How supporting Team USA’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes creates access — and powers the future of work
When world-class athletes compete, win a championship, or secure a gold medal, we think of them as being at the height of their powers.
Often though, they’re also at a crossroads.
An athlete’s focus on being the best can mean that they’re putting off other important moments to develop beyond their athletic achievement. After competitions end, they must pivot to what’s next in their career. Sometimes, they’re behind in that race.
Our shared belief is that untapped potential and talent is everywhere. What’s missing for millions of people, even some Americans competing at the highest levels of athletic achievement, is access to opportunities that allow them to tap into their potential. This includes things like flexible education that works on their terms, career-development opportunities, and one-on-one, career-focused coaching.
Today, Guild is proud to embark on a first-of-its-kind partnership with Team USA and LA28 that will expand access to these services for Team USA — helping to remove barriers for America’s Olympians and Paralympians, much as leading companies work to do the same for millions of working adults. And Purdue Global is proud to join Guild in this work as the preferred online university and degree provider of the Team USA and Guild Learning Network.
Access to the right support has never been more relevant. The pace of change is causing enormous skills gaps that impact America’s businesses and workforces alike. When we broaden access, we help businesses with open roles that require new skills by giving them fresh pools of untapped talent. And we provide pathways for individuals trying to tap into their own potential, navigate their careers in a time of rapid change and move forward.
And there is a world of potential within the ranks of Team USA.
Unlocking Access
We don’t tend to think of Olympians and Paralympians as wells of untapped potential.
Our favorite Olympic and Parlaympic memories call to mind the opposite — these are moments of excellence, grace, and fully realized potential.
It’s a different story when the competition ends. Most U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes spend a decade or more of their adult lives preparing to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Some pause their academic and professional pursuits during that time.
As leaders, each of us has worked with incredible former competitors who share similar stories: They are motivated, driven individuals who have spent most of their lives honing a specialized craft. That decision comes with sacrifices, though, and can create barriers — whether it be time away from education or diminished focus on a post-athletics career. One critical way to support Team USA’s mission of protecting, supporting, and empowering America’s athletes comes when we remove these obstacles.
Each of our organizations focuses on supporting working adult learners who balance competing priorities. In our work, we see that best-in-class education benefits and support means being adaptable and willing to meet people where they are.
When we talk to retired athletes or working adult learners, we hear similar things — if programs are more flexible, help them focus on their career choices, allow them to pick up where they might have left off, recognize their prior learning and experience, they wouldn’t feel as behind.
An approach that creates more entry points broadens access and benefits everyone.
Occupational Identity
Once we remove barriers around access, it’s also important to address other ways athletes can feel left behind.
One can be a sense of identity.
We spoke to a woman who played competitive basketball at the highest levels for years before embarking on a successful career in business and coaching. She shared that when her playing career wrapped up, “she didn’t know where to begin.”
“In my experience, that’s very common,” she said. “It’s not always clear where to go. Your self-identity, what you’ve been, it’s challenged.”
To address that challenge, it’s important to improve career guidance and exposure for former athletes and broaden their sense of what’s known as “occupational identity” — what role or job they can take on that matches their unique skills and capabilities. If you’re not exposed to opportunities or career pathways, you don’t know that you might be interested in them, or that you could thrive in them and enjoy them.
Athletes tend to identify themselves as athletes — and they need support translating a wealth of experience into a new identity. Exposure and career coaching can change that and help translate greatness from one field into another.
Durable and Transferable Skills
And, here’s something important to understand: Athletes’ skills clearly can transcend beyond the field of play when they have the access and opportunity they need.
Research shows that college athletes often make great leaders and high performers. Additional research shows that even early involvement with youth sports can translate into entrepreneurship and business success.
Think about some of the things that make Olympic and Paralympic athletes great at what they do: They’re driven, coachable, persistent. They improvise to solve problems. When they receive feedback on a performance, they do something with it. They routinely perform under pressure and manage stress. And when they have a setback, they get up and go again.
These are what are known as transferable and durable skills — like decision-making, creativity, and teamwork — that businesses say are among the skills they covet most. By virtue of their singular focus on the highest level of competition, many Olympic and Paralympic athletes need help recognizing that their durable skills can transfer to different realms. But, when they do, incredible things happen.
Realized Potential
Every Olympic and Paralympic cycle, Americans take incredible pride in Team USA — in the world records shattered, the medals, perfect 10s, and impeccable routines.
Our hope is beginning this summer in Paris, we can see that spirit and pride also come with support and recognition of the untapped potential in America’s athletes.
By broadening access, we can support our athletes as they navigate their lives after competition. And, in doing so, we’re continuing to create access that drives the future of work forward for everyone.