EU Projects
On October 11, 2022, the Partners of the PARA-LIMITS participated in a transnational blended meeting in Bucharest, Romania, to discuss the progresses of the previous phases of the project and to plan the following ones (https://paralimits.eu). The Para-Limits project is co-funded by the European Erasmus+ Sport programme and focuses on high-level athletes, Paralympians included, who seek to break down barriers and cultivate their talent with no limits.
The Europe-wide Para-limits strategic partnership encompassing universities, sports bodies, innovative organization, and EAS, the European Dual Career network, intends to achieve greater social inclusion through sport and higher education, by enabling high-level athletes to achieve their sporting and educational careers, regardless of their disability. In administering a 84-item questionnaire to 160 student-athletes, equally representing student-athletes with and without disability, Para-limits uncovered the differences of dual career barriers between these groups. To achieve an effective integration of paralympic student-athletes at university level, Para-Limits intends to propose a series of recommendations to try overcoming these barriers and to foresee low-cost dual career solutions to be adopted in different Member States, thus contributing to the European policies on social inclusion of high-performance athletes with disabilities. Furthermore, the Para-limits platform is expected to be available in the first months of 2023.
On September 28-30, the Univesidad Catolica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM) hosted the 2022 EAS Annual Conference “A Holistic Approach to the Dual Career of the Student Athlete”. In being at the forefront of European Dual Career, UCAM participates in several ERASMUS+ Sport Partnerships, promoted a special issue in its scientific journal Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte, and is the University with the highest number of student-athletes winning medals at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021. At the Roman Theatre Museum of Cartagena, the Dean of the Faculty of Sport at UCAM Ms. Lourdes Meroño García, the President of EAS Ms. Laura Capranica, the President of the Organising Committee at UCAM Mr. Juan Alfonso García Roca, and the Delegate Councillor of Tourism of the Cartagena City Council Ms. Cristina Pérez Carrasco welcomed the participants.
Ms. Floor van Houdt (Head of Unit for Sport, DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture) and Mr. David Kunst (Policy Officer for Evidence & Analysis, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) presented online the opportunities for sports and employment at the European Commission, whereas Ms. Francine Hetherington Raveney (Deputy Executive Secretary of the EPAS) reported on the actions in the field of sports at the Council of Europe.
Dual career perspectives of the European Sports Organizations were offered by Mr. Andrej Pišl – Communications and Projects Manager at the European University Sports Association (EUSA); Mr. Philippe Housiaux – President of the European Fair Play Movement (EFPM); Ms. Teodora Pletosu – EU Affairs and Public Projects Specialist at Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The dual career viewpoints of International Sports Organizations were provided by Mr. Kole Gjeloshaj – Director of Institutional and Educational Affairs at International School Sport Federation (ISF); Mr. Bill Thomson – Education Committee Member at International University Sports Federation (FISU) and Mr. Joerg Foerster – Chair Shareholder Committee Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games gGmbH; and Mr. David Cabello – Executive Board Member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The EAS Conference was also the occasion for the signing of an important Memorandum of Understanding between the ISF and EAS on common dual career interests and close cooperation between the two organisations.
During the first session on dual career best practices and research, the 2022 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship has been awarded to Dr. Andrea Fusco from the University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale, who presented research findings on dual career relocating elite coaches.
At the end of the first day, the participants contributed to the first workshop of the ERASMUS+Sport BRAnd Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA-DC, 622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP), which required to grade the importance and feasibility of 50 statements on the enhancement of the European workplace environment so the circumstances and challenges of dual career employee-sportspersons can more effectively be accommodated. 
