Lindsey Vonn Book Review: The Ascent Doesn't Stop at Retirement

Lindsey Vonn: Rise Book Review

One of the hardest things about being a professional athlete is that your career eventually has to come to an end. For every unicorn like Tom Brady, there are a hundred other athletes whose time on the field, court, pitch, or slope has a limit due to injuries, contracts, and other priorities as they age. ​

Most of us assume that these athletes then ride off into the sunset, with their legacies cemented in our minds. In reality, though, life doesn't work like that. 

In Rise, Lindsey Vonn goes into detail about life after professional skiing. The desire to compete and the will to achieve doesn't just disappear. For years, athletes like Vonn are mentally trained to keep score, and it's impossible to just ignore that and shut it off. 

Vonn does a great job in this book about opening up about that transition, finding the things what would still allow her to compete, and ultimately, being honest about the hardships and tough times that she had never mentally gotten over. As any reader will attest to, it's a process, one that requires some grace and a lot of patience. 
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Similar to the book, Open, by Andre Agassi, I give any athlete credit that writes a book openly and honestly about the good and the bad. In Rise, folks see the amazing accomplishments of arguably the world's greatest female skier and the downs of how dehabilitating depression can be. Vonn's ability to air it out, focus on solutions, and ultimately, rediscover herself after a professional sports career is a testament to who she is. 

For More on Rise and Vonn, check out this article from NBC Sports and the recent interview with Vail Valley Live.