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On June 21 the seventh virtual EAS cafè focused on the dual career of paralympic athletes, which attracted more than 50 participants. Prof. Alejandro Leiva-Arcas, Deputy Director of the Faculty of Sport at UCAM moderated the event and presented the aims and progress of the ERASMUS+ project Dual Career of Student-Athletes with Disabilities as a Tool for Social Inclusion (Para-Limits, 622213-EPP-1-2020-1-ES-SPO-SCP) coordinated by the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), Spain, in cooperation with University Foro Italico of Rome (IT), UNEFS (RO), IPV (PT), University of Limerick (IE), COLLINN (NO), EAS Network (MT), the European Paralympic Committee (AT) and the FUNDACION ONCE (ES).

As the first speaker, Lisa Gjessing presented her experience as a taekwondo athlete who underwent the amputation of her left arm. As a legal prosecutor for the Danish police and mother, Lisa described the opportunities provided by the paralympic sport and her challenges in managing her family life, and sport and working careers. She informed that Team Denmark and ESAA offer the same support to Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as sponsorships and working flexibility. Furthermore, in case the para-athlete decides to reduce the working hours, her/his salary is maintained with integration from the sports organization. Despite this favourable environment, the para-athlete has to make choices to establish priorities and to manage changes in their programme, especially to manage the parental role.

A different perspective was provided by the Italian Flatwater Sprint Paracanoe Kayaker and Paralympic medallist in Tokyo, Federico Mancarella. Having experienced a disability from his birth, Federico started being engaged in the sport when he was a student. Considering that canoeing requires expensive equipment and long travelling to reach the training and competitive sites, the parents often represent the only support providers. Furthermore, the working sector lacks a dual career culture, so the athletes have to consider dropping out of sports or their working career, which was actually his situation when he fired himself to prepare for the Tokyo Paralympics. Furthermore, parasports do not attract sponsorships because of limited media attention. Federico also envisaged some solutions, including working flexibility, economic support from the public and private sectors, and structured support.

In summarizing the major themes discussed during the Cafè, Prof. Alejandro Leiva-Arcas underlined that the Para-limits project will indicate guidelines for the advancement of dual career policies for paralympic athletes, as well as the need to educate tutors for this special population. Finally, he presented the website of the 2022 EAS Annual Conference to be held in Cartagena, Spain, next September 28-30: http://eventos.ucam.edu/85445/tickets.html

He highlighted that the early bird deadline is August 28 (http://eventos.ucam.edu/85445/section/38290/eas-conference-2022.html), whereas the deadline for the call for abstracts is August 31 (http://eventos.ucam.edu/85445/section/38291/eas-conference-2022.html). Finally, young researchers could apply to the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship before July 1 https://www.dualcareer.eu/call-for-papers-bengt-nybelius-scholarship-2022/.

The Eight EAS Cafè will be organized in Fall 2022.

Have a nice summer and see you in Cartagena.