Dual career of junior athletes: Identifying challenges, available resources, and roles of social support providers (Carrera dual de deportistas junior: identificando retos, recursos disponibles, y roles de apoyo social)

Abstract

Balancing between two different commitments, sport and education, has been demonstrated as one of the significant challenges for dual career athletes, namely student athletes. Since EU guidelines on dual careers of athletes was published, a number of studies have been conducted on the topic of dual careers. One of the Erasmus+ Sport projects, Dual Career for Junior Athletes (DCJA), has been designed to identify three main aspects regarding the dual career of junior athletes, aged between 15 and 19-year-old: the barriers and challenges, resources and skills, and the roles and views of the support staff of the student-athletes. Applying a two-fold methodology based on the literature and the EU funded projects reviews, the findings show that there is a clear need of further research on the topic of dual career focused on the junior athletes’ needs, coping strategies development, and general aspects of their life. The findings in this study will inform following studies of DCJA project to fill the research gaps identified. === El equilibrio entre dos compromisos diferentes, el deporte y la educación, ha sido evidenciado como uno de los desafíos importantes para los deportistas de carrera dual, denominados estudiantes-deportistas. Desde que se publicaron las directrices de la UE sobre la carrera dual de los deportistas, se han realizado una serie de investigaciones sobre el topic de la carrera dual. Uno de los proyectos Erasmus + Sport, Dual Career for Junior Athletes (DCJA) ha sido diseñado para identificar tres aspectos relativos a la Carrera Dual del deportista junior, comprendidos entre 15-19 años: las barreras y retos, los recursos y habilidades, y los roles y puntos de vista del personal de apoyo de los estudiantes-deportistas. Mediante una metodología de investigación doble, basada en la revisión de la literatura y de los proyectos financiados a nivel europeo, se obtuvieron hallazgos que muestran que existe una clara necesidad de más investigación en el tema de la carrera dual centrada en las necesidades, desarrollo de capacidades de afrontamiento y aspectos generales de la vida de los deportistas junior. Los hallazgos de este estudio sentarán la base para los siguientes estudios del proyecto DCJA para solventar los vacíos de investigación identificados.

Exploring dual career quality implementation at European higher education institutions: Insights from university experts

“…Coherently, in the present study assistance and tutorship for student-athletes has been most regarded as relevant and implementable service at HEI level. These findings substantiate the crucial role of tutors and counsellors with a thorough understanding of dual career challenges and opportunities as valuable supporters of the academic success of student-athletes [ 7 – 9 , 23 , 25 , 41 , 42 ]. In general, respondents declared that dual career tutorship/mentorship is the only service offered at their HEIs.…”

“…On the other hand, Storm et al [ 22 ] identified ten essential features of European dual career development environments which can help researchers and practitioners to optimize those environments for student-athletes. Furthermore, in a recent analysis by Hong et al [ 23 ] aiming to identify support/services for junior athletes, financial support emerged as the most prevalent type of support. In contrast, other types such as tutoring, academic flexibility, support from sports psychologists, nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches, and dual career management were furnished in different combinations.…”

Avrupa Birliği Erasmus+ Sport Projelerinin Analizi ve Türkiye ile Diğer Avrupa Ülkelerinin Karşılaştırılması

“…This project specifically targets young athletes aged 15-19 and aims to identify barriers, challenges, resources and skills related to their dual careers. The project also examines the roles and perspectives of the support staff of these student-athletes (7).…”