The ENDURANCE project – How to harness sport skills in entrepreneurship

The inter­na­tional ENDURANCE project has mapped the links between sport and entre­pre­neur­ship and has devel­oped new inno­v­a­tive educa­tional solu­tions. Online train­ing mate­r­ial was devel­oped in the project to improve and promote entre­pre­neur­ship educa­tion and voca­tional train­ing in the voca­tional educa­tion and train­ing ecosystem.

The ENDURANCE project had eight part­ners from seven coun­tries. It consisted of four differ­ent outputs, the main ones being the compre­hen­sive mapping of key results reports and an online train­ing mate­r­ial package contain­ing eight differ­ent modules. These train­ing modules were designed using mapping results and the Euro­pean Entre­pre­neur­ship Skills Frame­work (Entre­comp) for back­ground guidelines.

Intro­duc­tion

For centuries, sport has been the most popular recre­ational activ­ity and an impor­tant part of society. Entre­pre­neur­ship has also been part of soci­eties for a long time, helping people to develop socially and econom­i­cally. The role of entre­pre­neur­ship in the EU is greater than ever due to today’s socio-economic chal­lenges. New forms of entre­pre­neur­ship are emerg­ing, while sport is playing an increas­ing role in society. The links between sport and entre­pre­neur­ship are numer­ous but often over­looked and rarely exploited. This is the case in many sectors, partic­u­larly in voca­tional educa­tion and training.

Karelia UAS has been one of eight part­ners from seven coun­tries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Slova­kia and Spain) in the inter­na­tional ENDURANCE project – Entre­pre­neur­ial Capac­ity Build­ing for Sport. The project “rethought” the teaching/training and learn­ing of entre­pre­neur­ship based on the comple­men­tary features and common­al­i­ties between sport and entre­pre­neur­ship, such as deter­mi­na­tion, perse­ver­ance, self-confi­dence, stamina, respect for rules, team play, self-reliance, compe­ti­tion, success/failure, and so on.

The leading partner was Come­nius Univer­sity in Slova­kia, and the project had the follow­ing
four intel­lec­tual outputs (with the respon­si­ble partner referenced):

1. Estab­lish­ing an online inter­ac­tive OER plat­form for ENDURANCE train­ing. (IWS Spain)
2. Mapping the dynam­ics of sport and entre­pre­neur­ship, with the common traits and
   links for sustain­able careers for learn­ers in VET and sport systems. (Come­nius Univer­sity,
   Slova­kia)
3. Devel­op­ing custom-made ENDURANCE entre­pre­neur­ship train­ing and tools. (KUAS Finland)
4. Advanc­ing entre­pre­neur­ship and sport discourse at the policy level with the ENDURANCE
   Green Paper. (Bulsport Bulgaria)

The project was funded by Erasmus+. It offi­cially started in Novem­ber 2020 and ended in Novem­ber 2022.

Mapping results

During 2021 the part­ners carried out a compre­hen­sive mapping of the inte­gra­tion of sport and entre­pre­neur­ship and produced three differ­ent reports. 

1. ENDURANCE Report on Common­al­i­ties between Sport and Entrepreneurship 

2. ENDURANCE List of Recom­men­da­tions and Success/Failure Factors (SFFs) in Linking Sports and Entrepreneurship 

3. ENDURANCE Acad­e­mic Liter­a­ture Review Exec­u­tive Summary 

The mapping reports summarise the above aspects into a set of find­ings on the common features and links between sport and entre­pre­neur­ship. Recom­men­da­tions for learn­ers and teach­ers in VET and sport systems were also produced during the mapping period. In making these recom­men­da­tions, a combi­na­tion of success and failure factors has been used to link sport and entre­pre­neur­ship to achieve sustain­able careers. Every partner also produced case studies and good prac­tice exam­ples from every country. 

During the ENDURANCE project, part­ners exam­ined a number of acad­e­mic sources and prac­ti­cal docu­ments related to sport entre­pre­neur­ship, describ­ing the links between these two fields. In addi­tion, athletes were inter­viewed and several doctoral theses were studied. On this basis, part­ners devel­oped a frame­work that high­lighted the follow­ing five themes of common­al­ity and connec­tion between sport and entrepreneurship. 

