Week 01
Launch
Starting together, getting to know the other athletes and building the connections that will support the programme journey.
A free, six-week online programme for athletes, navigating retirement and making sense of life after competition.
Maybe the routine that organised your whole life just isn't there anymore. Maybe you're not sure how to feel about your sport now that you're not in the thick of it.
You don't need to be in crisis. But you're not alone in how you're feeling. It's something almost every athlete goes through, and almost no one talks about openly.
First Steps is six evenings, online, with a small group of athletes going through the same thing. It doesn't start with "what will you do next?". It starts with understanding where you are now, and making sense of it together.
You don't need to have anything figured out, and you don't need the right words for it. You just need to be open to looking at it, alongside people who already get it.
Career programmes answer the doing question. First Steps works with the understanding question: who you are now, when sport is no longer the primary answer.
It's structured, and it's led by people who've made the same transition. The work draws on approaches that genuinely help you make sense of change, not just talk about it, including an Enneagram assessment and a one-to-one feedback session to understand the person underneath the athlete.
One evening a week, over six weeks. Structured, but never rushed. The shape holds the work; it doesn't drive it.
Week 01
Starting together, getting to know the other athletes and building the connections that will support the programme journey.
Week 02
Further developing self-awareness and understanding of the human beneath the athlete. Includes an Enneagram assessment and a one-to-one feedback session.
Week 03
What is the athlete mindset under transition? Exploring the psychology and neuroscience of change, and the old habits and traps that can catch people on the way through.
Week 04
Looking back to look ahead. Unpacking the athlete identity and performance mindset: what still serves you, and what's quietly holding you in place.
Week 05
Reconnecting to a deeper sense of purpose, and using the best of who you were in sport as a foundation, rather than something to leave behind.
Week 06
Reflections, and exploring how you take yourself on the best path forward. What strategies and tools can serve you, and what further development or support may you benefit from.
Clarity about who you are beyond sport: an answer that feels true, not performed.
More confidence and a calmer read on the changes you're going through, so they feel less like something happening to you.
Tools and pathways to keep going when the six weeks are done.
And a community of people who get it, because you are not alone.
First Steps is a complete programme in its own right. For many athletes, six weeks is enough to feel clearer, calmer and less alone. For others, it opens something up they want to keep exploring.
From here, the paths can continue: an ongoing Forum to stay connected to the group, a five-day residential Retreat where deeper work becomes possible, or becoming a mentor and using your experiences to help others. You'll leave First Steps aware of the options available to you.
94% of athletes gave First Steps a 9 or 10 out of 10. Average recommendation score: 9.7 / 10.
The most grounding and meaningful experience I've had since stepping away from competitive sport. A place where athletes can slow down, understand themselves more deeply and make sense of the complex emotions.
You don't know if you're crazy for feeling the things you're feeling. So often, athletes go through this alone. Over those six weeks we talked about identity and finding new ways to source our self-worth outside of sport.
It gave me a space to finally hear myself again. It doesn't push you. It guides you, gently but clearly, toward understanding who you are without the jersey.
A safe space within a small group setting to open up, explore our individual challenges and start a process towards self-awareness and progress.
First Steps is a Human First Athlete Transitions programme, delivered in partnership with Reboot and The True Athlete Project, and supported by the Jacobs Futura Foundation. It's designed and led by people who've lived the transition out of elite sport themselves, and built the programme they wish had existed.
The programme is primarily for UK elite athletes who've competed at international level. That said, we're open to hearing from any elite sports people navigating retirement. If you're not sure whether it's for you, apply anyway. We'll talk it through together, and work out whether the programme and the timing are right.
Applications are reviewed individually, and we follow up with a short call.
Complete the short application form. A member of the team will then get in touch to talk with you about the programme.
The call is part of the application. It's how we make sure First Steps is right for you at this time. There's no cost, and no pressure.
A few short questions. It takes a few minutes, and you don't need to be sure yet if it's for you.
A member of the team gets in touch to talk it through with you.
If you and the team decide that the time is right, you join the cohort and get started on October 13th.
The form has its own Submit button at the end. If the form doesn't load above, open the application form in a new tab, or email your application to contact@humanfirst-at.com.