Elite Athletes as Migrants in Danish Women's Handball

Abstract

A number of studies have been done on the migration of male athletes in well-known sport disciplines such as football. However, we lack knowledge about migration in smaller sport disciplines and about female athletes as sport migrants. The present article examines first of all the growing number of foreign players in the Danish women's handball league from 1999 to 2007. Second, the athletes' motives for moving to Danish handball clubs are categorized, and third, the migrants' experiences in Danish handball clubs are related to the strategies of integration in two prominent handball clubs. The analysis reveals, among others, family-and space-related aspects which have not been covered in the literature on sports migration. Moreover, integration theory forms a useful supplement to migration theory in explaining the ways in which the club experiences of the migrants affect their motives.

‘Life in the Travelling Circus’: A Study of Loneliness, Work Stress, and Money Issues in Touring Professional Golf

“…The experiences of professional golfers outlined here corroborate with previous literature on sports labor migration, which has identified loneliness as a personal challenge most athletes encounter at some point when travelling abroad (Agergaard, 2008;Molnar & Maguire, 2008;Stead & Maguire, 2000). However, such studies have focussed on sports that have a greater level of stability in their migratory moves, rather than those that involve almost constant 'circulatory' geographical movements such as golf where issues are further exacerbated.…”

“…This paper builds on previous sports migration research, which tends to be heavily theorized and focuses on routes and pathways of athletic talent (Maguire, 2011a(Maguire, , 2011bElliott & Weedon, 2011;Williams et al, 2013), to offer an empirically grounded analysis of the lives of sports migrants by interviewing the athletes themselves. The more empirically based studies that have been conducted (Agergaard, 2008;Carter, 2011;Magee & Sugden, 2002;Poli, 2010), although useful, do not maintain a focus on occupations with constant workplace circulation. The lives of professional golfers presented here, therefore, helps to fill the void in the academic literature by detailing realities of pursuing a career as a professional sports migrant.…”

Migration and Career Transitions in Professional Sports: Transnational Athletic Careers in a Psychological and Sociological Perspective

“…The main focus in microsociological analyses has been directed toward developing typologies for athletes' motives for migrating (Magee & Sugden, 2002;Maguire, 1996Maguire, , 2004. Some studies also pointed to the ways in which athletic migrants' motivating and demotivating experiences interweave with their adaptation processes, state interven tions, and (implicit) integration strategies in their clubs (Agergaard, 2008;Botelho & Agergaard, 2011;Carter, 2007). A transnational perspective on sports labor migration has recently been advocated to fuse the macro-and microperspectives to show con sideration both for cross-border relations (bearing both on power constraints as well as enabling network options) as well as the individual athlete's local embeddedness and transnational belonging (Agergaard & HaugaaEngh, 2012;Carter, 201 la, 201 lb).…”

Migration of Men Athletes to the Romanian Handball League

“…Most studies refer to football world (Muller, 2010;Elliot & John, 2015), rugby (Kanemasu & Molnar, 2013), basketball (Piggot & Evans, 2013) or even cricket (Fletcher, 2014). The migration issue is very poorly represented in the world of handball, we could only find one article in this regard (Agergaard, 2008).…”