UNSHAKEABLE FEMININE LEADERSHIP FOR WOMEN IN SPORT 

The golden League RETREAT

Five Days in Andalusia for high-level female leaders in sport – going for gold, and nothing less. The deepest work of your leadership career.
At a resort that matches the standard you set for everything else.

6 – 10 OCTOBER 2026 · VILUZ RESORT · ANDALUSIA, SPAIN

Unshakeable Feminine Leadership for Women in Sport

THE GOLDEN LEAGUE RETREAT

Five Days in Andalusia for high-level female leaders in sport - going for gold, and nothing less.
The deepest work of your leadership career.
At a resort that matches the standard you set for everything else.

6 – 10 October 2026  ·  Viluz Resort  ·  Andalusia, Spain



Five Days. One Standard.

Gold.

You. Me. An exclusive group of women who know exactly what it costs to lead in masculine environments. 

Where excellence is expected. Where pressure never switches off. Where you are the one who prepares hardest, stays longest and carries the weight nobody else names – and still delivers.

You can lead teams through pressure, crisis and competition.
But sitting on your own couch without feeling guilty for slowing down? That is harder than any boardroom you have ever walked into. 

Somewhere along the way, carrying responsibility became your default setting. That is the cost nobody sees. Because from the outside, everything still looks golden.

The next level of leadership is not carrying more. It is leading differently. 
You are building a legacy – shaping teams, cultures and futures that extend far beyond you. The question is whether the woman building it is still part of it.

For five days at Viluz Resort in Andalusia, we step out of performance mode – not to escape leadership, but to strengthen the woman behind it.

Five days of leadership work that changes how you lead, make decisions and carry responsibility long after you leave Andalusia. Where everything is taken care of – so you can finally take care of what matters most.

You.

This is what I want!

FroM the outside, your life already looks

GOLDEN

The position. The responsibility. The impact. You have earned everything that is visible.

But somewhere between the boardroom and the sofa on Friday night – relieved that your plans got cancelled because you have nothing left to give – you wonder: is this it?

  • You prepare twice as hard as anyone else in the room - because somewhere you still feel you have to deserve your seat.
  • You soften your message, adjust your presence, make yourself smaller - and you do not even notice you are doing it anymore.
  • You watch someone with half your experience get the attention you had to earn over twenty years.

Your life looks golden from the outside. But you are living it from inside a golden cage.

You would never send your best athlete onto the field without the right preparation, the right recovery, the right investment. But when did you last treat yourself the same way?

That stops here.

Here for it!

This is not Just a break.
This is the work.

Five days dedicated to you. Not as a luxury – as a necessity.

You know better than anyone what high performance demands. You have seen it up close: athletes who trains smarter, recover better and understand that sustainable performance is built behind the scenes.

You would never send your best athlete onto the field running on empty. So when did you start expecting it from yourself?

At Viluz Resort, we create the conditions for your deepest leadership work. Shadow work. Identity work. The work beneath the strategy. The patterns, beliefs and leadership habits shaping how you show up – often without you even noticing.

You leave with a different relationship to what you carry – and what you no longer need to.

Because the next level does not require more of what got you here. It requires a different version of you.

Ready for it

VILUZ resort

A private 5-star resort surrounded by mountains, sea views and the kind of stillness that reminds your nervous system what it feels like to actually exhale. 

Viluz is the kind of place that matches the standard you set for everything else in your life – and then raises it.

You wake up to the scent of the garden. Every meal prepared from the finest local ingredients. The pool. The terrace. The Andalusian light at six in the morning before anyone else is awake. The conversations over dinner that go places your normal life does not make room for.

And in between – the deepest work of your leadership career.

Because transformation does not happen in the gaps between obligations. It happens when you finally remove them.



What these days look like

Every day includes leadership work, great meals, movement, reflection and the kind of space high-performing women rarely give themselves.

There is no colour-coded schedule. No pre-reading list. No minute-by-minute agenda.

And if reading that makes you slightly uncomfortable – good.

That is exactly the pattern we are here to work with.

Because needing to know everything in advance, preparing for every scenario and staying in control even when everything around you is taken care of is not a personality trait.

That is the work.

This is not your typical leadership course. Not your typical yoga retreat. It is something that goes deeper than both.

I want to join

“The women shaping the future of sport will lead differently.”

What others say

Esther is a powerful and strategic mentor who helps female leaders show up with clarity, authority and presence in industries where women are still underrepresented.
She draws on years of experience at the top of the international sports world, where she has firmly earned her place as a respected leader. Her vision – consistently reflected in her writing – is sharp, thoughtful and thought-provoking. The way she shares her insights - with professionalism, clarity and natural authority - makes her not only inspiring, but a role model for today’s and tomorrow’s generation of female leaders.

