Elite Career Research Articles

Exploring pregnancy and postpartum experiences among geographically diverse elite athletes: A qualitative study

ObjectivesFemale athletes who experience childbirth during their athletic careers can expect to return to elite sports postpartum and perform at a comparable or improved level. However, mothering athletes often encounter significant barriers when re-entering elite sports. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of a geographically diverse group of mothering athletes who returned to elite sports after childbirth. DesignQualitative phenomenological research design using semi-structured interviews. MethodsIn-depth one-on-one interviews were conducted with nineteen mothering elite running athletes hailing from fourteen different countries. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. ResultsFindings were generated into five main themes: (1) Deciding to become a mother, (2) revealing pregnancy to stakeholders, (3) experience of pregnancy, (4) combining motherhood and elite running, and (5) improvement strategies to support athlete mothers. The findings revealed that participants experienced stress regarding their pregnancy announcements due to concerns about potential repercussions on their careers. These concerns included the impact on sponsorship deals, relationships with governing bodies, and interactions with their coaches. Participants felt their elite coaches and health practitioners had insufficient education to support them throughout their pregnancies and postpartum return to elite running. Finally, athletes express a sense of diminished pressure and increased motivation in races upon resuming their elite careers, attributing their improved athletic performance postpartum to their shift in focus from themselves to their child. ConclusionsThis study illuminates challenges and offers valuable insights to coaches, sponsors, health practitioners, exercise professionals, researchers, race organizers, and governing athletic bodies in better supporting mothering athletes.

Elite career expectations of adolescents: Popularity, gender differences, and social divides.

The supply of elite professionals is crucial for economic development, yet little is understood about the appeal and influencing factors of these careers among young people across different economies. It remains unclear whether adolescents in academically high-performing economies growingly expect emerging technological jobs in response to evolving workforce demands. This research used the Programme for International Student Assessment 2000-2018 data in 24 high-performing educational systems to examine the two-decade trends in adolescents' expectations for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), medicine, law, business, and teaching careers. The popularity trend of these careers and the major impacts of gender, socioeconomic status, and academic ability were examined with multilevel logistic regression models. The findings indicated that developed economies such as Singapore, Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom have successfully attracted a greater proportion of students to elite careers. In contrast, many high-performing Asian economies, such as Korea, Japan, and Taipei, have not. STEM and medical fields primarily drew students with high math abilities, whereas legal professions attracted those with superior reading skills. Although girls generally expected teaching and legal careers and boys expected STEM fields, social and gender differences have narrowed over the past decades. Many Western developed economies effectively attract a larger share of adolescents to STEM careers than their Asian counterparts. Although gender and social disparities persist, their impact has diminished. Effective human resource planning should be based on each country's unique trends and influencing factors to promote greater equality and inclusion in the workforce.

Tick-Tock Goes the Biological Clock: Challenges Facing Elite Scandinavian Mother-Athletes

Challenges facing mother-athletes (MAs) have aroused research and media attention in recent years, with an increasing number of sportswomen attempting to successfully combine pregnancy and motherhood with an elite athletic career. The aims of this study were to explore how MA-specific challenges manifest in elite cross-country skiing in Scandinavia and to better understand how female athletes balance their priorities as they initiate, maintain, and/or discontinue their role as a MA. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews with 13 female cross-country skiers from Norway and Sweden. Thematic analyses revealed four MA-specific challenges facing the athletes: (a) Biological clock versus peak performance, (b) Maintaining fitness versus training safely, (c) Receiving support versus facing deselection, and (d) Balancing competing MA demands. Many of the athletes felt pressured into prioritizing either motherhood or athletic excellence, particularly in their early to mid-30s when the window of opportunity for building a family was considered limited. Further, maintaining fitness and training safely during pregnancy were perceived as a challenge, as was balancing the MA role after childbirth. In many cases, athletes felt uncertain about whether they would receive support from their team or federation. Moreover, there were expectations of incompatibility surrounding the MA role. More research and educational efforts to promote MA-specific knowledge, as well as developing structured processes and providing policies to support female athletes, are identified as vital future steps. These measures may prolong athletic careers and enhance well-being for elite female athletes.

