, but confidence doesn’t come from staying in your comfort zone. It comes from showing up, even when it feels hard. The more you practice putting yourself out there, the more your confidence will grow.
One Way to Prepare Now:
Go be bad at something new. Try something you’ve never done before and prove to yourself it’s not world-ending to be a beginner. As a nurse, I had to get over my fear of saying “I don’t know.” If I had kept worrying about experienced nurses thinking I was stupid, my patients could literally die. An extreme example, but you get it.
5: Life After Sports Can be Isolating
One of the best parts of being an athlete is the team. You spend countless hours with your teammates, grinding together through early mornings, long practices, and late nights. You support each other through the wins, losses, and everything in between. There’s an unspoken bond that forms when you’re working toward a shared goal, and that kind of connection and energy is hard to replicate.
When sports end, the transition can feel jarring. Suddenly, there’s no pre-practice banter, no group text popping off at 10 pm, and no one beside you pushing through a tough workout. Everything starts to feel like a solo mission. You’re working out alone, chasing personal goals, and navigating life without the built-in camaraderie you’ve grown to rely on.
Even though we live in a hyper-connected world where people are just a text away, life after sports can still feel incredibly isolating. It’s not just about missing the people. It’s about missing the shared sense of purpose and accountability that comes from being part of a team. Without that collective effort, it’s easy to feel disconnected.
One Way to Prepare Now:
Get used to your own company. Despite the loss of a team environment, there’s an opportunity to learn how to be comfortable spending time alone. Many athletes use sports as a way to avoid sitting with their thoughts or processing emotions, so this transition can feel tough. Start carving out time now to reflect, journal, or simply sit in silence for 10–20 minutes without distractions. It might feel uncomfortable at first, but it can help you build a stronger connection with yourself.
Final Thoughts
Listen, I’m not saying life after sports is awful. In fact, I like who I am now more than who I was as an athlete. My schedule is more flexible, my body feels better, and I’m stronger, mentally and physically.
But I also won’t sugarcoat it. Leaving sports is tough, and it comes with challenges you might not expect. You’ve spent years committing yourself to something you love, so it’s natural for this transition to feel hard.
The good news is that you can prepare for it. Just like you warm up before a game, you can start building habits, setting goals, and figuring out who you are outside of sports.
This isn’t the end. It’s the start of something new, and this time, you get to decide the path you take.
Take the Athlete Archetype Quiz
If this resonates with you and you want to understand how your athlete personality can help or hold you back in life after sports, take the Athlete Archetype Quiz.
This quiz will help you figure out your strengths, habits, and mindset and how to use them to your advantage.
Hi, I’m Alyssa Hermann, CEO of Beyond the Athlete, a former athlete, Registered Nurse, and board-certified coach. My mission is to help retiring and former athletes create fulfilling, sustainable post-athletic lives. Everything I shared in the blog post above comes from my own experiences, extensive research, and insights from working with countless former athlete clients.
Comments