Others had to face those career choices too ... it's a sport that often requires large blocks of 'time off' for Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Overseas Tours and the like for those at the higher levels.
Not forgetting the sacrifice made by other non-representative sportsmen in having to 'cover' for them where they form part of the established manning levels on units. Several times in my career I had the pleasure 
of covering the posts of both Inter-Service and potentially-Olympic sportsmen.