Supporting Kit for Network and Community
For athletes thinking about a business during or after their career, and for the coaches and club staff who support them.
PDF, 38 pages, English
A directory of incubators, accelerators, funding programmes, mentoring networks and athlete career programmes, across Europe and in Poland, Türkiye, Belgium and Norway. You can look things up by need, by business stage, by country or by sport.
A guide to joining communities and building your own network, from entrepreneur clubs and events to approaching a mentor, with message examples. You do not need business experience.
What’s inside
- How to use this kit
- Five steps, from naming your need to writing down one next action.
- Support directory
- 42 profiles across Europe and the four partner countries, with tables to find them by need, stage, country and sport, and routes for athletes with disabilities, women and young people.
- Building your network
- A step-by-step pathway: entrepreneur clubs, events, social media groups, approaching a mentor, peer support meetings and message examples.
- Practical tools
- A support need self-check, sheets for comparing resources and mapping communities, and checklists for a first contact and an event.
- Using it safely
- How to judge an opportunity, what the directory does not cover, and the official access routes.
Where to start
Fill in the support need self-check first, then use the finder tables to pick two or three routes. Check who each one is for and open its official page before you get in touch.
PDF, 38 pages, English
Led by Compass Academy
All outputs
Research
Research Report on Athletes’ Entrepreneurial Mindset
AvailableA mixed-methods study of 100 athletes and 12 interviews in Poland, Türkiye, Belgium and Norway. It maps what athletes already bring to business, what they lack, and how the barriers differ by country.
Assess
Entrepreneurial Mindset Assessment Tool for Athletes
AvailableA self-assessment of fifteen to twenty minutes that shows what you already bring from sport, where the gaps are, and where to start.
Empower
Athlete Entrepreneurial Spirit and Mindset Empowerment Toolkit
AvailableSixteen practical tools in four modules, from identity beyond sport to cash flow, each with a worked example and a worksheet.
Empower
Athlete Entrepreneurial Spirit and Mindset Training Kit
AvailableStories of athletes who built something beyond sport, a catalogue of online courses, most of them free, and a directory of books, podcasts and talks.