Personal – Dedicated – Sustainable 

    Delivering exactly what you need 

    By ath­le­tes for ath­le­tes. As reti­red ath­le­tes our­sel­ves, we under­stand your needs, and we know how to sup­port you on your per­so­nal deve­lo­p­ment jour­ney. The Ath­le­tes Aca­de­my is here to help you get on the lad­der as you pre­pa­re to embark on a new care­er out­side the world of sport. We care about your success!

    If your finan­cial situa­ti­on makes our ser­vices unaf­ford­a­ble for you, you may be eli­gi­ble for fun­ding through our Ath­le­tes Net­work Donors Club. To find out more, plea­se con­ta­ct us direct­ly at mail@athletes-network.com or on +41 (0)44 212 88 77.

    • Defi­ning my posi­ti­on with Dave hel­ped me get things strai­ght in my head and for­mu­la­te a clear plan to help me on my way.

      Roman Wick, ice hockey play­er, on our Defi­ning Your Posi­ti­on service

    • I found the Defi­ning Your Posi­ti­on ser­vice extre­me­ly use­ful as a way of taking stock of my cur­rent per­so­nal and pro­fes­sio­nal situation.

      Micha­el Weber, foot­bal­ler

    • Working with the Ath­le­tes Net­work gives me the con­fi­dence and reas­suran­ce I need to stay ful­ly focu­sed on ice hockey.

      Simon Boden­mann, ice hockey player

    • Defi­ning my posi­ti­on with Dave hel­ped me get things strai­ght in my head and for­mu­la­te a clear plan to help me on my way.

      Roman Wick, ice hockey play­er, on our Defi­ning Your Posi­ti­on service

    • I found the Defi­ning Your Posi­ti­on ser­vice extre­me­ly use­ful as a way of taking stock of my cur­rent per­so­nal and pro­fes­sio­nal situation.

      Micha­el Weber, foot­bal­ler

    • Working with the Ath­le­tes Net­work gives me the con­fi­dence and reas­suran­ce I need to stay ful­ly focu­sed on ice hockey.

      Simon Boden­mann, ice hockey player

      • Jérome Thiesson 

        The Entre­pre­neur Work­shop is desi­gned for ath­le­tes who are thin­king about set­ting up their own busi­ness or inve­sting in a start-up.

        Jérô­me Thies­son, foot­bal­ler

      • Dave Hablützel 

        I found the cour­se real­ly inspi­ring, becau­se I’m alrea­dy invol­ved in a start-up. The­re were ple­n­ty of oppor­tu­nities to ask for prac­ti­cal advice on spe­ci­fic situa­tions during the event, which was very helpful.

        Dave Hab­lüt­zel, snow­boar­der

        • The Entre­pre­neur Work­shop is desi­gned for ath­le­tes who are thin­king about set­ting up their own busi­ness or inve­sting in a start-up.

          Jérô­me Thies­son, foot­bal­ler

        • I found the cour­se real­ly inspi­ring, becau­se I’m alrea­dy invol­ved in a start-up. The­re were ple­n­ty of oppor­tu­nities to ask for prac­ti­cal advice on spe­ci­fic situa­tions during the event, which was very helpful.

          Dave Hab­lüt­zel, snow­boar­der

          Our training partners 

          The perfect partner for every athlete 

          For athletes by athletes 

          Athletes Academy Coaches 

          Andri Stoffel 

          Andri Stof­fel play­ed ice hockey for the ZSC Lions for 11 years, win­ning three Swiss Cham­pions­hips and one Euro­pean Cham­pions Hockey League tit­le. He also has a degree in Occup­a­tio­nal and Orga­ni­sa­tio­nal Psy­cho­lo­gy from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich, and can draw on a long care­er in HR. As a coach, he is pas­sio­na­te about sharing his expe­ri­ence with ath­le­tes who are about to enter the world of work.