Michael van PraagFormer President of the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), Chairman of Ajax, UEFA Executive Committee member
Esther is genuinely at home in every room. She is deeply in love with sport, intellectually sharp, curious, and driven. UEFA and FIFA recognised that early - you don't easily find someone who can hold the complexity of a Venue Director role or serve as a Venue Manager during a World Cup or EURO.
.
I first met her through her platform KICK-ES, where she was giving women in sport a voice and a stage. What stood out immediately was her curiosity. She asked great questions, listened carefully, and wasn't afraid to go deeper. Our conversations led to new insights for both of us about leadership, sport, and what women uniquely bring to the table. .
.
Over the years we stayed in touch and continued to inspire each other. I watched her grow - building an impressive international career at the highest levels of sport, while never losing sight of who she is. She knows both sides of the medal: the prestige that comes with operating at the highest level, and what it costs when no one is watching. She has been through it herself. .
.
What makes Esther unique is not just her experience. It is her ability to combine that experience with genuine self-awareness and authenticity, in environments that were never built for women. She knows how important it is to stay close to yourself. That may sound simple, but in high-performance environments it is often the hardest thing to do. .
What you see is what you get. And that is precisely how she gets the best out of the women she works with.
Marijke FleurenFormer President European Hockey Federation

The SUCCESS programme is a true investment in yourself, especially if you're a woman working in the sports/events industry. Esther has walked the same path, and she can propel your professional career into a higher gear. Esther shows you what you need to work on; she's clear, practical, and with a variety of exercises (ranging from down-to-earth to sometimes even a bit spiritual), you discover your areas for improvement and receive a nice confirmation of what you're good at.

Eva Wiggelendam

Working with Esther is highly recommended, as she creates a safe environment where you can be vulnerable. This is a prerequisite for growth for me. Esther's strength is that she draws from her own life experiences and empathises well with others' situations. What I appreciate about interacting with Esther is that she listens and reflects. The SUCCESS method is well-suited for working on personal development across various aspects, and its specific themes allow for customisation when you gain an insight you want to work on more. There's plenty of room to express your needs.


Jill EekhartEekhart for Sport
Esther was one of the UEFA Assist Experts for the Football for Women Programme in India. Collaborating with Esther was seamless, thanks to her profound understanding of women in sports. Her extensive experience provided invaluable insights, highlighting the universal challenges and triumphs faced by women in sports, regardless of their country. Esther’s approachable nature and ongoing support have been a tremendous asset to everyone she mentors. She is a wonderful person to work with, and I wholeheartedly wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
Hem Kaur SidhuHead of Women's Football, All India Football Federation at the time

You are in the right spot

I know this world because I have lived it.

Twenty-three years at the highest level in international sport. UEFA Venue Director across European club competitions. Multiple FIFA World Cups, UEFA Euros and two Olympic Games. Worked at 20+ countries. Delivered leadership training across three continents – to the women navigating the same rooms I was in.

I never experienced being the only woman in the room as a disadvantage. I showed up. I delivered. Every time. But for years, I led entirely from my head. Driven, sharp, always on. And completely disconnected from a large part of myself.

It was only when I started running into things I could no longer push through that I began looking underneath the performance.
And what I discovered was that I had been leading from only half of myself. The part that performs. The part that proves. The part that never fully lands.

What changed everything was not a new strategy. It was reconnecting with the part of me I had left at the door every time I walked into a room. The feminine part💖

That is what The Golden League Retreat is built on. Not theory. Not someone else’s framework. What I know works – because I needed it to work for me first.

The women I work with recognise this immediately. They earned their seat at tables that were never built for them. They mastered the masculine game. And they are done paying the price that comes with it.

This is what I want

You have mastered performance

You have mastered performance. Now it is time to experience what leadership feels like when it no longer costs you yourself.

Because somewhere along the way, you started confusing carrying everything with leadership.

This retreat is for women who are exceptional at leading teams, projects and organisations – yet rarely give themselves permission to fully exhale.

When you have spent years operating in high-performance environments, constantly adapting, delivering and holding it all together – eventually that becomes your normal.

For five days, you step away from the noise, pressure and expectations.
Not to escape your ambition. But to reconnect with the woman underneath the constant responsibility.

You will not leave as a different person.
You will leave as more of yourself.

Stronger in your presence. Clearer in your decisions. More unapologetic in your leadership.

And no longer available for the version of success that costs you yourself.

Here for it

A space where you get to be supported at the level you normally support others.

