Gold in Education and Elite Sport: Which competences do student-athletes require in coping with challenging dual career scenarios?

GOLD IN EDUCATION AND ELITE SPORT : WHICH COMPETENCES DO STUDENT-ATHLETES REQUIRE IN COPING WITH CHALLENGING DUAL CAREER SCENARIOS? [1213]

DE BRANDT, K.1, WYLLEMAN, P.1, DEFRUYT,S.1, TAELMAN, K.2

1: VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL, 2: SPORTVLAANDEREN - BELGIUM

Introduction

Recently,an increasing body of literature has researched the competences talented andelite athletes require in order to combine education and elite sport. However,most studies have approached athletes’ dual career (DC) from a generalperspective, lacking context specificity. Therefore, as part of the GEESErasmus+ project, this study aimed to investigate the competences athletesrequire in order to cope with specific challenging DC scenarios.

Methods

The GEESconsortium identified i) a GEES list of 38 dual career (DC) competence itemsand 4 underlying DC competence factors (DC management competences,Self-regulation & Resilience competences, Social competences, and CareerPlanning competences), and ii) 7 challenging DC scenarios (e.g. exam coincideswith competition (1), making study choices (2), missing significant days ofstudy (3), relocating for sport and/or study (4), suffering from an injury (5),social life expectations (6), financial issues (7)) (De Brandt et al., 2016).878 17-to-26-year-old elite student-athletes (mean age 21.4 ± 2.2 yrs; 52%female) from 9 countries (Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland,Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the UK) indicated if they had experienced and how wellthey managed the 7 scenarios, and selected from the GEES list the fivecompetences they perceived as most important to successfully manage each scenario.

Results

74% ofstudent-athletes experienced at least 4 of 7 scenarios. Scenario 6 wasexperienced by 87% of student-athletes, followed by scenario 3 (84%), scenario1 (79%), scenario 2 (75%), scenario 4 (73%), scenario 5 (57%), and scenario 7(29%). Athletes reported to cope best with scenario 4 and the worst withscenario 7. In terms of scenario-specific coping, athletes prioritized their DCmanagement competences (e.g. efficient use of time) in scenario 1, 3, 6 and 2.Self-regulation and resilience competences (e.g. using setbacks as a positive stimulus)were perceived most important in scenario 5, 1, 2 and 7, where prioritizingsocial competences (e.g. asking advice to the right people) was important inscenario 6, 4 and 5. Career planning competences (e.g. exploring career plansoutside of elite sport) were perceived most important in scenario 2, 7 and 5.

Discussion

Findingsimply that a need exists for complementing the developmental and holisticapproach with a situational approach when assisting athletes during their DC‘elite sport and study’.

References

De Brandt, K., Wylleman, P., Torregrossa, M.,Lavallee, D., Schipper-van Veldhoven, N., & Defruyt, S. (2016). Manuscriptin preparation.