          Cyrill Bühler 

          During his 14 years as an ice hockey play­er, Cyrill Büh­ler took a sil­ver medal at the World U18 Cham­pions­hips and won the Euro­pean Cham­pions Hockey League, the Vic­to­ria Cup and the Swiss Cham­pions­hip. After spen­ding the best part of a year tra­vel­ling around South Ame­ri­ca, Cyrill joi­ned Dentsu Inter­na­tio­nal four-and-a-half years ago. His HR trai­ning cul­mi­na­ted in his being awar­ded a Master’s degree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of App­lied Sci­en­ces and Arts Nor­thwe­stern Switz­er­land in 2021. He cites curio­si­ty, cou­ra­ge and a can-do atti­tu­de as his big­gest assets in his efforts to estab­lish hims­elf in a new environment.

          Patricia Heemskerk 

          As a care­ers coach, Patri­cia loves working with pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes. Her own care­er as an ath­le­te sad­ly came to an end when her app­li­ca­ti­on to stu­dy clas­si­cal bal­let at the con­ser­va­toire was rejec­ted. Patri­cia advi­ses ever­yo­ne she coa­ches to be them­sel­ves. After all, the world doesn’t need any more copies. She’s skil­led at ener­gi­sing peop­le and hel­ping them unco­ver their hid­den talents. Patri­cia loves to draw on her exten­si­ve expe­ri­ence in care­er plan­ning at inter­na­tio­nal com­pa­nies to help you find your feet in your second care­er. Direct and honest in her com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on style, she is prag­ma­tic and always focu­sed on fin­ding solu­ti­ons. Patri­cia is known for her posi­ti­ve atti­tu­de and sen­se of humour.

          Beni Huggel 

          With an app­ren­ti­ce­ship and voca­tio­nal diplo­ma under his belt, Beni’s care­er as a pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­te began at the age of 21. He went on to have a suc­cess­ful foot­ball care­er, until he had to reti­re aged 35. So what was his next move?

          Beni real­ly knows his stuff and is per­fect­ly pla­ced to pre­pa­re top ath­le­tes for the dif­fi­cult tran­si­ti­on to a new care­er out­side the world of sport. You can count on him to tell the direct, honest and unvar­nis­hed truth about his expe­ri­ence – with a pinch of humour thrown in.

          Baschi Sale 

          Years ago, Baschi Sale was one of the first to spot the poten­ti­al of Lin­kedIn for sales, mar­ke­ting and recruit­ment. Nowa­days, he runs regu­lar work­shops and semi­nars to teach others the power of the busi­ness net­wor­king site. His mot­to #here­to­help shows just how pas­sio­na­te he is about hel­ping com­pa­nies and indi­vi­du­als make the most of Lin­kedIn as a tool for achie­ving their goals. So what does Baschi have in com­mon with ath­le­tes, you might ask? It’s all about high per­for­mance. As one of Switzerland’s most acti­ve Lin­kedIn users, he’s a stand-out per­for­mer in his field. An entre­pre­neur, men­tor, busi­ness spar­ring part­ner and skil­led net­wor­ker, he is per­fect­ly posi­tio­ned to help you stay on the right track.

          Chris Bargholz 

          Chris Barg­holz is the co-foun­der and CEO of Rhi­no Inno­va­ti­on, a Zurich-based com­pa­ny spe­cia­li­sing in the crea­ti­on and deli­very of cour­ses on entre­pre­neurship and cor­po­ra­te inno­va­ti­on on behalf of edu­ca­tio­nal insti­tu­ti­ons and other orga­ni­sa­ti­ons. Having spent many years rese­ar­ching start-ups, sca­le-ups and ven­ture capi­tal invest­ments in-depth, Chris is now one of Switzerland’s most high­ly respec­ted thought lea­ders. A for­mer col­le­ge soc­cer play­er who was selec­ted for the All-Ame­ri­can First Team in 2013, Chris pres­ents in a clear,pragmatic way. And he injects so much ener­gy into ever­ything he does that there’s no chan­ce you’ll lose inte­rest in what he has to say.

