PROJECTS / DOCUMENTS

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

On February 19, 2021, Dual Career and the ‘More than Gold’ project was presented at the scientific conference ‘Sport for the sustainability of society’ organized online by the University of Latvia (UL), during which more than 70 participants from Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, and Russia discussed research topics for social development in and through sports.

In aiming to contribute to the development of a Dual Career culture in Europe, the six partners of the European Collaborative Partnership ‘More than Gold’ (University of Latvia, Latvia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, Romania; Universidad Catolica de Murcia, Spain; the University of Coimbra, Portugal; the  University of Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”, Italy; and EAS, Malta) are finalizing the development of Dual Career guidelines for higher education institutions (HEI) based on student-athletes’ needs, best practices, and opinion of HEI experts on a feasible implementation of financial, logistic, academic and social support of university athletes.

Second Virtual EAS Café on Dual Career Migrating Athletes

Originating from the findings of the EU Collaborative Partnership “Athletic migration: Dual Career and qualification in sports (AMiD)” project (590400-EPP-1-2017-1-AT-SPO-SCP), the second EAS Virtual Cafè event focused on dual career migrating athletes, attracting 48 European dual career experts.

Cristina Cortis,  Associate Professor and Rector’s Delegate for Sport at the University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale (Italy), illustrated the AMiD project on dual career migrating (https://www.termedia.pl/Student-athlete-migration-A-systematic-literature-review,129,42089,1,1.html), its published literature review (https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/amid/description/) and expected publication of further information. She envisaged strong cooperation between sport bodies and educational stakeholders to develop a European dual career environment, which could facilitate the migration of student-athletes between the Member States.

Josefa Idem, the top-level kayak athlete with an outstanding achievement of 38 medals in Olympic Games (2 as a German and 6 as an Italian athlete), World and European Championships, described the challenges and opportunities of being a migrating top athlete who combined her long competitive career with political appointments and maternal role of two children. She considered the challenges as real opportunities, suggesting that youth athletes could profit from biographies of former athletes. As a psychologist and consultant of the Italian Soccer Federation, she also presented a cultural vision encompassing a lifelong education of all the actors in sports to support the holistic development of youth athletes as citizens.

Preben Astrup, the General Manager of the Danish Migration project “Get2sport”, illustrated the background, aims, activities, and benefits of a relevant and effective project for the integration of refugees in the sport clubs and schools all over Denmark. In presenting the fruitful cooperation with local refugee centres, municipalities, voluntary coaches, teachers and leaders, he highlighted the crucial role of parents in making “Get2sport” successful for the benefit of the youth athletes and the society at large. Indeed, the Get2sport project represents good practice for the integration of different culture and the advancement of local communities.

In summarizing the outcomes of the café, Laura Capranica noted that the speakers moved from the holistic development of the athlete as a student to the holistic development of the society by means of education in and through sport. Thus, the participants were invited to attend the third EAS Virtual Cafè and the Annual Conference to be held in Lisbon, European Capital of Sport 2021.

Programme

12:00 Welcome

Cristina Cortis   Associate Professor and Rector’s Delegate for Sport at the University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale (Italy), partner of the EU-funded “Athletic migration: Dual Career and qualification in sports (AMiD)” project (590400-EPP-1-2017-1-AT-SPO-SCP).

12:15 The Challenges and opportunities of Dual Career for Migrating Athletes

Josefa Idem      Migrating (from Germany to Italy) kayak athlete and champion in Olympic Games, World and European Championships (38 medals). Master’s degree in Occupational and Organisational Psychology, Former Italian politician, at present, is a consultant of the Italian Soccer Federation.

 12:30 “Get2sport”

Preben Astrup  General Manager of the Danish Migration project “Get2sport”. In cooperation with the local refugee centres, municipalities voluntary coaches, teachers and leaders, “Get2sport” fosters effective integration of refugees in the local sport clubs and schools.

13:00 General discussions

13:25 Concluding Remarks and announcement of next EAS online café

Successful Validation of the English and Italian EMPATIA Educational Platform/Website for Parents/Guardians of Elite Athletes as Students

Based on the evidence- (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7581327/) and eminence- (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0243354) knowledge gathered from Parents/Guardians of Elite Athletes as Students and European Dual Career experts, the EMPATIA platform/website presents in one place crucial information, hints & tips and important documents to empower Parents/Guardians of Dual Career athlete. The content is organized into 4 parts named: WHY, WHAT, HOW & WHERE and is available in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Slovenian.

At present, 33 Irish and 30 Italian Parents participated in online evaluation workshops and provided their positive feedbacks useful for its implementation. A Parent commented “If this website were available when I was an athlete, I probably wouldn’t have had to choose between continuing my studies and continuing my sport career!! I’m happy for my son!”

In the next weeks, the French, Portuguese, and Slovenian workshops will be organized to finalize the validation and implementation of the website.

