Examining the characteristics associated with the career paths of professional women's handball players [védés előtt]

Kivonat, rövid leírás

Career research and its specificity to athletes present a number of challenges in different topics and scientific fields (such as career development, career transitions, career decisions; (sport) psychology, sociology, anthropology, behavioural sciences). I have identified the following research problems: On the one hand, the athlete's career is finite (short); the difficulties of transition can be facilitated by a supportive environment, which is often lacking (when the bubble bursts, loss of value). On the other hand, active athletes are not sufficiently aware of the management and planning of sport careers and post-sport careers. Thirdly, athletes encounter different life decisions and decision-makers during different career transitions, which can affect career development. Fourthly, the development of sport has led to an intensification of economic processes in the sport industry. The impact of this can also be felt in the players market. Sports organisations may make decisions on many occasions, which may be justified from a management point of view, but which lead to the materialisation of human values (tangible values). Thus, players can be negative actors in the life of a club, which can have an impact on the development of their sporting careers. Finally, there is little literature on handball-related career research. Furthermore, the 2021 sport strategy (2022-2028) of the Hungarian Handball Federation (MKSZ) defines targets that justify the need for studies related to key stakeholders, handball players. My article-based dissertation, consisting of three studies, is an exploratory research with a broad research question: What factors within the culture of the sport of handball can be identified in terms of career management that determine players' career paths and what traits characterise their career paths and key decisions at the end of a successful career? I use the summaries of the articles to present the units of my dissertation: The first study utilises autoethnographic research methodology for introducing, from a handball player’s point of view, the culture in which her career unfolded (from the beginnings to the first few years after her retirement), and the most important characteristics that shaped her professional years in the Hungarian first league. This topic was chosen not only as sports economics considerations are important with regard to the career of a handballer, but also to highlight how an individual athlete experiences the processes occurring in such sports culture. Moreover, this study addresses the gap in scientific literature on career management in handball. Utilising autoethnography in the field of sports is somewhat unique, therefore this study can also pave the way for future research work in this domain. The following five pillars in career management were identified as a result of the research: Significant Others, Local Grassroots, Star Position, Roller Coaster and Rebirth. This study can be valuable for future researchers in the area of career management, and it can also provide practical information for athletes, sports federations and sports businesses. The second paper investigates what variables may influence long-term performance in the transitory phases of a team athlete's career according to the perceptions of the athletes themselves. Narrative research was conducted with sixteen world-class, retired women handball players and the qualitative analysis reveals those factors that influenced their performance in the transitory phases "from development to mastery" and "from mastery to discontinuation" on the individual, interpersonal, organisational, and sociocultural levels. The variables are organised into a systems map to provide a full overview as well as the perceived relationships between them. The practical implication of the paper is to draw the attention of those organisations that aim to improve long-term performance to the leverage points that athletes themselves find important. The main objective of the third study is to identify the "key issues" in the employment of athletes in the sport of handball. The methodological framework of the research is based on primary source and a qualitative approach, including thematic analysis. The findings from the five expert interviews allow us to get a comprehensive, realistic picture of the career - related processes in professional women's handball (i.e. selection) from the athlete's and from the sports company's side. Otherwise, they highlight why professional women's handball players can be considered as a special workforce. Among the results are grouped around four main themes: peculiarities of managing players; handball players; sports professional aspects; other influencing factors. In addition, the research defines the local milieu and the value typification model of the athlete types associated with each theme, which are compared with the roles that can be identified along the behavioural dimensions.