Do you ever look at a champion athlete and wonder what mountains they'll conquer when the cheering crowds have faded? Today, I have the pleasure of bringing you the extraordinary story of Peter Bakare, an Olympian whose competitive edge on the volleyball court has spiked into the imaginative realm of creative entrepreneurship. With the launch of Nutritroops, Peter is volleying his way into the hearts and minds of children, educating them on nutrition and health through the captivating world of animation.
Navigating through career transitions is no small feat, as Peter attests with the mental fortitude and strategic steps he employed. He shares practical tips on breaking down grand ambitions, utilizing networks, and positioning unique skills for success. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or someone at the threshold of change, Peter's insights are a playbook for transforming passions into purposeful pursuits. So come along and get inspired to set your own career transition in motion with wisdom from an Olympian who's rewritten the rules of the game.
Tune in to learn more about:
… and so much more!
Are you looking for Career Clarity for your next step, for more information, or to book a consultancy, make sure you check out http://www.2ndwind.io/
Links
Website Website: https://www.nutritroops.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterbakare/
Do you ever look at a champion athlete and wonder what mountains they'll conquer when the cheering crowds have faded? Today, I have the pleasure of bringing you the extraordinary story of Peter Bakare, an Olympian whose competitive edge on the volleyball court has spiked into the imaginative realm of creative entrepreneurship. With the launch of Nutritroops, Peter is volleying his way into the hearts and minds of children, educating them on nutrition and health through the captivating world of animation.
Navigating through career transitions is no small feat, as Peter attests with the mental fortitude and strategic steps he employed. He shares practical tips on breaking down grand ambitions, utilizing networks, and positioning unique skills for success. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or someone at the threshold of change, Peter's insights are a playbook for transforming passions into purposeful pursuits. So come along and get inspired to set your own career transition in motion with wisdom from an Olympian who's rewritten the rules of the game.
Tune in to learn more about:
… and so much more!
Are you looking for Career Clarity for your next step, for more information, or to book a consultancy, make sure you check out http://www.2ndwind.io/
Links
Website Website: https://www.nutritroops.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterbakare/
I've met another person who's a great saleswoman. She's worked with basketball teams and she just finished working with them. She built up the whole team and she wanted to do something again. And I was like, well, we've got athletes that go in that get turned into cartoon superheroes. Would you like to do this as well? And I'm not saying quit your day job, because, let's be real, this is a dream as well.
Speaker 1:But if you get to live out what you want to do in your spare time, why not do it to something great? And then we can do this all together and that's how that kind of built up. So it's constantly like all of us with our passions. So when the hits the fan, we go back to what we want to do. But if what you want to do is already within NutriTroops, there's no problems. It can just build on the side. It don't need to be be all end, all making you money like that. Constantly. You do what you do, and that was what's like with the volleyball and the animation. You know you do what you do, but you got your passion. It's just how do you blend those two together?
Speaker 2:so that's like one of the core things that I love about our team that Hi, I'm Ryan Gonsalves and welcome to a Second Wind Academy podcast, a show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes. Each week, I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story. Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations. Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty. Elite athletes are still people after all. Let's be inspired by the stories of others.
Speaker 3:Today's guest is Peter Bakery, an accomplished Olympian who has used his passion for creativity to fuel a career supporting young people in their personal and physical development. Inspired to play basketball at a young age, he transitioned successfully to volleyball, playing professionally in Holland and also representing Team GB at the 2012 Olympics. Now, how does a love of comics and script writing establish a future for him? Well, he set himself up as an important part of ensuring the Olympic legacy for the children and young people of East London. He developed links across the sport, development and school sectors to produce NutriTroops, an organization bringing positive mascots for good nutrition and children across the UK. Peter, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:Hey, glad to be here, ryan, glad to be here.
Speaker 3:Excellent, definitely. Thanks for joining me today, especially as you're recently a father, so I don't mind if you need to take a nap partway through. I just say you know, congratulations.
Speaker 1:I'll definitely be nodding, but not with your energy man.
Speaker 3:We'll keep it up Absolutely and listen, even your, your introduction. There's so much to sort of really talk through today. You know really all about that transition form for elite athletes. You know, like yourself, how to you know really set yourself up for that life after sport. There's so much, so much that you've been able to achieve it's. It's quite amazing you know what?
Speaker 1:I guess, like one of the athletes, like double it's sword, is like you just keep on going. You, you know you don't see like the finished product, you just want to make it better and try and help more people. But yeah, I'm definitely trying yeah, good man.
Speaker 3:Well, there's a lot of, I'll say, success or certain points that we can certainly go into, but let's just kick off, man, and just tell us today you know I spoke about Nutri Troops. There's a few things and basketballs that you're doing. Just talk to me a bit about your day and the sort of impact that you're having nowadays.
Speaker 1:I guess the best way to really start is like straight after sports. You know life after sports. I didn't know what I wanted to do, not at all. And I couldn't find a job, because you spend your whole life doing one thing, it's your whole identity. And then you think, what can I do next? And then something really just sparks off when you hit rock bottom and you realise there's no further place to go and I just said to myself what do I like to do? You know what do I want to do in life?
