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Successful project meeting to develop the European Dual Career Toolkit to promote dual careers in top-class sport in “virtual” Hamburg.
On April 21 and 22, 2021 the fifth of a total of six meetings of the partner institutions Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), CREPS Toulouse, Sportlycée Luxembourg (SL), European Athlete as Student (EAS) and the adh (German University Sport Federation), which are strongly supported by TW1N (Project management and consultancy) took place.
The adh as the host, represented by CEO Jörg Förster and project researcher Martin Santelmann, organized and moderated the two-day meeting with the active participation of the Hamburg University Sports Team, which ensured that the breaks were active.
In addition to the presentation and discussion of the dissemination strategy for 2021, the focus was primarily on the presentation and discussion of the results from the previous three-month test phase. This was planned, coordinated and evaluated by the adh in a leading role. 15 tools developed in the areas of “Manage”, “Train” and “Counsel” were checked for their feasibility and applicability by external European stakeholders as well as internal project partners. On the basis of the feedback obtained, the final refinement of the instruments on the European Dual Career Toolkit has now begun. It is already clear that all those involved in the dual career can look forward to the introduction of the toolkit at the end of this year.
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That project unites leading European institutions in dual career research and practice, to create the very first European Dual Career Toolkit. The lead is taken by the Amsterdam University of Applied Science, Partners are:
– Athletes as Students Network (EAS – Malta)
– Creps Toulouse (CREPS – France)
– German University Sport Federation (adh – Germany)
– Sportlycee Luxembourg (SplL – Luxembourg)
– Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS – England)
– TW1N (Project management and consultancy)
Aim of the project is to develop tailored tools to the specific demand of dual career service providers in the EU member states. Using an integrated approach, STARTING 11 empowers key actors in sport, education and the labour market to provide high quality services to athletes in all stages of their sporting career, reaching from school level to the stage of retirement from sport.
EAS is represented in that project by Prof. Laura Capranica (Foro Italico) and Ole Keldorf (Eliteidraet Scole Aarhus – ESAA). EAS Secretary General, Joerg Foerster, is representing EAS member adh within that project.
Further information on the EU project is available at https://starting11.eu/.
PIC:Matthias Hangst/SportstipendiumMRN
Originating fro
m the findings of the EU Collaborative Partnership “Media as a channel of Athletes’ Dual Careers promotion and education (EdMedia, 603456-EPP-1-2018-1-LT-SPO-SCP)”, the third EAS Virtual Cafè attracted around 80 European dual career experts.
Andrej Pisl, Communications and Projects Manager at European University Sports Association – EUSA and Member of the Ed Media Collaborative Partnership, illustrated the aims of the project and its educational platform (https://www.lsu.lt/en/project-edmedia/edmedia-online-platform/), which could be useful for both student-athletes and media professionals. He also moderated the contributions of Andreas Küttel and Flavia Guidotti, who presented their personal experiences as athletes and coach, respectively.
Andreas Küttel, former Swiss ski-jumping world champion and five-time Olympic athlete, presented his personal experience and claimed that student-athletes can benefit from unveiling their academic career to better attract the attention of the media and general public. As an Assistant Professor at SDU, and sports psychological consultant, he also recognized the need to educate student-athletes on the role of media and social media to construct a positive image including also their dual career.
Flavia Guidotti, former volleyball player and actual physical trainer of the AO THIRAS Santorini Volleyball team (Greece), focused on the role of dual career in team sports that provide limited revenues to athletes if any. As a dual career expert, she presented her experience with elite athletes as students, who previously lacked support at the sport and academic level. In considering the role model of successful student-athletes crucial for youth athletes, Flavia envisaged a wise use of media and social media to spread the message that the combination of elite sport and academic career is achievable.
Petra Robnik, Head of Athletes Career Centre / Secretary of Slovenian Olympians Association at Olympic Committee of Slovenia, commented thatproper communication can be beneficial not only for athletes but also for different dual career stakeholders, who could profit from information on successful dual career programmes and the outcomes of dual career projects.
Flowing a general discussion, Andrej Pisl summarized the outcomes of the café and invited the participants to attend the fourth EAS Virtual Cafè to be organized next June and the Annual Conference to be held next September in Lisbon, European Capital of Sport 2021.
Third EAS Online Cafè
“Media Role in the Promotion of the European Dual Career Culture”
Zoom Meeting April 26, 2021 (from 12:00 CETS)
12:00 Welcome
Andrej Pisl – Communications and Projects Manager at European University Sports Association – EUSA and Member of the Ed Media Collaborative Partnership.
12:20 The former athlete and actual dual career scholar’s view
Andreas Küttel – Swiss former ski-jumping world champion and five-time Olympic athlete, Assistant Professor at SDU, and sports psychological consultant.
