This postgraduate study helps to explore the problems in Lithuania of sportsmen’ career, the reasons of their termination, social adaptation and integration in the fluctuation of life, the difficulties which sportsmen have had after the termination of career and which have had the influence on the quality of the succeeding years. Purpose of this work – to estimate the reasons of termination of sportsmen’ career and the sense of sporting identification for the former sportsmen peculiarities of adaptation to the fluctuations of life. In this research was taken the questionnaire, in which participants were 52 Lithuanian sportsmen after 25 years age, which have major skills. The results have shown that the career of sportsmen is often determined for the health, psychological distress, an age, a change of pursuit, and other not so important reasons. The sportsmen, had terminated the active practice of sport, must to adapt and integrate to the fluctuation of life, therefore they generally pass trough the mill. The set identification of sport helps to get out of difficulties, makes an influence on the formation of acceptable values and the selection of professional career, which is determined the quality of life. Keywords: career of sport, career of sportsman, identification of sport, social adaptation.

The aim of this thesis is to extend sport career transition knowledge by developing and evaluating a psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners. Study 1 provides an extensive overview of organisational intervention programmes for sport career transition, as well as of training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners from 19 countries worldwide. The purpose of Study 1 was to examine the following five features of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes and training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners: 1) At the government level, which organisation is responsible for the delivery of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? 2) What is the typical strategy of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? 3) Which activities and events are included in sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? 4) Who is responsible for the delivery of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? and 5) Do sporting organisations have training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners? Findings from Study 1 were used to inform Study 2 and to supplement the literature review. According to the literature, training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners remain scarce, while the number of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes is gradually increasing. The purpose of Study 2 was to develop and evaluate a novel psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners. There were three stages of development and evaluation: (1) content development, (2) curriculum design and (3) curriculum evaluation. To achieve the goal of Study 2, a focus group and a two-round Delphi method were implemented. The final version of the psycho-educational curriculum is presented in Chapter 5. The purpose of Study 3 was to test a key aspect of the psycho-educational curriculum developed in Study 2 concerning 38 competences of sport career transition practitioners. A curriculum package consisting in the key parts from the overall curriculum was developed for Study 3. The findings revealed that the curriculum package positively affected the confidence of the study participants in 38 competences concerning sport career transition. This demonstrates that the curriculum is effective for the development of sport career transition practitioners, as the study participants exhibited greater confidence on all four factorsDual Career Transition Management, Skill Transfer, Social Support, and Career Planningwhen completing the curriculum package. The discussion in Chapter 7 focuses on both the theoretical and practical implications of the research, limitations and future research directions. In conclusion, the findings presented here deepen the knowledge of sport career transition in the areas of organisational intervention programmes for high performance athletes and training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners. In addition, a novel psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners is developed and evaluated.

Dual career (DC) means that an athlete combines sport and study/work. A balanced DC strongly depends on an athlete's ability to cope with stressors and is of paramount importance to succeed with both studies and sport (Stambulova et al., 2015; Wylleman & Reints, 2010). The study aimed to explore dual career (DC) motivation, stressors, and coping in Swedish football players. The participants were nine male student-football players from seven football clubs in Sweden aged between 22 to 27 (M = 24.84, SD = 1.50) in Division 1, Superettan, and Allsvenskan (three highest levels of football in Sweden). A semi-structured interview guide was designed to explore the study’s aim.      Based on the result, a thematic map was developed from the central concept, categories, themes, and sub-themes created from analyzing the corresponding data. The thematic map connects all parts of the results and summarizes the study. The results revealed that internal DC motivation dominated, but education was partly affected by external motivation. Lack of support, dealing with time pressure and the challenge with performance and pressure in DC were the most significant stressors. Student-athletes demonstrated different ways of coping with stressors. Three coping strategies were identified. The participants highlighted physical and mental recovery in DC and the importance of social support. Findings showed that Covid-19 (C-19) positively impacted education, where remote learning was beneficial. The discussion, therefore, highlights the recommendations for flexible academic programs for all student-athletes at university to facilitate DC. The study concluded that internal motivation, combined with social support and previous experiences, is the predominant factor in succeeding with DC. / Dubbel karriär (DC) betyder att en idrottare kombinerar sport och studier/arbete. En balanserad DC beror starkt på idrottarens förmåga att hantera stressfaktorer och är en avgörande faktor för att lyckas med både studier och sport (Stambulova et al., 2015; Wylleman & Reints, 2010). Syftet med studien var att utforska svenska studerande fotbollsspelares erfarenheter med fokus på motivation, stressorer och stresshantering. Deltagarna bestod av nio manliga studerande fotbollsspelare, från sju olika fotbollsklubbar i Sverige vars ålder varierade mellan 22 till 27 (M = 24,84, SD = 1,50) i Division 1, Superettan och Allsvenskan (tre högsta fotbollsligorna i Sverige). En semistrukturerad intervjuguide designades för att studera syftet. Baserat på resultatet utvecklades en tematisk karta utifrån de kategorier, teman och sub-teman som uppkom av den analyserade datan. Den tematiska kartan är studies produkt som sammanfattar resultatet och hur de sammankopplade. Resultatet påvisar att dubbla karriärer drivs mer från inre motivation, men utbildning påverkas delvis av yttre motivation. Brist på stöd, hantering av tidspress och utmaningarna med prestation och krav inom DC var de största stressorer. Student-idrottare demonstrerade olika sätt att hantera stressfaktorer och tre hanteringsstrategier identifierades. Deltagarna lyfte fram fysisk och mental återhämtning i DC och vikten av socialt stöd. Resultaten visade att Covid-19 (C-19) påverkade utbildningen positivt, där distansundervisning var fördelaktig. Diskussionen vill därför lyfta fram rekommendationerna för flexibla akademiska program för alla studentidrottare vid universitetet för att underlätta DC. Studien drog slutsatsen att intern motivation, kombinerat med socialt stöd och tidigare erfarenheter, är de dominerande faktorerna för att lyckas med DC.