Mapping the Needs of Different Groups of Athletes of the City of Zagreb and the Republic of Croatia During Crisis Situations (Covid – 19 and Earthquake) – Athlete Perspective

Abstract

This paper was created as part of the project "Trešnjevka Wrestlers for Civil Society Sports Organizations (SOCD) in Crisis Situations." with a specific ambition - to pursue improving the capacity of civil society organizations to respond to the needs of the local community in crisis situations. For this purpose and as one of the project activities, the mapping of the needs of different groups of athletes and sports workers of the City of Zagreb and the Republic of Croatia during the crises of Covid – 19 and the earthquake is carried out. This research used a qualitative approach that includes focus group pre-research. To ensure broad coverage of the researched topic and for the purpose of heterogeneity, research deliberately focused on 17 different groups of sport. The structure of pre-research participants who were selected intentionally from 17 sports resulted in a total of 17 athletes. All respondents are athletes and adults who have consented to participate in the survey. Qualitative research was conducted through pre-questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and the survey was guided from February to April 2022. Each athlete belonging to a defined sports community (club or federation) was examined separately. Respondents were introduced to the aim of the research and general questions asked and were also informed about the confidentiality of the answers. Collected data materials were processed by comparative analysis. Alternate observation of the responses, similarities and differences among them, and according to the superior aspect of the research (improving the capacity of civil society organizations to provide an effective response to the needs of the local community in crisis situations) along with the intensity of life quality for athletes managing sport during the pandemic, led to the following question: What needs have been identified by different groups of athletes of the City of Zagreb and the Republic of Croatia during crises (Covid - 19 and earthquakes)? The most frequent declarations are associated with impaired training continuity or suspension of training due to epidemiological measures and earthquake-damaged infrastructure, cancellation of the competitions and a decrease in motivation.  Keywords: occurrences, crisis situations, athletes, needs assessment, quality of life