Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves
Former professional footballer Ryan Gonsalves dives deep into the unique challenges and triumphs of transitioning from elite sports to fulfilling careers. Through candid conversations with athletes, the Career Clarity Podcast explores their inspiring journeys, uncovering lessons on identity, resilience, and reinvention. Whether you're an athlete or simply seeking inspiration for your next chapter, this podcast will empower you to unleash your second wind. Ryan Gonsalves transitioned from professional football with Huddersfield Town in the English Footbaal League, to a career in financial services by leveraging his adaptability, transferable skills, and willingness to embrace new opportunities. While playing semi-professional football, he pu...
201: Vivien Olatunji - The Grief That Comes With Leaving Sport
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For years, Vivien Olatunji's life revolved around athletics. She represented England at under-20 level, was called up to the GB under-20 relay squad and had her sights set on competing at the highest level.
But pursuing that dream also meant working to fund her own career, rushing from the office to training, dealing with injuries, changing coaches and navigating financial and family pressures. Then COVID disrupted everything. Training groups changed, facilities closed and Vivien eventually lost the coach who had helped her find her spark again.
By the summer...
200: Desleigh Owusu & Finn Alexander - The Career Question Most Athletes Avoid
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Ryan sits down with triple jumper Desleigh Owusu and former Australian sailing team athlete Finn Alexander to explore two different stages of that journey. Desleigh is still competing while balancing around 20 to 25 hours of training with 25 hours of work each week, while Finn has recently transitioned out of elite sailing and into project management and consulting.
They talk about balancing sport with work and study, making better use of athlete well-being support, recognising the skills built through elite sport, and why having something outside sport can make the eventual transition easier.<...
199: Ronald Clark: Leaving Pro Basketball and Why I Started Planning My Exit 4 Years Early
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Ronald spent 12 years playing professional basketball across Europe, but he knew the game couldn't last forever.
Rather than waiting until retirement to figure out what came next, he started preparing four years before his final season. While still playing professionally in Finland, he went back to university, earned another degree, built his technology skills and began developing a network outside basketball.
In this episode, Ronald shares how that preparation helped him move from professional sport into technology and eventually cybersecurity, where he now works as a Chief Information Security...
198: Dr Misia Gervis - “Football Is What You Do. It’s Not Who You Are”
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What happens when an athlete has spent most of their life being valued for one thing, and suddenly they can’t do it anymore?
In this episode, Ryan speaks with sports psychologist Dr Misia Gervis about the psychological side of elite sport, from the environments athletes grow up in to the identity challenges that can surface when their careers end.
They discuss why some coaching practices can do more harm than good, how athletes can learn to see themselves beyond their performance, and why preparing for retirement needs to be...
197: Cathleen Santoso: Being Good Enough to Go Pro, But Choosing Something Else
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For years, Cathleen Santoso had a clear goal: play professional golf.
She represented New South Wales and Australia, played college golf at the University of Oregon and had the funding and support to pursue the LPGA Tour. But when the opportunity finally arrived, Cathleen realized she wasn't excited by it anymore.
In this episode, Cathleen shares why she chose not to turn pro, despite everyone around her expecting her to, and how an internship helped her discover that she could enjoy something outside of golf.
She and...
196: Dr. Halaina Winter - From Australian Ballet To Doctor Of Psychology
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Dr. Halaina Winter spent eight years with the Australian Ballet after leaving school at 15 to pursue the career she had trained for most of her life. But even after achieving that dream, part of her knew she wanted something different.
In this episode, Halaina shares what it was like to walk away from ballet without a clear plan, spend several years figuring out who she was outside of dance, and eventually rebuild her career as a clinical psychologist and business owner.
She and Ryan also explore the pressure of s...
195: Ambika Pande: From Professional Tennis Dreams to Finding a New Identity
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For most of her life, Ambika Pande knew exactly how to introduce herself.
She was a tennis player.
She represented India internationally, competed on the junior circuit, won tournaments overseas and eventually moved to the US on a full scholarship to play Division I tennis. The plan was to use those years to develop her game and then turn professional.
Then injuries started changing the plan.
A torn rotator cuff and labrum led to surgery, rehab and eventually another shoulder injury. As the possibility of...
194: Tyler Edwards - Life After Sport and Letting Go of Perfection Without Losing Your Drive.
