For some of athletes in the Australian Athletics High Performance Program, working as well as training and competing goes hand in hand.
This year’s theme of National Careers Week is growing identity alongside sport, showing that competing at the top level but also maintaining a career can be a positive, if that’s the road athletes choose to go down.
“High performance sport can be all-consuming,” The Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) career development advisor Sara Heasly said.
“When athletes grow their identity and careers alongside sport, setbacks in one area don’t shake everything else, helping them stay grounded and ready to perform at their best.”
Australian Athletics has profiled three of our athletes – triple jumper Desleigh Owusu, sprinter Ebony Lane and high jumper Yual Reath – who all compete, train and work at the same time.
“I’m incredibly proud of the athletes in our High Performance Program who are growing their identity within and outside of their sport,” Australian Athletics’ Athlete Well-being & Engagement Manager Melanie Purkiss said.
“Yual, Ebony, Desi and many others are embracing dual careers – and in doing so, discovering new strengths, skills, networks and purpose that make them stronger athletes today and resilient, fulfilled people long after their High Performance sport journey ends”.
National Careers Week is an initiative of the Career Industry Council of Australia, and supported by the AIS and the Australian Sports Commission, as well as Australian Athletics.
DESLEIGH OWUSU – HR SUPPORT/COORDINATOR GEM COMPLETE HEALTH SERVICES
When Australian Triple Jump national champion Desleigh Owusu was growing up, she not only dreamt of jumping far, but she also always wanted to work off the track helping vulnerable people.
Owusu works in HR as a support coordinator at Western Sydney disability services company Gem Complete Health Services.
The company is female led, and has not only championed her career ambitions, but supports her athletic career as well.
She has been working at the company for five years, starting as a support worker before moving into HR, hiring staff, recruitment, policy making and helping with staff wellbeing.
“A lot of people when it comes to a career decision are always chopping and changing, but I’ve always knew from being young that I wanted to work with vulnerable people,” she said.
“I want to work with children in out of home care, and women who are impacted by domestic violence down the track, and the company I am at have been very supportive of that.”
Owusu believes her work compliments her training and competing in the triple jump, growing her identity and even helping her performances.
“I think the work I do off the track makes me a better athlete when I’m on the track,” she said.
“It gives me another outlet and another purpose as well.”
Follow Gem Complete Health Services on Instagram @gemcompletehealth
EBONY LANE – ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT COACH/BUSINESS OWNER EMPOWER PERFORMANCE COACHING AND EMPOWER SPEED
Sprinter Ebony Lane (pictured above) started her own coaching business with her best friend and fellow athlete Fia Fighera back in 2023.
Called Empower Performance Coaching, it covers everything from sprints, mind set, nutrition, aiming at clients who want to go all in on their health, fitness and lifestyle.
She also has another business called Empower Speed aimed at coaching sprinters.
The work and business has given Lane a real purpose alongside her sprinting, and something she wants to take far into the future.
Her work and business is an important part of her identity.
“I actually wanted to be a primary school teacher, and studied that,” Lane said.
“I was working in childcare full time, and it was pretty full on to have a full time job and doing athletics as well.
“That led to working for online coaching companies, and it got to the point where I felt I could do that on my own, and Fia was keen to jump on board as my business partner.”
The business and work has grown so much that Lane has both online and physical clients, and she wants to grow the business to a point it is a one stop hub for everything fitness.
She has clients that are very supportive of her athletics, like recently when she found herself competing in Botswana one week, and Japan the next.
“Our clients understand what we do and we are so grateful for that,” she said.
Follow Empower Performance Coaching and Empower Speed @_empowerperformance and @empowerspeed
YUAL REATH – LANDSCAPE GARDENING CONSTRUCTION APPRENTICE
The only thing high jumper Yual Reath doesn’t like about working as a landscape gardener at Ballarat Grammar, is the sometimes very cold winters in the country Victorian town of Ballarat.
Reath is at the end of his Certificate Three in Landscaping Construction, something he has loved every minute of.
He has worked on and off as a landscaper over the years as he continues to follow that Olympic dream.
“I love the construction side of being a landscape gardener,” he said.
“Making a garden from scratch, building a deck.
“One day I hope to start my own business.”
After finishing high school Reath always wanted to do a trade, and he initially looked at plumbing.
It wasn’t until his Australian grandmother found a job ad for a landscaper apprenticeship that he took the career seriously, he got the job as the rest is history.
“The apprenticeship is pretty much done, I’m just waiting for the paperwork and then I will get my Certificate Three in Landscaping Construction,” he said.
Reath plans to now focus on his high jumping full time now he has finished his apprenticeship, but loves the job so much he won’t be far from building a garden in a professional sense in the near future.
By Luke Dennehy, Australian Athletics
Posted 13/5/2026
