Tiede
Exceptional Life Courses
Elite Athletes and Successful Artists
in 2000s Finland
Exceptional Life Courses
Elite Athletes and Successful Artists
in 2000s Finland
MIKKO SALASUO, MIKKO PIISPA & HELENA HUHTA
Finnish Youth Research Network/
Finnish Youth Research Society
Internet publications 97
finnish youth research society
finnish youth research network
Cover: Katja Tiilikka
Layout: Tanja Konttinen
Translation: Minna Kalajoki
© Finnish Youth Research Society and authors
2016. Finnish Youth Research Society, Finnish Youth Research Network
Publications 177, internet publications 97
ISBN 978-952-7175-03-3
ISSN 1799-9219
ISBN (PDF) 978-952-7175-04-0
ISSN (PDF) 1799-9227
Unigraia, Helsinki
Orders: oice@youthresearch.i
he Finnish Youth Research Society
Asemapäällikönkatu 7
00520 Helsinki
http://www.nuorisotutkimusseura.i
Contents
Preface
9
Introduction
Interview data
Exploring the phases and the choices of the life course
11
18
25
I Family and social networks
31
1 Sport and exercise in the athletes’ childhood
Family table and sport relationship
Intergenerational transmission of the sport relationship
Sport and exercise in the family’s parenting practices
Siblings as signiicant others
Self-accomplished sport relationship
33
35
39
44
46
51
2 Social capital and the social networks of artists
Transmission of family capitals
Art and culture homes
Culturally inclined homes
Non-cultural homes
Family’s economic status
Siblings
Extended family
Groups of friends and sociability in childhood
Mentors and role models
Art education and teachers in the comprehensive school
Social relationships during education and professional career
Excursion: gender in the interviews
55
55
57
59
62
63
64
65
66
68
69
70
73
II Society and culture, time and place
75
3 Children of the rapidly transforming Finland and its sport and exercise culture
Growth environments of athletes, in time and place
Changes in the growth environments of sport
Excursion: the lack of societal discourse in the interviews
77
78
86
88
4 Artists and the societal and cultural landscape
Urban and rural growth environments for artisthood
he turning point of the 1990’s and the contemporary society
Generational relections in ”new Finland”
91
92
96
99
III Agency and transitions
103
5 Transitions and turning points, agency and choices
Normative transitions in the athlete’s career
Initiation to deliberate practice and the sampling phase
Transition to the development phase and the development phase
Athlete agency
Average actualization of the sports career
105
106
109
127
148
159
6 Artists’ choices and goals
Vocation?
Realization of artisthood
Education as transition
Life steering during professional career
What can you steer by yourself, after all?
162
162
166
169
172
177
7 Artist and the zeitgeist – artisthood in the 21st century Finland
Professional insecurity
Increasing commercialism, entertainment and ‘the selling of self ’
Relationship to work and (artistic) identity
he role of chance
Excursion: comparison to athletes
179
180
184
188
190
191
IV Micro data in sport: dropout and multicultural athletes
193
8 Dropout athletes
Perspective: a historical note to the dropping out debate
Dropping out on the verge of mastery
Dropping out as a transition of the life course
Retired athletes and those thinking of discontinuation
To inish with and after the inishing line
195
195
197
199
210
211
9 On multicultural athletes
Family capitals and the big transition
Social networks outside the family
Agency of a multicultural athlete
Racism encountered by multicultural athletes
Excursion: national feeling and representing Finland
214
217
222
224
225
227
Conclusions
230
References
238
Appendix 1: interviewed athletes
Appendix 2: interviewed artists
Appendix 3: interview questions for athletes
Appendix 4: interview questions for artists
264
268
269
272
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
Preface
his publication is the completion of a substantial research project. In the three books
in Finnish of the project, launched in 2012, the life courses of Finnish elite athletes
and successful young artists have been comprehensively discussed. he aim has been to
understand those complex life course mechanisms and processes that have led 78 athletes
and 29 young artists to success. Besides the successful athletes, the researchers looked
into the dropout of 18 particularly promising athletes. In addition, 20 multicultural
athletes were studied to highlight the challenges arising from a multicultural background.
his publication is based on the two peer-reviewed books published during this project.
Most surveyed athletes and artists had been born and raised in Finland, hence the
study’s perspective is predominantly domestic. Many of them had continued their
careers abroad after having reached the top, yet the essential events of their life courses
are located in Finland. he vast international research knowledge used along with the
research data itself has, to a great extent, complemented the domestic perspective. In
addition, the researchers have thoroughly reviewed international research literature on
elite athlete development, leading to a unique dual view in the study, a combination
of domestic and international. On the contrary, as to the artists, the researchers have
mainly drawn upon domestic research knowledge. his is irstly due to a large amount of
domestic research on artists and, secondly, to the fact that artists’ life courses are mainly
connected to domestic labour markets.
