Navigating the athlete development pathway: A multi-perspective analysis of decisions, challenges, and support for aspiring athletes

We examined the decisions, challenges, and support systems influencing aspiring athletes (aged 15–17) navigating the dual-career pathway. Addressing an important gap in pre-elite research and drawing on multi-perspective data from interviews and focus groups with athletes, parents, coaches, and educators in WA, we used a reflexive thematic analysis approach to develop three overarching themes. These themes integrate to explore: the overwhelming demands and financial sacrifice of intense sporting commitments; navigating the dual-career pathway through structured management and coping mechanisms; and stakeholder perceptions of system-level supports. Our findings indicate this developmental journey is characterized by difficult decisions regarding areas such as early sport specialization and geographic relocation to access elite pathways, both of which intensify demands and risk. Our findings highlight that managing the dual-career creates significant psychological, logistical, and financial tension for both aspiring athletes and their families. This forces athletes who predominantly prioritize an athletic identity to adopt strict routines and make substantial sacrifices regarding their social lives, while heavily relying on their family’s financial capacity to remain on the pathway toward an athletic career. A central finding is the fragmentation of support systems, described as a decentralized “tug of war” between sporting and educational mandates. This work contributes an improved understanding of these gaps, demonstrating that supporting the dual-career reality requires a systemic shift from individual advocacy toward centralized, cross-sector coordination, such as integrated athlete management systems, to protect the “whole-person” development of aspiring athletes.