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On March 24 the sixth virtual EAS cafè focused on the good practices and opportunities for dual career service providers. Antonino Bianco, Professor of Sports Sciences and Deputy Dean for International Relations at the University of Palermo moderated the event offering good practices at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), Spain, and future educational opportunities for dual career service providers through the ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership STARTING11 platform.

The outstanding dual career approach at UCAM was illustrated by Prof. Antonio Sanchez-Pato and Prof. Alejandro Leiva-Arcas, Dean and Deputy Director of the Faculty of Sport at UCAM, respectively. Since 2011, UCAM established a solid dual career service for 425 Spanish athletes as students (males 55%, females 45%) competing in 35 different sports disciplines and cooperated in more than ten ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnerships in dual career.  In particular, during the last two Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, UCAM Student-athletes won 24 (Rio 2016: 15 Olympic, 9 Paralympic) and 27 (Tokyo 2020: 20 Olympic, 7 Paralympic) medals. The dual career programme at UCAM is based on four pillars: Recruitment, Administrative assistance, Academic support, and Research development. Recruitment provides 90% full scholarships and 10% discount fees (range 20-50%), including a possibility to extend the scholarship to family members in case of relocation.  Whilst the administrative assistance is managed by an academic manager helping with administrative issues and financial support, the academic support involves both professors and students with mentoring and study buddy roles, respectively. Through Research, UCAM approaches dual career as an ongoing laboratory and establishes cooperation with several academic institutions and sport bodies. In fact, in 2015 UCAM published the handbook “An Innovative European Sports Tutorship Model of the Dual Career of Student-Athletes” (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/eplus-project-details#project/603346-EPP-1-2018-1-LV-SPO-SCP), in 2021 a special issue on Dual Career of the peer-review journal of UCAM “Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte” encompassing 11 international scientific contributions (https://ccd.ucam.edu/index.php/revista/issue/view/87), and in 2022 the Guidelines to Promote the Dual Career of Athletes-Students (Methodology for Universities and Manual for Authorities) within the More Than Gold ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/eplus-project-details#project/603346-EPP-1-2018-1-LV-SPO-SCP). Finally, UCAM will host in Cartagena, Spain, the 2022 EAS Annual Conference and General Assembly next September 28-30.

Dennis van Vlaanderen and Wolfgang Stockinger Manager of Elite Sport & Education at the Amsterdam University of Applied Science and CEO of TW1N illustrated the educational platform for dual career service providers developed within the ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership STARTING11 to facilitate the implementation and professionalize dual career practice at sport, education and the labour market levels. In having in mind the needs of the dual career practitioner and supporter, the ready-made and fully customizable digital tools pertains three main service areas: Manage, Train, and Counsel. In particular, the manage area helps building the political, theoretical and infrastructural know-how to implement and administrate dual career services as well as to efficiently communicate towards the most relevant dual career stakeholders. The train aims to prepare, sensitize and empower athletes by providing them with knowledge, inspiration and skills to successfully pursue their dual careers. The Counsel area intends to professionalize interpersonal counselling services to foster the coping, decision-making and planning capability of athletes during career transitions. At the end of their presentation, Dennis van Vlaanderen and Wolfgang Stockinger invited the participants to attend the STARTING 11 Final Conference at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium next May 12, 2022. The Event will allow to explore the European Dual Career Toolkit first-hand, to attend presentations and workshops of international dual career experts and high-performance athletes, and to network with  like-minded professionals from across Europe. The link for further information and registration ihttps://starting11.eu/conference/.

After the general discussion, Prof. Bianco complimented with the speakers and especially appreciated the outputs of their Collaborative Partnerships, which provide useful material freely accessible online for the benefit of dual career service providers.