California-born and successful Softball player Monica Lebron decided to pursue a career in college Athletics. With careful planning, hard work and determination, she made a smooth and successful transition from Collegiate Softball to College Athletics Administration.

After winning an Olympic gold in Beijing, Rebecca Soni faced high expectations in the next game. The pressure was on to win gold… or be seen as a failure. This changed her relationship with the sport, ultimately affected her self-worth.

Claire grew up with her parents, her younger brother and her dog in Los Gatos, a small town in the Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco. She competed in synchronized swimming for many years before retiring in 2016 after not being selected for the pair for the 2016 Olympics. She now lives in Nashville, Tennessee where she attends Vanderbilt University and study biology.

Daphne always knew her career in softball would lead to an education. During her senior year at Loyola Marymount University, she made a very difficult decision to end her college career by leaving the team. Though her transition was challenging, her experience as an accounting student in a Division I program prepared her for the rigorous and intense career path of working in public accounting, getting her CPA license, and becoming Vice President of Finance and CFO for various companies before eventually deciding to work for herself.

Malia Metella retired in 2009 following an eight-year career at the highest level and an Olympic silver medal. She attended journalism before working as an independent for a few years. She lost her main client and couldn’t find any work. She was forced to return to live with her mother in Toulouse. For two years, she struggled before finally being hired by the Allianz group. She worked in many positions at Allianz before discovering what she likes. Malia is also very involved in the sport nonprofit world and very close to her family.

Born and raised in Belarus, Raman Stsepaniuk for the national team in sport acrobatics. After college, he fled Belarus for the Russian circus, which eventually led him to the U.S. He eventually landed in Las Vegas, performing for Le Reve.

Nick Egan knew he wouldn’t be an Olympic swimmer, but was still serious in his training and competed at the Division III level at Amherst College. Though he knew he would transition to the real world after graduating, he still struggled with the loss of social circle that were his teammates, a lack of daily structure, and most of all finding inspiration for consistent exercise when he wasn’t training for something specific. Done with swimming, he is still searching for an activity that sparks the same fire.

Rebekah is a plant-based chef located in Venice Beach, California. She is originally from San Francisco. She practiced Speed Swimming, Synchronized Swimming and Water Polo from a young age through university competing at National and Division 1 University level. She became a vegan in 2011 and a chef shortly after that.

Anna and Scott have both moved on from successful careers in tennis – yet their transitions were vastly different. Anna had a fulfilling career at the University of Portland as a student-athlete, knew she would be moving on from the sport after graduation, and had a support system that always emphasized balance. Scott grew up in a household with two tennis pros, was fully immersed in the sport from a young age, and always knew he would go professional as well. However, he had to make a transition earlier than expected after a career-ending injury.

Samantha Grams played division I collegiate volleyball but her career was severely impacted by injuries and the mental struggles that followed. With her identity tied to her sport, her self-worth was affected and she let her pain and injury defined her for many years after retirement. ​

Brenda Villa is the most decorated water polo player in the USA after winning medals at 3 Olympic Games. Originally from East Los Angeles, she moved to the Bay Area in 2010, two years before her retirement to get some space to process her transition.

When he was 13, Wesley Barnett went to his first Junior Olympics in Olympic Lifting after a few months of training with no elite coaching, and came away with three trophies and three gold medals. He was hooked, and continued in the sport for 17 years, eventually finding himself at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Putting off retirement because he was without a plan, he unfortunately didn’t make the 2000 Olympic Team after dealing with cancer. However, he was hired by the United States Olympic Committee to work on plans to help athletes achieve success on the field of play, which eventually led to his passion of finding clean supplements in an under regulated, and often contaminated, industry.

Peter “Poby” Pobyjpicz is a freelance commercial photographer. Poby was born in Germany from Russian parents who lived in West Germany after WW2. Poby played water polo with the German National Team and trained for the 1980s Olympics but did not attend because of the boycott.

After a 22-year sporting career at the top, 2 World Championship titles and 10 European Championship titles, Britta Llewellyn transitioned into her business career working in the athlete performance department for Red Bull.