Closed shutters or revolving doors? Elite career track similarity and elite sector transfers in Denmark

AbstractA crucial aspect of elite dominance in modern democracies concerns the degree to which different political elites share similar career paths and shifts between different elite positions. Similarity in career paths and transfers across elite positions are crucial aspects of elite dominance in modern democracies. This paper argues that there are limits to elite career similarity and sector transfer because of varying recruitment criteria and reputational cargo across different political elite groups. We argue that career similarity and transfers across elite positions are lower when recruitment criteria are exclusive. We also argue that acquired reputation may be a career liability limiting transfers into other elite groups. Empirically, we examine career trajectories and transfers across elite groups by mapping the full career of Members of the Parliament, top bureaucrats and interest group leaders in Denmark. We demonstrate that within the Danish political elite, career paths are relatively distinct and transfer few. Career distinctiveness and lack of elite transfers are especially pronounced for the bureaucratic elite, which is guarded by stricter recruitment criteria and on guard against reputations that might taint its image as a pure merit civil service. In contrast to other studies, our results suggest that the shutters between elite sectors are relatively closed. However, the few individuals passing through these most exclusive revolving doors may have a significant political impact.

Protégés of power: Patrimonialism in mobility narratives of the Danish power elite

Abstract Career narratives among the Danish power elite often include the facilitating presence of an elite superior. We explore the role patrons play in the mobility narratives of the Danish power elite. Drawing from a highly select group identified in the core of elite networks, we interviewed 37 individuals selected for maximal variation in career paths, networks and positions within the power elite. We referenced the concept of patrimonialism to understand the relations between patrons and protégés in building an elite career and develop a typology identifying three kinds of patrimonial relations described by elites, intra-organizational relations to mentors and patriarchs and inter-organizational relations to sponsors. We then empirically explore the three types of patrimonial relations. Finally, we argue that each of these patrimonial relations reinforce elite cohesion, even in the supposedly critical case of good governance in Denmark. Hence, patrimonial relations present a crucial perspective for understanding contemporary power structures.

EDUCATION AND CAREER GUIDANCE PLATFORM- A CASE STUDY IN BANGALORE

In the quick-changing and modern world, platforms for education and career guidance are essential. These platforms are crucial for Information empowerment, Education and career guidance platforms give people access to thorough and current information about a wide range of educational and employment opportunities. This study focuses on understanding individual interests, skills, and values and thereby helping people to reflect on their competency and prepare them for the future by providing them with the required knowledge and skills. The research is based on secondary data, gathered from published papers. The Elite Education and career guidance aim to bring a platform to each and every individual career seeker and young adult, where they have the opportunity to explore different types of careers and jobs. The website will contain assessment tool preparation, videos highlighting professionals giving their insights about the job, information on universities and colleges, and test material, along with career counselling and a job search boot camp. Keywords: Education platform, Career, employment, Counselling, Business model

Spatial division of opportunity: local economic context, elite trajectories, and the widening participation industry

ABSTRACT The importance of geography in debates around education and labour market inequality is an enduring public policy concern. This paper argues that local economic contexts have a role in shaping the kind of university and career trajectories working-class young people are exposed to. Drawing on multi-sited data on working-class young people in different local contexts across England, it underlines the importance of regional economic development, the geography of elite universities and the spatial patterning of widening participation networks and activity. In the capital, a sophisticated widening participation infrastructure exists – including multiple partnerships between schools and the third and private sectors – which far exceeds the networks and support found elsewhere. Combined with London’s high economic capital and elite career pathways, this infrastructure greatly facilitates systems of support designed to drive aspirations to elite universities and careers. Whilst advocating for a fairer distribution of educational opportunities nationwide, we argue that, without acknowledging the origins of spatial imbalances within the UK, any attempt at simply ‘spreading out the same’ opportunities risks offering a superficial response. If long-term change is to be truly advanced, a more systematic dismantling of how economic functions and social relations are configured spatially must first be achieved.

From Exception to Exceptional: How Gender and Tenure Impact Sponsor Effectiveness

The critical role that referrals play in the hiring process, particularly for candidates contending with negative stereotypes and biases, is well documented. However, how those stereotypes and biases impact sponsors, and the effectiveness of the referrals that they provide, is not well understood. Drawing on evidence of reversals of gender bias, we explore the impact of sponsors’ gender and tenure on the effectiveness of their referrals in the context of U.S. Supreme Court law clerk hiring decisions. This is an appropriate setting because success in the application process for these elite early career positions is contingent on having a strong recommendation from a judge with which the candidate has previously worked, making it ideal to study gender differences in the effectiveness of referrals. Analyses show candidates recommended by male sponsors are more likely to be hired compared to those recommended by female sponsors overall, but this dynamic is also dependent on the sponsor’s tenure and the candidate’s gender. For female sponsors, higher levels of tenure are associated with better hiring outcomes for their female candidates only. All other gender combinations do not benefit from sponsor seniority. Possible mechanisms, limitations, and implications for future research directions are discussed.