Sharing Best practices: UNISPORT ITALIA provides a valuable guide to orient athletes who intend to undertake an academic training in Italy in universities that take into account the European guidelines on the dual career of the athlete.
UNISPORT ITALIA, the network of the Italian national university sports system created in 2018 to enhance the role of sport within the three key missions of the university (training, research and innovation), actively cooperates with EAS in the implementation of the dual career in Italy. UNISPORT ITALIA developed the first shared database on dual career in Italy (https://www.unisport-italia.it/dual-career/) as an important result of the Memorandum of Understanding on dual career with the National Olympic Committee (CONI) and its Athletes Commission.
The UNISPORT ITALIA dual career database not only provides information for athletes willing to pursue a university career in parallel with their sports commitment but offers also national and international visibility to 28 Italian Universities with a dual career programme, stimulating other Universities to start or implement a dual career program.
Data collection was made possible thanks to the contribution of the Sports Delegates of the Italian universities who filled out an electronic questionnaire and the support of the Conference of Italian University Rectors. Thus, the UNISPORT ITALIA website allows to filter the available programme on the basis of the main benefits provided for by the regulations of the individual universities, thus allowing athletes to easily identify the programme most suited to their needs. The mapping will be constantly updated by UNISPORT ITALIA.
Full satisfaction on the part of the President of Unisport Italia, Prof. Paolo Bouquet: “This result demonstrates that the Italian university world is paying more and more attention to the relationship with the world of sports, feeding a virtuous and bidirectional synergy: on the one hand, more and more Italian universities support student-athletes in their difficult path, on the other hand, the world of sport and athletes can help the national university system to carry out its training activities ever better and in innovative forms, research and technology transfer. I wish that this project can give rise to a working table with the Sports Office of the Government, CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee), CUSI (Italian Sport University Centre) and all other stakeholders to define national guidelines to dual career as suggested by the EU, we would be one of the first countries to equip ourselves with a fundamental tool”.

On December 21, 2020 a virtual meeting of the EMPATIA Team was organized. The coordinator, Prof. Mojca Doupona informed that the project has been extended to the end of November 2021, which will allow to organize onsite workshops with parents of dual career athletes and the final conference of the project.

At present, the EMPATIA Educational Programme for parents has been developed on the evidence- and eminence-based knowledge, which has been published on relevant international peer-review journals. In particular, a systematic literature review on Parents about parenting dual career athletes is available at the Psychology of Sport and Exercise and the parents’ view for understanding the educational needs of parenting athletes involved in sport and education will be published on PlosOne. Furthermore, the manuscript on the European framework of parenting dual career athletes is currently under revision.

On November 30, 2020, EAS welcomed 101 participants of the first virtual EAS café on parenting dual career athletes, well moderated by Paolo Bouquet, President of the Unisport-Italia network.

Originating from the findings of the FISU-EAS survey during the 2017 Summer Universiade and of the EU-funded ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership Education Model for Parents of Athletes In Academics (EMPATIA, 2018-2020), and the experience of Unisport-Italia during the COVID-19 lockdown, the event addressed the relevant role of parents in support of their talented child.

Kole Gjeloshaj, Deputy Secretary General of the International School Sport Federation (ISF) and Chair of the Consultative Committee of EPAS-Council of Europe recognized the relevant role of parents in supporting the holistic development of youth athletes and during the ISF events. After having illustrated the main documents of the International Olympic Committee, the Council of Europe, and UNESCO that consider parents/family important actors of the athlete’s supportive entourage, he highlighted the need of a structured recognition and integration of parents in the actions and policies of sports organizations, as well as future studies on the parents’ perception, involvement and experience before and after a multi-sport event.

Mojca Doupona, General Director for Sport of the Ministry for education, science and sport in Slovenia, offered her personal experience as a former elite handball player, university professor, and mother of former student-athlete. After providing a thorough representation of the challenge parents face in supporting their talented child, she presented a video contribution of her daughter Tajda. The latter has been an elite swimmer and currently is a student of medicine. In presenting her personal experience, Tajda effectively summarized many relevant aspects of the parental support to the dual career of their child often acting as the link between the teachers and the coaches, envisaging a specific educational programme for helping parents in their difficult role.

Kairis Ulp, policy officer at the Sports Office of the European Commission, ensured that the European Union in its Work Plan for Sport 2021-2024 will continue considering education through and in sports relevant, as well as the contribution of the stakeholders in the development of the European sports culture. She also contributed to debate the issues that participants presented to the speakers.

Paolo Bouquet summarized the outcomes of the café and envisaged the organization of future “EAS café” to discuss specific aspects of dual career.

On the 3rd of November the 9th virtual meeting of the DONA project partners was held with the presence of Joan Carles Marin and Mariona Casanovas (Associació Esportiva Carles Vallbona), Sasa Cecic Erpic (University Ljubljana), Leonard Zammit Munro (Swieqi Phoenix Volleyball Club Malta), Sylvia Karres (De SportMaatschappij Foundation), Joerg Foerster (European Athletes as Student Network) and as observers of the project management, Jordi Escribà and Alla Krinitsyna (B.LINK).
Main objectives of the meeting had been, to reflect on the situation with COVID-19 and the possibility to finish the Pilot project implementation, to discuss the Evaluation procedures of the Pilot Programme (WP4, to discuss the mesures to reinforce the communication of the project progress and results (WP5).
Due to the COVID-19 situation and the challenges to finish the Pilot project implementation within 2020, the partners pointed out, that only online workshops are actually possible, which does not fit really to the needs of the project, but need to be taken into account.
The clubs within the project are in continuous contact with their players and try to support their individual challenges in fulfilling the needs of the “dual career”. So partners agreed on slightly changes of the working program for the next weeks.
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