Nicola Spirig is an Olympic Champion, a mom of three, and a trained lawyer. Last year, she retired as a pro athlete – and now, she’s taking on the world of the office – starting a new role as our Athlete Services Manager.
As an Athlete Services Manager, Nicola will work closely with our athletes to make sure they have holistic support – from their physical needs to their mindset, health and recovery, to personal career development, life skills management and after-sport career planning. At On, we take the 360 degree approach to well-being and development – for every team member at On. So, how intimidating is it to retire and start something new? What can the Athlete Spirit bring to day-to-day life? Read on and get some insights from Nicola on taking a leap – and how sports is actually the best school of life.
1. What is the purpose of your new role as the Athlete Services Manager?
As an Athlete Services Manager my job is to build up a support system for the On athletes that goes much further than the usual sponsorship. As a former athlete I know that Olympic Medals are not won in the stadium, they are won in countless hours on training grounds, they are won by trying to optimise every aspect of your life concerning your goal and and get great team around you helping with it. The Athlete Navigator program is there to support the athlete along this journey. Helping reach their highest potential, train harder, recover faster and ultimately race to win.
2. What challenges do you hope your new role – and the Athlete Navigator program – will help solve?
I had a lot of challenges that I faced as an athlete. And they change in each stage of the journey, from being a young athlete trying to find the right coach, to getting to know your body and starting to train with more discipline (while also considering aspects like nutrition and recovery), or becoming more experienced – exploring how to improve the mindset, developing a brand and thinking about personal and career development – right until the later stages of the career, maybe starting a family, thinking about what to do after and planning how to move into another stage of life. The Athlete Navigator program tries to support the athletes in all the different stages and in areas like physical preparation, mindset, health & recovery, branding & finance and personal & career development. "It was actually the way to the goal that made me grow and enjoy life, almost more than reaching my goal."
3. How does it feel to start something completely new after retiring from your first career as a pro athlete? (What is it like for you to work in an office for the first time?!)
I was extremely excited to start this new project! It’s not easy if you are a pro athlete to have the privilege – first to turn your passion into your job for a long time – and then to find something that you can do with a similar passion and similar joy. I partnered with On as a sponsor back in 2013, so we already have gone a long way together. It was great seeing the brand grow and help them develop the shoes over the last 10 years. To continue the journey with On now, switching to the other side to help other athletes with my experience achieve their goals is really nice. To work in an office for the first time was definitely a challenge! I made a lot of experiences while being a pro athlete including finishing my law studies, founding a foundation and a kids triathlon series and building my own little company. But I had no experience working in an office and I am learning new things every day – but I enjoy it and it’s cool to get to know so many new people!
4. What lessons are you taking with you from your days as a pro athlete to start on this new path?
I am convinced that sports is one of the best school of life. I’ve had so many experiences and learned a lot that I use in completely different situations in every day life. The biggest lesson I still use is certainly to have a positive mindset, take step by step and concentrate on those aspects I have influence on and can change – not on circumstances I don’t have any influence on. Of course I also learned how to be efficient (combining sports with studies and having three kids helped with that ) – set a goal and follow it over a long period of time, deal with setbacks, learn from them and find solutions. I still do sports every day, to keep my body healthy but also because it’s the time I can reflect and find solutions or just process the day and get some energy back.
5. What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of taking a leap towards a new adventure?
It’s not always easy to get into a new adventure, sometimes a new challenge seems scary, a new goal seems almost impossible to achieve. But my advice is: if it fascinates you, if you feel excited about it, even if you're also scared or thinking you can’t handle it – go for it. In my experience, it was always worth going after my dreams and big goals! Even if I sometimes didn't reach the goal in the end, looking back, I learned so much and made so many new experiences along the way that I would always do it again. It was actually the way to the goal that made me grow and enjoy life, almost more than reaching my goal.