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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hey, TED Talks Daily listeners, I'm Elise Hugh.
Chapter 2: What happens to athletes when they can no longer compete?
Today, we have an episode of another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, handpicked by us for you. Competition can be healthy. For athletes, competitive sports can offer structure, community, and purpose. But what happens when, because of injury or age, they can't play anymore? This week, we're bringing you another great episode from Good Sport.
Host Jodi Avergan talks to aging experts and former professional athletes to ask where that competition goes when you can't compete anymore. But this episode isn't just for athletes. It's for anyone who could use some grace and direction when we realize that we must close a chapter in our own lives.
If you want more sports content from TED or just want to see the world through a new lens, check out Good Sport wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn more about the TED Audio Collective at audiocollective.ted.com.
There's this picture of me after we lost to Canada in Tokyo 2020. It was a really bad game played by our team. And I just had a moment with myself on the field.
In the photo she's talking about, Carly's sitting on a ball in the middle of a field. Her head is in her hands. She's staring down at the green grass in front of her. There's no one else in the picture. No spectators, no teammates. It really looks like Carly's alone and in despair.
I was upset. Yeah, I was pissed.
Most people who saw that photo were probably thinking, oh, she's just really upset. The U.S. lost in the semifinals. They're not going to get a shot at the gold medal. But there's so much more going on there that we didn't know.
Yeah, that was me just having a moment, just reflecting that this was my last world event.
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Chapter 3: How do athletes cope with the transition out of competitive sports?
Both in terms of the body, it breaks down, and something more existential. I was one type of person, defined by the things I love. Now that that's over, what am I? I've been going through this myself lately. For most of my life, playing top-level sports, which, as I've talked about on this show, was mostly Ultimate Frisbee, it shaped my life.
Every day was filled with playing or training for tournaments. My social circle was made up of people I played sports with. The field was where I could focus my drive and work out my frustrations. And it was an ego boost. I'll cop to liking the fact that I knew that I was very, very good at something. And then my body started giving out.
A couple torn ACLs, continuously pulled hamstrings, Achilles surgery. I just couldn't bring it anymore. I needed to stop playing. I knew that. But then it's like all those things that I love, they just go away. What a racket. My name is Jody Avergier, and this is Good Sport from the TED Audio Collective.
This episode will get some guidance from athletes much wiser and much more accomplished than me who faced this change and found their own answer to the big question, what comes next? I promise this isn't just a therapy session. You'll meet some great athletes.
You'll learn something, too, about how all of us, athletes or not, can think about aging and the years ahead with a little more insight and a little more optimism. So what comes next? Well, for one, the show's theme music and then, you know, more podcast.
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As a top pro athlete, Carly Lloyd practically lived on the road. And that grind got more and more grueling the older she got.
Yeah, there were several years in a World Cup or Olympic years where we were on the road 250-some days. And I definitely felt... It getting tougher and tougher. The older I got tough to be away from home, leave my husband and not really see my family and friends. And, um, you know, I'd come home for short little window breaks and I'm trying to cram everything in, in a week or 10 days. It's.
It's tough, but at some level it's like the highs are worth it to put up with the 12 hours a day of, of grind and BS.
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Chapter 4: What lessons can be learned from retiring athletes?
I'm a normal, everyday human now. I weed. I just pulled some weeds right before this.
Oh, come on. That's what comes after a Hall of Fame career? Weeding? But really, Carly says that since she walked off the field, her days have been filled with lots of things that give her meaning. Some new business ventures, a little media work, and time with her husband, who's a professional golfer.
There's no uber competitive drive there. I just, I'm picking up a sport because it's something that him and I can play together and it's good exercise and you can play it for a really long time and it's fun and it's challenging.
As zen as Carly is about her next phase, I did ask her about one thing I've struggled with, something I suspect she struggled with too. Motivation for working out. For athletes, workouts are absolutely critical. It's a cliche, but what separates the best athletes is how hard they train. The training gives you purpose, confidence, steady improvement.
But you're always training for something, a big game, the next tournament. But now if you're no longer playing a sport, it's like you're supposed to just work out to work out. To me, that feels really unsatisfying.
Before I was retired, I thought about this and I remember having conversations with, you know, people about it. And I'm like, it's going to be easy. You know, I'm I'm conditioned to run and work out. I've always dedicated myself to that and I've become kind of addicted to it. Well, as soon as I ended in November of 21, I had nothing left in my tank. I was completely dead.
But that competitive drive, it never really goes away, does it? Soon after her retirement, a chance to be on a reality TV show came along for Carly. The premise of the show is that it drops celebrities into the middle of the desert, then test their ability and endurance as they try and make it out. I'd watch that show, by the way.
Anyway, the instant this offer came along, Carly's workouts changed.
It was amazing how my runs, my mileage pace went from like eight and a half, nine minute mile pace, start training for the show, I'm down at seven, 730 mile pace. You know, it's just, it's crazy that your brain, or at least my brain, when there's a goal and there's, you know, something in play that it just triggers your mind to just dig deeper.
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Chapter 5: How does aging affect athletes' identities?