Speaker 1:And going back to my roots of comics, animation you know, manga and anime I was like how can I do that but actually make a living out of it? And I realized that I was working with children for so long like it was a hundred thousand children and I was doing star jumps 9, 30 till 12, take a break and then do it till home time. And I lost my voice, my legs were jelly and I said, like this can't keep going. So I thought what's the easiest way to do it till home time? And I lost my voice, my legs were jelly and I said this can't keep going. So I thought what's the easiest way to do it?
Speaker 1:And speaking to the kids, I realized they love cartoons and cartoons don't rest. But cartoons speak their language. And when we think back to trying to teach all the kids about different ingredients, different exercises, it's way too much. But if you was to ask me about certain like creatures that you could capture back when you're playing a video game, I could tell you about every single one of them, their strengths and weaknesses. So I think why not just combine the two? And that's how NutriTroops was kind of born. You know it was out of using olympic mascots but turning them into little creatures that are linked to health and nutrition. So when the children are getting powers from this, when they're taking part in the challenges and games, they're really learning. But it's through osmosis kind of thing.
Speaker 3:That sounds great, Do you know? I love that, the passion, the interest. You've brought those things together in order to just keep yourself going and actually have an impact at the same time, and I think that is. That's brilliant. That's like a dream come true in terms of getting those things together.
Speaker 1:I do remember making a list of all the things that I thought. If I'm being like straight here, what could bring in money that I know I could do and you know, if you put in sweat and time, you know you can go into a primary school and actually give them fitness and that's something to be paid for. But then at the same time, you want to make sure that you're waking up every single day thinking, yeah, this is something I want to do. So I just started crossing off the list and okay, nope, okay, yeah, and it kind of left down to those two things. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I love that. That's really tangible, so specific and, whilst it starts in that place of I need to earn money, ends in a place of well, where am I going to be enjoying myself? Where am I going to be waking up and thinking, ah, this is good, yeah, I'm making money, I'm providing, but I'm enjoying it, I'm good at it. It's having that right impact, it's having that right impact?
Speaker 1:Most definitely, and that's what we did when we were playing sports. If you look back on it, you was waking up every day and playing a sport that you enjoy constantly, you was getting paid and you just wanted to actually say loads of people out there working in jobs that they love as well and you think, yes, that's already there, so it can be done.
Speaker 3:Let's hold on that point for a moment there, because you talk about what you did as sport and I mentioned very early on that transition from one sport to another sport. So just take me back. Let me sort of understand that sort of transition. Where'd basketball come in for you? You know what was growing up like. Talk to me a bit about that.
Speaker 1:So I'm from East London, kennet Town, born and raised I guess. Yeah, I was loving up drawing from early age. But I was like a tall kid and in my area you heard of what a monk is, you know Catholic monk. So they came from the Bronx in America and what they did is they set up like a homeless shelter in my area and they'll give them like food donations to the families that needed it. So when I was around 10 I was part of those families so I was always grateful anytime I went over there. But because the monks are from the Bronx in America, they love to play ball. So what they did was at the back of the shelter they put, like concrete down, two basketball posts up and they let us play and taught us basketball from that early. So that's how I got into playing sports. I was just there every single day learning how to play.
Speaker 1:And then when it got into college times, that's when my basketball coach he said to me uh, I want you to try volleyball. And I was like volleyball, if you want to put your hand up and say who's played volleyball for like many hands wouldn't, especially back then. But he thought nah, look, there's a chance for the olympic games. I want to try it out. So I thought, okay, then it's still the same sports source, same coach. So I tried it and it's quick rules in volleyball, as soon as the ball hits the ground, it's a point to the other team. So when I tried, I tried digging it, the ball hit me, hit the ground, point to the other team. I thought, okay, I'll try again. I tried digging it. Ball hit me, hit the ground, point to the other team. I thought, okay, I'll try again. I tried digging it. Ball hit me, hit the ground, point to the other team. I was getting frustrated. So I try one more time. Try digging it, hit me, hit the ground, point to the other team.
Speaker 1:So I said to my coach no, nope, nope, no, no, I don't want to play this no more. And he's like why. I said one, people keep on laughing at me every time I'm making a mistake. Two, I don't think I'm gonna to get any better. And three, I can't.
Speaker 1:And that's when he gave me the best piece of advice that I'll keep to this day. He said PR. I said yeah. He said whenever you ever hear yourself saying I can't add one more word. And I said what's that? He goes yet I can't, yet, I can't yet. He said yet means time, yet means practice and yet means belief. So when he gave that into me, I just started practicing a lot more. And then the 2012, like chance, came around. So I had to move from East London, go up to Sheffield and that's when I was studying animation at university, but I was trying to get into the Team GB squad at the same time, and that's when I had to try and combine, you know, two different passions and that was tough yeah, I bet it was tough and what I love.
Speaker 3:I gotta just chip back and I gotta say your coach, brilliant, bringing in yet and like you, say what it means, what it what it means for us in our sporting life, in our sort of growth mindset in our life. Just adding the word yet to that end of a sentence suddenly gives you that time and almost the piece to say, well, let's pause, let's practice, and then I can get there. And that is great.
Speaker 1:Exactly, comma yet yeah, I think it's edged on my back now.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's it. But there's aged on my back now. That's right, that's it. But there's a leap and a leap. I'm just trying to understand here. Which is so when did you become good at volleyball, when did that shift happen and how did you know that it was all right?
