"More than gold" Guidelines to promote the dual career of Athletes-students: Methodology for Universities

Already in 2007, the European Commission in its “White Paper on Sport” declared the importance to provide “Dual Career” training for young athletes already at an early stage, in order to ensure the reintegration of professional sportspersons into the labour market upon the completion of their sporting careers (European Commission, 2007).

In addition, in 2008 the Council of the European Union in Declaration (European Commission, 2011) called for the strengthening of the dialogue with the International Olympic Committee and representatives of the world of sport, in particular, on the question of combined sports training and education for young people.

Following the European Council’s call in 2008 to address the issue of “Dual Careers” “Developing the European Dimension in Sport” (European Commission, 2011), the Commission emphasized the importance of ensuring that young high-performance athletes were offered quality education in parallel to their sports training.

The EU guidelines on Dual Career of Athletes (European Comission, 2012),which is recommended Policy Actions in Support on Dual Careers in High-Performance Sport (approved by the EU Expert Group “Education & Training in Sport” at its meeting in Poznań on 28 September, 2012) stated that the promotion of Dual Careers of athletes matched with the several aims of the Europe 2020 Strategy:

– prevention of early school leaving;
– more graduates in higher education;
– higher employability;
– increase of economic activity of citizens;
– making sport policies more efficient by keeping more talented and high-

performance athletes in the sport system.

According to the Conclusions on Dual Careers for athletes published the European Commission in 2013 (European Commission, 2013), the term “Dual Career” implies that an athlete is able to combine their sporting career, including high quality training, with education and/or work in a flexible way. The EU Work Plan for Sport 2017-2020 adapted by the Counil of Ministers proposed that the EU Work Plan for Sport should be governed also by the following guiding objective: it should take into account the relationship between education and sport, including Dual Careers (Council of the European Union, 2017).

It should be specified that Latvia as an initiator of the project marks the compliance of the project with the Latvian Guidelines. In the end of the year 2013, “Sports Policy Guidelines for year 2014 – 2020” were adapted where the point 10.4 states that “One of the goals of the country is to create a Dual Career model for athletes who have successfully represented Latvia in the past 4 years in such competitions as the Olympic Games, the European and World Championships (1 - 6th place), which substantiates their capacity to successfully combine their studies in a state-funded programme up to bachelor’s degree in the selected scientific or scholarly field” (Ministru kabinets, 2013).

The overall goal of the project was to develop Dual Career Guidelines for higher education institutions (HEI) and strengthen Dual Career policies in all EU countries, especially in the countries, where Dual Career policy is at an early development stage. Furthermore, in the project framework, the best practices comprising different activities for students, which can help students (for instance, career center services, psychologist services, mentoring program for students, etc.) within the study process were collected. It led to the development of methodology for HEIs aimed at sharing how already existing activities in HEIs can be used for supporting Dual Career.

Apparently enough, successful athletes should possess certain characteristics (e.g., being goal-oriented, hard-working, etc.).

The skillsets and characteristics common among successful athletes can also be found among the best employees:

– Athletes are resilient both physically and mentally.
The best employees the same way as athletes need to be able to function at a high level, consistently and for long periods of time. Likewise, successful athletes similarly to successful employees need to be able to learn from their mistakes and move on.

– The same way as athletes in team sports need to be team players, the best employees in partnerships need to be able to work with their partners and lead teams effectively.

–  For the best employees, having talent and skills is meaningless unless they possess strong work ethics to put effort into their key objectives for 60+ hours per week. Similarly, the best athletes in the world will not be the best just because of their skills. A successful athlete can achieve very high results in their “second career” due to being aware that in order to succeed, they should really work hard.

–  Clear focus on the game, and nothing but the game, is critical to winning among athletes. Focus is necessary for success also for the best employees.

An athlete having a higher education degree is a valuable human resource and is competitive on a labour market.

According to the international research (European Commission, 2012), every year 30% of young people between 10 and 18 who do sports give it up as they find that their sport activities take up too much of their time. This is especially the case for high-performance athletes; it is difficult to reconcile the demands of their sporting life with the challenges and constraints of the education system or the labour market.

Likewise, in many countries, where the development of Dual Career is at an early stage, sport is not promoted as a career choice that can be successful not only during the active period, but may contribute to the development of personal career in general. The conclusion can also be drawn that athletes frequently face psychological pressure – “now or never”. You get “all or nothing” and one may not have this opportunity again. The athlete’s career is not long.

Dual Career would allow to look at sport from a different perspective, remove the psychological tension, and at the same time, help achieve the best results in sports.

In addition, the society and sport would benefit from the positive image of educated athletes who make sports more attractive for others, function as positive role models for young people and stand for the excellence in the society.

Therefore, in order to support the university, it is essential to create appropriate high-performance athlete support guidelines and methodology for HEIs based on the research on the needs of athletes, identification of problems and resources (Condello et al., 2019).

Based on the assessment of the support aimed at high-performance athletes in HEIs, the conclusion can be drawn that HEIs do not have a common understanding of the importance of Dual Careers, which was also confirmed by the analysis of student support services and activities for athletes. Frequent support measures at HEIs vary based on the initiatives of the heads of individual structural units or academic staff, rather than on the general united guidelines on support provision (Guidotti et al., 2014).

Within the Dual Career of high-performance athletes, it is crucial to rely not only on the Dual Career and management theories, but also on the practical experience and strategy of HEIs.

Therefore, one of the objectives put forward within the project framework was to collect the best practices in higher education which can be used for Dual Career practical support ( e.g. mentoring programs for students, career centre services, etc.).

The project also focused on one of the most topical problems in the area of Dual Career putting forward the issue of “graduation time” as one of the topical ones within the Dual Career context. Upon the graduation from the middle school or sports school, the achievement levels of athletes are different. The smartest of the young athletes withstand the competition and enrol in higher education study programmes, but they are forced to finish the sporting career, as most of the universities do not have funds to provide training and competition mode in accordance with the reguirements for high achievements.

The most frequently reported obstacles are the lack of support and understanding from the academic staff. The faculty should understand that high-performance athletes stand for their state and represent their country in the world, therefore, their daily lives are different.

In addition, young athletes should be aware of the fact that higher education is necessary not only for their future, but it also helps them to achieve better results in the present. Therefore, one of the objectives set within the project framework was to raize awareness of young athletes of the opportunities for the development and application of life skills as well as their needs. High- performance athletes may think that ending a career in sports can guarantee a well-paid job due to having high achievement credits (Surujlal, 2016). However, it is not always the case. Therefore, the necessity for quality education should be promoted from an early stage.