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What separates great athletes when physical ability alone is no longer enough?
In this episode of 2nd Wind, Ryan speaks with sport and exercise psychologist Tyler about the mental side of performance, from managing negative self-talk and perfectionism to handling mistakes, pressure and the uncertainty of career transition.
In this episode, we discuss:
193: Neil Mann - From Electrician Apprentice To Football Pro: and How to Give Back
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Neil Mann didn’t have the perfect path into professional football.
He didn’t get the scholarship.
He didn’t get picked when it mattered most.
And at one point… he was working as an electrician while chasing the same dream everyone else was chasing full-time.
But he didn’t stop.
In this episode, Ryan sits down with Neil to walk through what it really looks like when your journey isn’t straightforward and why that doesn’t mean it’s over.
What You’ll Hear...
192: Matthew Hodgson - From Pro Basketball To People Performance Advisor
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Matthew Hodgson spent his entire career knowing he had the ability and never quite trusting it. The moment basketball was gone, so was everything he thought he knew about himself.
He made the Boomers. Had a stint with the Dallas Mavericks. Won championships.
And still felt like a loser.
When the phone stopped ringing, he was sitting on a beach in Hawaii with an 18-month-old daughter and no plan.
What came next was messy.
In this episode, Ryan sits down with Matthew Hodgson, f...
191: Jack Oujo - How A Released Umpire Built Financial Independence Through A Written Plan
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Jack’s career didn’t end on his terms.
It ended with a letter.
No warning.
No backup plan.
No income.
Just a moment where everything he had built… stopped.
In this episode, Ryan sits down with Jack to unpack what it really takes to rebuild your life after sport when you’re forced to start again.
From surviving the brutal, cutthroat world of professional umpiring to being released with nothing, Jack shares how he turned one of the hardest moments of his l...
190: Joe Davis - Why Most Athletes Feel Lost After the Game
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Joe thought he knew what life after football would look like.
He had the degree.
He had the plan.
He had a clear next step.
But the reality felt completely different.
In this episode, Ryan sits down with Joe to unpack what really happens when your identity is built around sport… and suddenly, it’s gone.
From growing up in a football family to playing professionally for over a decade, Joe shares how the transition out of the game hit harder than expected and wh...
189: Josh Allan - From Yorkshire to Toronto: How Sport Can Shape Your Life and Career
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Josh Allan thought he had it figured out.
He was fast. Really fast.
Running national-level 400m times.
Training with some of the best athletes in the country.
But deep down, he knew something most athletes avoid admitting.
This wasn’t going to be his career.
In this episode, Ryan sits down with Josh Allan, now Head Coach of Men’s Rugby at the University of Toronto, to unpack the real decisions behind leaving one path… and choosing another.
From growing up in Hal...
188: Brad Stanton - From World Champion to Reinvention, Burnout & Building Again
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In this episode, Brad Stanton shares his raw, unfiltered journey from world champion fighter to entrepreneur, coach, and founder of a new wellbeing venture in Abu Dhabi.
Brad opens up about growing up in a disciplined, athletic household, overcoming bullying through martial arts, and rising to the top of his sport. But behind the success came personal challenges that forced him to step away from fighting, including his father’s illness and the emotional toll that followed.
From working in a warehouse after being at the top… to rebuilding his l...
187: Carolyn Anderson - You Did Everything Right… So Why Doesn’t It Feel Like Enough?
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Sometimes the hardest part of any journey isn’t the outcome, it’s learning how to make peace with what actually happened. In this episode, we explore what it really looks like to redefine success, especially when life doesn’t unfold the way you expected. We talk about the pressure to measure everything by results, how long it can take to genuinely feel proud of your effort, and why “good enough” often lands very differently when you’re in it versus when you look back. This is a conversation about growth, perspective, and learning how...
186: Charlotte Henshaw - The Hidden Struggle Athletes Face When Leaving Sport
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Born with a disability and introduced to swimming as a child, Charlotte went on to become a Paralympic medalist in the pool before stepping away from the sport she had known almost her entire life. But retirement from swimming did not bring instant clarity. Instead, it brought confusion, anxiety, and a deep loss of identity she had not fully prepared for.
In this episode, Charlotte shares how she found her way through that difficult period, why switching to canoeing gave her a second chapter she never expected, and how she now...
