The pursuit of optimal dual career balance by athletes in women’s professional ice hockey

Abstract

A recent period of growth in women’s professional and semiprofessional sport leagues has provided many athletes with newfound career opportunities. Concomitantly, an increasing number of female athletes are maintaining occupations in and out of sport. Little, however, is known about such maintenance: an ever-growing body of literature on dual careers (i.e., the combination of sport and studies or work) is replete with works on sport and education, but lacking in studies on athletes who are employed in multiple occupations. Consequently, and given related calls for further inquiry, the researchers conducted a study on the pursuit of optimal dual career balance by athletes who have typically held more than one occupation, those in women’s professional ice hockey. Interviews with nine such athletes (n = 9), as well as two team managers (n = 2), from the Premier Hockey Federation, revealed that the pursuit of optimal dual career balance involved multiple demands (e.g., work-work conflict, work to family interference); elicited the employment of organizational (e.g., schedule accommodations, athletic reprieves, flexible work arrangements), social (e.g., moral and financial support), and personal resources (e.g., planning/scheduling, open communication, temporary task prioritization, compartmentalization, positive reinterpretation); and engendered both costs (e.g., limited training and athletic development, dropout/retirement) and benefits (e.g., vocational advancement, broadened identities, preparedness for athletic career cessation) alike. Ultimately, the responses of the interviewees pointed to the potential for managers and psychologists to further support working athletes in the pursuit of optimal dual career balance.

Lay summary: Athletes in women’s professional ice hockey typically must maintain more than one career/occupation. In doing so, they are likely to experience multiple challenges (e.g., work conflicts). These challenges may result in dropout, or, through various supports, be minimized. When minimized, or overcome, athletes may succeed in sport, work, and beyond.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

• Employers, athletic and non-athletic alike, may enable optimal dual career balance through the provision of moral support, and flexible work schedules.

• Athletes may ease the demands associated with optimal dual career balance by employing a host of personal competencies, or coping strategies, including temporary task prioritization and compartmentalization, open communication, planning, and positive reinterpretation.

• Dual career athletes and their employers ought to be observant of and responsive to symptoms of burnout (e.g., chronic negative self-evaluation, and fatigue).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly. Consequently, and due to the sensitive nature of the research, supporting data is not available.