September 2020

Thanks to the Team of the University of Hamburg and the efforts of the EAS Executive Committee the dual career community met also in 2020 despite the restrictions COVID-19 pandemic.

The one-day virtual event included three sections: lectures on the European dual career discourse, the reports of eight Collaborative Partnerships in dual career, and two dual career workshops.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, Joerg Foerster (University of Hamburg Sport Service and EAS Board Member) welcomed more than 100 participants from different Continents despite the relevant difference in time zones.

Then, President Laura Capranica updated on the involvement of the Network in several exciting applications on dual career aspects still in need to be considered, and on its election as a Member of the Consultative Committee Bureau of the EPAS-Council of Europe, and on a future dissemination activity for its members.

Yves Le Lostecque, Head of the Sport Unit of the European Commission, informed on the European strategies, policies, programmes, opportunities, and activities also in light of the actual pandemic crisis.
Agata Dziarnowska, who recently joined the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the European Commission, contributed to a vision of the future European dual career.

The career counsellors Pamela Wittfothand and Leif Böhnert informed the participants on the German dual career approach and work at the Olympic Training Center in Hamburg.

• For the EU-funded Collaborative Partnerships in dual career, Philip Fuchs presented the findings of the AMiD survey on dual career of migrating athletes;
• Federica Stradi reported on the approach of the DONA project, which is grounded on the needs of youth female volleyball players;
• Antonio Figueiredo presented the educational programme for parents of dual career athletes based on the evidence and eminence knowledge acquired during the EMPATIA project;
• Pascal Izzicupo illustrated the dual career advancements at higher education institutes resulting from the More Than Gold project and the findings of the survey on dual career during the COVID-19 lockdown;
• Daniela Drago illustrated the aims of the Sport Opens School project, which encompasses dual career in an innovative educational approach of physical education;
• Dennis van Vlaanderen and Wolfgang Stockinger presented the progress of the European toolkit for dual career service providers of the STARTING 11 project; and
• Cvita Gregov illustrated the objectives of the We Care project, encompassing a Comprehensive Athlete Information System and the to establish three National Athletic Care and Development Centres in the Balcan region.

Finally, two interesting workshops allowed deep insights in the ED MEDIA and STARTING 11 projects. In particular, for ED MEDIA Inga Staškevičiūtė-Butienė presented the outcomes of the gaps in the implementation of the EU Dual Career Guidelines for Athletes, Ferran Calabuig-Moreno the videos on the opinions of a manager, a policy maker, and a Rector, Ole Keldorf led the discussion on potential activities to raise the awareness on dual career, and Irena Valentine collected the participants’ opinion on how to advance dual career trough media.

During the STARTING 11 workshop moderated by Dennis van Vlaanderen and Wolfgang Stockinger, two tools of the European dual career toolkit were presented, and the participants’ feedback on their content and format were gathered.

Finally, Cristina Cortis presented the venue of the 2022 EAS Annual Conference to be hosted by the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in the Angevin-Aragonese Castle of Gaeta, Italy.