Life After Professional Sport were hugely excited to be mentioned in an article written by Virgin Group founder and world renowned entrepreneur Richard Branson. The article is titled ’10 reasons why businesses should hire former athletes’, and considers a variety of factors which make current and former sports professionals potentially excellent employees, all of which are applicable and highly valuable across any industry.
In the article, Richard Branson mentions the example of former world-class tennis doubles player James Cluskey, who he is looking to enter the Necker Cup alongside. James is a retired athlete in the process of starting his own business, and during the transition from sport to a new career has experienced a range of challenges and emotions, as many sports professionals do. He goes on to quote boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, who was quoted as suggesting that there was “nothing that could satisfy him out of the ring”, creating a tunnel vision, and all too often leading to depression.
However, Branson suggests that this can be combatted by current and former sports professionals finding a new purpose, away from their sporting career, which is why his article can be considered as so crucial, as it gives a whole host of reasons that there can, in fact, be Life After Professional Sport. He comments on his interest in hearing about the establishment of LAPS at the end of the article, and this can be found here.