Students and staff

Htqe.2023.41

https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2023.41 | 525-533 | PDF

Mentoring to Support Athletes’ Dual Career

Ilvis Abelkalns1, Agita Abele2, Anna Liduma1
1 University of Latvia, Latvia
2 Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Latvia

Abstract. Aims: The “Establishment of a Dual Career Mentor Centre in Latvia” project, which was carried out within International University Sports Federation (FISU) framework, aimed to research the opportunity for creating a dual career mentoring centre for higher education institutions (HEIs), taking into account feedback received from student-athletes. It also aimed to compare support priorities with similar studies carried out previously.
Methods: Theoretical method – study of theoretical sources. Empirical method – analysis of a dual career survey. The research comprised student-athletes from seven higher education institutions in Latvia. Results were analysed with the SPSS data processing software program.
Results: Data analysis allowed the authors to conclude that student-athletes need support for the provision of sports infrastructure (n-51 before, 63%). Additionally, prior to starting studies, student-athletes need more information about study opportunities in higher education institutions in Latvia (n-61, 75%). It is confirmed by the fact that even though the information on education has mainly been sought on the internet (n-69, 88%), the respondents still could not find relevant information on dual career opportunities in any of the universities.
The results suggest that HEIs promote the development of dual career education centres, which would support dual career by providing information on study programmes, universities, and opportunities to do sports at high level adapted to high-performance athletes. Therefore, the project “Establishment of a Dual Career Mentor Centre in Latvia” could be of significance for the development of dual careers in Latvia.

Keywords: dual career, higher education institutions, high-performance athlete, mentor, support.

In: Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2023. Proceedings of Scientific Papers = Cilvēks, tehnoloģijas un izglītības kvalitāte, 2023. Rakstu krājums
Riga, University of Latvia, 2023. 796 p. Ed. L. Daniela
https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2023
ISBN 978-9934-36-116-6