Pathway decisions during the student-athlete transition out of university in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The student-athlete transition out of university requires athletes to make important decisions regarding their future. However, there is no research that focuses on the pathways that athletes take when they leave university and the factors that underpin athletes' decisions. The current study explored the pathways athletes take when they leave university in the United Kingdom (UK), and their reasons for taking these specific routes. Eleven elite UK former and current university student-athletes (Mage = 21.4) from different sports were interviewed. Eight university stakeholders (e.g., head coaches, lifestyle advisor, performance sport manger) took part in a focus group. Data were thematically analysed. Results suggest that athletes take four different pathways following university: (1) advancing onto a postgraduate education and elite sport pathway, (2) full-time sport pathway, (3) sport and work pathway, and (4) dropping out of sport and moving onto an alternative pathway. There were multiple factors that led athletes to taking each pathway. These included a desire to qualify for the next Olympic Games, having an education 'safety net', goal of advancing onto a funded sport programme, and limited work-sport dual career opportunities. This article advances previous work in athlete transitions and athlete career pathways, focusing specifically on a key career transition point for UK athletes. Support providers could use the findings to help athletes critically reflect on their motivations and future goals and come to a decision around what their most suitable pathway should be.

Spanish Pre-Olympic Athletes’ Motivations and Barriers to Pursuing Dual Career as a Function of Sociodemographic, Sport and Academic Variables

“…It is also important to note that athletes who did not receive any type of scholarship had higher expectations of continuing their athletic career after completing their studies as compared to those who received a scholarship. Vickers and Morris (2021) indicated that student-athletes who finished university took different paths, one of which was to continue with their sports full time, which is consistent with the results obtained in the present research. It is possible that these results are due to the fact that athletes who had received previous aid showed higher levels of academic and sporting demands than athletes without scholarships, which favors the appearance of burnout syndrome in these athletes and hinders their continuity in sports, opting to completely devote themselves to the world of work once they have finished their studies ( Judge et al, 2012 ; Åkesdotter et al, 2020 ).…”

Dual Career Development Perspective: Factors Affecting Quality of Post-sport Career Transition of Employed Olympic Athletes

“…We are aware that the sample size is a limitation of our study. However, participants are elite and Olympic athletes, and the sample is comparable to other similar studies on elite athletes’ DC ( Tshube and Feltz, 2015 ; Defruyt et al, 2020 ; Moreno et al, 2021 ; Vickers and Morris, 2021 ).…”

“…Moreover, when studying (former) international elite athletes, authors should consider that sample size issues are common; therefore, it might be difficult to include a sufficient number of athletes into the study ( Küttel, 2017 ). Further research is needed to explore the pathways athletes take when they leave university ( Vickers and Morris, 2021 ) and how we refer to people engaging in DC ( Geary et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Most previous DC research addressed the study-sport combination, but there is a lack of studies on the work-sport combination ( Stambulova and Wylleman, 2019 ; Fuchs et al, 2021 ; Moreno et al, 2021 ). Some studies ( Vickers and Morris, 2021 ) suggest there is no research focusing on athletes’ pathways after graduating from a university and the factors underpinning their decisions. Therefore, studies focus on athletes’ DC and factors in this context but do not directly investigate them regarding the performance of athletes in post-sport career employment.…”

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“…Also, the quality of post-sport career transitions is associated with pre-retirement preparation, such as education and financial support (Robnik et al, 2022). Several studies have explored the dual career paths of student-athletes, examining their engagement with university majors, plans for dual careers, and the demands encountered during such transitions (Condello et al, 2019;Vickers and Morris, 2022). This line of inquiry extends to employed Olympic athletes, providing insights into dual career support and its effect on the quality of transitions (Robnik et al, 2022).…”