A case study of a Sports School Scholarship Programme: Student-Athlete Dual Career Competency Development and Perceptions of the Talent Development Environment

Purpose: Sports scholarship programmes are a common feature internationally for schools to attract and retain sporting student-athletes. Thus, it is important to understand how a sports scholarship programme supports holistic athlete development. The current study presents student-athlete perspectives of the talent development environment (TDE) and the development of dual career (DC) competencies in a sports school scholarship programme and examines the relationships between TDE and DC competencies.

Methods: A case-study design was adopted to analyse student-athlete perspectives of a sports scholarship programme using the talent development environment questionnaire (TDEQ-5) and dual career competency questionnaire (DCCQ-A).

Results: The TDE was perceived positively (1 = strongly disagree and 6 = strongly agree), with long-term development (5.0 ± 0.3) and alignment of expectations (4.6 ± 0.5) the highest subscales. Support network (4.3 ± 0.4) was the lowest perceived subscale. All DC competencies were considered important by student-athletes. However, student-athletes had a significantly lower perceived possession than importance in 88% of DC competencies. Emotional awareness was the subscale that required the most development. Significant relationships were found between the TDE and DC competencies, including long-term development vs. DC management (r = 0.41) and emotional awareness (r = 0.32), alignment of expectations vs. DC management (r = 0.39), communication vs. emotional awareness (r = 0.36), holistic quality preparation vs. DC management (r = 0.48) and support network vs. DC management (r = 0.38).

Conclusion: Student-athletes perceived the TDE positively yet felt the sports scholarship programme could develop their DC competencies further. Perceptions of the TDE relate to DC competencies, especially DC management. Organisations offering sports scholarships should ensure stakeholders recognise the demands of a DC by monitoring the value of such programmes.