| 1. |
- Bonhomme, Justin, et al.
(författare)
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The career trajectories of two world champion boxers : interpretive thematic analysis of media stories
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sport in Society. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 1743-0437 .- 1743-0445. ; 23:4, s. 560-576
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Athlete development can be described through transitions that mark turning phases throughout athletes’ careers. Our authors explored media data to unpack the career developments of two prominent world champion boxers from their early lives to world championship status. Employing thematic analysis, five themes were identified: (1) weathering hardships of early life (subthemes: the rough life of an innercity kid; abject poverty in war-torn Philippines), (2) entry into sport (subthemes: groomed to fight; boxing to escape poverty), (3) amateur experience (subthemes: Olympic medallist en route to the pros; struggling amateur with dreams of greatness), (4) launching a professional career (impressive American prospect; a charismatic unpolished slugger) and (5) capturing a world title (subthemes: the much-anticipated world champion; the unexpected world champion). This exploration augments our understanding of how two worldrenowned boxers’ career developments were represented through sport media and interpreted by the researchers, suggesting parallel pathways for future career boxers and those who work with them. © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
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| 2. |
- Diehl, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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Transitioning to and thriving at the Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs : Phases of an adaptive transition
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sport in Society. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 1743-0437 .- 1743-0445. ; 23:4, s. 678-696
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study was focused on the process of an adaptive transition to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO (further – the OTC) and guided by the research question: What were the dynamic transition experiences of elite resident-athletes that constituted their successful transition to the OTC? A retreatment of Poczwardowski, Diehl, O’Neil, Cote, & Haberl’s (2014) semi-structured interviews with six accomplished resident-athletes was conducted through the lens of the athletic career transition model (Stambulova, 2003) to propose a temporally based Transition to the OTC (further – the TOTC) empirical framework. The TOTC describes the successful transition as having four phases – preparation, assimilation, adaptation, and thriving – involving the dynamic interactions between the resident-athletes and the OTC programs/staff influencing the perceived transition challenges, barriers, resources, coping strategies, and outcomes throughout the four phases. Based on the TOTC, future research on the transitioning to residential training centers is outlined, and practical applications for the OTC staff, coaches, and sport psychologists (e.g., developmentally relevant intake protocols, strengths-based interventions, and orientation materials) are proposed. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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| 3. |
- Ekengren, Johan, 1979-
(författare)
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Careers of Swedish Professional Handball Players : From an Empirical Model to Career-Long Psychological Support Services
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This PhD Project with a specialization in sport psychology is inspired by the cultural praxis of athletes’ careers paradigm. This implies that the Project blends theory, research, and practice within the context of Swedish handball, by investigating career pathways of professional players providing empirically based, and context specific, implications. The overarching aim of the Project is twofold: (a) to examine the career experiences of Swedish professional handball players and consolidate them into the empirical career model of Swedish professional handball players (ECM-H), and (b) based on the ECM-H, to develop, validate, and test an applied framework promoting career-long psychological support services in Swedish handball (CPS-H). The first aim is covered by Study I and II, and the second aim is met in Study III and IV. The dissertation is designed as a collection of four articles with one article per study. Study I focused on a qualitative exploration of career experiences from 18 Swedish professional handball players including major career stages and transitions in their athletic and non-athletic development. The players’ accounts were consolidated into the ECM-H describing the context-specific features and pathways throughout the handball career. When developing the ECM-H, gender-specific issues appeared of interest for further investigation. Gender issues were addressed in Study II by re-analyzing the data from Study I. Two composite vignettes were created describing the career pathways of nine male and nine female players. Study III initiated a move from research to practice. Based on the ECM-H, applied sport psychology literature and experiences of the research team led by the first author, the applied framework CPS-H was heuristically developed and validated in three focus groups with end users; professional players, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners. The validated version of the CPS-H is presented with general and career stage-specific recommendations for its implementation among support providers (i.e., where, when, what, who, why, and how of psychological support service). Study IV was designed as an instrumental case study for testing a part of the CPS-H framework. More specifically, the mastery career stage. A career assistance program (CAP) named Life as a professional handball player was developed for, implemented with, and evaluated by Swedish League team. The program included eight workshops dealing with various aspects of the players’ athletic and non-athletic life (e.g., performance, training, lifestyle, recovery, future planning), together with crisis-related issues (e.g., coping with uncertainty). These workshops were delivered by the first author during 12 weeks of a competitive season. The mixed-methods evaluation revealed a perceived improvement in players’ personal coping resources (e.g., increased awareness) and a decrease in their fatigue and stress. This Project contributes to the athlete career sport psychology discourse and the emerging athlete mental health discourse by presenting the ECM-H and CPS-H frameworks, and the CAP Life as a professional handball player, grounded in the cultural context of Swedish handball. The frameworks and CAP can serve as inspiration for future research and practice, informed by a cultural praxis. The Project shows the usefulness of working as a scientist-practitioner and establishing theory-researchpractice-context links for the promotion of culturally informed implications, and supports the work of facilitating a holistic understanding of athletes’ striving for healthy, successful, and long-lasting careers in sport and life.