This retreat is for you if:

  • You are senior or executive level in sport or a male-dominated industry. You have the track record, the credibility and the results. You are not figuring out where you belong - you know.
  • You are ambitious, driven and not looking to slow down. You know how to deliver under pressure. What you no longer want is the constant mental load, hyper-alertness and internal tension that comes with always being the one others depend on.
  • You already have invested in leadership development, growth and performance. But something tells you the next level requires more than another framework, productivity hack or performance strategy. You are ready for the kind of work that changes how you lead, decide and experience your life from the inside out.
  • You already know how to perform. What you have not experienced yet is what leadership feels like when it is no longer fuelled by pressure, over-responsibility or proving.
  • You are not only leading in a male-dominated, high-performance industry. You are shaping what leadership looks like for the women coming after you. And you know that impact is not only measured by results - but by the way you lead, decide, relate and hold power along the way.
  • You want to be surrounded by women who understand pressure, responsibility and leadership at the highest level - without needing to explain yourself first.

If you read this and thought “finally” – this is for you.

This retreat is not for everyone.

And that is exactly the point.

This work is designed for women who are already carrying significant responsibility, visibility and decision-making power.

This retreat is not for you if:

  • You are still trying to prove that you belong in the room. This space is built for women who already carry influence, responsibility and visibility at senior level.
  • You are looking for a relaxing wellness escape or a few inspiring conversations before returning to life exactly as it was.
  • You want another framework, strategy or performance tool - without doing the deeper internal work that actually changes how you lead and live.
  • You need a fully controlled, minute-by-minute programme before you feel safe enough to commit.

That last one – I say with a wink😉
And with full recognition of exactly why that feels necessary.
Because many high-performing women learned very early that being in control was what kept everything safe.

Most women at your level have not experienced true support in years. Not because no one cares – but because everyone is used to them being the strong one.

This retreat is where that changes.

A space where you are not the one carrying everything. Not managing everyone else’s needs. Not performing competence every second of the day. Not staying emotionally switched on for everyone around you.

A space where you get to be supported at the level you normally support others.

What is included?

  • Five days, four nights accommodation (6 - 10 October 2026) at Viluz Resort - a privately booked luxury boutique well-being resort nestled in the foothills of the Sierra de la Nieves, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea
  • Your own Deluxe room with private terrace and breathtaking natural views - twin or single occupancy
  • Nourishing, delicious meals provided daily by a local private chef - brunch, afternoon snack and dinner included
  • High-level leadership work across five days: shadow work, identity work and embodiment practice
  • Private access to the Viluz estate - 4 hectares of Mediterranean nature: gardens, terraces and secluded outdoor spaces
  • Daily access to swimming pool, sauna, hammam and ice bath
  • Daily movement - format varies by day
  • Dedicated on-site support, hospitality and housekeeping
  • Airport transfers

Not included

  • Flights to Malaga Airport
  • Additional spa treatments and massages (available at extra cost)
  • Alcoholic drinks
  • Travel & cancellation insurance
Ready for this journey

The Golden League Retreat
Your investment

Early Bird
Twin Room
€6.750 €4.750
incl. VAT
Or in instalments
2 × €2.475
4 × €1.250
Early bird · until 30 June 2026
  • All-inclusive stay at Viluz Resort - 4 nights
  • Shared room with en-suite bathroom and private terrace
  • High-level leadership work across 5 days
  • Daily movement and outdoor activities
  • Access to sauna, hammam and ice bath
  • All meals provided by local private chef
  • Airport transfer
  • Excl. flights, alcoholic drinks and personal insurances
✦
Pay in full bonus
1:1 deep dive session with Esther (value: €555,-)
Early Bird
Single Room
€7.750 €5.750
incl. VAT
Or in instalments
2 × €2.950
4 × €1.500
Early bird · until 30 June 2026
  • All-inclusive stay at Viluz Resort - 4 nights
  • Private room with en-suite bathroom and private terrace
  • High-level leadership work across 5 days
  • Daily movement and outdoor activities
  • Access to sauna, hammam and ice bath
  • All meals provided by local private chef
  • Airport transfer
  • Excl. flights, alcoholic drinks and personal insurances
✦
Pay in full bonus
1:1 deep dive session with Esther (value: €555,-)
Andalusia, here I come!

Ready for some more?

The Golden League Retreat is the opening of something bigger. After these five days, the work continues – for six months, online, at a level most leadership programmes never reach.

This is where you stop performing for the room – and become the standard the room adjusts to.

This round, the retreat is also available separately. But if you are ready for the full experience, the combination gives you the deepest transformation – and the best investment.

 

Tell me more about the Golden League

why i created this retreat

For a long time, I was what I now call a walking head. Highly capable, highly ambitious, rational and strategic. And it worked – until it didn’t.