On the second day, the event was organized at the UCAM Cartagena Campus and was opened by Mr. Alejandro Leiva Arcas – Secretary of the Faculty of Sport, who reported the strategies and experiences for the promotion of Dual Career of student-athletes. Then, Mr. Sergio López Andújar (General Secretary of the Spanish Futsal Players Association, AJFS) moderated a round table with UCAM dual career athletes (Mr. Agassi Goantara – Indonesian International Basket Player), paralympic athletes (Mr. Gerard Descarrega – Paralympic 400m Gold Medalist; and Mr. Guillermo Rojo – International Athlete and Guide of Mr. Gerard Descarrega), and coaches (Antonio Peñalver – University Professor, International Athletics Coach, Decathlon Silver Olympic Medalist; and Mr. Rafael Alcaraz – International Taekwondo Coach of Olympic and Paralympic athletes).
A second workshop of the BRAVA-DC project was organized to allow the participants to group the 50 statements into categories in terms of meanings according to their individual logic. The expertise and knowledge of the participants in the first and second BRAVA-DC workshops have been considered very valuable in assisting during the development of European guidelines which support Dual Career in the workplace and facilitate appropriate brand alignment strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility policies.
During the annual General Assembly, Mr. Ole Keldorf, Secretary General, summarized the main activities and achievements of the organisation, as well as the financial results. Despite the 2019-2022 quadrennium presented several unexpected challenges, EAS managed to increase its activities organizing online cafès on different dual career aspects of the sportspersons, contributed to the finalization and progression of European ERASMUS+ Sport Partnerships, co-authored several scientific publications, and participated in European cultural and sports events. The delegates also elected the Board for the new 4-year mandate, confirming Ms. Laura Capranica (Italy) in the position of the President, and Ms. Mojca Doupona (Slovenia), Mr. Ole Keldorf (Denmark), Mr. Ilvis Abelkalns (Latvia), Mr. Antonio Sanchez-Pato (Spain), Ms. Laurence BONDEL (France), Mr. Antonio FIGUEIREDO (Portugal) as Members of the Executive Board, which is complemented by the permanent positions of Mr. Risto Keskitalo (Finland) and Mr. Tibor Kozsla (Hungary) as Founder and Honorary President, respectively.
The third day of the event took place in the Roman Theatre Museum of Cartagena and encompassed the second session dedicated to dual career best practices and research, and to Erasmus+Sport projects (e.g., SPRINGBOARD, Athlete Counsellors Against Match Fixing, ELCAMP, Para-limits).
Participants had plenty opportunities to interact and to exchange ideas for future dual career projects and collaborations during the conference breaks, lunches, dinners, the tour to the Roman Theater, and the Tourist Boat trip. The large delegation of Finnish Rectors and the Brazilian participants substantiated the EAS Conference as a crucial event to further develop a European dual career discourse in and beyond Europe.
On behalf of the EAS Board, President Capranica thanked the Organizing Committee and the UCAM staff for their amazing work in organizing such a grand final of the 2019-2022 quadrennium. The 2023-2026 quadrennium is already on the move, with the EAS Members looking forward to the 2023 and 2024 EAS Conferences to be held in Gaeta, Italy, and in Katowice, Poland, respectively.
On July 4-5, 2022, the kick-off meeting of the 36-month Erasmus+ project Promoting Employability of Young Student-Athletes through ‘‘Competence Hub on Sport Innovation’’ (COMPATH) was organized in Oslo (Norway) in a blended (face-to-face and online) modality.
The COMPATH Team encompasses 10 Partners from 8 countries: COLLECTIVE INNOVATION AS (NO, Coordinator), FUNDACION UNIVERSITARIA SAN ANTONIO – UCAM (ES), NYSA SWEDEN AB (SE), LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY (UK), SPORTSKO UCILISTE PESG (HR), MOBILE ADVENTURE SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA (PL), SPORTSKO UCILISTE PESG (HR), MOBILE ADVENTURE SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA (PL), AIFORLIVES GMBH (DE), RAZVOJNA AGENCIJA SISACKO (HR), SPORTIDEALISTEN (SE), and EAS (MT). EAS is represented by Mojca Doupona and Laura Capranica.
