The bell bellows over the thrumming crowd, its ring urging each runner to make their final moves as it proclaims the last moments of the race. For athletes in the track and field world – especially those who compete in distance events – the sound of the bell is representative of the mad dash to the finish line. For professional athletes in track and field, that brass bell also has another meaning: the inevitable retirement from sport.
From that metaphor, Chris O’Donnell founded a program under the moniker, The Bell Lap.
According to O’Donnell, “The Bell Lap exists to guide professional track and field athletes as they transition from sport to business. We provide athletes with career coaching and ideally access to paid internships or meaningful work opportunities with industry-leading companies. And to our business partners, we provide access to one of the largest untapped groups of diverse potential.”
While O’Donnell will downplay his role in helping athletes, “coach” is a title that cannot be denied. Throughout his 32-year career at Nike, he mentored many athletes, sharing his wisdom with an open heart. For him it was no surprise when track star Andrew Bumbalough approached him, asking, “Can you help me with my resume?”
A question to which O’Donnell answered with a resounding, “Yes.”
After a few conversations with Bumbalough, it became clear his resume was too thin. They started by talking about getting some real-world experience. Several phone calls later, he began working on a short-term project for the Nike Training Footwear team — a product brief for the Metcon 6.
The brief resulted in Bumbalough being able to showcase his talents to the footwear team at Nike. It then led to a one-year temporary position in Footwear Innovation, which brought him into a full-time job within Kids Footwear.
“He and I both felt great,” O’Donnell says. “And as we celebrated, he hit me with another one: ‘There are others out there like me, [athletes] who are ready to retire, but don’t know the right path to follow.’”
Thus the seed of The Bell Lap was sown.
The Bell Lap Mission
The mission of The Bell Lap is two-fold:
1. Helping professional athletes find meaningful work following retirement from sport.
2. Providing diverse talent to the business community, including the running retail industry.
In 2022, The Bell Lap ran its Pilot Program with success. In addition to Bumbalough, the first cohort included world champion Kori Carter and U.S. champion Aaron Mallet. During this fledgling period, they secured the support of a talented Advisory Board of business veterans and athletes — which includes the likes of Ashton Eaton and Renee Washington, COO at USA Track & Field.
Each athlete in the program is matched with work or the next step required to move into their professional career. Taking the insights from the wins and pain points, The Bell Lap team went on to head up another cohort in 2023. Like all businesses, however, the road is never free from challenges and pitfalls.
“One of the initial goals of The Bell Lap was to provide short-term work assignments or internships in the athlete’s off-season,” says O’Donnell. “It’s been challenging to get businesses to create winter internship programs. There is a lot of interest in the idea, but we have had difficulty changing interest to action.”
The Bell Lap team, however, is undeterred, instead focusing on how to scaffold and pivot.
“We are an athlete-focused program. Finding meaningful matches between program participants and employers is as much a timing issue as a location challenge,” explains O’Donnell. “So we are pivoting now to be more business-centric. This change means we are starting to create hubs. The idea is to focus on communities where we have groups of athletes and a vibrant business culture. If we can connect these communities in positive ways, that should be a value add for both.”
Currently, The Bell Lap serves the track and field and business community. At some point, The Bell Lap plans to expand to serve more athletes. For now, however, they are content to focus on one of the most diverse sports in the game — a sport filled with success-oriented candidates, each with an intimate knowledge of their sport and adjacent industries.
Finding Different Skills
From his conversations with the athletes, O’Donnell discovered a slew of varied mindsets across the sport. For example, a shot putter’s mentality is nothing like a 110m hurdler or a 10k runner. Of the similarities? They’re disciplined, strategic planners, and goal-oriented. They’re winners.
“If we listen to our business partners and athletes and adjust in ways that help us better serve them, we will eventually land on the right model that is scalable. It’s an energizing space to be in,” he says. “We are not set in any one way. We prioritize serving our constituents and flex as needed. For us, nothing is a setback as much as a learning experience.”
Quality over quantity is the cultural motto at The Bell Lap.
Every year The Bell Lap grows closer to its strategic goal. The aim is to build out a pipeline using the following tactic: The program gets an eye for when a relevant position is going to open and ensures the athlete is at the top of the candidacy list. This means building long-term relationships within the business community, learning about their needs and finding a competent match within the program cohort.
The “magic” of this method thus lies in the diversity from which the program pulls, as the track and field landscape offers a variety of high performers who share a determined drive to see their team win.
Most people don’t realize the massive talent latent within professional athletes. The cohorts of The Bell Lap often don’t even realize it themselves. That’s where some of the program coaching comes in. A lot of effort is spent in helping the athletes identify the transferable skills that also make them some of the best competitors in the world.
“The Bell Lap was a transformative experience, equipping me with the tools to confidently transition from the track to the corporate world,” explains Kori Carter. “The process allowed me to discover where my passions lie and where I want my career to go. It can be a daunting task, trying to articulate how a seemingly specialized and non-traditional career, like being a professional athlete can be an asset to a company.
“The Bell Lap helped me cultivate language that marketed my athletic skills and experiences that make me a viable and attractive candidate.”
Better yet, The Bell Lap also aims to help other industries like the run specialty retail community realize the potential of professional athletes, enjoy the benefits of their skills, rich diversity and ability to win for their team.
It gets to the question: If a team has a vacancy in a shortstop position, is it better to draft the best shortstop? Or is it better to draft the best athlete and teach them the position?
In the end, for O’Donnell, it’s about seeing the athletes flourish. “It’s hard to explain. It’s kind of like the feeling a coach has when one of their athletes succeeds. It’s energizing and rewarding. You realize that while you may have provided guidance, it’s the athlete who did the work.”
