An athlete’s career does not end when the clock goes off, a race ends or the curtain comes down on a competition. Behind every sporting path there are skills, abilities and values that can find space even beyond the competition field: discipline, pressure management, resilience, teamwork, ability to achieve goals. It is from this awareness that it is born Now to Nextthe project dedicated to accompanying athletes in building their professional future.
The initiative, conceived by Samsung Electronics Italia, Randstad Italia and Salesforce and carried out in collaboration with the Commissions Athletes of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundationdel CONES and of CIP, concluded its first edition involving 25 athletes involved in different phases of their career: some still active, others in the transition phase or already far from competitive sport. A six-week course made up of training, coaching, meetings with mentors and moments of discussion with the business world, with a precise objective: to help athletes recognize the value of the skills acquired in sport and translate them into useful tools for tackling the job market. The transition from a competitive career to a new professional phase represents one of the most delicate moments in the life of an athlete. For years, personal and professional identity is built around the discipline practiced, training, competitions and results. Preparing for the “after” therefore means not only acquire new knowledge, but also learn to re-read your own path and discover that many qualities developed in sport are already skills required by companies.
Samsung’s contribution
Within Now to Next, Samsung has made available the experience gained through Samsung Innovation Campus, the higher education program dedicated for eight years to Italian university students, with the aim of spreading digital culture and skills related to innovation.
The company’s contribution focused on themes destined to increasingly transform the world of work: from Generative Artificial Intelligence to prompt design, from human-centric innovation to the ability to interpret new technologies in an informed way. For Samsung, training represents a fundamental tool for accompanying people through ongoing changes and creating new opportunities. Applying this experience to athletes means recognizing that even those coming from the sporting world need updated tools to face a new phase in their lives.
The objective was not only to transfer technical knowledge, but to encourage an open approach to continuous learning: a mentality made of curiosity, ability to adapt and willingness to get involved again, the same attitudes that often accompany an athlete throughout his career.
A moment of the project presentation
«Now to Next must become a model»
To tell the value of the project is Valentina Marchei, president of the National Athletes Commission of CONI and former artistic ice skater, who underlines above all the human quality of the path achieved: «The result that struck me most was the quality of the people who got back into the game. In the group there were athletes who were still active, others who had just finished their careers and still others who had finished it years ago, but had decided to start again, question themselves and invest in themselves. This shows that professional growth has no expiry date and that the desire to learn can accompany every stage of life.” For Marchei, a decisive element was also the involvement of companies, capable of recognizing the value of the skills developed in sport: «I believe it is right to applaud the companies that believed in this project. They didn’t do a simple social responsibility operation: they had the ability to recognize that the skills acquired in high-level sport are a real asset for the world of work. They have invested time, resources and people to build a concrete path, demonstrating that when the world of sport and that of business truly dialogue, value is created for both.”
Looking to the future, the president of the CONI Athletes Commission hopes that the initiative can become a stable practice in the Italian sports system: «I hope that Now to Next does not remain a project, but becomes a model. In Italy we have learned to take care of athletes during their careers, but we must take a step further and also accompany them in the transition towards the future. The real legacy would be to ensure that preparing an athlete for life after sport becomes an integral part of the sporting journey, and not something to think about only when you stop competing.”
A cultural challenge, even before a professional one: «Investing in the future of athletes means investing in the future of sport itself. If we manage to build this culture, then the value of Now to Next will go well beyond the 25 participants of the first edition: it will have left a concrete legacy for the new generations.”
«The end of a sporting career is not a point of arrival, but the beginning of a new challenge»
For Anastasia BudaHead of ESG, CSR & Internal Communication of Samsung Electronics Italia, Now to Next represents the natural evolution of the company’s commitment to promoting skills and innovation: «Sport is part of Samsung’s DNA. We have been alongside the Olympic Movement for decades and for us this is not a simple sponsorship: it is a legacy, a long-term commitment that we share with the athletes and the values they represent». It is precisely from this vision that the choice to make skills and tools developed in the field of digital training available: «With Now to Next we wanted to make available what we do best: innovation and training. We believe that accompanying athletes in the transition to a new phase of their lives means helping them transform the talent built in sport into new professional opportunities.”
Along the way, a central role was entrusted to technological skills, which are now indispensable in every sector: «Today no sector is immune from digital transformation, and sport is no exception. Understanding technologies such as Generative Artificial Intelligence means acquiring tools that help you understand change, make more informed decisions and continue to be protagonists even in contexts other than competitive ones.”
But, according to Buda, technology alone is not enough: what matters is the ability to continue learning: «The real goal is to develop a mindset: curiosity, ability to continuously learn and openness to innovation. These are skills that make the difference in any professional path and which, combined with the values of sport, can become an extraordinary accelerator.” To athletes preparing for a second career, the message is to look to the future with the same spirit with which they faced sporting challenges: «I would like to tell them not to consider the end of their sporting career as a point of arrival, but as the beginning of a new challenge. Athletes already possess an extraordinary wealth of skills: discipline, resilience, spirit of sacrifice, ability to work towards objectives and face successes and defeats with balance.”
And he concludes: «The key is to face this new path with the same curiosity, the same enthusiasm and the same humility with which you face a new sporting season. Continuing to learn is the most authentic form of innovation, and we believe that every athlete has all the potential to successfully write their own “next”».