185: Chris Lawrence - How to Build Businesses & Skills While Still Playing
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Chris Lawrence went from debuting in the NRL at 17 while still in high school to building a business that now helps athletes keep learning during and after their playing careers. But his path was not a smooth one.
In this episode, Chris shares what it was really like to be thrown into professional sport so young, the pressure of balancing school with first grade football, and the injuries that forced him to confront the reality that his career could end at any moment. He also opens up about the frustration of...
EP184: Will Mellors-Blair - Former Pro Footballer Turned Data Into a Playbook for Productivity
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At six years old, Will Mellors-Blair was named a child maths prodigy. By nine, he was modeling space and time on the football pitch. By eleven, he had already decided that sport would be a vehicle, not the destination.
In this episode, Will joins Ryan to unpack a journey that blends elite football, advanced mathematics, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurship. From the Manchester United academy to the University of Michigan, and now into building AI systems that optimize human performance at scale, Will shares how he designed his second act long before...
183: Tim Stoller: The Business Lesson Athletes Learn Too Late
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Ryan sits down with Tim, founder of Forged in Sport, to unpack what their research revealed after analyzing dozens of real conversations with athletes who were building businesses, thinking about it, or already deep in it.
The big takeaway: if you don’t sort your identity first, the business won’t fix it. In fact, it can make the emptiness louder.
Tim breaks down seven key insights that reshape how we should think about life after sport, especially for athletes considering entrepreneurship.
What You’...
182: Joseph Ogacion - The Mindset of a Dual-Sport Athlete: From Two Sports to Olympic Start Lines
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Joseph Ogacion grew up in the Philippines, once averaging 0.5 points per varsity basketball game, watching the Sydney Olympics on TV and dreaming of racing there one day. He wasn’t the tallest, the strongest, or the most resourced. But he had something else: the ability to suffer more than anyone else.
Today, Joseph is a marathoner headed to the Paris 2024 Olympics and an elite time trial cyclist, juggling two world-class disciplines while working full-time in pediatric physiotherapy in Australia.
What You’ll Hear
Why...181: Ben Herring - From Player to Culture-Builder: What Athletes Need to Unlearn and Relearn After Sport.
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Ben Herring knows what it's like to be knocked back, knocked out, and still come back stronger. In this episode, he shares the raw, unpredictable journey from overlooked schoolboy to pro rugby player, then international coach. From New Zealand to Japan to Australia, his story is filled with lessons on ego, identity, starting over, and building a life beyond sport.
In this episode, you will hear:
- Why Ben kept his goals private, and how he methodically mapped out his career
- What it's like t...
EP180: Gemma Howell - Turning Pain, ADHD and Elite Judo Into a Life of Service and Strength
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In this epsiode, Ryan is joined by two-time Olympian and European judo champion, Gemma Howell. After a 25-year career that included 12 operations, strict weight cuts, and a near obsessive pursuit of excellence, Gemma opens up about what it truly felt like to walk away from elite sport.
Now a full-time secondary school maths teacher, Gemma reflects on the challenges of injury, burnout, and rediscovering joy in a new chapter. She shares the unexpected grief of retirement, how she found purpose again in teaching and coaching judo, and why staying connected to...
179: Dr. Helen Alfano - What Athletes Don’t Say Out Loud: How Wellbeing Powers Performance
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Helen Alfano has worked in elite sport for over 20 years, supporting athletes across disciplines - from judo to netball - through the often invisible work of well-being and personal development.
In this episode, she joins Ryan to unpack what it really means to support athletes as whole humans, not just performers. From early conversations about life after sport, to how programs handle feedback, to the power of coaching without judgment, Helen breaks down the complexity of athlete support in high-pressure environments.
If you're in high performance or responsible for...
178: Emily Huston - The Cliff Effect in Sport
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What happens when the only life you’ve known as an athlete suddenly stops? For many, the answer is silence, confusion, and a deep sense of loss.
Emily Huston, a former USA volleyball player and founder of Home Team, joins Ryan for a real, thoughtful conversation about life after sport. From discovering her love for the outdoors to navigating identity, burnout, and depression, Emily’s story is a powerful example of how difficult it can be to “move on” and why getting a job after sport isn’t the whole answer.
