The Interview - Paloma Rivero & Marianna Kinsella, Co-founders of Grit Circle
- SPSG Consulting
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Paloma / Marianna: as co-Founders of Grit Circle you have a holistic understanding of the evolution of sport as an industry over the last years. What have been the most relevant changes over the last 10 years in the sports Industry, mainly from an elite athlete's life point of view?
In football, Grit Circle’s core focus, the most profound shift of the past decade has been the move toward truly holistic player care. Ten years ago, preparation centered mostly on physical and technical work, and high performance was often viewed as something innate. Today, we understand that performance is something that can be trained and multiplied through disciplines such as nutrition, rest, psychology, mental training and emotional management.
Players have become far more conscious of this. What once seemed normal: poor diets, minimal mental support, or a lack of multidisciplinary guidance; would be unthinkable today. Ricardo “El Gringo” Giusti, World Cup Champion alongside Maradona, recently recalled in an interview that in his era players would routinely eat heavy meals, drink wine, or have pastries before training. This contrast illustrates how dramatically the culture has evolved.
Yet despite this progress, an important gap remains: players may be increasingly prepared to perform, but they are not necessarily equipped to build a sustainable identity or professional trajectory beyond the pitch. The industry still focuses heavily on their athletic output, not on their broader development as individuals.
This is precisely where Grit Circle comes in. We support players in strengthening every area that influences their performance: mind, purpose or identity; and help them prepare for life beyond football while they are still at the peak of their careers.
GritCircle is basically a company that provides services to athletes, mainly footballers, from when they are still playing to, mostly, the transition period of time after retirement from the sport elite life. What are the most relevant needs that your company is fulfilling in this space?
Football has professionalized immensely, but as the industry has grown into a global business, players are often treated as high-value assets while active and as low-value resources once they retire. The system does not require players to develop identity, autonomy, or a professional network outside football; their routine is built around training and competing. As a result, most face a personal and professional crisis when they stop playing.
We see this constantly: loss of identity, lack of direction, and disconnection from other industries. The data supports it. Andrea Orlandi, former player from FC Barcelona, Swansea City or Brighton, among other teams; recently said that a player is “a pensioner in their early 30s,” which highlights how unprepared many are for the transition.
Grit Circle was created to address this problem directly. We help players recognize themselves as holistic high-performance professionals, not just athletes. Through mental coaching, self-awareness work and structured exploration of interests, we help them identify how transferable their skills are: leadership, discipline, resilience, adaptability…
We also connect them with leaders across entrepreneurship, business, fashion, media, or real estate, depending on their aspirations. Our goal is for players to build a professional foundation while they are still active, ensuring that retirement is not a crisis but a natural evolution supported by clarity, identity and real opportunities.
Vicente del Bosque, former Real Madrid player and manager and 2010 FIFA World Cup Winner with Spain, said several years ago that “I believe you must prepare, not on the day you start to retire, but with enough time”. What is the perfect timing for an elite athlete to start thinking about their life after retirement? And what are the main baby steps of the process?
Preparing for retirement only when it approaches is a mistake, as Vicente del Bosque said in this recent interview. None of us would start planning our future the day we stop working; the same applies to players. Beyond securing their post-career life, early preparation boosts performance in the present: players with greater clarity and autonomy make better decisions and feel more confident. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Andrea Orlandi captured this perfectly when he said that players “retire” in their early thirties. Waiting until then means dealing simultaneously with identity loss and the sudden disappearance of the visibility that once opened doors.
The ideal time to prepare is when the player is at the height of their career, when their brand is strongest and their network can grow most naturally.
The first steps are internal. We begin with self-awareness processes that strengthen confidence and help players understand who they are beyond the sport. Once they gain clarity, it becomes much easier to identify interests - entrepreneurship, business, media, fashion, social impact… and to start transferring their skills to those sectors.
Finally, we facilitate real connections with executives and industry leaders who can open doors to meaningful, sustainable opportunities. The transition isn’t a cliff; it’s a process that should begin while the player is still performing under the spotlight.
Coaching and mentoring are essential tools for elite players both during and after their careers. Many initially seek coaching to improve technical or physical performance, but true high performance is impossible without mental and emotional balance. A player is a person first; personal challenges inevitably show up on the pitch.
During their career, coaching helps players manage pressure, external criticism, expectations, and decision-making. It teaches them to distinguish what is within their control from what is not, stay focused, and build a resilient mindset. This benefits their well-being and directly enhances on-field performance.
After retirement, coaching becomes equally crucial. Players must learn how the world outside football works, understand new professional dynamics, build networks, and construct an identity beyond the sport. This is especially important considering that most have spent years in highly structured environments where decisions are often made for them.
We use tools that strengthen mindset, decision-making, purpose and long-term planning. Our aim is consistent across both stages: helping players recognize themselves as holistic high-performance professionals whose skills can create meaningful impact far beyond football.
What are the main and most important aspects to consider when it comes to the process of identifying a partner for performance and life beyond football?
It is extremely relevant to connect football players with real opportunities in the private sector while their mindset and performance are boosted. The key element is to address those players who understand that high performance goes far beyond physical talent. Our model combines mental performance, identity development, strategic career planning and access to elite networks across business, media, fashion or innovation.
Traditionally, the industry focuses on extracting performance from the player while they are active. The reality is that it is pivotal to empower the player as a long-term asset, not a short-term product. They need to think, decide and build like high-performance professionals in any field. That mindset alone multiplies their value on and off the pitch.
At the end of the day, two are the axis of a successful process. First, the coaching processes should directly improve their performance today: clarity, confidence and better decision-making translate into better football. Second, it is pivotal to give them access to a world that football rarely opens: real opportunities, real leaders, real long-term vision.