Almost 50% of young alpine and mogul skiers who had ended their elite careers after high school reported this was due to injuries

Objectives:To evaluate activity level, sports career and injuries in young elite alpine and ogul skiers five years after High school graduation.Methods:All students (n=76) at Åre Ski Academy High school (National Sports High school) were invited to participate in this prospective study at baseline. Two skiers were excluded. They answered questions regarding type and frequency of training and symptoms/injuries in the back and/or hips. Five years after graduation the skiers were contacted, by phone, to answer the same questions with additional questions about the reason why they no longer were at the same level or had finished skiing.Results:Sixty (81%) skiers answered the 5-year follow-up. Totally, 44 skiers (73%) had ended their elite careers, in mean 1 year after graduation. Of those, 48% (21 skiers) reported injuries were the reason they were forced to quit. Ten had back injuries, 6 knee injuries, 3 concussions and two hip injuries.Conclusion:Almost 75% of young alpine and mogul skiers had ended their elite skiing careers, with 48% reported this was due to injuries from their skiing.

‘I always considered I needed injury prevention to become an elite athlete’: the road to the Olympics from the athlete and staff perspective

In this study, we explored the perspectives about sports injury prevention of Belgium Olympic level athletes, coaches, managers and healthcare providers from various Olympic sports. We conducted a qualitative study,...

Educating the Elite in an Egalitarian Context: The Emergence of Sport Schools for Elite Talents in Sweden in the 1970s

How is an elite sports education introduced in a political context like 1970s Sweden, where egalitarian ideas about education and sport for all were the norm and anything hinting at special treatment for talented youths was potentially controversial? This article analyzes the history of how Sweden designed and implemented a nationwide system for elite sport education, and how different actors negotiated the balance between elite sport and education. The Swedish sport schools were initiated in 1972 to solve the issue with the growing importance of elite sport, in parallel with the increasing importance of upper-secondary education. One innovation in these schools was the introduction of a school subject called Special sport. Starting with two schools and 80 students in the early 1970s, there are now more than 50 schools and 1200 students. Since the very beginning, these schools have had a dual mission – produce more and better elite athletes and give sport talents a full education to fall back on should they not become professional athletes. The introduction of sport schools in 1970s Sweden was part of a broader sportification process and has in some sports become the only realistic path toward an elite career.

Orienteering from Cradle to Grave—How a Sport Could Offer Lifelong Participation

Background: The aim of this present study is to explore what makes orienteering meaningful and rewarding to former elite athletes’ years or even decades after ending their elite careers. Methods: Applying a qualitative approach with a case study design, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 former elite orienteers from Norway and Sweden, and the data was subsequently analyzed with thematic analysis, resulting in two main themes: individually matched challenges and a social community. Results: The character, structure, and culture of orienteering both enabled and encouraged former elite athletes to make the transition into recreational sport. Even so, the characteristics of the sport related to both its structure (range of ages, level, and ambition) and organization (well-organized) as well as the participants’ backgrounds (well-educated) and intrinsic motivation (satisfaction, enjoyment, mastery) seemed to match a lifelong sport participation. Conclusions: These factors could indicate that orienteering is a sport that can facilitate a lifelong sport participation for athletes with such a background.

Body Ignorance and Toughness Culture: Injury Issues among Elite Indonesian Athletes

Elite sport is a demanding career and injuries are common among elite athletes. However, empirical attempts to understand it in the Indonesian context through a sport psychology perspective has been rare. In this qualitative research about Indonesian elite athlete psychological demands, 37 elite athletes and 9 sport practitioners were interviewed through semi-structured interview and photographic elicitation interview (PEI) and data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis. The results showed that athletes realised that their elite athletic career is ephemeral and will come to retirement; during that short time, they moved along in a continuum of caring and exploiting their body. Two distinct sub-themes about injury built from the analysis were: (i) Exploiting the body versus caring the body, which reflects the dynamic stance of athletes in treating their body and its influential factors. (ii) The social environment around athletes that promotes ignorance versus support, which describes the cultural and social nuances of injury. Implications and invitations for future research through a multidisciplinary approach of health and sport sciences is also discussed.
 Keywords: injury, elite athlete, Indonesia

