WELCOME TO THE NEXT SHIFT NETWORK.
WE PARTNER WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETES TO HELP THEM
REACH PERSONAL BESTS AND PREPARE FOR PERSONAL NEXTS!
WE PARTNER WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETES TO HELP THEM
REACH PERSONAL BESTS AND PREPARE FOR PERSONAL NEXTS!
Picture your athletic journey like a road trip: long stretches of busy highway, exit ramps to different locations and attractions along the route, and your final destination many miles away.
In our road trip metaphor, while you are on the athletic highway (ie. while you are training, developing and competing at higher and higher levels), you may choose to take one or more of the exits along the route. Those exits are “pit stops” on your sporting journey where, instead of getting fast food, a slurpee, or gas like you would on a real road trip, you might need to access additional training or expert support, get medical treatment for an injury or chronic condition, or seek mental health advice either to improve performance or overcome anxiety. Ideally, once you get what you need at a particular pit stop, you re-enter the athletic highway and keep going on your sporting journey.
Sometimes however, you are forced off the highway and on to the exit ramp when you’d rather keep driving. On a real road trip, this might happen if you’re running out of gas, your car is overheating, or you really have to go to the bathroom. In the sporting journey, these forced exits can be the result of season or career-ending injury, chronic illness, deselection (ie. getting cut or released), unwanted trades, or aging out. In those scenarios, you’re forced on to the exit ramp and won’t be re-entering the athletic highway to finish your sporting journey.
Obviously, it is always nicer (and more emotionally comfortable) to be able to choose when you exit the athletic highway and why. At some point though, you’ll have to exit … you’re at the end of your sporting journey.
What then?
Research shows that the athletes that respond best to the end of their “sporting road trip” are the ones who have:
Next Shift Network is in the business of partnering with athletes on their sporting journey to think this stuff through! We want to help you create Plan B (and maybe even Plan C), while you’re living Plan A. We want to meet you where you’re at and give you the information, ideas, tools and connections you’ll need to create a game plan for life IN and BEYOND sport.
Get in touch with your observations & your questions. We’d love to chat!
In our road trip metaphor, while you are on the athletic highway (ie. while you are training, developing and competing at higher and higher levels), you may choose to take one or more of the exits along the route. Those exits are “pit stops” on your sporting journey where, instead of getting fast food, a slurpee, or gas like you would on a real road trip, you might need to access additional training or expert support, get medical treatment for an injury or chronic condition, or seek mental health advice either to improve performance or overcome anxiety. Ideally, once you get what you need at a particular pit stop, you re-enter the athletic highway and keep going on your sporting journey.
Sometimes however, you are forced off the highway and on to the exit ramp when you’d rather keep driving. On a real road trip, this might happen if you’re running out of gas, your car is overheating, or you really have to go to the bathroom. In the sporting journey, these forced exits can be the result of season or career-ending injury, chronic illness, deselection (ie. getting cut or released), unwanted trades, or aging out. In those scenarios, you’re forced on to the exit ramp and won’t be re-entering the athletic highway to finish your sporting journey.
Obviously, it is always nicer (and more emotionally comfortable) to be able to choose when you exit the athletic highway and why. At some point though, you’ll have to exit … you’re at the end of your sporting journey.
What then?
Research shows that the athletes that respond best to the end of their “sporting road trip” are the ones who have:
- explored and invested in other activities, roles and opportunities (ie. academic, social, vocational, relational) while engaging in competitive sport;
- considered what they might want their future lives and future selves to look like; and,
- prepared, through networking, brainstorming, dreaming and creating a post-sport roadmap, for what life beyond sport can be.
Next Shift Network is in the business of partnering with athletes on their sporting journey to think this stuff through! We want to help you create Plan B (and maybe even Plan C), while you’re living Plan A. We want to meet you where you’re at and give you the information, ideas, tools and connections you’ll need to create a game plan for life IN and BEYOND sport.
Get in touch with your observations & your questions. We’d love to chat!
Next Shift Network
is a proud partner of the KIJHL
and PV Elite Hockey
is a proud partner of the KIJHL
and PV Elite Hockey