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The Next Playbook

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✌️ Two things every athlete needs clarity on after sport: “What you’re about” and “who you serve”.

The trap: expecting to figure it out immediately.
The reality: it takes time.

When you’ve spent 15 years in a sport where the path is laid out, your team is built in, and your role is clear — stepping away means you have to reorient yourself completely.

Shaun Kirkham, Olympic gold medalist, talks about the two pillars that helped him find purpose after rowing in this week’s episode of The Next Playbook.

#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday by @thenextplaybook

Shaun Kirkham won Olympic gold with New Zealand’s rowing team at Tokyo 2020. Five years later, he’s built a business, discovered his values, become a father — and realized the real work wasn’t sport. It was learning to find purpose when nobody’s keeping score.

In this episode we discuss:
— Why chasing the “high” of external validation keeps athletes stuck
— The mountain climb that clarified his values (and how you can do this too)
— How self-doubt fueled his Olympic success but made transition harder
— The 4 conditions that help athletes find purpose after sport
— Why “who you serve” matters more than “what you do”

Listen to his episode, Stacking The Odds: Shaun Kirkham on Finding Purpose on The Next Playbook.

#lifebeyondgameday #thenextplaybook

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The athlete mentality tells you to have a plan and execute it flawlessly. Real transition work? It’s exploratory, iterative, and deeply personal. Everyone’s path is different.

Kyle Cleary went from “I have no idea who I am without soccer” to founding a community connecting athletes through the transition. His story isn’t about finding a new dream. It’s about rebuilding identity and giving yourself permission to explore. Now he’s helping former athletes do the same.

Listen to the full episode on The Next Playbook (link in bio).

#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday by @thenextplaybook

Most college athletes don’t know how to rebuild their identity when the sport that defined them is gone…or what to do when the external validation disappears overnight.

Kyle Cleary knows this experience all too well. He played Division 1 soccer at @fairfieldu and his entire identity was tied up in his sport. When he graduated, Kyle struggled to find purpose off the field––until he discovered research that helped name the emotional dynamics at play for athletes in transition. Now he is the founder of United After Sport, a resource and community for athletes navigating their own post-sport transition.

In this episode of The Next Playbook, we talk about:
• Why the identity of “the athlete” goes beyond the sport
• Transitioning from external validation in sport to building internal validation after
• The importance of building community off the field
• How athletic skills transfer to entrepreneurship and business
• Why experimenting after athletics leads to self-discovery

🎧 Listen to Permission: Kyle Cleary on the Need to Test & Learn on Spotify, Apple or Amazon.

#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday

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“A gold medal is a worthy thing. It’s a wonderful thing. But if you’re not enough without it, you’re never gonna be enough with it.”

The Cool Runnings quote that fundamentally shifted how two-time Olympic gold medalist Erin Cafaro approached her transition out of elite athletics.

Achievement wasn’t the answer. Identity reconstruction was.
In this episode of The Next Playbook, Erin dives into why identity work, emotional awareness and support are foundational to transitioning out of professional athletics.

🎧 Listen to Top of the Mountain: Erin Cafaro on the Cost of Winning — available on Spotify, Apple & Amazon.

#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday

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She won Olympic gold twice. And both times the joy of winning faded faster than she expected…

Most athletes aren’t prepared for the emotional and neurological stress that comes after peak performance and athletic achievement. Erin Cafaro is one of those athletes, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in rowing who experienced profound grief on the podium both times.

Now she’s a neuropsychology fellow at UCLA Health researching everything from post-Olympic depression to neurodegeneration to help develop processes for athletic retirement.

In this episode of The Next Playbook we discuss:
– Why achievement doesn’t automatically equal fulfillment—even at the highest level
– How grief is part of athletic transition, and why avoiding it makes it worse
– Post-Olympic depression, neuropsychology evaluations and nervous system recovery
– How neuroscience can assist in planned retirement for athletes
– What athletes should do now (while still competing) to prepare for the transition

Listen to learn what the research shows about athletic transition and why the emotional side matters as much as the practical side on Spotify, Apple or Amazon.

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#TheNextPlayBook #LifeBeyondGameDay by @thenextplaybook

When it comes to professional athletics, the word retirement hits different. That’s because retirement from your sport isn’t the end of your worklife for most athletes – Tony Meier included.

In this episode of the Next Playbook, I sit down with the professional basketball player to talk about the transition from the court to “traditional work life”.

We dive into everything from finding your identity outside your sport to navigating finances, family and the imposter syndrome that comes with career shift.

Listen to the full episode, Retirement Means Something Different: Tony Meier on His Transition (link in bio)

#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday by @thenextplaybook

For 13 years, Tony Meier thought about what would come after basketball. He knew he might never love anything as much as the game.

The challenge wasn’t finding a replacement. It was building a next chapter that could still feel meaningful.

In this week’s episode of The Next Playbook, Tony shares his journey from love of the court to finding meaning beyond the paint. This one is about more than retirement from professional athletics — it’s about acceptance, identity and finding meaning in the next chapter.

Listen to the full episode, Retirement Means Something Different: Tony Meier on His Transition, on, Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

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#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday by @thenextplaybook

Two years of The Next Playbook!

If you’re new here, hi.👋

The Next Playbook is all about what happens after the game changes: the identity shifts, career pivots, unexpected transitions, and the question so many athletes eventually face:

What’s next?

Over the past two years, we’ve shared honest conversations with athletes, coaches, leaders, and changemakers about life beyond competition and what it really takes to build your next chapter.

We’re incredibly grateful to every guest who has shared their story, every listener who has tuned in, and everyone who has been part of this community along the way.

Two years in, and we’re just getting started. 💛

🎧 Follow along and listen to The Next Playbook wherever you get your podcasts.

#TheNextPlaybook #LifeBeyondGameDay #AthleteTransition #WomenInSports #WhatsNext by @thenextplaybook

Three Olympics. Three very different versions of life.
College student. Newlywed. Mom.
For Leah Amico, her journey through elite sport happened alongside some of life’s biggest transitions. And by her final game, she knew another one was waiting: retirement.

~ Derika
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Ways to listen to The Next Playbook Podcast
• Follow @thenextplaybook
• Type this link: thenextplaybook.com/podcast
• Search for The Next Playbook at your preferred podcast Platform:
o Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon
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#thenextplaybook #lifebeyondgameday #OlympicJourney #WomenInSports #AthleteTransition by @thenextplaybook