Maine Alumnus, Volume 6, Number 7, May 1925

Contents: Commencement --- Sports --- Careers of graduates in Civil Engineering, Class of 1879https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/alumni_magazines/1051/thumbnail.jp

The Duration of the Sports Career as a Determinant of the Second Professional Career

Theoretical background: A sports career is a specific activity because it starts at an early age, lasts a relatively short time, and usually athletes are most successful when their peers are just starting to develop their typical professional careers. In previous research on the second careers of ex-athletes, mainly the top performers were described, forgetting that many athletes play in the lower leagues and sport is also their main profession. In this study, athletes who played at different levels of competition were analysed.Purpose of the article: The article aims to determine how the length of a sports career affects the second professional career of former athletes.Research methods: The studied population were Polish basketball players of working-age after finishing their sports careers. The survey was conducted online in 2021 and 301 people took part in it. The average duration of a sports career of participants was 10.13 years. Former basketball players were divided into 2 groups according to their career length. The first group consisted of those whose basketball careers lasted at least 10 years (160 people), and the second group consisted of those whose careers were shorter than 10 years (141 people).Main findings: Former players whose sports careers lasted for at least 10 years are more satisfied with them than those whose sports careers were shorter, but they assess their current career prospects worse. It may result from the fact that among those whose sports careers were shorter, a greater percentage have higher education. The results also show that those whose basketball careers were longer, are now more likely to work in the field of sport. In conclusion, it can be said that earlier retirement from sports, favours to a greater extent university graduating and also allows a faster transition to a second professional career.Theoretical background: A sports career is a specific activity because it starts at an early age, lasts a relatively short time, and usually athletes are most successful when their peers are just starting to develop their typical professional careers. In previous research on the second careers of ex-athletes, mainly the top performers were described, forgetting that many athletes play in the lower leagues and sport is also their main profession. In this study, athletes who played at different levels of competition were analysed.Purpose of the article: The article aims to determine how the length of a sports career affects the second professional career of former athletes.Research methods: The studied population were Polish basketball players of working-age after finishing their sports careers. The survey was conducted online in 2021 and 301 people took part in it. The average duration of a sports career of participants was 10.13 years. Former basketball players were divided into 2 groups according to their career length. The first group consisted of those whose basketball careers lasted at least 10 years (160 people), and the second group consisted of those whose careers were shorter than 10 years (141 people).Main findings: Former players whose sports careers lasted for at least 10 years are more satisfied with them than those whose sports careers were shorter, but they assess their current career prospects worse. It may result from the fact that among those whose sports careers were shorter, a greater percentage have higher education. The results also show that those whose basketball careers were longer, are now more likely to work in the field of sport. In conclusion, it can be said that earlier retirement from sports, favours to a greater extent university graduating and also allows a faster transition to a second professional career

Briefs

Senior Day and one extraordinary graduate; legal skill drills; a new legal writing program; Breaking the Mold conference on sports careers; Cooley lecturer Michael McConnell; a new director for the Office of Public Service; scholarships to attract the best students; and a host of distinguished visitors and noteworthy event

CADETS AND JUNIORS SUCCESS: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR SPORTS CAREERS IN FREE-STYLE WRESTLING?

The successful and effective management of sports training is impossible without the justified forecasting, which is adequate to the modern scientific knowledge. The forecasting creates the necessary preconditions for correct management decisions by athlete, coaches and administration. Nowadays, the discovery of talented athlete and the ways of their improvement are among the most discussed and popular directions in the athletes’ training.  The aim of the research –to analyze the significance of the success of wrestlers at the cadet and junior levels on the performance results during the senior career in relation to the weight classes. The sports careers of the medalists in freestyle wrestling of the Cadets and Junior European Championships have been studied. The analysis of the cadets’ results demonstrates that more than 30% of the athletes have taken part in seniors competitions, but unfortunately only under 15% of the athletes have achieved success. At the same time, the juniors’ results are better: about 60% of the athletes continued their sports careers at the senior level, but only approximately 25% have achieved significant results. It is demonstrated that the athletes of the lightweight classes adapt faster to the senior wrestling and achieve success at the senior level