Hip pain and its correlation with cam morphology in young skiers\u2014a minimum of 5 years follow-up

BackgroundThere is conflicting evidence regarding the association between cam morphological changes and hip pain, and it remains unclear who with cam morphology will develop hip pain and who will not. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between cam morphology, hip pain, and activity level at a 5-year follow-up in young Alpine and Mogul skiers.MethodAll students (n = 76) at Åre Ski National Sports High School were invited and accepted participation in this prospective study at baseline. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of both hips was conducted to evaluate the presence of cam morphology (α-angle ≥ 55°) and its size alongside the reporting of hip pain, type, and frequency of training by the Back and hip questionnaire, at baseline. After 5 years, the skiers were invited to complete a shortened version of the same questionnaire.ResultsA total of 60 skiers (80%) completed the follow-up questionnaire, of which 53 had concomitant MRI data. Cam morphology was present in 25 skiers (47.2%, 39 hips). Hip pain at baseline and at follow-up was reported in 17 (28.3%) and 22 (36.7%) skiers, respectively. No correlations were found between the activity level, the frequency, and the size of cam morphology and hip pain, except for the right hip α-angle at 1 o’clock and hip pain in skiers with cam morphology at baseline (rs = 0.49; P = 0.03) and at follow-up (rs = 0.47; P = 0.04). A total of 73.3% skiers had retired, of which 48% reported this was due to injuries.ConclusionHip pain was not shown to be correlated, or had a low correlation, with activity level and the presence and size of cam morphology in young skiers on a 5-year follow-up. Based on these results, cam morphology or activity level did not affect hip pain to develop during 5 years of follow-up in young skiers. Furthermore, this study highlights that almost 75% of young elite skiers had retired from their elite career with almost 50% reporting that this was due to injuries sustained from skiing.

Elites in transnational policy networks

AbstractIn this framing article for the special issue we contrast the aims and ambitions of three core approaches to elites in transnational policy networks and highlight where they have productive overlaps. The core approaches employ three distinctive theoretical lenses in their investigations: fields, hegemony, and institutions. We discuss how these approaches trace elites in transnational policymaking and associated methods, such as network analysis, sequence analysis and field theory, which highlight different aspects of how elites in transnational policy networks operate. Most of the contributions are concerned with mapping out elite careers and why career trajectories matter for field and network positions in transnational policymaking. While the contributions share this in common, we highlight the different ways in which the approaches can be used to dissect the same issues. Our contributions include pieces on the Trump administration, the professional ecologies of transnational policy elites, the treatment of transboundary political problems, the characteristics of technocratic elites, the racial and gender composition of transnational elites, and professional competition over transnational policy issues.

Polish Regional Elite Career Paths and the Impact of a Multilevel System

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the multilevel careers of members of Polish regional executives from the first direct election to regional parliaments in 1998 until the end of 2014. Formation of self-government in regions is assumed to have started the process of formation of the multilevel system in Poland. Consequently, political career paths began to be diversified and to take place at more than one level. Among the factors with a critical impact on the specificity of Polish regional careers was the fact that regionalisation was preceded by local government reform (1990), and it was assumed that the local elite would become its natural recruitment base. On the one hand, the challenge to the development of the multilevel system has to be recognised. First, regional politics has undergone rather limited professionalisation (only positions in regional executives are full-time political jobs). Second, the legacy of communist centralisation resulted in lukewarm regional decentralisation in 1998. However, one can observe a certain increased prominence of self-government due to access to EU funds and increased financial autonomy. Positions in regional executive boards, especially as heads of regional boards [marszałkowie], have been seen as increasingly attractive career choices for professional politicians. Therefore, modification of the traditional career model is expected, e.g. some inflow of national politicians into regional boards (from positions in the legislature to executive posts).

