Career transitions for Swedish golf juniors

The purpose of this study was to retrospective investigate perceived demands and barriers for golf juniors in their transition from regional to national junior elite competitions, and to find out what resources and coping strategies the juniors used to succeed with this transition. The developmental model (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004), The analytical career model (Stambulova, 2003) and The athletic career transitions model (Stambulova, 1997; 2003) were used as theoretical framework for this study. The interviews were conducted with nine junior golf players. A semi-structured interview guide was used consisting of five main themes: background information, changes/demands experienced in the transition, resources that helped the golf juniors to adjust to the new level, strategies the golf juniors used to adjust to the new level and an evaluation of the transition. The result showed that the players perceived the practice as more serious with an overall higher quality when they started to compete in national competitions. The players increased their training time and started to use a variation of exercises that were similar to the different parts of a competition. The competitions were also perceived as more challenging with stronger opponents and an increased rivalry between the players. Confidence and self-esteem, the will to practice and win are characteristics that many players consider to be important internal resources in order to adapt to the national junior level. The players observed other players to learn from them and to see what they needed to improve. Many players changed their golf coaches around the same time as they started to compete at national junior level. The coaches and parents were seen as the most important external resources in order to adapt to the national junior level. Many players experienced that it would have been hard to play and compete in golf without their parents’ financial help and support. During the time of the transition, outside golf the players learned how to take responsibility and how to take care of themselves through traveling alone, meeting new people and living by themselves. The players experienced that the school didn’t have any understanding for their need to be free from school. The players also had to give a lower priority to some other things in their life in order to have enough time for golf. The biggest change was that they had to spend less time with their friends and the different activities that they used to do before