World Aquatics organized the first summit on athletes' careers, entitled "From Podiums to Possibilities". It brought together 18 athletes from all aquatic sports for three days dedicated to life after competitive sport. Among the speakers were Coy Wire, former NFL defensive end and sports presenter on CNN; Ivan Rakitić, former professional football player, technical director of Hajduk Split; Cameron van der Burgh, Olympic gold medalist swimmer and hedge fund manager; and Bill O'Brien, former professional lacrosse player and entrepreneur.
The workshops focused on personal branding, the creation of a network, from his own company, exploring new career paths and the redefinition of values and objectives beyond sport. The summit offered practical tools, mentorship, and strategies for to help athletes make use of the skills acquired in sportsuch as discipline, resilience and leadership, in order to succeed in their careers after sports.
« When you spend years in professional sports, you can feel like you're living for the next competition, the next training session, the next challenge. Ultimately, There comes a time when you have to ask yourself: “What next?” It's fantastic to see World Aquatics supporting the athletes throughout this journey " commented Ivan Rakitic, runner-up in the 2018 FIFA World Cup with Croatia.
« We have this culture in high performance that demands total focus on the sport… starting to think about passions outside the pool from a young age can be very beneficial " adds swimmer Dylan Carter. It was a great opportunity for us to discuss and share our experiences...and a very positive way to bring all the disciplines together… The exchanges with the other athletes and experts were fantastic. », polo player Felipe Perrone.