1. Indi­vid­ual person­al­ity traits common in sport and entrepreneurship 

Person­al­ity traits and cogni­tive char­ac­ter­is­tics that make athletes more likely to be inclined to consider entre­pre­neur­ship and that improve their chances of success in busi­ness. There are many simi­lar­i­ties between sport and entre­pre­neur­ship in terms of the person­al­ity traits that both fields both promote and require. Athletes face many chal­lenges during their careers that unknow­ingly prepare them for the world of entrepreneurship.

2. Other indi­vid­ual-level foster­ing factors 

These factors are mainly related to the individual’s personal and family back­ground, networks, skills acquired during a sport­ing career, sport and disci­pline exper­tise, educa­tional back­ground and access to resources.  In addi­tion to personal char­ac­ter­is­tics, there are a number of indi­vid­ual-level vari­ables that are strength­ened through or result from sport and can be exploited in entrepreneurship. 

3. Exter­nal support­ing and trig­ger­ing factors 

Factors such as sport infra­struc­ture and sport commu­ni­ties, poli­cies and programmes, entre­pre­neur­ial climate and a favourable busi­ness envi­ron­ment, cultural and social norms, barri­ers to entre­pre­neur­ship and/or the tran­si­tion from sport to entre­pre­neur­ship, or systems and initia­tives that support entre­pre­neur­ship. The exter­nal envi­ron­ment and the factors that support and promote it are of course differ­ent in each country and may also vary at regional or local levels. 

4. Peda­gog­i­cal approaches and education 

The educa­tional offer­ings in terms of content and peda­gogy, such as exam­ples of good prac­tice in entre­pre­neur­ship educa­tion and train­ing; avail­abil­ity of generic and tailored train­ing provi­sion; types of train­ing; appro­pri­ate teach­ing methods and peda­gog­i­cal approaches. From a peda­gog­i­cal and educa­tional point of view, the link between sport and entre­pre­neur­ship is the best, but is not yet very close, espe­cially in higher education. 

5. Connect­ing sport and entre­pre­neur­ship for social impact 

How sport entre­pre­neur­ship contributes to social inclu­sion, main­tain­ing social stabil­ity and peace, healthy leisure and social inter­ac­tion, job creation and a posi­tive local economy; how social busi­ness models can be trans­formed into commer­cial models; how tradi­tional bene­fi­cia­ries can be turned into customers. 

Results and find­ings stem­ming from this eval­u­a­tion are avail­able for free and in various languages via the project’s offi­cial OER Plat­form under the Mapping section.

Endurance train­ing modules 

The main goal of the ENDURANCE project was to develop eight online train­ing modules for the VET ecosys­tem. The follow­ing train­ing modules were devel­oped together with eight project part­ners. Karelia UAS coor­di­nated the process. 

Inno­va­tion skills – how to harness sport inno­va­tion in busi­ness 

Athletes often have to be inno­v­a­tive, both in train­ing and in compe­ti­tion. Inno­va­tion skills are an impor­tant part of sport. The same skills are a vital part of busi­ness, when plan­ning your strat­egy and think­ing about compet­i­tive advantage. 

The essen­tials of project manage­ment for aspir­ing sport entre­pre­neurs 

In the context of this train­ing module, learn­ers have the oppor­tu­nity to famil­iarise them­selves with the very essen­tials of project manage­ment (PM). PM is one of the most liquid and trans­ver­sal busi­ness func­tions; it embraces a wide range of activ­i­ties, capa­bil­i­ties and strate­gic prior­i­ties for busi­ness compet­i­tive­ness and excellence. 

Manage­ment and self-lead­er­ship 

Nowa­days, entre­pre­neur­ship and being an entre­pre­neur is some­thing that may be consid­ered a global phenom­e­non. The way that entre­pre­neurs engage with passion in the creation of a partic­u­lar busi­ness venture is some­thing worthy of all types of study and research. 

A compre­hen­sive intro­duc­tion to market­ing for aspir­ing sport entre­pre­neurs 

The content of this module is designed to facil­i­tate an intro­duc­tion to topics and termi­nol­ogy that are common in estab­lished market­ing theory and practice. 