          Dave Heiniger 

          Dave’s hand­ball care­er was short and sweet. In fact, his only appearan­ce in Switzerland’s NLA league lasted just three minu­tes. A chan­ge of care­er took him into the world of HR, whe­re his excep­tio­nal peop­le skills, cou­ra­ge and ten­aci­ty made him a sure-fire rising star. As the Glo­bal Head of HR at an inter­na­tio­nal insuran­ce com­pa­ny, he sup­por­ted talen­ted young peop­le as they took their first steps on the care­er lad­der, over­see­ing pro­ces­ses of chan­ge and deve­lo­p­ment. Ulti­mate­ly, he deci­ded to join the Ath­le­tes Net­work so he could share his expe­ri­ence with others and teach them the skills he had picked up along the way.

          Julia Philipona 

          Julia hung up her cross-coun­try skis for the last time at the age of 21, when she deci­ded to lea­ve her sporting care­er behind her to focus on a new pro­fes­sio­nal endea­vour. As a busi­ness school gra­dua­te and young pro­fes­sio­nal, she worked con­stant­ly on her care­er plans, posi­tio­ning and net­wor­king. Now she is deligh­ted to be able to share her expe­ri­en­ces with athletes.

          Gerd Winandi-Martin 

          Gerd was – and inde­ed still is – a pas­sio­na­te foot­bal­ler. It’s just a shame that his skill couldn’t match his bound­less ambi­ti­on and enthu­si­asm. With his heart still very much in foot­ball and sport in gene­ral, he deci­ded to app­ly his skill, dedi­ca­ti­on and deter­mi­na­ti­on to other care­er oppor­tu­nities. As Head of Care­er & Cor­po­ra­te Ser­vices and a care­ers advi­ser at the Uni­ver­si­ty of St. Gal­len, he chan­nels his pas­si­on and talent into con­sul­tancy, recruit­ment and the job mar­ket. With many years of HR expe­ri­ence behind him, Gerd is per­fect­ly pla­ced to help you make a good impres­si­on during any recruit­ment process.

          Severin Blindenbacher 

          As part of the team that won the run­ners-up medal at the World U18 Cham­pions­hips, Seve­rin kicked off his gli­stening ice hockey care­er at an ear­ly age. He went on to win four Swiss Cham­pions­hip tit­les, the Euro­pean Cham­pions Hockey League and the Swiss Cup. He was also part of the Swiss seni­or side that won sil­ver at the World Cham­pions­hips in 2018. When he embar­ked upon a care­er out­side the sporting world, Seve­rin found that even big­ger chal­len­ges awai­ted him off the ice. That’s why he’s so pas­sio­na­te about sharing his expe­ri­en­ces with other ath­le­tes as an Aca­de­my Coach, and hel­ping them to them navi­ga­te what can be a very tricky transition.

          Andri Stoffel 

          Andri Stof­fel play­ed ice hockey for the ZSC Lions for 11 years, win­ning three Swiss Cham­pions­hips and one Euro­pean Cham­pions Hockey League tit­le. He also has a degree in Occup­a­tio­nal and Orga­ni­sa­tio­nal Psy­cho­lo­gy from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich, and can draw on a long care­er in HR. As a coach, he is pas­sio­na­te about sharing his expe­ri­ence with ath­le­tes who are about to enter the world of work.

          Cyrill Bühler 

          During his 14 years as an ice hockey play­er, Cyrill Büh­ler took a sil­ver medal at the World U18 Cham­pions­hips and won the Euro­pean Cham­pions Hockey League, the Vic­to­ria Cup and the Swiss Cham­pions­hip. After spen­ding the best part of a year tra­vel­ling around South Ame­ri­ca, Cyrill joi­ned Dentsu Inter­na­tio­nal four-and-a-half years ago. His HR trai­ning cul­mi­na­ted in his being awar­ded a Master’s degree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of App­lied Sci­en­ces and Arts Nor­thwe­stern Switz­er­land in 2021. He cites curio­si­ty, cou­ra­ge and a can-do atti­tu­de as his big­gest assets in his efforts to estab­lish hims­elf in a new environment.