She o...
177 - Lloyd Ashley: I Fell Through a Ceiling And Landed a Career
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Lloyd Ashley spent years on the pitch as a professional rugby player. But what came after is just as powerful. In this episode, we sit down with Lloyd to talk about what it really means to transition from sport, how identity shifts when the structure fades, and how building a career in player support gave him purpose off the field.
From playing for the Barbarians to working as a plumber between games, Lloyd’s story is a masterclass in reinvention. He opens up about the fear of regret, the weight of un...
176: Dr Zak Zafrani - Low Testosterone in Athletes: The Hidden Cost
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Dr. Zak Zafrani joins us for a conversation that breaks open a topic rarely discussed in sport: testosterone deficiency in men, especially in aging athletes. If you're feeling tired, low on drive, or like you're losing your edge long before you should, this episode will make you rethink what's “normal.”
Zak is a UK-based doctor with a background in family medicine, sports injuries, and hormone health. He’s one of the few experts bridging the gap between athletes and men’s hormone therapy.
From elite-level competitors to weekend warriors, too many...
175: Simon Cox: A Striker’s Full Circle: Football Lessons Fueling A Fitness Business
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Simon Cox dreamed of playing for Reading FC. That was the goal. And while he wore the badge early in his career, it took almost 10 years and hundreds of games across leagues and countries before he finally earned his first start.
In this episode, Simon opens up about the full-circle journey from youth academy to international football, the grind of lower leagues, and the reality check that comes with retirement during a global pandemic. He takes us inside his unexpected pivot from coaching dreams to launching a gym business, learning how...
174: Jabari Smith - How He Thought Sport Was the Destination, It Turned Out to Be the Launchpad.
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Jabari K. Smith grew up believing sport would be his ticket out. He had the talent, the drive, and the stats to back it up. But when the NFL didn’t come calling, he was forced to reckon with something much harder: the silence after the final game.
In this episode, Jabari shares his extraordinary journey from gang-affected childhood, to a life-changing boarding school, to a college football career at Texas Tech, and eventually, to arena football and entrepreneurship. But the real story begins after the sport ended, when he drove 26 ho...
173 - Charlie Hartley: How A Former Pro Cricketer Turned Frustration Into Fan-Tech Innovation
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Charlie Hartley was living the dream. A professional cricketer who’d taken out top international players. Then, just weeks later, he was released. No warning, no time to prepare. Just a crash course in letting go of the identity he had built his life around.
In this episode, Charlie opens up about the highs of pro sport, the brutal business behind the scenes, and how getting frustrated with systems turned him into an entrepreneur with a mission.
From building tech for underfunded sports teams to writing cricket books for te...
172 - Nekoda Smythe-Davis: Leaving Sport Broke Me, But It Also Brought Me Home to Myself
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Nekoda Smythe-Davis didn’t grow up dreaming of Olympic medals. She was just a girl from a London council estate who found her way onto the mat, fell in love with judo, and kept showing up through wins, losses, injuries, and identity shifts.
In this conversation, she opens up about the weight of expectations, the complexity of walking away, and the courage it takes to rebuild your life from scratch, not for the spotlight but for yourself.
If you have ever had to let go of something that once de...
171 - Laura Sidall Gave Up a Corporate Career to Chase Sport at 34, and Built a 10-Year Career in Triathlon
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Laura Sidall didn’t grow up dreaming of world championship podiums. In fact, by the time she started triathlon, she was already deep into a corporate career as an engineer. But something inside her kept whispering, what if you gave sport your all? How good could you be?
So at 34, she left the comfort of her steady salary, moved countries, and bet on herself.
This episode is a raw and powerful conversation about risk, reinvention, and resilience. Laura opens up about what it really takes to succeed as a la...
170: Jamie Soward - From NRL Premierships to Ego and Finding Purpose in Government (and $6,000 toilets)
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Jamie Soward opens up about chasing the footy dream without a clear pathway, losing it all twice, and what it really took to reinvent himself. From writing résumés at 16 to training while on the dole, to playing in front of 60,000 fans and then selling toilets, Jamie's journey is as humbling as it is honest.
He’s played State of Origin, won a grand final, coached at the top level — and then had it all fall apart. But what came next? A traineeship. In water regulation. At 40.
If you've...
