The transition from junior to senior sports: A summary of six Swedish studies

The paper presents a summary of six studies on the transition from junior to senior sports conducted by Swedish master’s students under the author’s supervision. All the studies were qualitative and used the developmental model (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004) and the athletic career transition model (Stambulova, 2003) as theoretical frameworks. Ekengren (2003) studied male handball players in the transition. Josefsson (2004) conducted an intervention case study of a female track-and-field athlete in the transition. Hornbrinck and Bage (2005) interviewed female football players who made successful transition to the senior national team. Mavroidis (2005) focused on the role of coaches in the transition of male football players. Vujic (2006) contrasted one successful and one crisis transitions in swimming. Stolze (in progress) follows the transition of four female football players longitudinally. To summarise, the studies demonstrate that the transition from junior to senior sports relates not only to a sport context. Besides new challenges in practice and competitions, the athletes experience new demands in psychological development (identity formation, striving for independence), in psychosocial (importance of socializing, having friends/love), and in academic/vocational development (higher education/professional choice demands). As a result, the athletes are under high life stress and need to find time/energy for everything. The successful transition lasts one-three years depending on the resources/barriers balance and coping strategies. Career planning, balancing lifestyle, stress/time/energy management, effective recovery are important issues helping athletes to develop internal resources to cope. Continuity in coaching and significant others’ psychological support are the most valued external resources for the transitional athletes.