SPORTS TRAINING IN THE LABOUR MARKET

CATIA MIRIAM COSTA

Researcher CEI-Iscte

Iscte led an "Erasmus + Sport" project to investigate the skills developed through sport and identify their value in the labour market.

What was the focus of the "Skills by Sport 4 Med" project?

We had participated in an application in which, in a very incipient way, the transfer of skills from sport to the world of work was already being addressed. We had already identified sports training skills that can be valued in the job market. We also focused on the Mediterranean because the countries in this region almost always have very high youth unemployment rates. The research was oriented in this way.

What sports training skills did you realise needed to be valued in the job market?

We conclude that we need to value the transfer of skills, such as punctuality, team spirit, resilience, communication skills, working towards goals, etc. and that not all are strictly soft skills. For example, planning and strategy, contrary to what those who do not practice sports often think, is present in sport, especially when it is very competitive. We must make strategic decisions to win in individual sports for our team or ourselves. We also have to know how to manage effort and our resources.
Effort management is important in the job market and is valued by those responsible for company human resources. Now, coaches with their teams prepare everyday effort management, but they were unaware they were doing it.
On the other hand, people often indicate in their resume that they have played sports, but this can be a differentiating element. Some traits are soft skills, but others are already in a more technical field.
It was a relevant discovery for me to realise that not even people linked to sports were aware of the importance of their work in preparing a young person for the job market. We conducted focus groups with trainers and companies' human resources directors throughout the project. We work in direct collaboration with the Portuguese Coaches in the Portuguese Olympic Committee, including in the last session, to sensitise the two professional classes and put people in direct dialogue.

This project was focused on training, education, youth, and sports. Who was part of the consortium?

The project resulted from an application in which we were coordinators of a very representative team from the Mediterranean. It included a university from Spain (with a great tradition of linking sport and society), Italy (in addition to a university, a company linked to digital media also participates), Greece (International Olympic Truce Centre), Cyprus (Cyprus Sports Organization (CSO), Croatia (an organisation that brings together the various sports, from the University of Zagreb) and also an NGO that had its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The idea was also to involve associated partners from non-European countries, such as Egypt. The pandemic has brought several vicissitudes, namely, being unable to travel. We did online tasks in the project's multiplier and disseminator events but had to wait. For example, it takes work to coordinate a focus group remotely. The sports sector was adapting, and people had to teach and train themselves online. It was all very challenging, but it gave us enormous satisfaction.
We also maintained the good practice of holding the monthly consortium meeting online. It was very important to keep in touch and not give rise to the partners giving up. It was a project full of obstacles, such as an earthquake in Croatia that affected the headquarters of our local partner, but we managed to overcome the difficulties. Most of the project took place during the pandemic.

We must value the transfer of skills, such as punctuality, team spirit, resilience, communication skills, effort management, and work-by-objectives.

What stands out as for the research methodology?

First, we reviewed the literature and what existed in this area. There is not much scientific production, and we will even try to publish a special issue on the subject. We had a hard time getting articles because it's an underexplored area.
In the team, we had two more universities: the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy, which are in psychology. We developed a psychosocial study, and the three teams collaborated to prepare the scripts for the focus groups.
During this work period, we were also careful to collect testimonies in these two areas – sports and human resources. In a focus group dynamic, we wanted to know how everyone exposed their knowledge on this issue.
We were at the Coaches' Congress (in July 2022) to present the project, and it was very interesting for me to see the coaches' enthusiasm: it was as if the knowledge existed, it was there, but it was not recognised, it was not systematised. We made a diagnosis and systematisation of the identification of practices to propose valuing the identified competencies. And we were sure that there is already, on the part of human resources, an immediate openness to value this type of skills, which must be distinct from coaching or leadership.

Didn't the project approach separate coaches from individual athletes or teams?

Many aspects are common in athlete training. In addition to bringing together individual and collective activities, we bring together high-competition coaches, beginner coaches, and people from adapted sports and senior sports. We note that there is a transfer of competencies in any of these fields, which occurs if consistent, persistent, and oriented practice exists.

We diagnosed the skills of sports training, intending to value them by human resources managers.

In short, is there still a general recognition of sports' intrinsic value and the inherent gain of skills?

I can give you a personal example: I practised the long jump and did ballet. Nowhere on my resume is it stated that I've done ballet my whole life! Now, those who practice sports or a similar physical activity are much more aware of the physical and psychological limits and know how to manage the effort.
In a meeting with the partners, I even told them that the central word of this project is awareness because it is the piece of the puzzle that was not there. This brings me some satisfaction: knowing that our work was not to create a situation but was, above all, to have a direct social intervention – which is very interesting in a university scientific project. And we managed, during the project, to deliver directly to society – this is more than disseminating science. Two professional groups directly benefitted from a research project in which we were involved. For example, the issue of time management is very interesting and is much more present in a young person who is an athlete than in another young person who only has school.
We have also observed that sometimes, there is a lack of social awareness towards coaches. It's quiet work, and we often only remember coaches when there are medals.

What are the outputs of this project that is closing?

Thanks to the collaboration with the Confederation of Coaches¹, we have a results report for Portugal and a final report for public consultation.
Each partial result of the project is published. We had the creation of a toolkit, which was made available to be used by the coaches and for them to give us feedback on the need for adjustments. It is a pilot accomplishment. The toolkit will also be open to coaches who want to use it for training or information. Once we fine