169: Rach Taylor - From Chasing Olympic Gold to Building a Life Beyond the Boat
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Rach Taylor knows what it means to sacrifice everything for one goal. She was Rach the Rower, a girl from rural Australia who made it all the way to the Olympic podium. But after winning silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she found herself couch surfing, broke and questioning her worth outside of sport.
In this episode, Rach opens up about what it was really like to go from the high of Olympic glory to the uncertainty of starting over. She talks about clawing her way up Maslow’s hierarchy, how she st...
168: Dr Lamia Zafrani - What No One Tells Women in Sport About Pregnancy, Performance, and Recovery
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Dr. Lamia Zafrani saw firsthand what the system lacked and built a new way forward. A powerlifter, an OB-GYN, and a passionate advocate for female athletes, Lamia sits at the intersection of performance and pregnancy, challenging outdated norms that have sidelined women for far too long.
In this episode, we go deep into her journey. From being the one who gets called when nobody else knows what to do, to creating a model of care that truly supports elite female athletes through pregnancy and postpartum. She does not just talk about...
167: Abiola Wabara - GloBall Life: Building Bridges for Athletes' Second Wind
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When the final whistle blew on her decade-long professional basketball career, Abiola Wabara wasn’t just facing retirement. She was starting over, from scratch.
In this raw and candid episode, Abi sits down with host Ryan to share the untold side of life after sport. From playing across Europe and representing Italy’s national team, to working in a call centre, driving Uber, and experiencing panic attacks, Abi reveals what it really took to rebuild her identity and why she created GloBall Life, a platform designed to support other athletes through the...
166: Theo Brown - From Footballer to 10 Jobs in 5 Years
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Theo Brown opens up about the messy, uncertain path from elite academy footballer to non-league player, to juggling ten different jobs in five years, before finally stepping into his purpose as a social entrepreneur.
He was once chasing football dreams at Leicester City. But after injury setbacks and getting released, life after sport hit hard. No plan. No clear identity. Just odd jobs, quiet doubts, and the feeling that everyone else had it figured out.
But somewhere in the chaos, something powerful emerged.
Theo found purpose not...
165: Gerrit-Jan van Velze - Life Beyond the Final Whistle: Sheep, Shoes and Secondwind
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Gerrit-Jan van Velze spent nearly two decades in professional rugby, captaining clubs like Northampton Saints and Worcester Warriors. But in this conversation, it's not just the matches or medals that stand out — it's what came after, and everything he had to figure out along the way.
In this episode, GJ opens up about moving from South Africa to England with no backup plan, how leadership has shaped his career, and why his wife’s passion for medicine inspired him to explore life beyond the pitch. He talks through the injury that chan...
164: Emmanuel Smith - From Superbowl LIV winner to Sales winner - You are more than your jersey number
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Emmanuel spent years chasing a dream that so many young athletes grow up holding: making it in the NFL. But behind the highlight reels and ambition was a quieter story. One of internal pressure, identity struggle, and eventually, the courage to say, this isn't who I am anymore.
In this episode, Ryan talks with Emmanuel about what it really takes to walk away from the game, and what happens when you do. From his early years creating "The Brotherhood" in high school to reaching the highest levels of competition, Emmanuel was...
163: Kayla Byrne - The Art of Pivot: Basketball Dreams to Giving Back to her Alma Mater
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Kayla spent years chasing the dream of playing basketball overseas. She trained, sacrificed, and pushed through setbacks with the goal of turning pro. But after college, that dream didn’t happen.
What followed was a quiet but difficult shift. One where she had to face the question that many athletes avoid until it’s too late: What now?
In this episode, Ryan speaks with Kayla about the realities of life after sport—when you’ve put your whole identity into your game, and suddenly it’s not there anymore. Kayla’s st...
162: Dr Chris Platts - A Better Way to Navigate Your Career After Sport
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Chris Platts spent over a decade tracking the careers of 303 young footballers. The result? A raw, honest look at what actually happens in the world of professional sport. Some players made it to the Premier League. Others left with nothing. Many fell somewhere in between.
Chris is a career coach and academic whose work focuses on helping athletes and their families plan for the long game. He works directly with clubs, players, and parents to map out possible futures, reduce pressure, and help athletes stay grounded in who they are, even...
