“Someday it will be better again”: upper-secondary student athletes’ experiences of schoolwork and sport 7 and 14 months after the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

Globally, educational systems were thoroughly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Upper-secondary students were faced with school closures and distance education. For student-athletes, the COVID-19 pandemic, besides academic stress, also contributed to sports-related stress. In this paper, we explore upper-secondary school student athletes’ experiences of schoolwork and sport during two phases of the pandemic. A qualitative research design was used, and 53 student-athletes participated in focus group interviews. Three themes appeared: Struggling to cope with the new life situation, Reevaluating and longing for social life, and Speeding up the transition to adulthood. The themes were elucidated from temporal perspectives. The students experienced challenges in handling school, sports, and social life, but they also experienced opportunities for personal development. Student-athletes are a common responsibility between schools and sports, and, based on the results, schools and sports in collaboration need to increase readiness for action when major societal challenges, such as pandemics, occur.