And I'm not really retired because I'm still working and doing other things and I need to grow. I need to evolve. I need to keep getting better and keep putting myself into uncomfortable positions because that's exactly what I did as a player.
All these things that make an athlete great, continually learning lessons, constant refinement, pushing yourself, maybe they're the answer to the what next question. It's hard to overstate how much the whole retiring on your own terms thing is really critical. Carly got to do that, and it has helped her transition. She's also got a healthy mindset, as you've learned.
But for other athletes, as you're probably noticing for me, it can be much more abrupt. If injury forces you to grapple with what comes next before you're really ready to, it can feel more like a void, not a transition.
When I've thought about the void left by the end of playing high-level sports, I've often thought, well, maybe I can just fill it with some other sport, some other athletic activity. Like, sports is all I know. I have to find some way to keep playing. But maybe one answer is to jump into another lane entirely. Take that drive and love of competition to a whole new pursuit. Something like cooking.
If you walk into my kitchen, you will smell bread baking. You will smell a lovely aromatic side, just caramelizing. Those are my two favorite smells. Butter, you'll smell butter. These are the things that I love the most.
This is Dawn Burrell.
I am chef partner of Late August here in Houston.
Wait a minute, you're more than just a chef. You're a former Olympic champion.
I'm an Olympian. Okay, so I'm Dawn Burrell, Olympian. I'm a former world champion of the long jump in 2001.
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Chapter 6: What new paths do retired athletes explore after sports?
She did mourn it. She struggled. One more lesson from Dawn. I asked her if when she first retired, she'd consider doing what some athletes do. If you can't compete at the highest level, you compete at a different level. In her case, that would mean the master's circuit. Long jump, but, you know, for old timers. That was not for her.
I mean, there would have to be that complete transference into something else because I... My mindset then was that there was no way that I would be interested in competing in Masters because it would no longer be my job. It would then be a hobby.
But now that Dawn has satisfied that need for competition with her cooking career, it's actually put Long Jump back in perspective.
Now I would like to compete, you know, but that's, you know, I have kind of recovered from the death of my career as an athlete. But I still had athletic drive. And so I look at the seniors like, oh, I would like to do that one day. Maybe when I'm 60 or 65, I'll get back out there.
What are the things about that that you that you most miss with a little bit of distance?
you know, propelling my body into a pit of sand. I love that. It feels like flying. You know, there's something about that velocity that I just love so much and I miss it.
If Carly's advice can be summed up as enjoy the process, take it one day at a time, then Don's is you might have to try something totally new and it might take time to be okay. Evolution isn't an immediate thing. But here's where I'm still stuck.
As wonderful as these perspectives are, the fact is, when you end one chapter and you move on to another, sorry, let me rephrase, when you evolve from one chapter to another, you're still losing something you loved, right? As you continue to get older, you still have to say goodbye to more and more. And that, at some level, still makes me sad, mad even.
And folks, I'm talking about more than just sports here. It's aging in general. I don't think I've evolved to where Carly and Don are. After the break, I get some professional help sorting through these very grouchy feelings about aging.
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Chapter 7: How do athletes redefine success after retirement?
I love that. Yeah, it was great. That's a great perspective. And for the 34 years that I played soccer my entire life. I just grew so much as a person and I'm forever grateful for this sport and to have been able to play for so long because there was no greater teacher than being immersed in all that I was immersed in.
And that's really the heart of it. No greater teacher. If my love of sports, the whole purpose of this show, is based upon the idea that sports has a lot to teach us about the real world, well, here's the real world. Time to take what sports taught you and put it to work. Experiment. Start a new chapter. Focus on process more than the goal. Learn from your losses. And don't forget to stretch.
Definitely stretch.
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Good Sport is brought to you by the TED Audio Collective. It's hosted by me, Jody Avergan. This show is produced by TED. This episode was written and produced by Camille Peterson. Our team includes Isabel Carter, Poncey Rutsch, Sarah Nix, Jimmy Gutierrez, Michelle Quint, Ben Ben Chang, and Roxanne High Lash. Jake Gorski is our sound designer and mix engineer. Fact-checking by Hana Matsudaira.
An extra special thanks this season to Colin Helms. Thank you for all your support. Since this is our last episode of the season, we also want to thank some of the people who helped make this show happen.
They include Daniela Balarezo, Valentina Bajonini, Jeff Dale, Nicole Idene, Mike Fimia, Jimmy Gutierrez, Will Hennessy, Nancy Hu, Marie Kim, Antonia Lee, Jen Michalski, Annie Odell, Diana Pietrzak, Anna Phelan, Julia Ross, Casey Walter, and Peter Zweifel. And yeah, this is the final episode. So I just want to say thank you to everyone who took a chance on this show.
All those people who took a chance on making it, but especially you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for spreading the word about the show. Thank you to all of you who've reached out with feedback or ideas. If you have any thoughts about this season or maybe stuff that you'd like us to explore in the future, or you just want to get in touch and say hello, please do.
Our email is goodsport at ted.com. You can also find me on social media. I have a newsletter, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You'll track me down. I'd love to hear from you. Okay, that's it for this season of Good Sport. My name is Jody Avergan, and we'll see you soon.
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