          Patricia Heemskerk 

          As a care­ers coach, Patri­cia loves working with pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes. Her own care­er as an ath­le­te sad­ly came to an end when her app­li­ca­ti­on to stu­dy clas­si­cal bal­let at the con­ser­va­toire was rejec­ted. Patri­cia advi­ses ever­yo­ne she coa­ches to be them­sel­ves. After all, the world doesn’t need any more copies. She’s skil­led at ener­gi­sing peop­le and hel­ping them unco­ver their hid­den talents. Patri­cia loves to draw on her exten­si­ve expe­ri­ence in care­er plan­ning at inter­na­tio­nal com­pa­nies to help you find your feet in your second care­er. Direct and honest in her com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on style, she is prag­ma­tic and always focu­sed on fin­ding solu­ti­ons. Patri­cia is known for her posi­ti­ve atti­tu­de and sen­se of humour.

          Beni Huggel 

          With an app­ren­ti­ce­ship and voca­tio­nal diplo­ma under his belt, Beni’s care­er as a pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­te began at the age of 21. He went on to have a suc­cess­ful foot­ball care­er, until he had to reti­re aged 35. So what was his next move?

          Beni real­ly knows his stuff and is per­fect­ly pla­ced to pre­pa­re top ath­le­tes for the dif­fi­cult tran­si­ti­on to a new care­er out­side the world of sport. You can count on him to tell the direct, honest and unvar­nis­hed truth about his expe­ri­ence – with a pinch of humour thrown in.

          Mireille Jaton 

          Mireil­le Jaton has been a pre­sen­ter on the glo­bal sta­ge for over 20 years and has won mul­ti­ple awards as a spea­ker. In 2017, she foun­ded her aca­de­my EVENT SPEAKING, which spe­cia­li­ses in com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, public spea­king and pre­sen­ta­ti­on skills. Reti­red pro­fes­sio­nal ath­le­tes (inclu­ding Beni Hug­gel and Kevin Lötscher) are among her favou­ri­te cli­ents, becau­se they have so much to offer the gene­ral public by sharing their experiences.

          Baschi Sale 

          Years ago, Baschi Sale was one of the first to spot the poten­ti­al of Lin­kedIn for sales, mar­ke­ting and recruit­ment. Nowa­days, he runs regu­lar work­shops and semi­nars to teach others the power of the busi­ness net­wor­king site. His mot­to #here­to­help shows just how pas­sio­na­te he is about hel­ping com­pa­nies and indi­vi­du­als make the most of Lin­kedIn as a tool for achie­ving their goals. So what does Baschi have in com­mon with ath­le­tes, you might ask? It’s all about high per­for­mance. As one of Switzerland’s most acti­ve Lin­kedIn users, he’s a stand-out per­for­mer in his field. An entre­pre­neur, men­tor, busi­ness spar­ring part­ner and skil­led net­wor­ker, he is per­fect­ly posi­tio­ned to help you stay on the right track.

          Chris Bargholz 

          Chris Barg­holz is the co-foun­der and CEO of Rhi­no Inno­va­ti­on, a Zurich-based com­pa­ny spe­cia­li­sing in the crea­ti­on and deli­very of cour­ses on entre­pre­neurship and cor­po­ra­te inno­va­ti­on on behalf of edu­ca­tio­nal insti­tu­ti­ons and other orga­ni­sa­ti­ons. Having spent many years rese­ar­ching start-ups, sca­le-ups and ven­ture capi­tal invest­ments in-depth, Chris is now one of Switzerland’s most high­ly respec­ted thought lea­ders. A for­mer col­le­ge soc­cer play­er who was selec­ted for the All-Ame­ri­can First Team in 2013, Chris pres­ents in a clear,pragmatic way. And he injects so much ener­gy into ever­ything he does that there’s no chan­ce you’ll lose inte­rest in what he has to say.

