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

Abstract

Interest in studying the different transitions faced by elite athletes throughout their careers has grown significantly in recent years. While transition from secondary school to university is an important research area in Europe, there is a void of studies on how student-athletes experience the transition to specific degrees. One of the most soughtafter university degrees among elite athletes in Spain is a degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (PASS). The first aim of this study was to investigate the main demands, barriers, and resources perceived by elite student-athletes in various phases of dual career transition to a university degree in PASS. The second aim was to identify the transition pathways pursued depending on the subjective importance they attached to sport and education. Eleven elite student-athletes (M age = 20.7, SD = 1.6 years) who were in their second and third year of the degree in PASS participated in semi-structured interviews. Deductive-inductive thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed three main themes: (a) general university transition issues, (b) PASS-specific transition issues, and (c) transition pathways. Our results show that the close link between sport and the content of the degree was perceived by the elite student-athletes as their main resource. This link, however, was also perceived as a major barrier as the compulsory practical subjects entailed a risk of injury or overtraining that could affect both athletic and academic development. We noticed how the importance they attached to sport or studies varied at different moments of the transition period, a phenomenon we termed "fluid transition pathways." Dual career promotion for elite athletes is an important part of European sports policy, and our findings provide new knowledge that could help Spanish PASS faculties develop specific assistance programs to support transitioning student-athletes.

Dual career in Brazil: analysis on men elite futsal players’ academic degree (Carrera dual en Brasil: análisis sobre el nivel académico de los jugadores de futsal de élite)

“…The facilitating factors and barriers impact on players' basic education degree completion and the access on higher education degree Despite the challenges and barriers related to dual career (Guirola Gómez et al, 2018;Mateu et al, 2020;Ryba et al, 2017;Torregrosa et al, 2016), this study results present a context where players could count with access to capitals that support their school and sport careers. Despite the 33 players (22.8%) that have interrupted the academic career in some moment, only 6 (18.2%) did not complete the secondary school degree, and consequently 27 (81.8%) have returned.…”

“…Contradictorily, both fathers and mothers presented better index of higher education degree completion than players. We propose that the cause for this can be an association between the challenges from the elite sport dual career (Guirola Gómez et al, 2018;Mateu et al, 2020) and the lower average age of athletes in comparison with their parents. However, the average number of the parents' index (the sum between the amount of fathers and mothers, divided per two) of secondary school degree completion (54.5±12.0) is lower than the total amount of players (113) that also reached this academic degree, and also lower than the number of players that have had access to higher education degree (69).…”

“…These numbers show that players, in general, have been having difficulties to complete higher education degree. However, it is possible to perceive that they can have access to this education degree, despite the challenges and barriers from dual career in elite sport (López de Subijana, Barriopedro, & Conde, 2015;Mateu et al, 2020;Tekavc, Wylleman, & Cecić Erpič, 2015).…”

“…Dual career can be understood as the simultaneous dedication and investment on different areas, being common the efforts between sport and education (Andersson & Barker-Ruchti, 2018;Ryba, Stambulova, Selänne, Aunola, & Nurmi, 2017;Stambulova, Alfermann, Statler, & Côté, 2009) or sport and other labour activities (Sánchez Pato, Conde Pascual, Meroño, Arias Estero, & García Roca, 2018;Souza & Martins, 2018). The main focus of this study is the dual career between sport and formal education, as the issues, benefits and barriers involved on the dialectical influence among them (Mateu et al, 2020;Miranda, Loreno, & Costa, 2020;Moret & Ohl, 2019).…”

“…The interest in the education success of any individual has a great relevance and is related to broader ethical and social issues (Piotto, 2010;Piotto & Nogueira, 2016;Sánchez Pato et al, 2018;Soares, Correia, & Melo, 2016). A better knowledge on the barriers and facilitators related to dual career context allows to offer more efficient support for the student-athletes on balancing and organizing theirs school and sport routines (Álvarez-Pérez & Lópes-Aguilar, 2018;Guirola Gómez, Torregrosa, Ramis, & Jaenes, 2018;Mateu et al, 2020;Torregrosa et al, 2016).…”