Speaker 1:I've got something to pursue here it's kind of weird, but you know the the feeling of failure that was with me so much, and the reason being is because of my love for animation and writing. For animation, I got taught like, okay, you know how to draw, but you got to learn how to write and act, at least understand the fundamentals or else what you're going to be animating. So, um, I actually went to my local theatre, stratford Theatre. I joined a writing group and I started going on stage and started doing improv comedy. I'm not saying I was good, I said I tried it. And stepping on stage, oh man, coming out of my comfort zone, that was. It was brutal for me, but I still try, kept to try to go at it because I wanted to create my own animation one day. And the funny thing is I got a phone call once and this guy was like um, we've seen some of your scripts, can you come down to see what it's about? It was a random phone call and it's from a landline back then. So landline phone calls were imported so I thought, okay, what's this? I remember going into um city center and then I was in this, in this basement kind of room in a building, two chairs, and there there was one empty chair. And then I was in this basement kind of room in a building, two chairs, and there was one empty chair and then the lady sitting in another. The guy put 60 pages of script in both our lats and then he walked out the room and I was thinking what is this? So I said to her excuse me, what am I meant to be doing here? She turned to me and said I don't know. And then she kept on just reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading. I'm competitive. So I open up the script yeah, I'm just flicking through the pages. And I say to her again yeah, what we meant to be doing here. And she goes not a clue. She brings out a pen and she starts writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. All right, I'm competitive, I've got a pen on me, I'll just start doodling on the pages. And I say, really, now what we're meant to be doing here. And she goes sorry, ain't got a Scooby. And I'm thinking what? She brought her highlighter and starts going through the pages and I realized, oh snap, I think we're meant to be annotating the scripts. I'm not really like wise to what's going on here. I the script, I think, okay, this is what got me doing too late.
Speaker 1:Guy comes back into the room. He goes alright, I want to hear your thoughts. So she went first. She goes oh, I loved it. Beginning, middle end and antagonist protagonist everything good, done me for some.
Speaker 1:Then it's my turn and I'm thinking, uh, you got beginning. I mean, I mean, I like that there's a middle. And he goes what do you think? And I said no, so he goes, what you think you could do better? And I'm thinking, oh, fudge, like I've just annoyed this guy. This could have been an opportunity. You know, when you stay in your comfort zone, don't step out. You might miss the opportunity. And I didn't realise all of this. But I responded straight away. I said, yeah, he goes. Great, you got the job. I said what he goes? Yeah, we appreciate honesty.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking, okay, what is this? He invites me down the next week and then we're surrounded by 10 different writers in a room. We've got like all these different characters on the boards going one side and characters going writers in a room. We've got like all these different characters on the boards going one side and characters going down, and then we've got this kind of homework to be writing what's going on. And I'm writing, I'm writing, I'm putting it in. Remember what my coach told me about? Yeah, I do want to create my own animation one day.
Speaker 1:This is a big dream. I put my script in. They read it. They're they're like oh wow, this is terrible. And I'm oh, come on, that's just the first draft, let me take that back. Go home, write up, write up, put that in. They start reading it. I say, okay, okay, this is horrible. I'm like that's just the second draft, let me take that back. And then I start doubting myself. I start doubting can I even create an animation if I can't even write? And I'll write a script again. I'll put that in.
Speaker 1:They go through it and they put me in the office and they sit me down and say, look, have you ever written a script before? And I was like, besides from the one you're holding now, yeah, yeah, besides from the one you're holding now, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, of course. And they said, well, you gotta shape up if you want to stay here. And this was the first time I've ever put my dreams so big that I actually got a panic attack. And I remember being in the corridor, just my chest was tight, I couldn't breathe and one of the script writers came around and she said what seems to be the problem? And I said look, I've got a big dream. I'm trying to do these scripts, but it's not working out.
Speaker 1:She says just calm down, let's look at what the problem is, what the challenge is, and try and break it down. And I said what do you mean? She goes take it into chunks, into smaller pieces that you can try and achieve. And she goes what's your favorite movie? And I was like probably space jam, like it's sports, it's animation, it's combined. And she goes okay, then I want you to go home and to watch space jam. So I went home, I watched it. I said okay, what's next? She printed out the whole script for space jam and then she says okay, now I want you to go home and read it. Now, it's pretty long, I try it out, I read through it and I say yeah, that was hard, but I did it. She goes okay, then I want you now to go home watch Space Jam with a script in your hand. And so when I'm watching it, because it's your favorite movie, you know every single line, you know every single scene. But now I'm looking at how it's done and I'm going, oh, okay, then that's what? Oh, I'm getting it, I'm getting it. And that really just gave me like that kind of like courage to keep on writing. Understand what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:I come home from volleyball game at college and what we used to do is watch other shows to kind of see like inspiration and things like that. I turned on and I see this other show come on and it's got all the ideas that we wanted to kind of do. You know, when you can't reinvent the wheel, someone's already done something. And I said, guys, guys, the idea's been done. And they were like what do you mean? I said it's been done. And I said they said what was it? I said it was a show called um skins and they looked at me and said this is skins. I was like what? I was like, excuse me, and I didn't know I was writing for a tv show. The whole time I think I thought channels made shows. I didn't know it was production companies that did it and then go on to the.