Home away from home: An examination of the billet family experience in junior ice hockey

North American junior ice hockey is well known for its long-standing practice of housing players with billet families as they pursue aspirations of elite careers. However, little is known regarding billet families and their influence on youth athletes, particularly in junior ice hockey. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how former players’, their parents’, and their billet family function as a triad in this context. Twenty-one participants composed of 7 triads (former player, billet parent, parent of player) were included. A qualitative approach was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data within and across triads, offering a unique systems-level perspective of the themes and subthemes that explained perceptions of how members of the billet family experience functioned as a triad in this context. Themes included complementary dynamic interpersonal attitudes and behaviors (subthemes: shared values, effective communication, understanding the importance of player space, and complementary motives), development of a “good fit” is key, and absence of a tenant mentality (subthemes: shared engagement and being a part of the family). Upon reviewing the structural relationships between the themes and subthemes, results support the idea that without the complementary dynamic interpersonal attitudes and behaviors leading to a good fit, and the absence of a tenant mentality reinforcing that good fit, the overall positive junior ice hockey experience among triad members may not have occurred. Lay summary: Perceptions of how members of the billet family experience (former players, parents, billet parents) functioned as a triad in junior ice hockey were explored. Interviews with twenty-one participants composed of 7 separate triads revealed how participants functioned together as one unit, or system and the relational attitudes and behaviors that occurred to promote a positive billet family experience.

Burocratas, carreira e política: uma análise das trajetórias da elite do Ministério das Relações Exteriores

Como se desenham as trajetórias das carreiras dos diplomatas de elite do Ministério das Relações Exteriores (MRE)? Considerando que os trânsitos institucionais dos diplomatas brasileiros constituem peça central no funcionamento administrativo e político dessa burocracia, o presente artigo tem como objetivo responder a essa pergunta. Isso porque analisar essas dinâmicas colaboram tanto para entender um dos ministérios mais fechados do serviço civil público nacional, quanto avançam na construção de padrões da movimentação institucional dos atores que operam, sistematicamente e desde posições de comando, a política externa brasileira. Assim, a carreira da elite diplomática, composta por segundos ministros e embaixadores, e por mais de três décadas de carreira em média de carreira, é descrita em termos tanto das indicações para cargos de confiança na Secretaria de Estado (Sere), quanto nas passagens por postos diplomáticos no exterior, instituições nacionais e organismos internacionais. Os resultados apontam para um comportamento muito similar entre as duas hierarquias em que a maioria dos cargos de confiança na Sere são direcionados a posições de nível intermediário (DAS-4). As frequências majoritárias das trajetóriasexógenas a Sere, se concentram em postos no exterior, de classes “A” e “C”, seguidas por trânsitos em organismos internacionais e difusamente por instituições nacionais.

Routes through Education into Employment as England Enters the 2020s

<p style="text-align: justify;">Throughout the 1980s and 90s there was international interest in the UK’s extensive experience (which began in the 1970s) with measures to alleviate youth unemployment. Today the UK attracts international attention on account of its low rates of youth unemployment and NEET, its (still) relatively rapid education-to-work transitions, and (according to the OECD) its sustainable system for funding mass higher education. This paper uses a transitions regime paradigm to overview the outcomes of 40 years of change in England’s lower and upper secondary education, government-supported training, welfare provisions, economy and labour markets. We see how government policies polarise schools and young people into those who are achieving and those who are failing. Then, as employers become more influential, young people are re-sorted into the employment classes that have been formed during 30 years of change in the economy and labour market. Most from the former achieving group are pulled into the centre, between the smaller numbers on the one side who are embarking on elite careers, and on the other those who become part of a precariat class.</p>

Pathways to the power elite: The organizational landscape of elite careers

To capture elites, we must map out the organizational landscape through which they pass during their careers. This organizational landscape moulds the character of elites, tells us about the prestige of organizations that are elite incubators and provides valuable indicators about how different sectoral experiences serve to accumulate capital for the elite. Unpacking the organizational experience challenges theoretical and methodological understandings of the elite character, calling for a renewed focus on the organizational embedding of elites after school. By analysing the occupational history of 416 highly central individuals in a Danish elite network, what we term ‘the power elite’, a very distinct set of career trajectories, running through a subset of large, well-established, interconnected organizations, is mapped and analysed. To understand the different ways in which the members of this power elite accumulate ‘organizational capital’ in different fields, sequence analysis on six distinct channels, sector, subsector, size, level, rhythm and geography, is applied. Through this multi-channel sequence analysis, 10 distinct clusters of career trajectories are identified, distinguishing primarily between four private sector clusters: corporate ambassadors, industrial inner circle, bankers and landed gentry; and six public sector clusters: state nobility, professional politicians, lobbyists, scientists, unionists, and education and local politics. Analysing the careers, private sector careers are shown to be more homogeneous than public sector careers, while careers based on positions with a democratic mandate, mainly politicians and union leaders, are more turbulent and unpredictable. We link pathways to social backgrounds, showing preference for pathways for the natives in the upper class.