Abstract:

The career of many athletes begins in early childhood and lasts, depending on the specifics of the sport, for 10–20 years, in rare cases longer. The scientific literature defines possible critical periods in a sporting career, of which the end of a sporting career and the adaptive period after the end of a sporting career are very significant.

The present study aimed to investigate the dual career opportunities and post sport perspectives of the candidates of the Lithuanian Olympic team and the cyclists of the French NIPPO Delko One Provence team.

For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 high- performance athletes. Two groups of athletes participated in the study: 9 candidates of the Lithuanian Olympic team (LT athletes) (4 women, M age = 30.9 years, age range:20−38, duration of participation in sports was 19.6 ± 3.84 years) and 9 cyclists of the French NIPPO Delko One Provence professional team (M age = 27.9 years, age range 24−35 years, the duration of participation in sports was 13.3 ± 2.96 years). Interviews with LT athletes took place in February - March 2019. The interviews took place in different meeting places according to the arrangement of a convenient time and place for the interview for each high-performance athlete. Interviews with the cyclists from the French NIPPO Delko One Provence professional team took place in March – June 2020. During that period, European countries announced quarantine due to Covid-19 virus. The interviews were conducted remotely via video chat communication programs “Skype“, “WhatsApp“, “Viber“.

The analysis revealed that the High-Performance Athletes of both groups (candidates of the Lithuanian Olympic team and cyclists of the French NIPPO Delko One Provence team) seek education - most of them are students or graduates of various universities. Personal motivation, favorable conditions within the educational institution and support of the social environment are significant factors that positively influence the choice of a dual career and its continuation. The motivation to pursue a dual career is reduced by the demotivation of people around them and financial possibilities. Some athletes who intensively participate in sports and take part in training camps and competitions in different countries fail to coordinate sports and studies and have to pause or interrupt the latter.

The Covid-19 pandemic, when many competitions were cancelled and athletes found themselves facing the unknown, confirmed the importance for high-performance athletes not only to participate in sports, but also to plan their future by continuing their studies and acquiring a degree. For smooth actualization of a dual career for high-performance athletes, universities must have individuals to advise athletes on a variety of study plan implementation issues. This study highlights the need for better flexibility of programs, especially the ability to implement some of them remotely, and required individual adjustments.

Keywords:

Dual career, high-performance athletes, post sport perspectives.