Speaker 1:So I'm writing all of this and I'm thinking, wow, I'm part'm part of a TV show now, you know, with other actors like Dev Patel, daniel Kaluuya. We're all here and this is going towards my dream. And that's when my coach said to me I want you to quit it all. So when I thought to myself I've got to stop all of this. It's practically what I ever wanted, but you've only got one chance at the Olympic Games. And he said to me look, your mind can always get better, it can always get sharpened, but your body has a prime, so take this opportunity. So when I left, I said I dropped it all for volleyball. And that's when I was like to myself this is something that I'm really committed to and, no matter what happens, I'm studying animation at the same time. But this is my dream.
Speaker 1:When I got to Sheffield, that training was different. I'm now waking up 5.30 every single morning. I'm going to gym before uni. I'll go to uni for the whole day. I'll come back and train again for another three hours. So it's five hours of training while studying. And because I came from basketball, basically, when you're jumping off one foot, it's good in basketball, but if you do that in volleyball, you can get injured or injured someone else. So I spent most of the time by myself digging against the wall and I did not know that I was good at volleyball. That's the answer to that. I know it's long-winded, but it was just a case of practicing and practicing and hopefully saying look, what's the yet I've got four years to try and get into the Olympic Games. So twice a day training, it's like it's what you do that time, not how much time you got.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got to come in because there's a couple of amazing stories there and there's a few points just to pick out because you had a dream. That dream script writing, cartoon creating and you were there, like you say, you were writing a top TV production. That was your passion, that's what you had. How did you get to the point to let that go, to go on to something else? That wasn't your passion, wasn't even the game that you'd been playing for most of your life. How did you know you were making the best decision?
Speaker 1:when, all honesty, you don't right, you just make a calculated guess and say if there's a chance, there's a chance, I mean and you miss 100% of the shots you don't make. So imagine in five years time when you're still writing and you say to yourself oh, what if I did go for that? Because the writing can still be done until you're 60. You can still animate by a desk. But to go for that volleyball dream? It was like again, someone gave me that advice. It was actually my director at the theatre that said to me look, think about it, you've got your prime times, no matter what happens. At least you can sleep at night, saying I tried, that's the one thing that I wanted to be able to be able to do. So it was like go for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's so good. I mean, that is so brave. You know, I think, as I go through the podcast and I speak to different athletes to really try and understand how, how we make these decisions, what you've described there is one of bravery, because you've often, through these conversations, I speak to people who for that athleticism, that's the dream, that's the purpose, that's why they're doing that one thing and they'll sacrifice other things in order to support that. Here you had this dream that you had, you had achieved in many respects. You were kind of there. At least you're on that, that path, and you stopped that to jump to something else. That was a belief, a wish, a desire, rather than that dream. That takes bravery. That's something that is really impressive for you to go ahead and do. How do you think that changed the way you trained? How do you think that really made you focused in on making the olympics?
Speaker 1:I guess you know, as athletes, you know, um, children, children have their best superpower. You know, when they take a shot, they miss it, what do they do? They laugh and try and do it again. But for us, you know, we, we kind of hold on to that and go oh no, I missed the last one, so why take another? You know, it's just making it fun and almost be delusional. Some athletes walk out there and say to themselves, like I did, I'm the best player on this court. No, you're not. I know I'm not, but what I'm telling myself is something different.
Speaker 1:And to step out of your comfort zone constantly, you gotta, like, face your fears. And I learned from um the olympic training. They were like, uh, you only got two fears, and it's, you're only born with two fears, sorry, the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. Everything else that we're afraid of actually comes from what we see, hear and experience. So if you imagine, if a lion was to burst into your room right now, bloodthirsty, would you be afraid? Yes, I would. That's normal fear, because you don't want to cause harm. Look to yourself, and if I know you're strong, I'm not going to lie, you know.
Speaker 1:But if a mouse was to come in a room, would you be afraid? Now some people would say yes and some people would say no, but some people treat that mouse like it was a lion. That's when you start to realize okay, so some things that we're afraid of. If you have to give a speech in front of a hundred thousand, ten thousand or even one person, you're treating it like it's a line, but it's not gonna cause you harm. And the more you do it, the more you actually realize no, if I've built these fears up, actually I can break them down. So each time you're training, you're just getting things wrong, but you're saying I'm better than I was yesterday, and if I'm not, I'm going to be better next week than I was last week, and if I'm not, I'm going to be better next year than I was a year before. That's just the the mentality of building up on it and not just getting hung on what went wrong constantly yeah, really powerful.
Speaker 3:That's great. I'm using that, I'm taking that, I'm playing with that. That's uh, that's really powerful. I can see how that motivates you to say, yeah, I'm fine, I'm doing this yeah yeah, that's right, that's good.
Speaker 3:I hope everyone else is writing that down as well and they're gonna be googling that. How do I use that as well? There must be a video on it, but there must be a cartoon on that by now. Come on, I'm looking at you. There must be a cartoon on that by now. What a line in the mouse it must be. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so you, you made that that bold move right and, like you say, you're studying, which I suppose I guess it gave you the skills right. It embedded the skills of animation, of that creativity, that side of things, whilst training on volleyball. So how did you find that balance between the two things you know from a both a mental and a physical perspective? What was that like for you?