          Dave Heiniger 

          Dave’s hand­ball care­er was short and sweet. In fact, his only appearan­ce in Switzerland’s NLA league lasted just three minu­tes. A chan­ge of care­er took him into the world of HR, whe­re his excep­tio­nal peop­le skills, cou­ra­ge and ten­aci­ty made him a sure-fire rising star. As the Glo­bal Head of HR at an inter­na­tio­nal insuran­ce com­pa­ny, he sup­por­ted talen­ted young peop­le as they took their first steps on the care­er lad­der, over­see­ing pro­ces­ses of chan­ge and deve­lo­p­ment. Ulti­mate­ly, he deci­ded to join the Ath­le­tes Net­work so he could share his expe­ri­ence with others and teach them the skills he had picked up along the way.

          Julia Philipona 

          Julia hung up her cross-coun­try skis for the last time at the age of 21, when she deci­ded to lea­ve her sporting care­er behind her to focus on a new pro­fes­sio­nal endea­vour. As a busi­ness school gra­dua­te and young pro­fes­sio­nal, she worked con­stant­ly on her care­er plans, posi­tio­ning and net­wor­king. Now she is deligh­ted to be able to share her expe­ri­en­ces with ath­le­tes. She is a firm belie­ver that buil­ding a strong net­work around you is more than just a smart busi­ness move. Your con­nec­tions can also pro­vi­de you with a power­ful source of inspi­ra­ti­on and help you broa­den your horizons.

          Muriel Bouakaz 

          Muri­el grew up at FC Zürich and had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to beco­me Swiss Cham­pion and Cup Win­ner several times. Aca­de­mi­cal­ly, she has a Master’s degree in Busi­ness Inno­va­ti­on and is a Design Thin­king Expert. She is self-employ­ed and accom­pa­nies orga­niz­a­ti­ons into the future of work. Her pas­si­on lies in the topics of lea­dership, col­la­bo­ra­ti­on, crea­ti­vi­ty and inno­va­ti­on. Addi­tio­nal­ly, she tea­ches at various uni­ver­si­ties, gives talks and mode­ra­tes events.

          Gerd Winandi-Martin 

          Gerd was – and inde­ed still is – a pas­sio­na­te foot­bal­ler. It’s just a shame that his skill couldn’t match his bound­less ambi­ti­on and enthu­si­asm. With his heart still very much in foot­ball and sport in gene­ral, he deci­ded to app­ly his skill, dedi­ca­ti­on and deter­mi­na­ti­on to other care­er oppor­tu­nities. As Head of Care­er & Cor­po­ra­te Ser­vices and a care­ers advi­ser at the Uni­ver­si­ty of St. Gal­len, he chan­nels his pas­si­on and talent into con­sul­tancy, recruit­ment and the job mar­ket. With many years of HR expe­ri­ence behind him, Gerd is per­fect­ly pla­ced to help you make a good impres­si­on during any recruit­ment process.

          Severin Blindenbacher 

          As part of the team that won the run­ners-up medal at the World U18 Cham­pions­hips, Seve­rin kicked off his gli­stening ice hockey care­er at an ear­ly age. He went on to win four Swiss Cham­pions­hip tit­les, the Euro­pean Cham­pions Hockey League and the Swiss Cup. He was also part of the Swiss seni­or side that won sil­ver at the World Cham­pions­hips in 2018. When he embar­ked upon a care­er out­side the sporting world, Seve­rin found that even big­ger chal­len­ges awai­ted him off the ice. That’s why he’s so pas­sio­na­te about sharing his expe­ri­en­ces with other ath­le­tes as an Aca­de­my Coach, and hel­ping them to them navi­ga­te what can be a very tricky transition.