ABSTRACT

In the literature on Dual Careers (DC) there has been an ongoing debate on whether there is a trade-off between being an elite athlete and achieving academically. Is the time needed to compete at the highest level a barrier to academic achievement? Or can knowledge and expertise obtained from an elite sporting career be transferred into academic performance? In this paper, we aim to answer these questions using a unique database on talented young athletes enrolled in the Danish high-performance program covering the period from 2010 to 2019. Comparing high school graduation grades from a full national sample of non-athlete high school students and elite athletes who also attend high school – and controlling for relevant covariates – our results suggest that student-athletes perform better than their fellow students who are not engaged in elite sport. We also test whether DC support initiatives make a difference in this regard. Results and implications of the study are discussed.

摘要

在关于双职业 (DC) 的文献中，一直存在关于在成为精英运动员和取得学术成就之间是否存在权衡的争论。参加最高水平比赛所需的时间是否是学业成就的障碍？或者，从精英体育生涯中获得的知识和专长能否转化为学业成绩？在本文中，我们旨在使用一个独特的数据库来回答这些问题，该数据库包含 2010 年至 2019 年期间参加丹麦高性能计划的有才华的年轻运动员。比较全国非运动员高中生和也上高中的精英运动员的高中毕业成绩——并控制相关协变量——我们的结果表明，学生运动员的表现比没有参与的同学更好。精英运动。我们还测试了 DC 支持计划在这方面是否有所作为。讨论了研究的结果和意义。