Digital skills 

This module offers a train­ing path for how to use digital skills to enhance your entre­pre­neur­ial spirit as a busi­ness athlete. 

Finance and econom­ics 

This module includes basic concepts and calcu­la­tions that need to be mastered to under­stand the field of finance and econom­ics. When think­ing about start­ing their own busi­ness and making a deci­sion, athletes need to know certain finan­cial fundamentals. 

Brand­ing 

In this module, the learner goes through and learns the entire brand­ing process, from how compa­nies choose their brands and measure their effec­tive­ness, to what strate­gies they use to keep a brand success­ful in today’s marketplace. 

Setting up a busi­ness 

This module covers some of the most impor­tant aspects related to setting up a busi­ness from a sport background. 

Testing and vali­da­tion process 

Modules and train­ing content were tested and vali­dated in pilot version by part­ners with a total cohort of nearly 750 people (univer­sity students, new grad­u­ates, entre­pre­neurs-to-be, profes­sion­als and train­ers, repre­sen­ta­tives of the entre­pre­neur­ship support network, etc.) 

Feed­back and impres­sions from partic­i­pants were collected by all part­ners after each pilot­ing session for fine-tuning actions and other recom­mended inte­gra­tions. Final satis­fac­tion feed­back surveys gath­ered by the train­ing staff of the organ­i­sa­tions confirm the peda­gog­i­cal reli­a­bil­ity and great satis­fac­tion among the target audi­ence with the accu­racy and ease of use of train­ing material. 

Discus­sion and conclu­sions 

The ENDURANCE project was quite an effort at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Part­ners from seven coun­tries were able to jointly build train­ing content by working exclu­sively remotely. The part­ners met regu­larly in remote meet­ings and the devel­op­ment work was taken forward using a variety of collab­o­ra­tive tools on the inter­net. These tools became very famil­iar and their useful­ness in a diffi­cult time of crisis was enor­mous. One inter­est­ing fact that captures this pecu­liar period well is that part­ners were only able to meet for first time in person at the project’s closing meeting. 

All in all, part­ners were very satis­fied with the outcome of the project and the mate­ri­als produced. Cultural and working differ­ences between coun­tries brought several chal­lenges to the work, but all’s well that ends well. The process was well planned from the begin­ning and the roles of all part­ners were crystal clear. Good plan­ning made it possi­ble to put the ENDURANCE puzzle together and a func­tional entity was achieved. 

At the end of the project, it could be said that one thing is certain; top sport and entre­pre­neur­ship have a lot in common and the natural exten­sion of a sport­ing career is entre­pre­neur­ship. In prac­tice, however, to fit studies into a serious sport­ing career is often very diffi­cult, if not impos­si­ble. Top-level sport is a full-time job and exist­ing study paths are diffi­cult for athletes to complete. 

The results of the ENDURANCE project do not offer a philosopher’s stone to this problem, but hope­fully the mate­ri­als produced by the project will inspire and help athletes to realise that the strengths they have in their sport­ing careers can be an advan­tage in an entre­pre­neur­ial career. From an educa­tional perspec­tive, it is clear that a completely new approach needs to be found to smooth the tran­si­tion from sport to entre­pre­neur­ship for top athletes. Educa­tional insti­tu­tions around the globe will have to meet this chal­lenge in the near future and ENDURANCE reports and online train­ing mate­ri­als can be helpful in this process. 

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Author:

Harri Mielo­nen, Project Manager, Lecturer/Team Coach, Karelia Univer­sity of Applied Sciences / Busi­ness Academy

Refer­ences:

ENDURANCE 2021. Report on Common­al­i­ties between Sport and Entre­pre­neur­ship. https://www.enduranceproject.eu/pdf/ENDURANCE_IO2T1_aggregated_report_FINAL.pdf 1.10.2022.

ENDURANCE 2021. List of Recom­men­da­tions and Success/Failure Factors (SFFs) in Linking Sports and Entre­pre­neur­ship. https://www.enduranceproject.eu/pdf/ENDURANCE_IO2T2_Recommendations_&_SFFs_FINAL.pdf 26.9.2022.

The Euro­pean Entre­pre­neur­ship Compe­tence Frame­work. https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1317&langId=en