Speaker 1:well physically. I never trained like that before. So we went to EIS and we had, like the Team GB, boxing with AJ there, we had Jessica Ennis with athletics, we had the table tennis, the Sheffield Sharks. They were athletes all doing their thing and I was trying to keep up. Each day the only thing I could move were literally my eyelids.
Speaker 1:I was in pain and my studying at the same time. Animation isn't like something you can revise for, something that you've got to constantly practice at. So my first year uni failed. I completely failed it. My second year I had to try and make up for it within. You know how they say you gotta get the, get the extra credits. And I was doing it by saying to myself look, I've got to be honest, I'm looking left and right at the same time. If I really want to make this, I think I've got to go 100% in this. And that's when I said to myself I'm going to actually put my studies on hold. And I actually left East Sheffield to go out to Europe and that's when I got professional contracts. I actually left East Sheffield to go out to Europe and that's when I got professional contracts. So, out there, that's when I realized when people play a sport from young, they're good. The level is different. It's now professional and the pressure is on. And you still got to try and make the Team GB squad at the same time my first cap ever for the country, remember.
Speaker 1:We flew out to Serbia and this was on my birthday. So I was thinking, wow, like this is so like lined up for me. I remember in the warm up I jumped and my coach said to me Peter, if you want to make the team, show me you want to play. I was like all right, coach, cool, came around again, jumped, again landed, and he says show me you want to play. I'm saying all right, coach. Cool, came around again, jumped, again landed, and he says show me you want to play. I'm saying cool. You say jump. I say how high. Came around again and then, as I was taking off, I heard like a bang and I thought, ooh, is that someone around me that has like clipped me or something like that. So I turned around to see where it came from. I my foot on the ground and that's where all the pain started rushing through my leg, so like the Achilles heel. But I did my plantar fascia. I just snapped, went towards my toes and the other half like towards my heel. I'm on the floor and I'm out.
Speaker 1:That was the first realization when I was like facing a doctor and she said look, I don't know when you're walking, laying on training again, so giving up everything with the acting and writing. I've even postponed my animation studying and this is my first cap for the country and I blew it. I just thought, oh, sugar, what can I do now? There's two or three years until the Olympic Games? I can't. And that's where you know, when your coach told you, hey, hey, remember. Those words Actually changed my mindset. I've got two, whole three years to make it. I can't yet. So what can I do within that time frame? Let me try and get back in there. And let me be honest with all of this. You know when you're thinking, yeah, you get back into training. You're doing all the physio work because you've got like the best hands to help you out. They're like your body's good.
Speaker 1:I learned how to walk and they said you're good to go. I came back onto the court Now. This was months, months and months on end good to go. I came back onto the court Now this was months, months and months on end. And I remember going back into the court I went to jump and I was like nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. And I said well, come on, come on, peter. I went to jump again and I was like nah, nah, because the only thing that was in the back of my mind was that loud snap and I didn't want it to happen again.
Speaker 1:So my coach put a volleyball on the floor and one of my little party tricks is that I can literally jump over people. You know that's like vertical leap. So he's like jump over the ball. I looked at it the volleyball's only this big like. And I said I can't, and no matter what, I couldn't put yet on the end. So he said leave, come back when you're ready to come back.
Speaker 1:And the first things they did was they sat me down with like the um, the psych and he said to me look, this is common. He said what's wrong? And I just said like, I'm a volleyball player that spends 90% of the time jumping and I'm afraid to jump. If you was to ask anyone in the street are you afraid to jump? They'll say no, and that's that line in the mouse. And it's then like how do you then break down that fear that you built up, because to me it's solid. I'm like you weren't there for that pain, so how can you tell me, like, how to try and break that down? And he said, cool, it's cool. Just, he asked me a simple question.
Speaker 1:He said have you ever run a marathon? And I was like, nah, I'm not an endurance athlete, I've never. He said, okay, have you ever walked a marathon? I was like nope, not taking part in a race at all. And he said, okay, have you ever walked to a friend's house? And I said yeah, have you walked to the park? I said yeah. And he said how many steps do you think you've taken since you started walking? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands? Like yeah. And he said, um, okay, so how many marathons do you think you've ran or walked before? A marathon is only 26 miles. You said no to a marathon because it has a start and a finish and it's a race, but you've taken steps many times before.
Speaker 1:So what happens if you direct those small steps towards something that's your marathon? He said I don't want you to think about jumping. No, that's way too far down the line, peter. He said all I want you to do right now is just give me a little hop, tiniest hop, you can. And I was like, yeah, yeah, okay, I can do that. He says how's that feel? I said, fine. He said do it again. I did it again. He said okay, now I want you to turn it into a little bound, just a little bound. So I bound, I bound, and he says how's that feel? And I was like, yeah, he's giving me positive affirmation in my head constantly and I realized to myself oh, actually my body is all right. And he says go on, peter, take a jump. You know like it's elation, because I just lift off the floor and I'm like whoa, I'm back. He goes, you was always there.
Speaker 1:But he says like, when it comes to your goals, you realize sometimes it is a marathon. But if you take those small steps every single day, just focus on that small step, focus on that small step, before you know it you have the finish line. And that's how, like he got me back on court. But that's what kept on doing when I'm training. You know it's small steps, it's those little things. When you're looking at video, when you're looking back on the animation, you're going okay, well, let's tweak this like frame here. Let's tweak this frame here. It's in all walks of life and those kind of skills like they're the ones that stay with me for life and I'm grateful, for being an athlete, for them being taught to me and that's when I was like life after sport. How can I pass that on?