Persistence and Uncertainty in the Academic Career

Understanding how institutional changes within academia may affect the overall potential of science requires a better quantitative representation of how careers evolve over time. Since knowledge spillovers, cumulative advantage, competition, and collaboration are distinctive features of the academic profession, both the employment relationship and the procedures for assigning recognition and allocating funding should be designed to account for these factors. We study the annual production n_{i}(t) of a given scientist i by analyzing longitudinal career data for 200 leading scientists and 100 assistant professors from the physics community. We compare our results with 21,156 sports careers. Our empirical analysis of individual productivity dynamics shows that (i) there are increasing returns for the top individuals within the competitive cohort, and that (ii) the distribution of production growth is a leptokurtic "tent-shaped" distribution that is remarkably symmetric. Our methodology is general, and we speculate that similar features appear in other disciplines where academic publication is essential and collaboration is a key feature. We introduce a model of proportional growth which reproduces these two observations, and additionally accounts for the significantly right-skewed distributions of career longevity and achievement in science. Using this theoretical model, we show that short-term contracts can amplify the effects of competition and uncertainty making careers more vulnerable to early termination, not necessarily due to lack of individual talent and persistence, but because of random negative production shocks. We show that fluctuations in scientific production are quantitatively related to a scientist's collaboration radius and team efficiency.Comment: 29 pages total: 8 main manuscript + 4 figs, 21 SI text + fig

Books or Baskets: Compromising the Education and Future of Black Student-Athletes

In this paper, I discuss the challenges and inequalities that Black male athletes face while playing college sports, particularly basketball and football at PWIs. I explore how this focus on sports pushes these individuals to focus on athletics rather than academics, as they are there on scholarships and are focused primarily on representing their schools and becoming professional athletes. I discuss multiple factors that play into these student-athletes\u27 idea that athletics are more important than academics. Using multiple studies, I give information and statistics on the outcomes of these athletes. I also provide limitations of the studies I use so that others can expand the information given and contribute to this topic in the future

The financing of women’s high performance sports in the Basque Country

[ES] La financiación del deporte de alto rendimiento es un reto en la actualidad, especialmente para las deportistas. Ellas acceden a becas y patrocinios, pero con mayor dificultad que sus compañeros. En instituciones como el Consejo Superior de Deporte se elaboran programas específicos como el de mujer y deporte, pero no se revisa su efectividad. A través de 18 entrevistas y tres focus group se ha estudiado la financiación de las carreras deportivas de varias deportistas de la CAPV. Se ha dado voz a las deportistas para conocer sus impresiones sobre el apoyo económico recibido a lo largo de sus carreras deportivas. Algunos resultados de este estudio de caso muestran que las deportistas lamentan el escaso y tardío apoyo recibido a través de becas y sponsors y ponen de manifiesto la necesidad de un mayor soporte económico en sus carreras deportivas. Concluyen que urge caminar hacia la profesionalización en sus carreras deportivas para mejorar su eficacia.[EN] The financing of high-performance sports is a challenge today, especially for female athletes. They access scholarships and sponsorships, yet with more difficulties than their male peers. In institutions such as the Higher Sports Council, specific programs, such as that of women and sports, are developed. However, their effectiveness is not reviewed. Through 18 interviews and three discussion groups, the financing of the sports careers of several athletes from the Basque Country has been studied. Sportswomen have been given a voice to know their impressions of financial support or lack thereof throughout their sports careers. Some of the results from this study show that athletes claim to have little and late support, received through scholarships and sponsors, and highlight the need for greater financial support in their sports careers. They conclude that it is urgent to move towards professionalization in their sports careers to improve their effectiveness

Levels of Sporting Excellence: Julie Krone and Jerry West

The week began with major milestones in the sports careers of Julie Krone and Jerry West. Monday Krone was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame, the first and only woman to be so honored, and West ended a forty year career with the Los Angeles Lakers