Abstract
Athletes have the right to combine their sport and higher education careers (e.g., dual career), but differences in the recognition of the student-athlete’s status and availability of dual career programmes and services exist worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dual career phenomenon through the international student-athletes’ views. Student-athletes competing at the 2017 Summer Universiade were recruited to respond a 31-item online survey encompassing demographic characteristics (Q1-8), sport and university engagement (Q9-13), student-athletes’ knowledge and possible sources of information regarding dual career (Q14-22); and dual career support at personal, sport, and academic levels (Q23-31). Four hundred twenty-six respondents (males: 46%, females 54%), competing in 22 different sports (individual: 74%, team: 26%) from Africa (4%), America (20%), Asia (34%), Europe (39%), and Oceania (3), had experienced previous international sports events (94%). Differences among continents emerged for sport (p<0.001) and university (p = 0.039) engagement, and transfer time from home to the training venue (p = 0.030). Individual sports student-athletes showed higher sport engagement (p = 0.003) compared to team sports counterparts. Differences among university majors emerged for university engagement (p<0.001). Long absence from classes (57%), limited leisure time (50%), financial uncertainty (44%), reduction of training due to education (42%), and overload feelings (37%) emerged. The majority of the sample resulted not familiar with dual career programmes (60%) and public authorities (69%), envisaging national dual career policies at university (37%) and sport (25%) levels. Multiple relevant dual career supporters at personal, sport, and university levels were identified, mainly parents (86%) and coaches (65%). To strengthen the potential of the student-athletes of the future, a dual career network should be established among several stakeholders, for transnational cooperation and sharing of knowledge and best practices through extensive communication between policy-makers, practitioners and those having a strong supportive dual career role (e.g., parents, coaches, and university sport staff).
Highlights
To achieve a holistic development, talented and elite athletes have the right to combine their sport and higher education careers, both relevant to empower them for their future role in society at the end of their competitive sport period [1,2]
Despite higher proportions of athletes were competing from European (39%) and Asian (34%) countries with respect to Africans (4%), Americans (20%), and Oceanic (3%) ones, the respondents showed a higher proportion of European (62%) and American (16%) student-athletes with respect to their Asian (9%), Oceanic (7%), and African (6%) counterparts
The participants in this study competed in 22 different sports (Fig 1), with a higher proportion of individual sports (74%) with respect to team (26%) ones, mirroring the different sportspecific rules to participate in the event
Summary
To achieve a holistic development, talented and elite athletes have the right to combine their sport and higher education careers (e.g., dual career), both relevant to empower them for their future role in society at the end of their competitive sport period [1,2]. Athletes enrolled at university level have the opportunity to compete at multi-sport international and continental university sport events (e.g., Universiade, World University Championships, PanAmerican University Championships, European EUSA Games), relevant differences exist worldwide in the requirements and eligibility criteria for dual career programmes and services, which determine unequal treatments of elite student-athletes mainly due to country-specific cultural/organizational regulations in the field of sport and education [3,4]. Supporting elite athletes’ education during their high-level competitive years heavily depends on the relationships between multiple stakeholders, who need a well-structured cooperation and a systematic monitoring system to withstand effective dual career programmes and policies [3,4,8]
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