The COMPATH Team aims to develop educational resources that will help the youth sportspersons (16-25 years of age) with skills and competencies on sport innovation and technologies under two categories :
Sport-Oriented Technology Skills:
1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Sport
2. Big Data Analytics in Sport
3. Drone Technology in Sport Industry
4. Fan Engagement/Experience through Digital Tools
5. Internet of Things in Sport Industry
6. VR/AR/XR in Sport
7. E-Sport and Sports-Focused Gaming
8. Wearables and Equipment for Athletic Performance
Sport-Adapted 21st Century Skills:
9. Sport-Adapted Learning Skills (critical thinking, creativity, communication)
10. Sport-Adapted Literacy Skills (information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy)
11. Career Planning and Entering to Technology-Oriented Sports Business World
12. Entrepreneurial Mindset in Sports Businesses
The project’s objectives directly address the target group of EAS and our network will be actively involved in the pilot implementation phase of the project and will lead to the dissemination of project outputs at the level of sportspersons, sports organizations, and academic institutions in Europe.
During the meeting, the roles and responsibilities of the Partners were agreed, and the timeline was refined and approved. The different expertise of the Partners was highly appreciated considering the ambitious outcomes of the project.
On June 30, 2022, the University of Limerick – Ireland (coordinator) organized the third online meeting of the ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnership “BRAnd Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA-DC, 622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP), which involves as Partners the University of Rome3 – Italy, the University of Ljubljana – Slovenia, The European Platform for Sport Innovation (EPSI) – Belgium, The Elite Sport Academy Aarhus (ESAA) – Denmark, The Human Age Institute Foundation (FHAI) – Italy, The University of Niš – Serbia, The European University Sports Association Institute (EUSA) – Slovenia, and the European Athlete as Student Network – Malta).
In considering that BRAVA-DC focuses on the enhancement of a dual career of employee-athletes and employee-sportspersons (e.g., coaches, referees, physical trainers, and sports managers) in business-oriented companies, in the past months a solid eminence-knowledge was collected from 22 semi-structured interviews and five national focus groups. This precious information shed a light on the actual dual career in the workplace, and it helped to foresee suggestions on how to facilitate appropriate Dual Career brand alignment strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. At present, a list of 50 statements has been identified, which is currently under an evaluation of dual career experts who are going to grade them for clarity. In the next months, a concept mapping methodology will be used to identify the most relevant and feasible aspects to develop a European framework and guidelines for DC.
The BRAVA-DC Team appreciates the precious contribution of DC experts and CSR managers and invites to follow the development of the project at the 2022 EAS Annual Conference to be held in Cartagena (Spain) on September 28-30, 20220 (https://eventos.ucam.edu/85445/detail/eas-conference-2022.html)
On May 12, 2022, participants from 17 different countries attended the final conference of the EU-funded project STARTING 11 (60313-EPP-1-2018-1-NL-SPO-SCP), coordinated by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS, Netherlands) in cooperation with the partners EAS (Malta) CREPS Toulouse (France), German University Sport Federation (Germany), Sportlycee Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (England). Starting in 2019, the project aimed to implement the EU Guidelines on Dual Careers of Athletes through the empowerment of dual career service providers. The event was held at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium with the purpose to launch the STARTING11 toolkit, which is freely available at https://starting11.eu/toolkits/.
The Conference was opened by Dennis van Vlaanderen (organizer) and Rector Geleyn Meijer, followed by presentations on the EU dimension of dual careers (Wolfgang Stockinger, TW1N; co-organizer) and on the STARTING11 toolkit (Emma Vickers, TASS; Pascal Schaul, Sportlycee Luxembourg; and Nicoleta Pana Digital Society School Amsterdam). Three parallel workshops allowed the participants to get acquainted with selected tools. Finally, Florencia van Houdt (European Commission – DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture), Larissa Klaassen (paralympic cycling), David McDermott (Liverpool John Moores University, and Laurent Carnol (National Olympic Committee Luxembourg) participated in a round table on the future of European dual career, moderated by Cees Vervoorn. The participants had also opportunities to network, and to get acquainted with the dual career of world-class athletes (Larissa Klaassen, paralympic cycling; Cees Juffermans, short track; and Johan Kenkhuis, swimming) in the Athlete-Student Stories area, and to walk through the iconic Olympic stadium.
