The European Athlete as Student network (“EAS”): Prioritising dual career of European student-athletes

Elite athletes undergo tremendous volumes of training, which often collide with educational commitments. A dual career (i.e., the successful combination of elite sport and education) is a multifactorial complex, influenced by individual (i.e. talent and psychological characteristics), interpersonal (i.e., social support and cultural custom), environmental (i.e. access and availability to tools/services), and policy (i.e., national and international normative) aspects. Across Europe, discrepancies in dual career policies determine different career paths in student-athletes. To protect their right to combine sport and education, European policy-makers have encouraged EU Member States to support student-athletes at local level by providing EU Guidelines on Dual Careers of Athletes and key action strategies. Within such framework, the European Athlete as Student Network (“EAS”) has, since 2004, actively supported EU efforts in promoting dual career by providing a platform for a better dialogue between educational bodies (i.e., universities, high schools, sports schools) and sport organisations (i.e. clubs and federations). Through encouraging networking between institutions, EAS aims to unify partners involved in high performance sport and education, promote the exchange of dual career best practices, strengthen the link between educational institutions and sports organisations and support and initiate projects and research on dual career.