Elite athletes view on the future : A qualitative study about young female elite athletes

Girls choose to drop out of sports in a higher rate than men. According to some researchers there are several factors that affects their decisions to drop out or continue with their sport. The purpose with this study is to increase knowledge about young female athletes and how they look at their future in elite sports, also how the girls experience their elite efforts, and what they find important in it. The study examines what is required for young female elite athletes to continue their elite efforts and what factors affect how the girls look at their future. In this study, a qualitative survey in the form of semi-structured interviews has been conducted. The selection consisted of six girls from the sports soccer, ice hockey and taekwondo. The result showed that the athletes consider having fun and to develop to be the most important in sport. Factors that made the athletes continue their elite efforts was right conditions and their sport clubs. The factors that determines how athletes look at their future were their goals and dreams, as well as motivation. The conclusion of this study was that the conditions can be different between team athletes and individual athletes. The individual athletes in this study seemed more satisfied with their situation than the team athletes