podcast excerpt

The podcast episode discusses the idea that your sport does not define you. The host, Cam Lancaster, shares his personal experience of struggling with this concept and how he has worked to separate himself from his sport. He talks about the importance of focusing on other aspects of life, such as spirituality, personal hobbies, and setting goals outside of sports. The episode also features an interview with former athlete Sean Worthen, who emphasizes the need for student-athletes to develop a dual identity that encompasses both their athletic and personal lives. Worthen encourages athletes to engage with campus resources and establish connections outside of their sport to ensure a well-rounded development. The main takeaway is that athletes should remember that they are more than just their sport and should actively work towards balancing their sports identity with their overall self-worth. Hey there, we are back with another episode of Athletes Beyond the Field, where we discuss many stories, lessons, and ideas that go further than an athlete in his or her sport. My name is Cam Lancaster, and today we are going to talk about a topic that most athletes, including myself, struggle with, and that is, your sport does not define you. In the world of sports, it's easy to get caught up in the idea that this sport is all you are. Whatever sport you play, or whatever sport you love, that sport is a huge part in who you are and can affect the way you feel. But we must continue to remind ourselves that this sport doesn't define you, and you are more than the game you play and the game that you love. So first, I want to talk about my perspective and experience with this topic. My experience with this topic has been pretty bumpy. I grew up playing soccer, and it's something that I look forward to every single week. All of the practices, the games, the traveling around the country, or even the world. All of this is worth it because I'm doing something that I love. One thing I've had to learn throughout my experience with soccer is that winning, losing, and how good I'm playing doesn't define who I really am on the inside. I've really had to grasp this concept because it's been hard for me to separate myself from my sport. I've always let my emotions of the game dictate how I see myself. So like a bad practice or game, I couldn't sleep at night because all I was thinking about is the things that I could have done better in that moment. Good practice or game, I was overjoyed because I played well. And this is an unhealthy cycle that most athletes tend to face. For me, I've had to really figure out and understand how I can stray away from letting the sport define me. There are a few things that I've started to do to help me separate myself from the sport. The first thing I committed to do is to become closer to God. I told myself that if I'm struggling with something or if I'm excited about something, or if I have any questions, or just need to talk, that I would close my eyes and start to talk to God. Doing this just reminds me to enjoy the talents and appreciate the talents that God gave me, but to do as much as I can with them and to not let my performance dictate how I see myself. The next thing that I committed to doing was to start doing one thing for myself a week. Whether it be to learn a new song, learn a new dance on TikTok, try a new food, or getting active like yoga or a walk. Just something to get me away from thinking about soccer or how I've been doing. I've always noticed that soccer pretty much consumes a lot of my thoughts throughout the day. If I had a good practice, I was happy. If I had a bad practice, the rest of my day was ruined. I have strayed away from these thoughts and by putting my focus on doing something for myself. I've been trying to start going to the TCU Rec Center on Mondays at 8 a.m. in the morning. Although it's super hard to get up that early in the morning on a Monday, I've been doing pretty good at it and I've made some good friends and also learned new yoga poses. The third thing I try to do is set goals for myself. It could be a long-term goal, a short-term goal. For example, my long-term goal for this semester is to at least get four A's in my five classes. This is something that helps me focus on school so that I can reach my goal by the end of the semester. One of my short-term goals was one week I wanted to talk to a stranger. And so I was lying at Chick-fil-A and I saw my opportunity. The line was super long and there was a girl behind me. I asked her what she was going to order because I really couldn't decide. This sparked up a good conversation between two people who knew nothing about each other before. Now, if I see her around campus or online at Chick-fil-A, I always tend to say hi. These tiny goals I set for myself allow me to get out and do more rather than just focus all of my energy on my sport. This is just a few things that I do for myself and I hope that you can take one of these things and apply it to your life. Now that we've heard a little bit about me and my experience with the concept that your sport doesn't define you, let's hear from someone who has also had this experience and what he does about it. Today, we have Sean Worthen, an athlete with a unique perspective on how sports are just a small part of a much bigger life. Welcome, Sean Worthen. Thank you for being here. Sean Worthen is a former collegiate and NFL player. He attended Texas Christian University from 1997 to 2001. After graduating, he got drafted to the Minnesota Vikings in 2001 and then played for the Houston Texans in 2003. According to the TCU Athletics website, Sean returned to his alma mater in July 2012 and served as Associate Athletics Director