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| 4. |
- Ekengren, Johan, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Composite vignettes of Swedish male and female professional handball players’ career paths
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sport in Society. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 1743-0437 .- 1743-0445. ; 23:4, s. 595-612
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to describe gender-specific career paths of Swedish professional handball players. A reanalysis of Ekengren et al. (2018) career interviews with nine male and nine female players led to creating two composite vignettes using the athletes’ own words, accounted for typical features in the male and female players’ career paths. Seven themes were identified in the analysis of the men’s transcripts and eight themes derived from the women’s transcripts. Further, the themes of both vignettes were aligned with career stages described in our previous study (Ekengren et al. 2018). The male players’ vignette is interpreted as a performance narrative congruent with elite handball culture that promotes performance success and profitable professional contracts. The female players’ vignette is more holistic, embracing handball, studies, motherhood, and how they ought to be as Swedish women. Recommendations for future research are provided. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
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| 5. |
- Ekengren, Johan, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring career experiences of Swedish professional handball players : Consolidating firsthand information into an empirical career model
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. - New York : Taylor & Francis. - 1612-197X .- 1557-251X. ; 18:2, s. 156-175
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study was aimed at developing the empirical career model of Swedish professional handball players by means of exploring their career experiences in athletic and non-athletic developments through the lens of the holistic athletic career model. Eighteen Swedish professional handball players (nine men and nine women), who had recently terminated or were finishing their careers took part in semi-structured interviews about their careers from the beginning to the end with an interest in both athletic and non-athletic developments. Thematic analysis initially focused on identifying the handball career structure (i.e. stages and sub-stages). Then, the interviews were analysed inductively to identify shared themes in the players’ experiences relevant to each career stage. These themes were incorporated in the relevant stages, and the empirical career model of Swedish professional handball players (further – the empirical model) was finalised. The empirical model describes careers of Swedish handball players as having four athletic stages – initiation, development (with three sub-stages), mastery (with four sub-stages), and discontinuation – complemented by players’ psychological, psychosocial, academic/vocational, and financial developments. Each stage is also aligned with age markers and contains themes describing players’ career experiences from the holistic perspective. The empirical model contributes to contextualised career research and serves as a basis for developing career-long psychological support services in Swedish handball including player/coach/parent education organised by the Swedish Handball Federation.© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
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| 6. |
- Franck, Alina, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Individual Pathways Through the Junior-to-Senior Transition : Narratives of Two Swedish Team Sport Athletes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. - Philadelphia, PA : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1041-3200 .- 1533-1571. ; 32:2, s. 168-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Athletes frequently describe the junior-to-senior transition (JST) as the most difficult within-career transition, and many athletes have acknowledged that they failed to cope well with it. Athletes' development in the JST is influenced by narratives existing within relevant contexts and settings. This study served as a follow-up to the quantitative longitudinal study to gain a deeper understanding of individual JST paths through a qualitative narrative approach. The aim was to explore 2 team sport athletes' (John, the football player, and Anna, the basketball player) JST pathways, emphasizing psychosocial factors that were perceived as facilitating and debilitating the process. Narrative type interviews were conducted, and the holistic-form structural analysis was used. Through their narratives, John and Anna reconstructed their JST paths, attaching meanings to certain events, recounting the people involved, and making personal reflections. John had a performance and family narrative and Anna had an enjoyment and relationship narrative. They perceived their key facilitating persons to be their family members and teammates. The debilitating factors were some coaches' behaviors. At the time of this study, John and Anna had already terminated their athletic careers and had refocused on getting an education. Although they did not reach elite senior levels in their sports, they found their athletic careers to be meaningful life experiences. Lay Summary: The aim was to explore two team sport athletes' junior-to-senior transition (JST) pathways, emphasizing psychosocial factors involved in the transition process. The findings revealed two narratives. John (football player) storied his JST as a performance and family narrative and Anna (basketball player) as an enjoyment and relationship narrative.