When my father took his own life when I was 21, I made a decision without even realising it. I never wanted to feel that kind of pain again. The patterns that followed helped me succeed – they taught me how to perform under pressure, stay in control and keep going when things got difficult. For years, I assumed that was simply what it took to succeed in a male-dominated environment.

Until I could no longer ignore what it was costing me. And that is when I started looking underneath – at the beliefs, the patterns and the little-girl rules that had been running the show for years without me even noticing.

When I started doing this inner work, I realised this was one of the most profound journeys I had ever made. Not across countries. The inner one.

And the effects showed up everywhere. Including in my work. I was delivering leadership trainings internationally, in a language that is not my mother tongue. 
And what struck me was not that it went well – it was how naturally it came. Not from years of building up that experience. But because the work underneath had done what hundreds of hours of practice could not. A colleague who had been doing this work for more than ten years said: “With you, I know it’s in good hands.” And looking back, I understand exactly what he saw.

And when I started seeing how many women in sport and male-dominated industries were running on the same patterns – capable, successful, but leading at a cost that was never necessary – I knew this was the work I wanted to build a retreat around.
A retreat built around this inner journey – at a location as extraordinary as the work itself.

Not a yoga retreat. Not a leadership training full of frameworks. And not a room where you automatically become the most experienced person and end up carrying the group instead of being held by it.

A space where power meets power. Where you get to be supported at the level you normally support everyone else. That is the retreat I wish had existed years ago. So I built it.

This is what I want

Ready for my golden era

Frequently asked questions

The Golden League Retreat takes place from 6 to 10 October 2026 at Viluz Resort in Mijas, Spain – twenty minutes from Marbella. The nearest airport is Málaga Airport (AGP), approximately 35 minutes from the resort. An airport transfer is included.

For senior and executive level women in sport and male-dominated industries who have already proven themselves and are ready for a different kind of leadership. Not for women who are still building their career – for women who have already built one and are ready to lead differently.

The retreat will be conducted in English. 

This retreat is designed for women leading in male-dominated industries. My world is international sport – and the examples and context on this page come from there. But high performance in a masculine environment looks the same whether you are in finance, tech, law, politics or beyond.

If you read this page and felt seen – that is probably all the answer you need. Send a message to contact@estherhuijsmans.com or book a call and we will see if there is a match.

The first step is a short conversation to make sure this retreat is the right fit – for you and for the group. This is not a retreat where anyone can simply sign up. The quality of the room matters. Send a message to contact@estherhuijsmans.com and we will take it from there.

Yes. The Golden League Retreat is also the opening of The Golden League – a 6-month online leadership programme that continues the work after Andalusia. Joining the programme is optional, but retreat participants receive the best available offer. Want to know more? Send a message to contact@estherhuijsmans.com.

Yes. You can pay in 2 or 4 instalments. See the investment section for details.

Yes, absolutely. Please mention it when you book or send a separate message to contact@estherhuijsmans.com. I am happy to make sure everything is taken care of. Please let me know at least two weeks before the retreat starts.

Yes. The programme is designed with space built in – for reflection, rest, movement and simply being. You are not going from session to session all day. High-performing women rarely give themselves permission to fully exhale. This retreat is designed to change that.

That depends on the room option you choose. TThe twin room option means you share a room with one other participant – two beds, a shared bathroom and a shared private terrace. The single room option gives you a fully private room with your own bathroom and terrace. 

The retreat is an intimate group experience – which means you will have close proximity to me throughout the five days. During sessions, meals and in the spaces in between, there is plenty of opportunity for personal contact and direct guidance. A dedicated 1:1 session is not part of the retreat itself, but is included as a bonus when you pay in full.

If you are looking for a relaxing escape with a few inspiring conversations before returning to life exactly as it was – this is not your retreat. The women who come here are not looking for five days of yoga and green juices. They are looking for real work. Deep work. The kind that actually changes something.

That said – you will be at one of the most breathtaking locations in Andalusia, the food is exceptional and there is plenty of space to breathe between sessions. We may even do a yoga session. No promises.

The difference between this and a wellness retreat? You will still feel it in six months.

I strongly recommend taking out personal travel and cancellation insurance before booking. This protects you in case of illness or unforeseen circumstances. The retreat investment itself is non-refundable, but your spot may be transferable in certain circumstances. Please contact me if this situation arises.

Most likely yes – but nothing is confirmed yet. Want to be the first to know? Send me an e-mail: contact@estherhuijsmans.com 

If your question isn’t answered, feel free to send me an email at contact@estherhuijsmans.com

I want to join

Any other questions?

Book a call to ask anything you need to know – and to find out if this retreat is the right fit for you and for the group.

 

Ready to take the dive?

Yes!