Athlete Life
The Athlete Life Programme helps athletes maximize their opportunities and minimise performance constraints. We help athletes plan and develop their careers as athletes and with other life goals.
Important information for carded athletes: Remember to talk to your Athlete Life Advisor if you are studying this year and your study plans have changed in the last few weeks.
Overview
Athlete Life focuses on four key areas for a high performance athlete, outlined below. Key areas
Life skills
Planning for performance is key to being a high performance athlete. You need the right skills to plan effectively. This section includes setting goals and being accountable, preparation, managing your time and energy and making good decisions, and dealing with people. Also day-to-day budgeting, working out how much money you need to live on over the course of a year and developing long-term financial goals.
Sport lifestyle
It's a full-time job being a high performance athlete. You need to consider the logisitcs of going overseas, relocating because your sport is centralising or just moving out of home,sponsorships and partnership building, and managing your money.
Career and education
Find details here on planning for your short- and long-term education, part-time work, or work experience for your future job and setting long-term career goals.
Areas within the Athlete Life Programme
We know athletes have different needs in these areas and we tailor our professional development to provide the highest level of support.
Your Athlete Life Advisor will help identify and work towards your professional development goals using a variety of tools and resources. We also provide online tools.
Other Athlete Life programmes
The Athlete Life Programmes isn't just about working individually with carded athletes. We are also involved in broader programmes for athletes at both ends of an athlete's development pathway in the following:
- EMPOWER
- Athlete Friendly Network
- Pathway to Podium Athlete Life
Athlete Life uses Facebook and Twitter to keep carded athletes updated.
Our strategies
Athlete Life Advisors work closely with athletes, coaches and National Sports Organisations. We can put you in touch with an agreed provider network through High Performance Sport NZ. We also have a well-established external network of advisors on career, employment, education, sponsorship, financial planning and media issues. The Athlete Life Matters brochure (PDF) takes a closer look at what we do, and features athlete stories and more.
Your Athlete Life Advisor
Most Athlete Life Advisors have a background in high performance sport, along with professional qualifications, so they understand the demands faced by elite athletes. There are currently 16 Advisors throughout New Zealand working with more than 500 athletes. Our advisors have specialised skills in areas such as counselling, psychology, and career planning.
How we work with sports and coaches
The Athlete Life Programme is well integrated with sports and coaches to help athletes maximise their performances on and off the field.
Athlete Life Plan
Each year, an Athlete Life Advisor will work with you to determine your goals and objectives for the coming year and identify how we can best support you to achieve them. Your Athlete Life Plan becomes a general health check to determine what you need to achieve your performance goals. Athletes evaluate themselves across a wide range of areas and then develop strategies for addressing the areas that will have the biggest impact on their performance ability.
The Athlete Life Plan captures a range of information, including:
- your long-term life goal
- your performance goals for the next 12 months
- the members of your support team
- how you currently volunteer in the community, or would like to if not already doing so
- which professional development opportunities interest you the most
Download
If your Advisor has asked you to complete this plan, begin by downloading the Athlete Life Plan template (PDF).