Author(s): HUANG, M., CHENG, C.F., Institution: NATIONAL TAIWAN NORMAL UNIVERSITY, Country: TAIWAN, Abstract-ID: 1532

Introduction
Dual career competencies support student-athletes in managing sports, academic, and future careers. Existing research has largely examined these competencies within stable contexts. Less is known about how they emerge during transition. Transfer represents a critical career transition in which routines and identity positions are challenged. This study explored how student-athletes understand and enact dual career competencies during transfer and how these competencies extend across academic, sports, and career domains.

Methods
A qualitative narrative inquiry was conducted with four university student-athletes who had experienced transfer. Semi-structured interviews focused on transfer processes and dual career challenges. Analysis emphasized temporal development, contextual meaning, and cross-domain enactment, with the GEES framework used as a reference for supplementary content analysis.

Results
The findings illustrate that transfer experiences functioned as a critical disruption through which dual career competencies became visible and actively constructed. Participants’ narratives revealed a developmental shift from compliance and passivity toward heightened self-awareness and agency. Experiences of institutional misalignment, loss of trust, and perceived marginalization prompted reflective evaluation of educational values, athletic commitment, and future directions. Throughout the transfer process and subsequent adjustment, participants demonstrated key competencies, including self-discipline, self-responsibility, career vision, and stress regulation. These competencies were not only enacted within academic and sports contexts but were further extended to emerging career roles, indicating the transferability of dual career competencies across life domains.

Discussion
These findings suggest that transfer is not merely an institutional decision but a meaningful career transition through which student-athletes reconfigure their identities and future pathways. In contrast to static interpretations of dual career competencies, the present study highlights their dynamic and context-sensitive nature, particularly during periods of instability. While the competencies identified resonate with the GEES framework, this study extends existing literature by illustrating when and how such competencies emerge and are enacted across academic, sports, and post-athletic career contexts. The results underscore the importance of attending to student-athletes’ subjective experiences in dual career support and emphasize dual career competency development as a longitudinal, cross-contextual process rather than a fixed set of skills.