12:40 The coach’s view
Flavia Guidotti – Physical trainer of the AO THIRAS Santorini Volleyball team (Greece) and dual career scholar.
13:00 General discussions
13:25 Concluding Remarks and announcement of next EAS online café
The Partners of the Erasmus+ funded project ELCAMP (A Self-employment Career Option for Elite Athletes: Innovative Sport-focused Entrepreneurship Bootcamp) met virtually for a kick-off meeting in March. EAS was represented by dr. Mojca Doupona and dr. Tibor Kozsla.
The ELCAMP project focus to strengthen the skills and competencies of elite and Paralympic athletes on sport-focused entrepreneurship with innovative methods and connecting athletes among themselves and with other people interested in entrepreneurship. The project objectives directly address the target group of EAS. EAS will be actively involved in the pilot implementation phase of the project. EAS will also lead to the dissemination of project outputs both at the athlete’s level and at the level of sports organizations in Europe.
EL CAMP partners are Collective Innovation AS (Norway) in cooperation with European Paralympic Committee (Austria), Fundacion Universitaria San Antonio (Spain), Hogskolen I Molde (Norway), Lietuvos Sporto Universitetas (Lithuania), Olimpijski Komite Slovenije Zdruzenje Sportnih Zvez (Slovenia).
On April 6 the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace is celebrated having a white card as a symbol to emphasize the positive values of sport, which unify individuals regardless of gender, ethnic, social or religious differences.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, the SOS project celebrates the Sports Schools for Development and Peace event (@peaceandsport, @SportOpensSchool, #WhiteCard, #April6, #OnlyTogether) with a video involving students from the Hungarian (Kolcsey Ferenc Gimnazium, Budapest), Italian (IIS Newton Pertini, Camposampietro), Portuguese (Externato Cooperativo da Benedita), and Romanian (Liceum cum Program Sportiv, Bacau) Partner high schools.
Through its involvement in the European ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership More Than Gold (603346-EPP-1-2018-1-LV-SPO-SCP), EAS contributed to raising awareness on the dual career of athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, a study aimed to investigate the student-athlete’s capability to face the academic, sport, and social challenges during the 2019 lockdown and to disclose novel aspects of dual careers has been published on the prestigious peer-review journal Frontiers in Psychology. Four hundred sixty-seven student-athletes from 11 countries completed an ad-hoc survey. The findings substantiate the relevant role of a dual career in coping with the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic through home training and e-learning valuable resources. The full text is available here.
- Recent activities
- Create skill enhancement opportunities for people who are working in the field of dual career.
- Build up academic research work in the field of dual career.
- Save the date
On March 3, 2021, the University of Limerick organized the online kick-off meeting of the EU-funded BRAVA-DC project (622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP), which aims to enhance a dual career in the Corporate Social Responsibility of the European labour market.
During the three-year life course of the project, the BRAVA Team will encompass dual career, academic, and managerial experts from the University of Limerick (IRL – coordinators), European Platform for Sports and Innovation (BEL), Roma Tre University (ITA), Faculty of Sport and Physical Education University of Nis (SRB), University of Ljubljana (SLO), Fondazione Human Age Institute (ITA), the EUSA Institute (SLO), and the European Athlete as Student (MAL). In structuring an evidence- and eminence-based knowledge on DC employed athletes for the definition of a European conceptual framework fostering the alignment brand strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies with DC, BRAVA-DC will contribute to the implementation of the European DC guidelines in the workplace.
Through its participation in European ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnerships, EAS contributes to the development of relevant European dual career aspects and to strengthen the link between educational institutions and sports organizations for the benefit of student-athletes. The article “The Contribution of the European Athlete as Student Network (EAS) to European Dual Career ERASMUS+ Sport Collaborative Partnerships: An update” published in the special issue of the journal Cultura Ciencia y Desporte “The Importance of Making the Dual Career Visible in Scientific Journals” (vol. 16, issue 47, p 7-17 https://ccd.ucam.edu/index.php/revista/issue/view/87) informs on the objectives and progression of the AMiD, EMPATIA, DONA, Ed Media, More Than Gold, Starting 11 and SOS project in which EAS cooperates with sport bodies and educational institutions to envisage novel solutions for the development of opportunities in education and sport paths of athletes.
Despite evidence- and eminence- based methods encompassing literature reviews, desk, gap, SWOT and PESTEL analyses, focus groups, surveys, semi-structured interviews, work- shops, and concept mapping on several dual career dimensions, a limited implementation of the EU guidelines emerged. The findings highlight the necessity of maintaining dual career among the European priorities in the field of sport and to envisage a surveillance plan at various dual career environmental levels (e.g., policies, systems, programmes).
Click hereunder to access the article
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Email: info@dualcareer.eu