Money in – brains out? Institutional logics affecting athletes’ preparation for alternative careers

Abstract

Competitive sport encourages athletes to put all their effort into excelling in their sport despite the fact that sport careers are short and can be abruptly terminated. This study addresses the issue of dual career preparation among team sport athletes in a sample comprising Norwegian full-professional male soccer players and semi-professional soccer and handball players. Professional athletes hardly spend more time on their sport than do semi-professional top players, but while the latter group of athletes combine sports careers and higher education (or work), professional players tend to spend their leisure time more with family and friends. A competing institutional logics approach is utilised to analyse the data and reflect on social influences on athletes’ choice of career preparation.