Speaker
Description
The active pursuit of professional qualifications is emphasized as an essential part of the successful transition for post-sport time of elite athletes. In Germany, there is the opportunity for athletes to take place in the so-called “Sportfördergruppe”, which is an elite sport promoting institution by the Ministry of Defense to support athletes in their dual careers. Therefore, the question arises which educational opportunities do sports soldiers make, and which factors determine their decisions? Educational decisions are framed by human capital theory. This core concept is expanded by the influence of time-consuming efforts of athletes as well as the resources accumulated during the sport career.
A retrospective longitudinal study as cohort design was conducted to collect time-related event data of the respective careers (competitive sport, vocational training, occupation) of sport soldiers. The total sample contains n = 712 (former) sport soldiers, divided into 414 ath-letes, who are still active in the army, and 298 who are dropped-out in the last 10 years. A logit regression is carried out, which allows to investigate the effects of several factors.
Findings indicate that (former) sports soldiers make different educational decisions depending on their cohort affiliation, the age of entry into the army (Sportfördergruppe), duration of sports promotion and their educational origin. The estimated full logit model provides a good model fit (Nagelkerke: 0.44).
The findings contribute to the influencing factors regarding dual carrier decisions of sport sol-diers, and thus, offers recommendations to sports promoting institution Ministry of Defense.
