Be Like an Athlete

Background BLA project was built on existing research and EU directives. Dual careers programs are strategies built to protect and safeguard the position of athletes, combining the intensive training, and competitions, with the school attainment. Indeed, well-balanced dual careers strategies can capitalize on the contribution of athletes to society, building on the competencies athletes develop in and through sport, and can be seen as good preparation for becoming role models in various social contexts. Objectives BLA project combines the objectives of drawing a social-psychological profile of student-athletes involved in dual careers programs and contributing to the positive development of youth. The aim is to improve sport and school results of those involved in dual careers programs, while enhancing the balance of these two contexts. Simultaneously, through a better understanding of their sociopsychological profile, BLA also aims to reduce youth withdraw from sport participation. Implementation BLA implementation took place in phases, beginning with the validation of a questionnaire based on existing literature and scales, from which emerged the BLA sociopsychological profile of student-athletes involved in dual career programs. The emerged profile was the starting point to develop the pedagogical and interactive tools (mobile app and eBook), whose objective was to contribute to the positive development of young people and to help student-athletes to better reconcile school and sport. Achievements BLA profile incorporates resilience, passion for school and sport, career planning, social competencies, management, and well-being as the main areas to develop amongst young people. Results showed large discrepancies in the number of boys and girls participating in the study, with more boys than girls and that girls score lower in well-being. The positive correlations showed that variables tend to increase together, therefore we need to raise awareness for the sociopsychological profile.