STARTING 11 "The European Dual Career Toolkit"

Background In the EU, the number of athletes in need of dual career support adds up to more than 120.000 in every Olympic cycle. In this regard, both the existence and quality of such support are of vital importance. However, in 2017, 35% of EU Member States self-rated their development and status of dual career arrangements as negative. This is where STARTING 11 comes into play. Its European Dual Career Toolkit helps practitioners in athlete environments implement and professionalize dual career support Objectives Rooting in the EU Work Plan for Sport 2017-2020, and positioned between the EU Guidelines on Dual Careers of Athletes and stakeholders wanting to put these into practice, the project aimed to professionalize the athlete environment, primarily targeting systems in early stages of their programme development. As a digital ecosystem of dual career practice, the toolkit intends to facilitate service implementation, while leading to upskilling of practitioners and increased employability of athletes Implementation The project consisted of 3 phases. The Research Phase marked the analysis of the specific EU dual career service demand of EU stakeholders. The Production Phase was dedicated to the creation of tools in 3 main areas of dual career services (Manage, Train, and Counsel) as well as the design of the digital environment prototype. The Test Phase focused on the implementation of the tools, both project-internal and external with selected institutions across Europe, concluded by the toolkit launch Achievements The project first identified main barriers to the implementation of dual career services in the EU by collecting novel data of service providers and athletes. This data directed the evidence-based creation of 17 tools and the digital environment prototype. Both were tested and applied by 18 European institutions of different dual career sectors and organisational backgrounds. The final European Dual Career Toolkit was presented at the concluding multiplier event, the STARTING 11 Conference