Shalom and thank you for your question! You write that you are a couple who are living in Israel and planning to convert to Judaism, and you are wondering how to synthesize a sports career involving events in Europe, with an observant Jewish life-style.
For starters, there are many people in the field of sports or music, or even politics, who make it clear to the people they work with, that they are willing to be devoted participants in the team, except when it comes to the observance of the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. In many cases this has worked, and co-workers and bosses have respected the people who stood up for their principles. One example was a former Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Menachem Begin. As far as I know, there were times when he refused to participate in international political events that took place on Saturdays, and this was respected.
This may not always work however. If it doesn’t, what then should be done? A believing Jew must be ready to look for other alternatives. A century ago, many Jews emigrated from Russia, where they had been suffering through poverty and brutal progroms perpetrated by Cossacks and Bolsheviks, and they arrived to the shores of the United States. Ellis island was the first stop, but there were immigration rules and some were not able to enter the States. Those who did had to look for jobs, and in that era, the work week included Saturdays and there was no compromise. Many Jews gave in after being fired on a weekly basis for not coming to work on Saturday. Some managed to survive somehow, finding occupations such as peddling, eventually managing to work their way up higher. One family in that situation were renting a cellar in which coals were stored, in an apartment building, Their children looked black from the coal dust. One day a Jew who was an immigrant of the kind that had given in to the situation and eventually stopped actively practicing Judaism, and had succeeded in setting up a successful business, walked down a street and saw some black children playing. As he got closer, he was surprised to hear them speaking Yiddish, the Germanic dialect of many European Jews. Curious, he came closer and listened. Indeed, they spoke Yiddish. He began a conversation with them and found out why they looked black. He insisted on seeing for himself how they were living. When he was shown their cellar, he wrote out a large check and offered it to the children’s mother, who did not want to accept it if the money had been made by working on the Sabbath. Somehow that family survived despite the odds, and one of their descendants is a Rabbi here in Israel that I know personally. Behaving with loyalty to carrying out the commandments arouses the respect of the people around you and thus causes what is called in Judaism, ‘Sanctification of G-d’s Name.’ This brings about an increase in holiness in the entire world.
Today it is mostly easier than in the story I told you to find a suitable arrangement.
In every field of endeavor, it is always a good idea to have a mentor, someone more knowledgeable and experienced than you are in the field in which you are trying to progress. In Judaism also, it is a strong recommendation of the Sages, ‘Make for yourself a Rabbi and acquire for yourself a friend.’ (Ethics of the Fathers, Chapter 1. This is a section of the Talmud.) ‘Make for yourself’ is strange wording… It doesn’t say ‘Have your personal Rabbi’, but make for yourself. This is because it is sometimes a challenge to submit oneself to obeying rules and taking advice. When you are able to do this, you are ‘making’, it is YOUR doing, and benefits you spiritually, bringing about blessing in the material realm as well.
‘Acquire’ a friend, means make an effort, even down to buying gifts, whatever it takes, to reach out and have at least one knowledgeable and supportive friend (important also to have a group that you can identify and feel comfortable with, if possible) in this courageous journey that you are undertaking.
Much success!
