A narrative inquiry of MTB college athlete’s life and career

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to look into the life of MTB college athletes before and after their college entrances through long-term longitudinal narrative inquiry and investigate how the career exploration after graduation is conducted in a contextual way. Methods For this study, four MTB college athletes who entered the university as specialists are selected as research participants, and their life and career are examined through a long-term longitudinal narrative inquiry. Results As a result, the life and career of MTB college athlete appear as follows. First, MTB college athletes entered MTB because of 'self - will' or 'influence of family and acquaintances' and the motivation is 'extension of hobbies', 'college entrance', etc. Second, the MTB college athletes' training and goals are set in the 'college entrance examination', which means the entrance to higher college. Third, MTB college athletes' college life is closely related to 'management and support system for college athletes', and the career search for them is based on 'the prospect as a player' and 'professional prospect of MTB athletes’. However, MTB college athletes showed their plan B to prepare for their uneasy future or to retire. Conclusions In the end, the MTB college athletes came to think about life and career on the narrow stage of unpopular sports and was seen coming down from the narrow stage of unpopular sports. Based on these results, this study presents critical discussions about their life and career of MTB college athletes and seeks implications for the school elite sports in Korea.