They said that an athlete dies twice – the first time when they finish their athletic career. But my opinion and knowledge are that it is very difficult for a person to fall in love twice in their life, with every fiber of their body and soul. And when you experience such strong emotions and thus disappointments and victories daily, you unconsciously start dreading the moment, the day, when the time of parting comes and the usual boring life, by our standards, begins.

However, we deny it; athletes are focused on themselves and their bodies and developing their mental and physical skills to the maximum. Many people equate this with self-centredness. It is related to the fact that when a person is in professional sports, they are usually without children of their own, at the height of their desire, power, and concentration. And when leaving professional sport coincides with starting a family, that can be a major turning point in life, a crossroads, or doubt for many athletes. What do I know? Where do I belong? Or have I missed much of the implementation of normal life and training for a new career path?

The expectations and needs of former professional athletes are high. But they have talents; highly developed personality traits very welcome in the marketplace, but unfortunately the market does not recognize them; most of the time the athletes themselves are not aware that these qualities are what they could offer or what they could rely on to find a new career path.

This is why programmes that help them recognise these in-demand qualities, accept them as their added value, and offer them as their own attributes are so very important.

And if qualified, trusted experts could explain to us that our newfound feelings are something normal and that, in time, we will fall in love with a new profession that resembles our sports career – that would be priceless.

Professional athletes are people with extraordinary personal capital, which, with a little help from experts, turns out to be an opportunity to shape a second career as a successful employee or businessperson.

Therefore, congratulations and thanks to Zavod Vitae + for caring and recognising you!