Speaker 3:Yeah, beautiful, through that adversity, the ability to in some respects you stopped. In some respects you were like I can't do it, I quit. You learn how to overcome that and, as you were saying, learning how to overcome it and then apply that time and time again to what you're doing today and I love the way you just link that in from jumpinging, bounding to improving a frame when you're doing the animation or making those little tweaks and getting that incremental improvement along the way. A great lesson, so wonderfully said as well, and I can you know again as we're talking, I see how that really you know from what you've achieved, since it really talks to that, I really see how these lessons have actually come through for you appreciate that.
Speaker 1:It's um, I guess. Yes, it's lessons learned the hard way. I'm just trying to make it easier for someone else yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3:And look, I think, coming back, you know that that first step, that bound, I mean, look, you got to the olympics right, you made that sacrifice. I would say to you know, one of your dreams, you, then you. What's interesting is you're interested in volleyball, you're good at volleyball. To what extent would you go to say it became another passion. It became on par with the script writing, animation, acting, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think the second. In all honesty, when I was at animation at uni, it was a fight. It was I want to do animation, but the 2012 is there and that was my little mantra in my head like 2012, 2012. Now, when I went over to Holland, that became even worse. Like now, I'm pro and I spent most of my pro years on the bench and if you imagine, the national team is selected from the best players that are playing across the country that will come together. So if I'm on a bench, I'm not even doing what I want to do. What am I doing here? It's weird.
Speaker 1:It's like um, it was always a passion because I wanted to make it, but I think it was more me being stubborn and saying actually, this is something I'm committing to and I've got one chance. I do not. It's in East London too. I don't want to come back home and hear the rules of the Olympic Games down the road and I say to myself I didn't give 100%, no way. So that was my passion. That was like me saying I want to make this because I've committed to this. And, truth be told, when the Olympics was finished, usually they're like okay, now you can go play pro and you can play more free. You know, you can play professional, you can go out there, you can actually say where you want to go, what team you want to play for.
Speaker 1:But my mom was like, where's your education? So she said go back to uni and finish off my degree. And that's when I was like, yeah, you know, this is up, I've done this. Okay, let me try and go and do that. Now. It's been about four years. Animation has changed. It's gone from stop-motion clay to 3d, iron man and marvel. And I remember sitting in the animation class going, oh my goodness, I'm way out of my depth, but it I've been through this many times before and the first thing I did was I went up to my lecturer and said I don't know what I'm doing, help me. And that's those kind of lessons. You know. There's someone else has walked the path already. Ask them. You don't always have to get the shovel and create your own path.
Speaker 3:There's paths already been carved for you so much to take from that. I mean so many athletes. It's really interesting there that shift in four years you went on that mission. That, I think the way I'd summarize it is. You had a goal and you were energized to achieve that goal making the olympic team. That was it. Boom, goal done. That dream actually didn't change and and so what's different about your story here is, I feel like you, your identity didn't go wholeheartedly into being a team gb volleyball, professional volleyball player. It sounds like it was almost. I'm an I'll say I'm an animator on holiday. I'm doing this is my goal, but I'm coming back to this when I'm done.
Speaker 1:Just wait for me yeah, um, when I was playing pro, I was, uh, I had an animation blog like, um, I was still doing what I could do and it's, it was just a case on why be one thing. You know, when it comes to like in the entertainment field, you, you got a writer, dancer, an actor. You know why can't you be an athlete as well as an animator and try and do both as much as you can?
Speaker 3:just that sometimes one may need more energy than the other yeah, and it's that, that prioritization, and that's what's key there is you prioritizing your energy, your effort, your, your focus towards well, you know, in this instance was one big thing right, but it's the decision to be able to know which one you should focus on, at what time, and you've certainly demonstrated how to do that. And so the other point that comes interesting for me is then the, that sense of being out of touch, and for many athletes you know we go through it where it's. For you, you described it that four-year cycle. For others it might be two, four, you know, an eight-year cycle. It might be a period where they've chased that professional athletic dream or sporting dream, and then they come back and it's oh man, the world's changed, I'm not set for this anymore. Yeah, that's what you just described.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, though you kind of live life in a bubble because it's 100% like your sport, it's 100% training and that's all you know. And to a certain extent you've been babysitting in a type of way where you don't need to focus on the other things. Are you good for the weekend and game day? And when I did finish and I didn't have that helping hand anymore, I realized oh, what is this? What's TAX? I don't know what to do with this. You know I had to learn all of that and even trying to get a job writing my CVs, I thought, okay, I want to help people. Okay, what can I? I remember one of my first things that I did was a zero hour contract selling talk to broadband in the streets.
Speaker 1:You get humbled, you go back to square one and start all over again. And that's when I was just like okay, if I'm going to do whatever I'm going to do for so I can have bread on the table, can I still do what I did before and do animation on the side? If I want to get into schools and work with the children, I can go in for free. They will accept a person coming to teach the children for free, so then I can start learning. It's the same cycle all over again. And now we go to the next school. It's like, no, I've been into a couple schools, I know what I'm doing. Now, this is how I want to do it. Then you start seeing the difficulty in it and you start saying, actually, how can I make this easier?
