 In Kwale County, Kenya, the sight of cyclists riding through the hills has taken on a new meaning. This is not only a ride for fitness or leisure, it is a ride for life. It is the Cycle For Sables, a movement dedicated to protecting the Sable Antelope, a species found only in the Shimba Hills National Reserve and now perilously close to extinction, with fewer than 60 left in the wild.
For Diana Heri, one of the driving forces behind the initiative, the project is rooted in a simple belief: “Sport has the power to champion relevant social and environmental causes. Through cycling, we wanted to create something bigger than ourselves , a call to protect what is left before it is lost.” How TAP Shaped the Journey When Diana joined the True Athlete Project’s Membership in 2024, the Cycle For Sables had just begun. “At that time, we had only two cyclists under our banner,” she recalls. “I was excited, but I also wasn’t sure how to grow it into something meaningful for the wider community.” Over the year, everything changed. With insights from the global TAP community, Diana began to see sport through a new lens. “The TAP Membership has opened my eyes to possibilities I had never imagined. I have had the privilege of learning from some of the best coaches and athletes in the world. That knowledge has been invaluable for me, and for Kwale Sports Excellence CBO. It gave me the confidence to think bigger.” And think bigger she did. One year later, more than 60 cyclists joined the campaign, riding together in support of the sable antelope. “Seeing that growth, seeing people come together for conservation, was overwhelming,” Diana says. “It showed me what is possible when we use sport with intention and compassion.” A Community Brought Together For Diana, the true success of Cycle For Sables is not measured in numbers but in connection. “Through this program, we have managed to bring our community together around something that matters to all of us. The sable antelope is part of our identity in Kwale. To protect it is to protect who we are.” She describes the feeling of watching cyclists ride through the landscape, each pedal stroke carrying with it a message of hope: “It’s not just about cycling. It’s about telling the story of the sable antelope, and making sure that story continues for generations.” Gratitude and Vision Diana is clear about where part of this inspiration comes from: “It is no coincidence that my one year with TAP has coincided with the growth of Cycle For Sables. The program has taught me to see beyond medals and victories, and to focus on the bigger picture. TAP has empowered me, and through me, empowered our whole organisation.” Looking ahead, her vision is filled with hope. “I believe Cycle For Sables can become a legacy. It can remind us that sport has the power to unite us, to protect what is precious, and to leave the world better than we found it.” The True Athlete Project Membership is a an international community of athletes, coaches, practitioners, sports psychologists, authors, mindfulness teachers creating a movement to reimagine sport. Join and get access to:
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 By Stephanie Plunkett
My relationship with sport has always been varied. Currently, I play rugby, but over the years I’ve also been a footballer, hockey player, netball player, swimmer, dancer, and competition cheerleader. Alongside this, I work as a personal trainer supporting athletes – and I’ve been on a journey to find a better way of working with them that aligns with my values: prioritising the enjoyment of movement over traditional measures of performance. A moment that has stayed with me from being part of The True Athlete Project (TAP) was during a community meet-up. I was surrounded by international coaches, researchers, former international athletes, and authors. Initially, I felt that my voice wasn’t important in that space – these people had so much more experience than me. But when it came to my turn to share, everyone listened. They asked questions and genuinely wanted to hear my perspective. In that moment, I realised that even though I may not be at the top end of elite sport, I have a lot of experience and understanding of sports and coaching. My voice matters. Being part of the TAP community has been affirming. I’ve often felt that my perspective on sport is different from others – I care more about enjoyment and athlete welfare than I do about winning. Because of that, I’ve not always been taken seriously in the performance sports world. TAP has shown me that my view of sport is just as important in elite environments as it is at community level. It’s re-ignited a fire inside me that had been crushed after years of feeling I was fighting against the system. Through TAP, I’ve learnt that my opinion is valid. That I do have valuable experience. I’ve also seen that many people want sport to be a place of growth, well-being, and fun – but they lack the tools to change the environments they’re in. If I could tell my past self one thing before starting this journey, it would be: “Keep believing in what you think is right. Others may not see things your way, but don’t let that quieten your voice.” And to anyone thinking about joining TAP or supporting their work: Give it a go. You might just find something here you didn’t expect. Join with an open mind and engage as much as you can – it’s a place to find like-minded people, but also to discuss different views critically and openly. The TAP Membership Community is a space for those who care deeply about the well-being of athletes and the culture of sport. As a member, you’ll connect with others committed to bringing presence, purpose, and compassion into their coaching and practice. By subscribing, you're supporting our grassroots and community work in the USA, enabling us to initiate impactful change in communities. Together, we're transforming lives, one true athlete at a time. Join us in making a difference. I want to join.  Inspired by Dr. Matt Bowers’ workshop for The True Athlete Project Membership Community