In this study, the life courses of athletes and artists are reviewed in parallel. Consequently,
the reader enjoys a broad insight into the growth and development of Finnish elite athletes
in the late 20th and early 21st century Finland. he same applies to young successful
artists whose life phases are studied from childhood until present. his study is unique
in the international context as the researchers were able to reach an exceptionally large
number of the best Finnish athletes and artists of diferent ields. he name of the publication refers to the unusual life course choices and phases of the athletes and artists
but, at the same time, the study dismantles the genius and hero myths typical to these
ields of life. After all, the athletes and artists have grown up in the very same society
with the rest of us, and there is nothing supernatural or mystical behind their success,
quite the contrary.
he researchers Mikko Salasuo, Mikko Piispa and Helena Huhta would like to warmly
thank Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture and its Division of Sport for the
funding of the project, and the Finnish Youth Research Network for the inspiring work
environment. heir thanks are extended to Minna Kalajoki who had the tremendous
task of translating the publication into English.
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
Introduction
Finland is a sparsely populated and little known country in the northeast corner of
Europe. Frequent names on the lists of internationally best known Finns include Jean
Sibelius, Jari Litmanen, Tove Jansson and Kimi Räikkönen – artists and athletes. Arts and
sport have played an important role in building up the international image of Finland.
At the same time, they have been the essential building blocks in the construction of
national identity.
During the past 30 years, globalisation, information technology, the global economic
system, collapse of the welfare state and the end of the Cold War, among others, have
shaped the world in many ways. he role of the nation state has changed and the great
national narratives do not, to the extent they did in the past, determine the self-perception of individuals anymore. Arts and sport still play an important role in the Finnish
society which is very diferent from that of, for example, the 1930’s or 1970’s Finland.
Many traditional concepts have been challenged and new generations interpret the world
from their own perspectives. At the crossroads of past and present, we are negotiating
the meanings to be given to what has been lived, experienced and seen. he resulting
interpretations are a combination of the past, present and future.
An individual’s life is realized in a certain historical time, place and setting. Diferent
social networks have a signiicant impact on the life course of an individual. Family,
relatives, friends and peers constitute ‘webs of signiicance’ (cf. Geertz 1973) by which
every individual builds up a relationship to the surrounding society and its structures
(Elder et al. 2004; Elder & Shanahan 2006). Every human being is an individual and
a unique agent with diferent ambitions, aspirations and goals. An individual’s internal
and external transitions in life, as well as the major social, cultural and societal changes,
occur in a certain, partly non-predetermined order. All of them have an impact on the
direction, choices, possibilities and realization of an individual’s life course. Every individual’s life is unique and the life lived, the accrued capitals, experiences, values, attitudes
and ambitions have an impact on both the past and the future. hus, an individual’s life
course is, by nature, a cumulative process. (Giele & Elder 1998, 8–11; Elder & Giele
2009, 9–15.)
he life course paradigm (Giele & Elder 1998; Mortimer & Shanahan 2004; Elder
& Giele 2009) and its interpretation framework presented above have proven to be a
functional way to analyse, even model, the life of individuals; the factors that inluence
it, its progress and fundamental transitions, individual factors and the cumulative features
of the life course (e.g. Alwin & McCammon 2004; Alwin 2004; Elder et al. 2004). In
this study, the life course analysis is used to review the lives and careers of 78 Finnish elite
athletes. In addition, we observed 18 young athletes who had inished their promising
careers just before reaching the top (list of the athletes in appendix 1). Altogether 96
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athletes representing 45 diferent sports were interviewed for the purposes of this study
in 2012. he average age of the athletes in the research data is 25 years and 6 months.
Along with the athletes, 29 successful young artists (list of the artists in appendix 2)
were interviewed. hey represented various ields of art and their average age is approximately 33 years and 6 months. In arts, as in science, success is typically achieved some
10–20 years later than in sports, thus, the artists interviewed for the purposes of this study
can be considered to have succeeded at a very young age (see Ericsson 1996a, 9; Simonton
1996). he entire research data includes 125 interviews, conducted by the methods of
narrative life story interview (e.g. Atkinson 2002). his study ofers, by analysing these
life story interviews, a written perspective into the life courses of Finnish elite athletes
and successful artists, all the way from their childhood homes to the top of their careers.
he key research problem of this study is derived from the interpretation framework
of the life course analysis (Giele & Elder 1998; Mortimer & Shanahan 2004; Elder &
Giele 2009). First of all, we try to retrace the life courses of those elite athletes and top
artists who have succeeded in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s – precisely how and why
these athletes and artists have made it to the top in their respective ields, in this particular historical time? A multidisciplinary approach is characteristic to Finnish youth
research (see Hoikkala & Suurpää 2005). he interviewees represented young people of
approximately the same age – generations – who share similar experiences in the society
(see Karisto 2005; Häkkinen 2014).
he life courses of successful athletes and artists are often considered ‘exceptional’
(Bain 2005; Piispa & Huhta 2013). Life stories of exceptional individuals generally attract
and interest people. his can be seen in the vast numbers of newspaper and magazine
articles, books and movies on successful people. A large number of diferent beliefs and
myths are related to, for example, elite sports. People are particularly interested in the
elite athletes and in their exceptional, even supernatural skills (Lenk 1976). Cultural
journalism, for its part, has in recent decades changed to the direction of personiication
of art (e.g. Jaakkola 2013; Holmberg 2014). Griselda Pollock (1980) writes in her classic
article Artist mythologies and media that the life of great artists is often interpreted on
the basis of their works and these works of art are seen as undisputable evidence of their
mythical skills and personality.
