Student athletes and counsellors engage within a structured programmatic framework. In a recent live webinar for Fontys University of Applied Sciences, TWIN explored the communication dynamics within these layers, focusing on dual career management.
Fontys, located in one of Europe’s most innovative regions, welcomes students from over 100 countries across its campuses in the Netherlands. The university offers a wide range of bachelor’s, master’s, and exchange programmes in English language.
As part of the Dutch “FLOT Network” (affiliated with the NOC*NSF and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science), Fontys is dedicated to meeting the specific needs of student athletes. To support them, Fontys operates its own Elite Athlete Scheme, designed to create an environment where athletes can excel in both their sports and academic pursuits. This initiative is guided by the Fontys Elite Sport Policy, which helps athletes effectively manage their academic workload. Currently, 201 students at Fontys hold athlete status.
“An elite student athlete is an exceptional talent who is also challenged and encouraged particularly in higher education to progress to a high level. The higher education sector not only ensures the retention and development of talent and the competences needed in the rest of students’ careers, but equally plays a crucial role in encouraging and developing student careers in elite sports.”
FLOT (Flexible Education and Top Sport) Action Plan
Key service: student counselling
The daily routine for many student athletes involves morning training, followed by university classes, afternoon practice, and evening study sessions. As such, mastering self-management in their dual career is critical for success both as a student and an athlete.
“I admire how students manage to combine sports with their studies. The percentage of students obtaining their propaedeutic diploma within one year (37 percent) is as high as that of non-athletes.”
Dirma Eisenga
Fontys elite sports coordinator
At Fontys, student counsellors play a crucial role, not just for student athletes, but also for other students with dual careers, such as entrepreneurs or caregivers. Student counselling is a professional dialogue between a qualified advisor and a student, aimed at enhancing the student’s adaptability and decision-making skills. The goal is to help students strategically plan and balance their academic responsibilities with their other careers, fostering overall personal development.
Luhmann meets dual career
On 30 November, Fontys hosted an online webinar to examine the relationship between student athletes, counsellors, and the university. The event brought together student athletes, staff, and programme coordinators from across the Netherlands.
During the 60-minute live session, TWIN Founder & CEO Wolfgang Stockinger connected Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory with dual career programming for athletes. According to Luhmann, each social system operates with its own unique communication medium or “system language”, through which communication in this specific system arises as meaning or sense. One challenge for institutions with special support policies is correspondingly to identify the communication medium of their Elite Athlete Scheme within the university system.
“If student athlete programmes and their services aim to increase engagement and effectiveness, they must align with the primary goal of their target group; here: becoming better athletes. This means student counselling should communicatively aim to become more integrated into the athletic journey. For example, counselling can be framed as an essential resource that contributes to enhance a sporting career, where academic learning and self-management support their professionalization as athletes.”
Wolfgang Stockinger
TWIN Founder & CEO
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