Italian student-athletes only need a more effective daily schedule to support their dual career

Abstract

Italian student-athletes only need of a more effective daily schedule to support their dual career.

Living Life Through Sport: The Transition of Elite Spanish Student-Athletes to a University Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences

“…All the ESAs were very interested in succeeding both as an athlete and a student, which coincides with previous research studies such as that conducted by Lupo et al (2017b) and Brustio et al (2019). However, they chose different paths to achieve their goals (McKenna and Dunstan-Lewis, 2004), which is consistent with the work of Miró et al (2018) and Pallarés et al (2011) and, in our opinion, would suggest that the ESAs had multidimensional identities characterized by different degrees of perceived priority attached to the academic and athletic domains.…”

“…The participants showed a range of skills within the psychological domain that helped them cope with the demands of transitioning from school to university, supporting findings of several European studies that have highlighted the importance of applying and improving these (and other) skills to achieve optimal dual career development among elite athletes in higher education. Key skills and competencies linked to successful dual career management (De Brandt et al, 2018), include selfdiscipline, effective time management, the ability to set priorities (Petrie and Stoever, 1997;Geraniosova and Ronkainen, 2015;Miró et al, 2018;Brustio et al, 2019), and career planning and exploration (Torregrossa et al, 2015;De Brandt et al, 2018;Miró et al, 2018;Gavala-González et al, 2019). In our series, most of the ESAs were already thinking about employment opportunities after university and after retirement from sport, and this was an important motivator for them.…”

“…that could provide ESAs with a better chance of successfully developing and completing a dual career by enhancing the resources available to them and limiting, in so far as is possible, the barriers detected. This goes beyond just providing better academic schedules, which seems to be a good solution for the combination of sport and studies in the general group of Southern European elite studentathletes (Brustio et al, 2019). In the case, for example, of the obligation to complete certain practical subjects as part of the PASS degree, alternative forms of evaluation could perhaps be considered to help overcome this perceived barrier.…”

“…In Europe, studies on transitions between different levels of education have provided useful insights into problems associated with these life changes (Stambulova and Wylleman, 2014). Researchers from numerous countries, including the United Kingdom (McKenna and Dunstan-Lewis, 2004;Brown et al, 2015), Belgium (De Brandt, 2017;De Brandt et al, 2018), Slovakia (Geraniosova and Ronkainen, 2015), Italy (Guidotti et al, 2015;Lupo et al, 2017a,b;Brustio et al, 2019), and Spain (Álvarez and López, 2012;Pérez-Rivasés et al, 2017;Mateu et al, 2018b;Miró et al, 2018), have analyzed multiple aspects of transitioning from school to university among ESAs, such as the demands of combining sport and study, the importance of effective dual career assistance systems and competencies such as time management and planning, gender differences in academic qualifications, and perceptions of transitional experiences.…”

World-Class Sprinters’ Careers: Early Success Does Not Guarantee Success at Adult Age

“…The reasons for such a high attrition rate are manifold and are likely include early maturation, 18 early specialization, 19,20 relative age effect, 3,21,22 injuries, 16,23 drop-out, 24 and dual career barriers. 16,25 Even more importantly, most elite senior athletes were not considered as such when they were young. Indeed 79-83% of top 50 senior athletes were not present in the top 50 ranking when they were U18.…”