CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN WOMEN’S HANDBALL ELITE PLAYERS – MIDDLE RANKING COUNTRIES SPECIFICS

This qualitative research aimed to study the career development outcomes of women's handball players. The purpose was to identify the socio-cultural factors and personal characteristics that enabled athletes from geographically small countries with middle-ranking national handball teams to fulfil their sporting career goals. Data collection via semi-structured interviews and systematic observation of the athlete's career development commenced in 2012 and lasted one decade. Career development was one part of the questions; the other parts concerned migration and dual careers. Altogether sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted – with players ranked in the top ten players in their national teams, and all had played more than 50 international matches; after the observation phase, the eight players still actively playing at the elite handball level were re-interviewed; all were sports migrants. In the final stage of the study, two additional interviews were done – with two athletes who were among the players with the most successful careers in Europe at that time but not having migration experience. The study concluded that parents and coaches are the most important social support in career development in the first career phase. In the second phase, access to dual career prospects is vital to successful career development, parallel with elite handball sports conditions in a club and national teams. A successful migration path seems to be one of the significant factors in evaluating success in sports career development.