Career-themed life narratives of sports graduates: intertwinement of careers and nonwork elements of life

This study focused on career-themed life narratives of Finnish sports degree graduates. The aim of the study was to holistically understand graduates’ education and career experiences, taking into consideration the complexity, context and subjectivity of modern careers. The main research question was: How do sports graduates’ career experiences intertwine with their life narratives? Data were collected as written, career-themed life stories (n=60) through an open writing invitation to sports degree graduates from years 2004-2015. The study consists of three sub-studies. The first sub-study described the qualitative variation in the different meanings that the graduates attributed to formal sport education as a part of their career-themed life narratives. The second sub-study described the typical career story models of the participants. The third sub-study aimed to understand what meanings were attributed to difficulties in the narratives. Data were analysed using phenomenography (sub-study I), narrative analysis (sub-study II), and reflexive thematic analysis (sub-study III). Drawing together, the findings suggest that work and nonwork were interwoven in many ways, and that hobbyism and identity were especially relevant. These also contributed to pondering career change, which was a notable element in the narratives. Reflections on realized and potential career change were influenced by both experiences of unpleasant characteristics of the sports industry and more personal reasons for looking for a career path that is fitting in more than just a practical sense. Difficult experiences were also meaningful in multiple ways, both professionally and personally. In conclusion, the findings indicate that graduates’ search for a personally meaningful career path should be considered when discussing sports graduates’ careers.