EAS was represented by President Laura Capranica and Board Members Laurence Blondel and Ole Keldorf, who also acted as a co-leader of a workshop.
Within the EU Erasmus+ sports programme (603523-EPP-1-2018-1-SI-SPO-SCP ), the Athletes Friendly Education – AFE Collaborative Partnership (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/eplus-project-details#project/603523-EPP-1-2018-1-SI-SPO-SCP) coordinated by the Slovenian Olympic Committee in cooperation with the Deutsche Olympische Akademie Willi Daume (DOA), the Pomorski Fakultet u Rijeci, the Odbojkarska Federacija na Makedonija, the EUSA Institute, the Hrvatska Olimpijska Akademija, the Comite Olympique Et Interfederal Belge ASBL, the Univerza v Mariboru and the Comite Olimpico De Portugal, published the Athletes Friendly Education Book (https://www.verlagdrkovac.de/volltexte/12146/12147_Athletes_Friendly_Education_OpenAccess.pdf) and the Athletes Friendly Education Handbook: Award for Educational Institutions Supporting the Dual Career of Athletes (https://athletes.friendly.edu.olympic.si/results/athletes-friendly-education-handbook), which address the topic of athlete’s education requiring a continuous planning, organizing, and improving a system of adaptations included in the educational process and infrastructure.
These adaptations are implemented voluntarily and in a benevolent, systematic, comprehensive, and transparent manner with the explicit aim to help athletes engage in sport, and simultaneously achieve goals and competencies set out in the educational program and thus complete their education. In particular, suggested aspects to be considered when working with athletes encompass systemic measures on the state level, the role of educational institutions and their evaluation, the student’s motivation, the role of e-learning in supporting elite athletes, and the effect of curriculum adaptations on overall academic success.
Further information on empirical research is available in the “Dual Career Development Perspective: Factors Affecting Quality of Post-sport Career Transition of employed Olympic Athletes” published in the peer-review journal Frontiers in Psychology (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.800031/full).
A Self-employment Career Option for Elite Athletes: Innovative Sport-focused Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (ElCAMP) is an ERASMUS project aiming to provide European elite athletes with a platform to support the creation of their business based on the identification of the athleytes’ needs and expectations in terms of entrepreneurship.
The Collaborative Partnership is coordinated by Collective Innovation AS (Norway) and includes the Hogskolen I Molde (Norway), Olimpijski Komite Slovenije Zdruzenje Sportnih Zvez (Slovenia), Fundacion Universitaria San Antonio (UCAM, Spain) Lietuvos Sporto Universitetas (Lithuania), Mobile Adventure Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia (Poland), and EAS as Partners.
On March 31, 2022, UCAM welcomed the Partners in Cartagena to discuss the findings of the ELCAMP research phase, which encompassed comparative analyses of 38 interviews carried out by four partners, and an online survey administered to 188 athletes. In particular, five main areas of interest to be included in the platform have been identified, mainly related to business knowledge, entrepreneurial attitudes, business management, entrepreneurial skills, and technological knowledge.
Future steps will comprise the dissemination of the platform and its validation before October 2022. More information is available at the ElCAMP website https://www.bootcampforathletes.com
For the second year, the European Commission and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) organised online the info day of the Erasmus+ Sport funding opportunities for sports organizations, educational institutions and agencies on the 2021 to 2027 priorities: Encouraging healthy lifestyle for all; Promoting integrity and values in sport; Promoting education in and through sport; and Combatting violence and tackling racism, discrimination and intolerance in sport.
On January 31, Ms Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth and Mr Tomasz Frankowski, Member of the European Parliament opened the event, Mr Yves Le Lostecque, EACEA Head of Erasmus Mundus & Sport Unit, and Ms Gaël Broze, EACEA Head of Sport Sector illustrated the objectives and structure of Erasmus+ Sport, Ms Florencia van Houdt, Head of Sport Unit of DG EAC, European Commission moderated a round table on program priorities.