of Athletic Academic Services. Today, he's here to talk about his experience playing on such a big stage and how he navigated through not letting his sport define him. So, Sean, can you share a bit about your journey in sports and how have you come to understand that your sport doesn't define you? My journey in sports started in high school, playing football late. I didn't start playing football until I was a sophomore, and that time took me to TCU, where I became a three-time all-conference player and also an All-American while I was here. I was subsequently drafted into the NFL, played for the Minnesota Vikings, Houston Texans, and Green Bay Packers. My sports journey was more than just something that was about football. I was trying to make sure I had balance. I was a student-athlete that chose to choose a degree that was of value. I was a double major in finance and also management while here at TCU, and when I left TCU, I went on to the Minnesota Vikings, and while there, decided that my time wasn't complete if I didn't do something of value while I was there. Just playing sport was not enough for me, so I decided to go get my master's degree from the University of Minnesota, so I'm also a Golden Gopher. While I don't talk about that much, it is an important part of my journey, because I think that's when I started to understand the importance of identity off the court or off the field, as well as what I was doing on the field, so that was a very important part of what I wanted to do and a part of what I share with my student-athletes now, because when your struggle is not complete because it lacks you, it's a very important thing. Athletic identity foreclosure is something that we talk about a lot in my office, because many student-athletes feel that their time or their identity is wrapped totally in sport and nothing else, but what we try to do is formulate dual identities, their identity on the field and their identity off the field to ensure that they see and feel value in themselves and that they start to develop this hope that persists over time, the idea that I can, I will, and I expect to do things that transition away from sport and into real life. I always tell my student-athletes one thing, you are more than your sport, you are more than what you do, what you can do, what you dream to do, and what you hope to do, and that's super important. Wow, well, thank you for sharing your personal experience. I do think it's super important to continue to remind student-athletes that they are more than their sport, and that brings me to my next question of, do you have any advice for athletes and how they can balance between their sports identity and their overall self-worth? Another great question, Cam. I think the balance between sport and identity is critical for every student-athlete. There's something I call fair exchange, like the idea of you trading your time, your talent, and your health for sport has to be equalized by what you get on main campus. That means that experience has to be informative, transformative, and lead to you having a network and network outside of your sport, and that's where things become, you know, critical and become necessary. And how do you, how does that happen? That comes through frequent and consistent engagement with the campus community. You know, we have so many resources on TCU's campus and other campuses as well to ensure that you have access to career services. Health services, you know, people to help you fund and realize your dream outside of sport, and I think those things are often where we fall short of selling those other things outside of athletics that are so important. You know, I tell people, at the end of my understanding begins the beginning of somebody else's. I think that part of it is what I try to do as a mentor is be a good broker to ensure I'm connecting people with the other side of their dream, and that when you tell me, hey, Big Sean, I want to do X, Y, and Z, it's not me that does it. I connect to the individual who's better at that than I am, the individual who's got a degree, has experience in that field of endeavor, and can best help the student. And I think that's where most students can really get better or student athletes get better is to tap it into the resources that are free and abundant on the campus, and that will help them really truly start to shape identity on a regular, consistent basis. Well, that was great. Do you have any other final thoughts that you would like to share about this topic? My final thought is this. Don't wait. Development is something that takes a long time and is done best when done consistently over a period of time, over and over and over again. I think far too many of us wait until it's too late, i.e., when we need it. When you need to get a job, when you need experience, and when you need people, the time is too late because at that juncture, they don't need you. So make sure that the urgency of now always plays an important role in what you do. Start making connections while your star is at its highest, while you're on the student athlete, while you're on the main stage, and when your time comes to an end, you're available and ready to tap into your second part of yourself. Well, thank you for being a part of this week's episode, Sean. My listeners and I appreciate all of your insight that you gave. That's the end of this episode. Always remember that your sport will always be a part of who you are, but it doesn't define you. Embrace all of your talents, but know that you are worth so much more than your performance. Until next time, thank you for listening, and thank you to Sean Worthen for being a part of today's episode. I'm your host, Cam Lancaster. See you next week.