Athletes’ transitions from part-time to full-time performance programmes: Athletes’ and coaches’ perceptions

As an athlete develops through their respective talent pathway, those who are continually retained will eventually reach a critical transition point, whereby successful selection will commonly result in a part-time to full-time performance programme transition. Though such offerings remain sport-dependent, these transitions are typically accompanied by substantial increases in training demands, which further add to the risk of injury and overreaching. Given the significance of such junctures, investigating the preparedness of athletes to endure these changes warrants further research. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to examine the experiences of those involved in such pathway transitions, speaking with four national performance pathway athletes who had recently moved from part-time to full-time programmes and five national performance pathway coaches. Interview responses were analysed deductively, using the holistic athletic career model and reflexive thematic analysis. The findings indicated that (un)successful athlete transitions were dependent on physical factors (load management and recovery provisions), psychosocial factors (dealing with adversity, social pressures, and external influence) and access to resources (support services and resource barriers). Practical implications included the need for key stakeholders to i) ensure a moderation of load is applied for transitioning athletes, ii) provide support and guidance to equip the athletes to deal with psychosocial strain, and iii) educate athletes on the benefits of resources to aid recovery provisions and fatigue management. These insights are valuable, as they can help inform coaches, key stakeholders, and National Governing Bodies to support athletes better in the future.