Giving up your sport is single-handedly one of the hardest decisions that you will face in your entire life. The kicker is that it may not be a choice for you at all. Your days as an athlete could be over because of an injury. One wrong move and the doctor is delivering you the devastating news. Whatever the reason, your life is forever changed. I understand that may sound dramatic to some, but those people won’t ever understand.

Since as long as you can remember you’ve been out on that court or field. The coaches and the teammates are among your best friends, craziest memories and most frustrating times. The hours, blood, sweat and tears that have gone into your trade are countless. Then, one day you wake up and you don’t have to go to weights, open gym or practice. You don’t have to pack up and endure a multiple hour bus ride. What are you supposed to do?

Well, you didn’t dedicate years of your life and not get anything out of it. You gained friends, life lessons and character. Your sport shaped who you are. You carry the good and bad times with you whether you realize it or not. You aren’t going to be out there getting the winning points for your team, but you have the time and talent to do something that matters still. It would be an awful shame to let that go to waste.

It’s incredibly easy to fall into a post-athlete type of depression. You are not defined by your sport. Sure, it has been a tremendous part of you but there is so much more than that. The exciting part about now is that you get you to find out what that looks like. You get the chance to define yourself.

Of course, you are going to miss it. You are going to cry. There will be times when you look at a ball and your heart breaks. It is hard. You don’t have to take yourself out of the scene entirely. You love this game. So be a coach, be a trainer, be a mentor. Or don’t! The world is at your fingertips.

You will always have your trophies, but you are not your trophies. A trophy carries dust, memories last forever.