OUR NAMES DON'T ALWAYS TRAVEL

What I Read This Week

Usually, the research we are doing every week is exciting, and I am excited to present our research to the community. I read something this week, however, that pissed me off.

Researchers looked at the mental health and career transition support offered by 17 major European sports organizations, most of which were National Olympic Committees. There were legitimate programs in place, including mental health care and career support, so this wasn’t a case of organizations doing the usual…nothing.

The issue is most of those services were going primarily to athletes who had already reached the highest levels of their sport…with most medalists in international competition. The researchers described the system as fragmented, with major differences in who gets support and whether athletes even know those resources exist.

That’s what the research found…but my interpretation is that we’ve somehow built athlete support completely fucking backwards. A lot of programs want the recognizable athlete, and I understand why. Put somebody with a big name on the website, get a picture with them, make a few posts and suddenly everybody gets to talk about how much they’re helping athletes. That name brings attention, credibility and probably money. But at some point, if you’re only interested in helping an athlete once his name can help you…that’s more marketing.

Overseas sports makes this even more ridiculous because our names don’t always travel. You can be a dominant basketball player somewhere else in the world, play for ten years, win championships, play in packed gyms and have kids in another country wearing your jersey, then come home and walk through the airport completely unnoticed. Someone will tell you that you fucked up your life and should be playing in the NBA or will ask if you played basketball in college while you’re standing there trying to figure out how to explain that basketball has been the only full-time job I’ve ever had. That’s overseas, unfortunately…your career can be the biggest deal in places you played and almost invisible five minutes from your hometown.

So when athlete support programs intentionally chase recognizable names and attach themselves to the people who already have the biggest platforms, a huge percentage of overseas athletes are left out. The irony is that those athletes 100 fucking percent need the network more. An athlete can spend eight years bouncing around the world, make a legitimate living playing basketball, and still not make anywhere close to life-changing money. Then basketball ends, and they have to translate eight years of professional experience into a world that might not understand what they accomplished. Try explaining that you played professionally in Estonia during a job interview and watch somebody’s face while they try to decide if Estonia is a country or a freaking pill their doctor prescribed.

That’s the athlete I keep thinking about, because there are a whole lot more of them than there are superstars. The wealthy retired athlete can hire people to help, while the famous athlete already has people returning their calls. The regular pro might be sitting at home after the last contract wondering who the fuck they’re supposed to call. That shouldn’t be the moment we decide they weren’t successful enough to qualify for help.

That’s also why I think who is providing the resources is very important. The people helping overseas athletes should understand the environment they came from. That doesn’t mean everybody needs to have played professionally, but somebody in that support system should understand what it feels like to get released in another country, wonder whether you’re getting the money you’re owed, pack up an apartment, fly home and start training again because your agent says another team might call. An athlete shouldn’t have to spend half the conversation explaining why his career was difficult before somebody can start helping him with what comes next.

That’s what we’re trying to build differently with OverseasX. This community is full of people who understand this life because they’ve played it, worked in it, or spent years around the athletes living it. You shouldn’t have to be famous or wealthy enough to get somebody’s attention when you need help. You’re already here, so use the people we have here. If you’re trying to figure something out, reach out. Ask the question. Tell us what you need. If we have the resource, we’ll connect you, and if we don’t, we’ll work our asses off to find somebody who does.

That’s what this community is supposed to be. You don’t need a big name to ask for help. You just need to ask.

With OverseasX, you’ll never have to walk this journey alone.