NEWS

Dear Dual Career Friends and Colleagues,

2021 has not been an easy year, with ongoing pandemic waves and proliferation of new COVID variants affecting our life. Despite the restrictions, EAS strengthened its efforts in Dual Career by consolidating virtual cafes to discuss stories and visions with experts, participating in activities of several European Collaborative Partnerships, contributing to online European consultations, organizing the Annual Conference in Lisbon, 2021 European Capital of Sport, in a blended modality, and awarding the 2020 and 2021 Bengt Nybelius Scholarships.

Discussions on “Dual Career of migrating athletes”, “media role in the promotion of the European Dual Career culture”, “implementing Dual Career policies and provisions at university level”, and “well-being and mental health for Dual Career athletes at high school level” have been the topic of the 2021 EAS virtual cafè. All of us are invited to propose Dual Career topics to be addressed in 2022.

During this challenging year four Collaborative Partnerships have been finalized with outstanding outcomes, encompassing the More Than Gold guidelines for implementing Dual Career at higher education institutions, the EMPATIA online and multilingual educational programme for parents of Dual Career athletes, the EdMedia online educational programme and guidelines to enhance the visibility of Dual Career athletes, the SportOpensSchool multilingual teaching method for high school physical education teachers. Furthermore, EAS also contributed to the dissemination of knowledge gathered in Dual Career projects, which were published in five peer-review journals and submitted for further three publications. Even though the COVID-related restrictions heavily challenged the ongoing BRAVA-DC, EL-CAMP, PARA-LIMITS and STARTING11 Dual Career projects, their activities are proceeding. Finally, our Network participated in applications to the ERASMUS+ Sport 2021 Call for Collaborative Partnerships on Dual Career, hopefully to be started in 2022.

During the past months EAS contributed to the consultations on the sports policies at the European level, supporting the role of education in and through sport and proposing to extend Dual Career to sport staff (e.g., coaches, physical trainers, referees, and sport managers). Furthermore, EAS contributed to the debate for the revision of the European Sport Charter and the online events organized by the Bureau of the Consultative Committee of EPAS-Council of Europe.

Thanks to the courage, efforts, and hard work of the Organizing Committee of the University Institute of Lisbon several members attended in presence the 2021 annual conference, renovating friendship and establishing new collaborations. Furthermore, to keep a strong relationship with those who were still restricted in their travelling due to COVID-19, an online option was made available. During the General Assembly, Antonio Sanchez-Pato, Dean of the Faculty of Sport at UCAM, was elected member of the Executive Board in replacement of Joerg Foerster, who resigned his position due to a new prestigious career progression. Having appreciated Joerg’s dedication to EAS since its very beginning, all of us wish to keep collaborating with him whenever possible for the benefit of the holistic development of athletes. Meantime, the wide experience and commitment of Antonio to Dual Career are the guarantee for further advancement of our network and a successful 19^th EAS Annual Conference to be organized by UCAM in Cartagena, Spain, in 2022. Finally, the EAS Executive Board appointed Ole Keldorf, Head of Sport ESAA, as Secretary General in recognition of his efforts to the European dual career network.

The holiday season is here and with it the end of 2021. We take this opportunity to celebrate hope and faith for a better future. Together, we will continue disseminating the European Dual Career culture at local, national and international levels for the benefit of athletes as students. We also remind you to renew your 2022 EAS membership through the link http://www.dualcareer.eu/membership/.

In embracing the joy and traditions of the holiday season, the Executive Board of EAS wishes you and your family a full restart in 2022.