On February 1, 2022, Mr Luciano Di Fonzo, Deputy Head of Erasmus Mundus & Sport Unit, EACEA moderated technical sessions on application and submission procedures, and funding mechanisms, illustrating in detail the expected work-package structure of proposals, the most frequent mistakes, and the evaluation process.
The streaming of the event is available at: https://www.eacea-events.eu/erasmusplussportinfoday2022/
According to the “Motion for a European Parliament Resolution on EU Sports Policy: Assessment and Possible Ways Forward”, Collaborative Partnerships could have opportunities to implement the EU Guidelines on Dual Career of athletes and to extend them to all sport staff engaged in structured sport.
Therefore, EAS invites its Members to develop proposals for supporting athletes and sport staff in combining their sport careers with education and jobs. In considering its consolidated experience in EU-funded projects, EAS will be happy to cooperate in innovative proposals and to help applicants establish fruitful consortia.
In particular, the deadlines for funding opportunities are:
Small-scale partnerships in the field of sport: 23 March
Cooperation partnerships in the field of sport: 23 March
Not-for-profit European Sport Events: 23 March
Capacity building in the field of Sport: 7 April
The second transnational meeting of the European Para-Limits project (https://paralimits.eu) was held at the Foro Italico University in Rome on December 16, 2021. During the meeting, the progress of the collection of the eminence-base knowledge collected through an international survey was presented and further activities were envisioned. The partners also agreed on the deadlines for the next tasks and on the steps to present the findings. In particular, it was envisioned to disseminate the project and the outcomes of its activities at the 2022 Annual EAS Conference to be held at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM) in Cartagena, Spain. On 30-31 May and 1 June, 2022, the next transnational meeting will be held at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first months of the project the partners recognized their enthusiastic commitment in accomplishing the preliminary phases of Para-Limits and they were very satisfied by the great work carried out.
On December 2, 2021, the Associació Esportiva Carles Vallbona (AECV, coordinator) hosted the final event of the European Collaborative Partnership “Dual Career for Women Athletes” (DONA), which aimed to support dual career of talented female athletes in cooperation with Phoenix Sport Club (PSC), Scuola di Pallavolo Anderlini Soc. Coop. Sociale SD (SPA), Istres Provence Volley (IPV), De SportMaatschappij Foundation (DSM), University of Ljubljana (UL), and the European Athlete as Student (EAS) network (EAS). Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, DONA succeeded in offering a pilot programme on female athletes’ Dual Career competences (i.e., monitoring and evaluation toolkit) at the level of volleyball clubs.
Joan Carles Marín, project coordinator, opened the face-to-face conference and welcomed 200 participants.
Leonard Zammit (Phoenix Sport Club) illustrated the aims, development, and outcomes of the project. In particular, she stressed the DONA methodology for successfully approaching and enhancing female athletes’ Dual Careers, which encompassed quantitative and qualitative analyses.
Federica Stradi (Scuola di Pallavolo Anderlini Soc. Coop. Sociale SD) presented five steps for implementing Dual Career at a volleyball club level, encompassing Coordinator and Dual Career Club Management Team, Philosophy, Communication, Implementation and Monitoring. In considering that the COVID pandemic affected the time management, goal setting and identity of athletes, Noemí Bonet (psychologist of AECV) and Joan Carles Marín (President of AECV) presented the impact of the DONA project and offered ideas for the future.
Moderated by TV3 journalist Jordi Sanuy, Ona Carbonell (synchronized swimming Olympic medalist), Aina Berbel (international player at CV Sant Cugat), Maribel Zamora (President of the Catalan Volleyball Federation), Anna González (mother of a volleyball player) and Gloria Montoy (education inspector) discussed in round table Dual Career of female athletes.
REG. NUMBER: Voluntary Organisation registration VO/1270
PIC NUMBER: 913459865
Email: info@dualcareer.eu