Impact of an elite sport lifestyle on educational choices and career outcomes

![CDATA[Participation in elite sport during the developmental years often necessitates an athlete to make choices regarding the amount of time dedicated to educational pursuits. Decisions made during the adolescent years regarding education may have important consequences for career development in post-athletic pursuits. The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence educational choices, and the long term impact of those choices. The participants were 39 ex-residential athletes from the Australian Institute of Sport, and 11 parents, who participated in a survey and interview format investigating their institutional and post-institutional experiences. The results indicated that athlete motivation to engage in a high level of academic undertaking may be tempered by fatigue and time constraints associated with training and competition demands, a singular focus on future sporting career opportunities, and difficulties associated with educational advisors. Parent frustrations included feelings of isolation from the decision-making process and monitoring of child progress, and concerns about the long term impact on their child’s career development outside of sport. It was concluded that athletes may require monitoring of their motivational processes in relation to their schooling, in conjunction with grade-related information, to ensure they will not be disadvantaged in future career development.]]