Dual Career For Junior Athletes

Background Dual Career (DC) of athletes is a broadly discussed topic in the agenda of EU sport programs. Research has clearly highlighted negative impact that comes from high demands and challenges for DC athletes. While the topic has seen large attention among adult population, limited number of initiatives have been undertaken regarding junior athletes. DCJA (Dual Career for Junior Athletes) project has been designed to fill the gap with a purpose to act as a prevention at an early stage of development. Objectives Principal objective for DCJA project was to raise the awareness among junior athletes and social support providers in the following areas: Long term planning of sports career, education and employment; education opportunities, together with emphasis on balancing the sporting career and education; dual career importance and possibilities; transferable skills and good practices of dual career. Second objective was to offer a set of skills to better manage dual career. Implementation 1.Evidence-based, baseline picture of what difficulties are junior athletes facing in terms of combining education and sport career and how to overcome them.2.Mapping of dual career for junior athletes practices in the partner countries and creating a good practices database, to enable transfer to other Member States, at local, regional and national level.3.Education of junior athletes and the social support providers in the opportunities for dual career by providing online and offline tools. Achievements Consistent with project aims and goals, there were 5 Intelectual Outputs produced:IO1 – Dual Career of Junior Athletes Baseline Report IO2 – Dual Career of Junior Athletes Good Practices ReportIO3 – Massive Open Online Course on Dual Career for Junior Athletes IO4 – Massive Open Online Course on Dual Career for social support providers IO5 – Handbook for Junior Athletes on Dual Career