Source: Channon Thompson
Being an athlete is often touted as a glamorous lifestyle choice: get paid to play? Incredible! Travel the world chasing your passion? So lucky! But rarely do we pull the curtain back on what goes into that decision, and even more rarely do we prepare young people for all of the ins and outs, ups and downs that go along with making a choice to become a professional athlete.
Channon Thompson, Parity athlete and professional volleyball player, was only 15 years old when she made that choice.
Laughing now, she said that she thought that completing high school had made her a grown woman. Looking back, she realizes how young and impressionable she really was, and how little she really knew about the path that she was about to embark on.
More than a decade and countless teams and countries later, Channon wants to give back to the Parity community by sharing some hard earned wisdom about what she wishes she had known when setting out on her inspiring professional journey.
Channon’s first piece of advice is for when you’ve got your foot in the door. Maybe natural talent has catapulted you to a high level, maybe you just had your breakthrough race, or presentation. Congratulations for making it to the starting block, but you now have an opportunity to go all in. Channon advises you to grab that opportunity not only with both hands, but with your eyes, ears, head and heart. She quoted Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: “So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” She compares volleyball to Coelho’s elusive you: everything needs to come into a delicate alignment for you to achieve your full potential on the court. This means paying attention to what you eat, what you’re listening to, what habits you’re forming, your mentors and so much more.
Taking responsibility for your learning journey will give you the best shot at success in sports. Why? Because your time is limited, and a “learn as you go” approach takes a lot more time than you may think you have. Not everything has to be learned through experience: learning from those who have gone before you will enable you to become the best version of yourself more quickly, and take advantage of your years in the game.
Channon was barely finished with high school when she took her first professional contract, which flew her across the globe from Trinidad and Tobago to a small town in Poland. Her first offer was in Azerbaijan, but she smiled and said her dad had to draw a line in the sand somewhere: his Caribbean daughter would not be going to Azerbaijan, thank you very much. But when the Polish club offer came through, it came with a special housing arrangement: the VP of the club would personally accommodate both Channon and her fellow Trinidadian teammate, looking after both of them.
Feeling nothing but excitement, Channon boarded a plane, with promises packed from friends that nothing would change, they would talk all the time, and see her at home for Christmas. But of course things changed, and Channon learned from an early age that relationships take work.
Not everyone is going to call when they say they will, and not everyone will remember to hit you up when you come home for the holidays. She cautions that the sting will hurt at first, but the good news? You’ll be fine.
Realizing her journey was distinct from her peers’, and learning not to be upset when a friendship’s season came to a close was key for Channon to help her develop her own identity. When you know who you are apart from your friends, your true best friend will never leave you. Channon doesn’t live with many regrets: despite some of the most difficult situations she’s been in abroad, she loves her life and treasures her career as an athlete. But she does wish that she had found her identity a little sooner. Often when young people have a dazzling talent, their identity gets wrapped up in the excitement. Channon was swept up into the professional volleyball scene, and against her better judgment, found herself constantly following the lead of her teammates, searching for acceptance. She now knows, through her faith and years of experience, that she doesn’t need to change who she is or what she stands for to be worthy of love, grace and respect. She says that if young people can be more self assured, it makes so many steps of a professional journey simpler. It’s easier to set boundaries around what you do and don’t want to do, and who you want to spend your time with. It also allows you to have a greater impact on the game, your team and the people around you. You bring something to the world no one else can, and Channon now lives that reality with confidence, humor and peace.
With sports billed as the ultimate passion project, it’s easy to forget that being a professional athlete is just that: a profession. Channon explains that it took her a while to realize that sports is a business just like any other, and wants to help other athletes enter the business world of sports with eyes wide open. In any league, or team, someone is putting up money to keep the lights on.
These investors or sponsors are making an investment, and they want to see a return on that investment: it’s not personal. It’s business. At the beginning of a contract, everyone is excited at the prospect of what you bring to the team: at how you are going to contribute to the return. Management is naturally going to be excited when you contribute, and disappointed when you don’t. Don’t take it personally.
You are not your performance. Your performance is your job, and therefore it needs to get the respect that it deserves, but it doesn’t deserve all of your self worth. Channon also advises that, just like a normal job, you need to continually build if you want tools to advance to a higher level. If you want a promotion, continue to dive into the ins and outs of your craft, increase well-rounded output and prove to your management that you are the woman for the job.
Channon has played with clubs all over Europe and beyond, and continues to travel back home for the holidays. She has shared rooms, cars, planes, bathrooms, rehab equipment and toothpaste with people all over the world. As an athlete, friendships form quickly: bonds formed in the fire of competition are fierce ones. Especially in a close team sport like volleyball, Channon would often end seasons thinking that she had just made her closest friends. But the offseason would roll around and the group chat would start to grow quiet.
Hope helps you keep your optimism, but protects you against disappointment. It also allows you to give the people in your life grace: you never truly know what someone else is going through, and the way they treat you is almost never about you.
Some people might read this article and think “okay this sounds terrible,” which was not Channon’s intention in sharing her life lessons with readers. She feels so grateful to have been able to play volleyball, make a living doing it, and travel all over the world. But she doesn’t believe that it was (or is!) an easy decision, and it’s certainly not for everyone. Channon’s smile widens as she shares that she believes in “Jesus Christ and therapy.” Channon has found so much support through having a therapist who is separate from her family, friends and teammates to help her talk through any doubts or issues that have come up over the years. It helps her stay true to herself, her values and separate out her identity as a human from her identity as an athlete. She also gets so much of her strength through her faith, and that strength leads her towards peace: peace with herself, peace in her decisions and peace with knowing that her actions are God’s glory. Whenever you are at a crossroads in decision making, Channon advises that you reach towards that peace.
So. Don’t be afraid to dive, to make new friends, to take a leap of faith and travel halfway across the world.
There are plenty of things that will make you question all of your life decisions along the way, but there are also a lifetime of adventures waiting to be had on this path if you choose it. And how lucky are you that you have a generation of mentors like Channon ready to reach out a helping hand when you stumble.
About Parity
Minority-founded in 2020, Parity's mission is to close the gender income and opportunity gap in professional sports. By developing high-impact collaborations between brands, professional women athletes and their fans, Parity has proudly put more than $3.5 million in the pockets of women athletes, attracting dozens of brands to the movement in the process. The platform offers connections to more than 1000 women athletes from 80+ sports, including well over 200 Olympians and Paralympians. For more information on how to tap into the rapidly rising influence and popularity of women athletes, visit https://paritynow.co or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Threads.