At The True Athlete Project, we believe that sport can be a sacred space for human development, a place where young people grow not only as athletes, but as whole people. But for that to happen, we need to rethink the systems we’ve built. In his workshop for TAP, Matt Bowers offered a fresh philosophy of youth sport, one that centers long-term wellbeing, play, and purpose, rather than early success and over-specialisation. Here are 12 reflections from his session, ideas that challenge the current culture and invite us into a more sustainable, compassionate approach to youth development: 1. Don’t Take the Deal Real change won’t come from inside the current system, it will take courageous parents, coaches, and mentors willing to say no to the pressure. Hold on to your values, even when the system tries to pull you in. 2. Not Sticks. Not Carrots. Batons. It’s not about controlling outcomes, it’s about support and timing. Carry the baton when needed, and pass it when it’s time. Let children take the lead in their own journey, with you walking beside them. 3. Start with Self-Determined Sports Team sports can sometimes disconnect children from direct feedback. In sports like bouldering, climbing, or martial arts, young people feel their own progress. These contexts are ideal for developing body awareness, self-confidence, and intrinsic motivation. 4. They Aren’t LeBron Exceptional athletes are just that - exceptions. They aren’t the model. Pushing kids to follow the path of an elite outlier does more harm than good. Support their unique path, not someone else’s blueprint. 5. Reject the “Tautology of Travel Ball” The idea that there’s only one way to succeed in sport, elite travel teams, early specialisation, constant competition, is a myth. There are many paths. We need to open doors, not close them. 6. Use a Constraints-Led, Macro Approach Change the environment. Let kids play in leagues where they are both the best and the worst. Manipulate the structure to support learning, resilience, and adaptability. 7. Play–Compete Golden Mean In the current model, 8-year-olds travel out of state to play six games on a weekend, with just one practice during the week. That’s backwards. Prioritise training over competition, and go one step further: add more play. Unstructured, child-led play is not wasted time, it’s where creativity, autonomy, and joy are built. 8. They Don’t Need to Be the Best 8-Year-Old Stop aiming to peak at 8. Development is a marathon, not a sprint. Let’s focus on who they’re becoming at 19 or 23, not whether they’re the best 8 year old... 9. Pursue the Path of Least Commitment In our culture, over-commitment is almost a badge of honour. But investing everything early (time, money, identity) often leads to burnout. Ask instead: What’s the minimum a 6-year-old needs to benefit from sport? The rest of their time can be used to play, rest, and explore freely. 10. Cultivate Non-Sport Identities A child who sees themselves as only an athlete is vulnerable to mental health challenges, injury, and difficult transitions. Support their growth as whole humans, through art, music, relationships. These experiences build resilience and self-worth. 11. Cheer for the Positive Sum A zero-sum mindset (“If their kid makes the team, mine won’t”) distorts community. Let’s shift to a positive-sum view: These are all our kids. When one child thrives, the whole environment improves. 12. Let Sport Grow the Human, Not Just the Player We often speak about sport as transformational, yet design it to be transactional. If we truly believe in the power of sport to shape lives, we must design and deliver it with care. Focus on process, not just outcome. Value growth, not just results. At TAP, we believe there’s a better way. A kinder way. A wiser way. One that honours children as full humans. One that creates communities where everyone can thrive. And one that trusts that if we play the long game, we’ll all go further. 🙏 Thank you to Dr. Matt Bowers. Watch the recording here. 💬 What idea resonated with you most? Are you trying to challenge the system in your own way, as a parent, coach, or athlete? We’d love to hear your thoughts. #TrueAthleteProject #YouthSport #SportWithHeart #AthleteDevelopment #LongTermDevelopment #PlayMatters #SportsParenting #CoachingCulture #MindfulnessInSport #TransformationNotTransaction  From here on, the primary judgment of all human institutions, professions, programs and activities will be determined by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a mutually-enhancing human/Earth relationship. A storm is brewing and it’s going to be a monster. Scientists have seen it coming for decades and the warnings are now being written in fine detail across the pages of hundreds of sober, credible academic journals. The biosphere is on the brink of collapse, with runaway atmospheric warming, depletion of biodiversity and the degradation of habitat across the planet. Forests, soils, oceans, fresh water, wet lands, and rivers; all under extreme pressure from an expanding, high-impact human population. It’s no coincidence that societies around the world are under extreme stress and human mental health is in serious trouble. And so the obvious questions: How does sport fit into this predicament? Is it relevant or meaningful in some way? Is it a mere amusement, a pastime, a