Life Lessons From Sports for Starting Again
Some of the most valuable life lessons from sports have helped me find my footing in those moments and take the next step.
Written by Linda Herron
Women Sports USA®
Starting again can be uncomfortable when you remember how easily you used to do it. You remember your speed, your confidence, and the way a familiar routine once felt effortless. Then you look at where you are today, and the distance between the two can make that first step feel harder.
I have felt that distance in sports, in my career, and in returning to movement after years of chronic nerve pain. Each experience has reshaped how I understand progress. The competitor in me still wants to move quickly, but sports have given me something more useful than the desire to win: the experience of trying again before I know how things will turn out.
That is the part of being an athlete I still carry with me. It helps me begin, and it reminds me that beginning again does not have to look like beginning over.
Life Lessons From Sports for Starting Again
As a field hockey player, I learned that the work of one season did not eliminate the work of the next. Experience helped, but there were still practices to attend, relationships to build, and skills to keep improving. Becoming a more experienced player gave me a foundation. It never meant I was finished learning.
Life asks the same thing of us. We can be capable and accomplished in one chapter and uncertain in another. A career change, a physical setback, or a new responsibility can put us in unfamiliar territory, especially when we are used to being the person who knows what to do.
Sports taught me there is dignity in practicing something you have not mastered. Nobody arrives at a first practice with every skill in place. We understand that an athlete needs room to learn, and we owe ourselves that same patience when we begin something new.
The Next Ball Still Deserves Your Attention
One of the lessons I carried from sports into my finance career was simple: “Keep your head up and let’s catch the next ball.”
A mistake deserves your attention long enough to understand it. Perhaps you rushed, misread the situation, or needed more preparation. But replaying the mistake too long takes your attention away from what you can do next.
On a team, that matters because the game continues. Someone still needs you to communicate, get into position, and be ready.
Starting again asks for a similar shift in attention. We may need to acknowledge what went wrong or grieve what changed. Then we need to recognize when something useful is within reach: a conversation, a task, a habit we can begin rebuilding.
That is why it helps to make the next action specific. “Get back on track” can feel overwhelming. Choosing one thing to do today gives your effort somewhere to go. For practical ways to take the next step, explore "How Athletes Can Reset After a Mistake," which includes simple cues for regaining focus and staying engaged.
Respect Where You Are Today
That same lesson applies when the challenge is not a mistake, but a change in what your body, schedule, or life allows. After years of chronic nerve pain, returning to regular walking has given me another way to understand progress. My athletic history includes Division I field hockey, distance running, and years of lifting. Those experiences are part of who I am, but they do not decide what my body should be able to do on any particular day.
It is tempting to measure every effort against a previous version of ourselves. A walk can seem small when you remember running a marathon. A lighter workout can feel disappointing when you remember lifting more. Yet those comparisons leave out the circumstances surrounding the effort.
I am learning to give the work I can do today its proper value. Walking matters to me. Returning to consistent activity matters. When we respect the effort in front of us, we can appreciate where we are and still have hopes for what comes next.
That lesson reaches beyond physical activity. When we begin again, our time, energy, responsibilities, and resources may have changed. A useful starting point accounts for those realities and gives us a chance to build something we can sustain.
Bringing Experience Into an Unfamiliar Chapter
Starting Women Sports USA®, I have been asked to use what I already know while accepting how much I still have to learn.
I brought more than 40 years of experience in finance, accounting, operations, and technology. I also brought the lessons of being an athlete and a team captain: prepare, listen, take responsibility, and keep working when the outcome is uncertain.
That background helps me every day. It does not answer every question that comes with building an organization devoted to celebrating and preserving women’s sports stories. I am still learning through conversations, interviews, decisions, and the work itself. I share more about the moment that led me toward this work in Why I Created Women Sports USA®.
This is something to remember when you are considering a new direction. Being new to a role does not erase the experience you bring to it. The skills you developed elsewhere may be useful in ways you have not yet recognized.
Consider what you already know how to do. Perhaps you can bring people together, ask thoughtful questions, organize complicated work, or help someone feel heard. Those abilities deserve a place in your next chapter. Those abilities often begin developing long before we recognize them, as we explore in How Sports Build Leadership Skills in Girls—Before the Title.
Give Yourself Something You Can Repeat
In sports, improvement usually requires repeated effort. One practice can teach you something. Returning gives you the opportunity to use it.
That is worth remembering when a new beginning feels larger than you can manage. The question becomes: What can you reasonably return to? An ambitious plan has little value if it leaves no room for everyday life. A manageable commitment helps you keep participating. For readers rebuilding a healthy routine, the National Institutes of Health offers guidance on creating healthy habits, including setting realistic goals, planning specific actions, and preparing for obstacles.
For one person, that might mean setting aside time each week for a project. For another, it might mean reconnecting with a community or taking first steps toward an activity they miss. The commitment should have meaning for the person making it.
There will be days when the effort feels awkward, or the progress is difficult to see. Sports prepared me for those days, too. I learned that a frustrating practice could still contain something worth carrying into the next one.
A Beginning Worth Respecting
When I think about starting again, I think about how I would speak to a teammate returning after time away. I would want her to feel welcome. I would recognize the effort it took to show up and give her room to find her footing.
That is the same consideration we can offer ourselves when we are starting again.
You may be returning to something you love or moving toward something new. Either way, you may begin with questions. You can bring your experience, ask for help, and learn as you go.
Sports taught me to stay involved in what comes next. For any of us finding our way forward, that can mean respecting where we are, trusting what we have carried with us, and giving ourselves another chance to grow.
What would starting again look like for you—and what is one step you could take toward it?
At Women Sports USA®, we celebrate the women whose sports stories continue to teach and inspire us. Whether you are finding your footing, beginning a new chapter, or cheering someone else forward, there is a place for you in our community.
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Linda Herron is the Founder and CEO of Women Sports USA®, a former Division I field hockey athlete, coach, author, and business finance executive with over 40 years of experience. She uses storytelling to honor athletes, coaches, officials, and pioneers, preserving the history of women’s sports and inspiring future generations.
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