MOTIVATION FOR A DUAL-CAREER: ITALIAN AND SLOVENIAN STUDENT-ATHLETES

Italy and Slovenia have no structured measures in place to provide educational services for elite athletes in higher education. Thus, this study aimed to understand motivations for a dual career of Italian and Slovenian student-athletes in relation to gender, age ( less than or equal to 24, 24 yrs), and type of sport (i.e., individual sports, team sports). Ninety-eight Italian (females: n=23, age: 22.1 plus or minus 1.5 yrs; males: n=75, age: 24.3 plus or minus 2.9 yrs) and 216 Slovenian (females: n=103, age: 21.5 plus or minus 3.0 yrs; males: n=113, age: 21.3 plus or minus 2.3 yrs) college student-athletes were administered the 39 items of the SAMSAQ-IS (i.e., 30 items of the original SAMSAQ plus nine items of the Italian version SAMSAQ-IT) questionnaire. The findings indicate that SAMSAQ-IS could be a valuable tool for promoting an important contribution to the development of policy actions in the area of sport and education at national and European levels.