Speaker 1:In certain sports, some guys stronger on their one foot or their one arm try and put them to the other. You know, you play to your strengths and constantly tweaking and that's what it was like. But it's not easy at all because you're born again. Your whole identity was I'm a volleyballer and that is gone. But you start to ask yourself, actually, why do I call myself a someone? If you ask anyone else, what do they do? Not who you are. It's a big difference in the language. So, no, I did volleyball. Yeah, okay, I was a volleyballer. It's not who I am. I'm Peter Bakary. And what does Peter Bakary want to do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like that, I really do, and I'm interested, though how did you know what inspired you to want to get into schools and to sort of deliver that message? What was it that got you into that area?
Speaker 1:I guess, at every single point in my life and every single achievement, there's no way I could say that I did it myself. I've got so many people that hands down. I could say at this point on my journey, if you weren't in my life I would not have done that. If you ask any athlete, the story usually starts with oh, my coach, my so and so they saw something and told me to try out this and I enjoyed it and I kept on going. That's that starting point. I just had so many along the way I realised that's what I want to do for other people and children. The earlier you can teach that to them, to hold on to that, the better. And that's, I guess you know it's my way of giving back that full circle.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what's really, again know, wonderful to hear is that giving back that enthusiasm and desire to go and do that. But how did you figure out or how you were going to do that? Did you sit down again? Did you think, yeah, yeah, I've got a list, but how am I going to do it? Can you remember that process?
Speaker 1:it was again, it was the same. So um made a list of all the things that I thought would actually make money that I think I could do. I made a list of all the things that I thought would actually make money that I think I could do. I made a list of all the things out there that were like with my skill set as well, and I kind of just made that that which ones are in the dead center. And if, if I'm doing animation I can't, well, I can, if I'll practice it, try and go for vfx studio and work for pixar.
Speaker 1:You know that was a dream, but let's be a little bit realistic. You know that's that third circle. What's real, what actually can you execute on? Well, I've still got animation skills, and the animation skills not necessarily need to be a hundred percent top quality if you're going into schools and doing education pieces, because now my competitors are the textbooks. With the simple apples, with two eyes and a smile, I'm competitive. I can do better than that. That's when I was like, yes, that's the light bulb moment, that's my blue ocean, that's where I can say I can do something great in. It was like, one way was Sports and the Olympics. Happy with that, but I didn't go pro-pro after that.
Speaker 1:And then animation was Pixar or working for Marvel. Okay, maybe not that. But if we go scale it back, what's that small step? Because one day, I don't know NutriTrips might be on Netflix and it's all coming to fruition. You know that's the still the big dream. Might get a children's bath, though. You know that's still a big dream back there. But that's up there now, and so I'm just working it small yeah, you've chunked it down.
Speaker 3:You've chunked it down into those small steps and it's. It's good to hear the actual exercise, the very simple exercise. We talk about it a lot start, start with a list, then add that next filter. Do you enjoy it? Are you good at it? Is it realistic? You know, you just start moving through those things and that gets you, I guess, to where you are and you know the bit that is still intriguing, because this is a bit that blocks people. Right, you bring your list, you've got your circles. They're overlapping, you're in that middle piece and then there you like you said, there you think about the competitors and all of that. But then you've got this web of networks and people who need to open doors and do all of that. And man, you've just spent four years in Holland. You've just been, you know, working away and then studying. It's like, how do you start to break down that, those webs, right, that networks? What types of things did you start to break down? Those webs, right, that networks? What types of things did you do to get yourself into schools?
Speaker 1:Well, you know what? I love what you said about the web, because that's exactly how it happened. Like a web, a network is made by those little nodes. You know you can't make a web without them. So you've got to just say what's my first point? And I said, okay, how do I get into a school? What is the way I could get into a school? Well, if I call them up and just say I want to come in, there's no qualifications, who are you like, what's going on here? And I said, okay, no, then what I did was, um, I thought, oh, I could apply to be a governor, so what's like, you know, like to to a school. That's a lot different, because I could bring in my mindset and talk to the teachers, the head teachers, who understand how to make that message to the children. So that's the first node. So I said, okay, I made a list of all the schools in the area and I remember I had next to no money. I had my um.
Speaker 1:I already started doing like these animation little pieces, some like things I was thinking about, and I had it in my little like bag at the time and I was going for interviews. I've got no, no, no, we're fine, we're fine. And then one school said yes, and I used my last like bus fare to try, like money or bus fare, to go over to that school. And when I sat down I spoke to the head teacher. She was like, oh, you've done all of this, basically said why are you here? And that was like that moment from back when I was writing in that room when I realised, take this opportunity, peter. And I said, actually, I've got this idea and I just presented it and she said, wow, yeah, you know there's loads of things that aren't to the curriculum just yet, but we can see how it can link. If you want to work with our teachers, come down every single session. And I was going to give it. Well, I gave it to the school for free. So that was my way of building that first node. Then I said, okay, this is starting to be built up. Do you know other schools that may be interested? So I went into another school for free and I said, okay, this is starting to be built up. Do you know other schools that may be interested? So I went into another school for free and I said, oh, if you tell another school, I can come in for this price, I'll come to yours for half price.