distraction? Or is it something with vast potential, a way to heal our society and maintain our resilience and creativity in the face of looming, unprecedented chaos and stress? The two faces of sport To answer these questions, it’s essential that we acknowledge the good stuff right at the outset. When sport works, it’s one of the most creative and honorable of all human activities. Athletes bring intense focus to their games and step up with powerful, inspirational, and even awe-inspiriting performances. At their best, athletic events are vivid expressions of beauty, spirit, and even transcendence. When sport works, it makes people healthier in both body and spirit. Team spirit and sincere coaching combine to make athletics one of the most meaningful practices in the modern world, and arguably, sport is one of the few things in the modern world that actually functions as intended. At its best, sports can unify teams, communities, and even, in the Olympic spirit, humanity itself. There are ample reasons to love athletics and we’d do well to keep this spirit alive for athletes and non-athletes alike. Nevertheless, there can be no denying the dark side, beginning with the overwhelming emphasis on competition and an ends-over-means value system. Even in the world of youth and amateur sport, outcome is now considered everything. Winning is paramount and failure is labeled a disaster, for both individuals and community. All of which adds up to a brutal, exclusionary, high-stress environment that wears down athletes, compromises their mental health, and shorten careers. Similarly, we now see a widespread emphasis on specialization and professionalization, most notably in youth sports. We start training our athletes at younger and younger ages, even before the body is fully developed, leading inevitably to premature injury and burn-out. Young athletes need diverse forms of play to develop naturally, but this opportunity is increasingly denied to many. Even worse, modern athletics has largely been co-opted by larger corporate and commercial interests. Sporting events may look authentic on our screens, but they are massively produced for maximum media viewership. In the process, the athlete loses her authenticity and becomes little more than an agent for generating profit. In this environment, sport often functions as nothing more than a cheap attractor, a lure for human attention. Beyond its ability to stimulate, it has no inherent meaning or value. In turn, this leads to an increasing emphasis on naked achievement, exclusively for the sake of personal grandeur. Larger meanings are ignored as athletes build their resumes in hope of ever larger payoffs. In the process, our athletic dreams contract into calculation and narcissism. Even worse than all that, modern athletics has almost nothing to say about the most consequential issue in human history: our ecological crisis. Today’s coaches and athletes rarely speak about the Earth or the power of the natural world. Oddly and tragically, modern athletics seems to operate in a kind of fantasy world, isolated from the very forces and processes that sustain our bodies, our lives, and yes, our athletic performance. All of which adds up to a disturbing realization: In the extreme, modern athletics can become irrelevant and even counterproductive in our quest to create some kind of functional future. So perhaps it’s no surprise to see a growing backlash against sports in general and the increasingly popular view that athletes are nothing but a bunch of spoiled, overpaid, over-pampered whiners. A path forward So what’s to be done? How do we make sport relevant and meaningful in a world on the brink? How can athletics, in Thomas Berry’s words, “foster a mutually-enhancing human/Earth relationship?” How can sports contribute to a viable, functional human future? Most of us already know what needs to be done, even if we’re not explicitly vocal about it. The formula is simple, if difficult to implement:
 Athletes as Earth advocates Speaking out for the preservation of the natural world is certain to look and feel unfamiliar to many of us, but in fact, coaches and athletes are ideally suited to speak on matters of the biosphere, the planet and nature. We have credibility on this matter; we understand that our health and performance ultimately comes from our ancestry and our habitat: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat all comes from the land, the earth. We understand that without a functional habitat and biosphere, there can be no health, no athletic performance, and no glory. As today’s climate activists might well put it “There can be no championships on a dead planet.” Speaking out for nature is a matter of social and ecological responsibility to be sure, but even more, it’s also a powerful way to live and train. Not only does the natural world sustain us, it also provides an enormous source of physical and psycho-spiritual energy that can make us better at what we do. Nature, we might say, is a super-power. When we identify with the living world, we become stronger and more resilient in everything we do, including our athletic performance. To put it another way, identifying with and speaking out in support of the natural world isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also the smart thing to do. Preview of our September workshop All of which leads to our upcoming TAP online workshop, September 5. We’ll open with some light movement and meditation, then we’ll explore the big picture ideas that shape our bodies and our practice, including…
I hope you can join us. REGISTRATION LINK Frank Forencich, https://humananimal.earth/  |
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