Andrea Fusco (Author), L. Capranica (Author), Federico Palumbo (Author), Giuilio Mosci (Author), Simone Ciaccioni (Author), Mojca Doupona Topič (Author), Cristina Cortis (Author), Flavia Guidotti (Author)

Abstract

The lifelong education of coaches is one of the priorities of the European Union. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate Italian elite coaches’ motivation to engage in a sport-related academic education, and its demands, barriers, support, and relocation issues in relation to their dual career (DC) path. Sixteen Italian elite coaches (e.g., certified fourth-level national team coaches, senior team coaches) enrolled in a specifically tailored Bachelor’s degree in sports sciences at the University of Rome Foro Italico (Italy) volunteered for this study. A qualitative approach integrating inductive and deductive reasoning, and thematic analysis was applied to participants’ responses to an open-ended item survey. Independently from relocation, student-coaches’ DC perceptions resulted in 15 lower-order themes further organized in 5 high-er-order themes (e.g., Benefit, Challenge, Expectation, Organization, and Support), each related to the contexts (e.g., Personal, Academic, Sport), the DC dimension (e.g., micro, meso, macro, and policy), and the DC push (e.g., facilitating) /pull (e.g., hindering) factors. The elite coaches’ insights emphasize the complexity of the coach lifelong education at university level, and provide valuable information for promoting European and National (e.g., Italian) DC recommendations for elite sportspersons through a cooperation between sport bodies and higher educational institutions.

Keywords

šport;športniki;dvojna kariera;študentje;univerze;trenerji;sport;athletes;dual career;university;students;elite coaches;

Data

Language: English
Year of publishing:
Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization: UL FŠ - Faculty of Sport
UDC: 796.071.2:316.477
COBISS: 152464131 Link will open in a new window
ISSN: 1932-6203
Views: 685
Downloads: 58
Average score: 0 (0 votes)
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Other data

Secondary language: Slovenian
Secondary keywords: šport;športniki;dvojna kariera;študentje;univerze;trenerji;
Type (COBISS): Article
Pages: str. 1-19
Volume: ǂVol. ǂ18
Issue: ǂno. ǂ4, ǂart. ǂ283009
Chronology: 2023
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283009
ID: 21151655