Programme helps athletes prepare for life beyond sport
By Maurice Garvey
FORMER professional boxer Bernard Dunne has managed to transition well from the life of an athlete to the workplace and this week, he helped launch a programme specifically targeted towards people who need help making this progression.
The Clondalkin man, who serves as High-Performance Director of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA), teamed with Indeed and Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) to launch ‘Indeed Career Coach’ programme.
Bernard Dunne at the launch of the new ‘Indeed Career Coach’ programme which aims to tackle the core issues high-performance athletes encounter when transitioning to life outside elite sport
The programme has been developed with the support of Dunne, the OFI, and Sport Ireland Institute.
It aims to prepare hundreds of athletes for life outside sport and is free to any Irish high-performance athlete through their national federation and the Sport Ireland Institute.
Speaking at the launch, Bernard Dunne said: “Transitioning from being a full-time athlete into the workplace can be a challenging experience.
“When you’re an athlete all you identify as is an athlete. When you retire from that, what are you? That transition is difficult because you’re leaving a world that you have invested so much of yourself in, a world which you have the skills to work in.
“To then transition into the unknown can be a daunting experience. Going into a world that you know nothing about, it’s very easy to get lost.
“I have experienced first-hand how difficult the transition is and have always wanted to do more to help athletes during this challenging time.
“When the opportunity arose to work closely with Indeed, the OFI, the OFI Athletes’ Commission and Sport Ireland Institute to develop this new Indeed Career Coach Programme I was excited by the potential of the project. We have ensured the programme is specially designed around athlete’s needs and is equipped with all the tools and supports essential to preparing for life beyond being an athlete.”
After a successful pilot programme in 2020 with over 80 participants, Indeed is committed to further helping hundreds of Irish high-performance athletes.
Career tools include virtual workshops, career advice and dedicated resources, available at Indeedcareercoach.
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