Speaker 1:You know, just building those nodes, building those nodes and then, after you've been into eight primary schools and you've got all the the referrals, you've got the testimonials, I starting knocking on the council door and that's suddenly a lot different. You've got all of this behind you, you've got this web and you say can I then spread it out to the rest of the schools? And that is how it kind of built up, slowly but surely. To say that you can build it, sell it to a school tomorrow, it's not realistic. It's how do you just slowly get in there? If you got to do I was going to do a PGCE, so that's to become a teacher. But I realised, ah, I might be stuck in a box of I have to do it like this and you can't just bring in your animation into their teaching curriculum. So I learned a little bit on the course and I thought I want to take that and add it here. It was just building.
Speaker 3:It was just building yeah, great again, practical, tangible, actionable. It is just really interesting there that. But you've chunked it down, you've taken it step by step and I threw out the word web. But you're right, it is. It is the way it starts. It starts with that first node connecting, and then it builds and builds and builds, and you know, I guess. So now I suppose, how intentional are you when you think about where you are today, where your brands are today? How intentional are you about that network, that web of yours, in terms of helping you get to that next level?
Speaker 1:that web. Now is the team. And another thing that I realized was that I can't do this alone. If they say it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take to build a business? It's the same kind of thing. And then you think to yourself, yeah, but how do you get someone on your team to follow a passion that you've got? That you ain't got money to pay. That's another obstacle. You ain't got money to pay. That's another obstacle.
Speaker 1:And that's when I realized, the more and more that I went to certain areas of people with the same kind of passion, I started to realize, okay, what is your passion? Because there's many people just like myself that they want to do something, they want to get out there and do it, but they're in that kind of same stuck place. And I realized, okay, so one of my guys, that um from university. He was studying nutrition and he wanted to do a PhD in nutrition, but he loves working with children as well. And I said, hey, this is gonna sound wild, but you keep doing what you're doing. But if I gave you the chance to express that dream within NutriTroops, would you love to be part of the team? He was like, yeah, another one through an animation network, wanted to do his own animation. But again, you can't just draw your own thing all the time, you've got to do what the client wants, so you're beholden to that and that restricts you. But he wanted to do these little creatures and I said, said these are amazing, look what I've done. And compared to what he'd done, it was like stick men with literally pokemon, that difference. And he said I'd love to become part of the team. And I've met another person who, like, who's a great saleswoman she's worked with, like with basketball teams, and she just finished working with them. Like she built up the whole team and she wanted to do something again.
Speaker 1:And I was like, well, we've got athletes that go in, that get turned into cartoon superheroes. Would you like to do this as well? And I'm not saying quit your day job, because, let's be real, this is this is a dream as well. But if you get to live out what you want to do in your spare time, why not do it to something great? And then we can do this all together and that's how that kind of built up. So it's constantly like all of us with our passions. So when the hits the fan. What do we go back to? We go back to what we want to do. Right, but if what you want to do is already within NutriTroops, there's no problems. It can just build on the side. It don't need to be be all end all making you money like that constantly. You do what you do and this is a passion, and that was what it's like with the volleyball and the animation. You know you do what you do, but you've got your passion. It's just how do you blend those two together?
Speaker 3:So that's like one of the core things that I love about our team that we're going forward. Yeah, that's nice, yeah, that's good, I like it, and that team mentality is super important. I guess coming up thinking about time as well here, I suppose I'm curious a bit about you and thinking about where you are today. If there was one thing that you could change in your history, in the, in the stories that you've told still end up up where you are, still running your company, still doing these things, but what would it be? What's the one thing that you would change or do differently?
Speaker 1:I've always thought about these things and it's too hard to fathom, because if I didn't do that then I wouldn't get that experience. If I didn't fail at that then I wouldn't know this, I wouldn't get that experience. If I didn't fail at that then I wouldn't know this, you know. So it's really like, um, I guess can I recreate that in the future was the hardest thing, you know, because, like with a child now, you know, can I still go? Okay, I've got my beautiful daughter here, I want to do everything for her, but I still want to try NutriTroops. You know it's still that I work part-time as well, monday, tuesday and Wednesday, and then Thursday to Sunday it's NutriTroops. So I just want to go, okay, going forward. Can I still do that? Everything in the past? I'm keeping that that's. Yeah, I've bust up my leg already. I'm keeping it's. Just, can I take it going forward?
Speaker 3:right. I like the way of thinking that. I like that that piece listen. I've loved the forward right. I like the way of thinking there. I like that that piece listen. I've loved the story and I'm sure for many who are listening are following. Just tell me, how can people find you? How do you keep following your story?
Speaker 1:you can follow myself if you want to DM me for any kind of tips, advice, of like, you know, not just being an athlete, but following your passion. My instagram twitter handles are peter baccarat, b-a-k-a-r-e and nutritrups. That's n-u-t-r-i-t-r-o-o-p-s. Just get in contact. I'm here for you anytime I love that, peter.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much for sharing your story with us today.
Speaker 1:Absolutely loved it no, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:Ryan, thanks a lot thank you for listening to the second win podcast. We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers.
Speaker 2:If you're looking for, career clarity for your next step. Make sure you check out secondwinio for more information or to book a consultation with me.
Speaker 3:I'd like to thank Claire from Betty Book Design, nancy from Savvy Podcast Solutions and Cerise from Copying Content by Lola for their help in putting this podcast together. That's all from me. Take it easy Until next time.