In July of 2023 Dr. Samantha Sanderson Brown, reached out to me, having read my book Personal Next. There was an immediate connection as both of us shared a personal and professional passion for athlete transition and a deep belief that athletes have so much more to give to the world beyond their athletic talents.
Over the next 8 months we kept in touch.
Samantha is the Psychologist for the MLSPA and was interested in having some of her players participate in the Success After Sports program. I agreed but suggested she also join the group to experience the program from the eyes of a student.
The journey began.
Trust, a key value of mine, was developing; one day I shared with Samantha that I wanted to update the program and rename it Success Beyond Sports. The “after sports” name did not describe the type of athletes that were signing up. While the majority of students were ‘retired’, I also had athletes who were injured and had time on their hands, as well as those who wanted to proactively understand athlete transition.
Having both been athletes we were always talking about how to improve the program and that was the attitude we took to this project. 18 months later, we are excited to launch the Success Beyond Sport program alongside a new Athlete Playbook.
I am grateful to Samantha for her expertise, collaboration, and friendship. She is excited to launch the program in the US starting with a new cohort of MLSPA players.