Opinion: Why Education Leaders Should Train Like Olympic Athletes

Every leader knows pressure. But few are taught how to perform under it.

Olympians train for it. Education leaders live it.

In elite sports, pressure is an expectation, not an exception. You prepare for it with intention, through conditioning, mental training and countless repetitions. In education leadership, the pressure is constant too: political shifts, community expectations and the unrelenting pace of change. Yet, unlike athletes, most leaders are never trained to manage that pressure as part of their craft. 

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That gap has consequences. The 2025 Women Leading Ed National Insight Survey found that fewer than half of women education leaders rate their physical or mental health as good, and more than a quarter report poor or very poor health. Fully 93% reported burnout is a major problem and, nearly nine in 10 say they are expected to prioritize work over their own wellbeing. It’s not just women leaders facing these challenges. A recent study by RAND found that fully 80% of all superintendents report high levels of work stress, compared to just 33% of other working adults.

The results are predictable: exhaustion, attrition and a diminished bench of current and future leaders.

Society asks superintendents and system leaders to perform at an elite level when it comes to inspiring, deciding, communicating and advancing progress for students and schools. But those expectations are shouldered without the recovery cycles or coaching structures that make consistent performance possible. Enduring as a leader is not a question of talent. It’s a question of training and sustaining infrastructure.

For a competitive sailor on the water, every decision counts. Each maneuver, each adjustment of the sail and decision made on the course requires clarity and composure. There are no shortcuts, no quick wins and no timeouts from the conditions. Olympic sailing demands resilience, precision and presence. These are the same skills required to lead a school district through uncertainty.

As a two-time Olympian, Lara learned that the hardest work happens long before race day. You learn to trust your preparation, to focus on what’s in your control and to reframe setbacks as data rather than defeat. Leadership is the same. The stakes may be different, but the mental framework is identical: the ability to perform consistently under pressure.

Education leaders, too, face shifting winds and unpredictable currents. They need the tools to help them strengthen their own resilience, manage their energy and refine their decision-making – not in isolation but within a supportive system of peers and coaches.

To perform at the highest levels with consistency and resilience, leaders must tap into their “inner athletes.” That means building the discipline, structure, and recovery needed to sustain high performance.

This notion crystallized for Julia through a wellness program that reframes health as a system of six interconnected domains: strength, cardio, metabolic health, nutrition, mental resilience and emotional well-being.

Getting “fit” as a leader means developing the daily discipline to perform under pressure, manage energy, stay clear-minded and recover quickly. The next evolution of education leadership, then, isn’t about adding more disconnected professional development modules. It’s about creating the space and structure for leaders to train like athletes: with clear routines, feedback and recovery.

For too long, education has treated leadership development as episodic. A conference here, a coaching session there. But sustained performance requires repetition, accountability, and reflection.

That’s why we’ve brought these principles to life through the Sustained Education Executives Network (SEEN). A new model of leadership development, SEEN brings the same proven principles that drive Olympic training to executive leadership: focused preparation, continuous feedback and a community that holds leaders accountable to growth. It’s not about longer hours or grinding harder; it’s about building the capacity to lead with greater clarity, calm and stamina. 

One of the most powerful lessons from Olympic competition is that pressure itself isn’t the enemy. Indeed, it’s the privilege of purpose. When leaders shift from avoiding pressure to embracing it, it can become a catalyst for growth.

That mindset is especially critical now. Education leaders are navigating unprecedented complexity: integrating artificial intelligence, addressing the mental health of students and staff, and rebuilding public trust. These are high-stakes, high-pressure challenges. And like any competition, success depends on preparation for both the challenges we can see and those we know we’ll never be able to anticipate. 

The goal isn’t to make pressure disappear. It’s to teach leaders how to operate within it, to see it as a contextual reality, and not an emergency.

This work is especially vital for women leaders, who often face additional scrutiny and higher expectations in public leadership roles. For them, pressure can feel isolating. But training in community transforms it into strength.

As in Olympic sailing, success isn’t determined by avoiding the wind. It’s about knowing how to read it, adapt to it and use it to move forward. The same is true for education leaders.

Leadership at this level is a discipline. And like any craft, it demands practice.

Because leadership, like sailing, will encounter rough conditions. Success lies in navigating them with focus, courage and a team you can count.