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| 7. |
- Henriksen, Kristoffer, et al.
(författare)
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A holistic ecological approach to sport and study : The case of an athlete friendly university in Denmark
- 2020
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Ingår i: Psychology of Sport And Exercise. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 1469-0292 .- 1878-5476. ; 47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: Dual career development environments (DCDEs) exist to support student-athletes in their endeavours to combine sport with education or work. Such environments are likely to vary in their structure, processes, philosophy, and degree of efficiency. With the overall aim of applying the holistic ecological approach (Henriksen, Stambulova & Roessler, 2010) to the study of DCDEs, the objectives of the present study are: (a) to provide a holistic description of a Danish athlete-friendly university as a DCDE, and (b) to investigate the factors influencing the environment’s effectiveness. Methodology: Based on two working models, the study takes a case study approach and a real-time perspective and uses multiple sources of data (interviews, observations, and documents). Results: Two empirical models summarize the findings and portray the DCDE as: (1) centred on a dual career (DC) support team that serves to support communication and coordination between the sport, study, and private domains; (2) focused on providing individual solutions for each athlete; (3) teaching student-athletes to plan, prioritize, communicate, and take responsibility for the balance in their DC endeavour; and (4) deeply rooted in a shared DC philosophy that puts sport first and recognizes that the student-athletes must be seen as whole persons. Conclusion: Researcher-practitioners in the DC context are encouraged to focus not only on the challenges and coping strategies of the individual student-athletes but to understand and (if necessary) optimize the entire environment around them. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Kiuppis, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Transitions in Sport Life
- 2020
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Ingår i: Sport in Society. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 1743-0437 .- 1743-0445. ; 23:4, s. 557-559
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 9. |
- Linnér, Lukas, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Facilitating sport and university study : The case of a dual career development environment in Sweden
- 2020
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Ingår i: Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology. - Champaign, IL : Human Kinetics. - 2470-4857 .- 2470-4849. ; 4:1, s. 95-107
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This case study of a dual career development environment (DCDE) was informed by the holistic ecological approach (HEA) and aimed at: (a) providing a holistic description of a DCDE at university level in Sweden, and (b) investigating the perceived factors influencing the environment’s effectiveness in facilitating the development of student-athletes. We blended ‘in situ’ observations, interviews, and documents analysis to explore the case, and HEA-informed working models were transformed into empirical models summarizing the case. Findings show a well-coordinated DCDE with the key role of coaches in daily dual career support, and how efforts were integrated through a dual career-support team sharing a philosophy of facilitating healthy performance development and life balance, with a whole-person and empowerment approach. This study adds to the literature by identifying features of a successful DCDE and insights from the case can be useful for practitioners in their quest to optimize their DCDEs and support. © 2020 Human Kinetics
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| 10. |
- Mateu, Pau, et al.
(författare)
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Living Life Through Sport : The Transition of Elite Spanish Student-Athletes to a University Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - Lausanne : Frontiers Research Foundation. - 1664-1078. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interest in studying the different transitions faced by elite athletes throughout their careers has grown significantly in recent years. While transition from secondary school to university is an important research area in Europe, there is a void of studies on how student-athletes experience the transition to specific degrees. One of the most sought-after university degrees among elite athletes in Spain is a degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (PASS). The first aim of this study was to investigate the main demands, barriers, and resources perceived by elite student-athletes in various phases of dual career transition to a university degree in PASS. The second aim was to identify the transition pathways pursued depending on the subjective importance they attached to sport and education. Eleven elite student-athletes (Mage = 20.7, SD = 1.6 years) who were in their second and third year of the degree in PASS participated in semi-structured interviews. Deductive-inductive thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed three main themes: (a) general university transition issues, (b) PASS-specific transition issues, and (c) transition pathways. Our results show that the close link between sport and the content of the degree was perceived by the elite student-athletes as their main resource. This link, however, was also perceived as a major barrier as the compulsory practical subjects entailed a risk of injury or overtraining that could affect both athletic and academic development. We noticed how the importance they attached to sport or studies varied at different moments of the transition period, a phenomenon we termed “fluid transition pathways.†Dual career promotion for elite athletes is an important part of European sports policy, and our findings provide new knowledge that could help Spanish PASS faculties develop specific assistance programs to support transitioning student-athletes. © 2020 © 2020 Mateu, Inglés, Torregrossa, Marques, Stambulova and Vilanova.
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