A very diferent picture is drawn when studying the lives of elite athletes and successful artists, the diferent phases and contexts of life, and factors inluencing them.
his perspective pulls the superhuman or the genius down from his or her stand. his is
the key idea of this publication. Examining the life courses of successful individuals in
two very diferent walks of life opens up a very comprehensive and interesting research
perspective. What are the factors behind the success of those age groups that have spent
at least part of their childhood and adolescence in the inal and culmination phases of
the Finnish welfare state in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Roos 1999) but built their careers in
the new, post-depression and technology-driven information society of the 1990’s, in
the ”Nokia Wunderland” (Hoikkala & Paju 2008, 287; see also Castells 1996)?
Placing the life course in a particular time and place is the key starting point of this
study. In Finland, the leap from rural and agricultural society to a post-industrial, tech12
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
nology and information-driven society took place in the span of a few decades (Relander
1998, 44). he urban generation born and grown up during this relatively short period of
time (Häkkinen 2013, 53) has lived in a very diferent Finland from that of the previous
generations (1971–2000). Agrarian society and its lifestyle is, above all, a story from
the past to these young people. heir context of life has been very diferent; in this case,
a thoroughly changing Finland, a country in a turning point (Hoikkala & Paju 2008;
Salasuo & Hoikkala 2013; Salasuo & Suurpää 2014).
In addition to physical and technological changes in the living environment, the mental
connection to the agrarian lifestyle and its intergenerational continuum have been replaced
by values, attitudes and choices which are learned, read and relected (Häkkinen 2013).
he concept of changing Finland in this study is not only the background assumption
impacting everyday living conditions but also the mindset of change: it’s the land of
individualisation, education, multiple choices, excellence and, consequently, increasing
competition and pressure for success. Great national narratives have been replaced by
small-scale stories, and the foreseeability of life courses of the modern generations clearly
difers from that of the children of ‘old Finland’, and their childhood, adolescence and
adulthood (e.g. Ahonen 1998). Social historian Antti Häkkinen (op. cit., 53) has studied
Finnish family generations from the 18th century to the present time and concludes on
the new urban generation as follows:”the consistent chain of ten generations breaks here.”
his study approaches the lives of elite athletes and top artists from the perspective
of social science traditions. Elite athletes and artists are seen as agents whose actions are
strongly inluenced by the society framework, i.e. time, place and structures. he study
aims for theoretical pragmatism where theories are suiciently modest, in order not to
hide the nature of reality. Precise research questions which establish a perspective into
the analytical chapters of this book, and the dynamic research approach share the same
aim (Kivinen & Piiroinen 2007). he pragmatic approach doesn’t only apply to the way
of writing of this report but it also served as a guideline in collecting and analysing the
research data. Life course analysis and athlete’s career research ofer ways to understand,
interpret and analyse the data. hey also structure the analytical chapters of this study.
he fact that the researchers come from social sciences – sociology, social history
and youth research – i.e. outside the traditional sport and arts research can be regarded
as a strength: a certain outside view and a ‘fresh look’ enable interpretations that are
not much inluenced by previous research in the ield. his can be seen not only in the
analysis but also in the collection of research data: the questions are diferent from those
that would have been asked if the researchers had been equipped with more thorough
prior knowledge – this can be seen in the interview questions as well (see appendix 3).
As for the elite athletes, the research data permits a multi-step analysis, taking into
account factors relating to the growing up, development and everyday life of the athletes.
Along with the general life course analysis several other analyses are made, based on more
sophisticated segmentations. As the analysis progresses, the athletes are divided into three
groups based on their main sports (see also Piispa 2013c): athletes representing team
sports (50), traditional individual sports (35) and lifestyle sports (11). he life stories of
those athletes who have “dropped out” ofer a view into the choices and phases of life
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mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
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that have led to inishing a young and promising career in sport. Gender approach provides information as to how men (61) and women (35) difer in their ways to reach the
elite level in sport. Last but not least, we have 20 multicultural athletes in our research
data. Prior to this project, there has been no research in Finland on multicultural elite
athletes. (see Huhta 2013.)
Elite athleticism, talent, success and the factors explaining them have been studied at
an intensifying pace at the international level in recent decades. he groundwork of this
development may have been the study Developing Talent in Young People by Benjamin
Bloom (1985a) and his research group in 1985. Also the psychologist Anders Ericsson
can be seen as a pioneer in this research angle as he has published, both on his own and
with his colleagues, several studies on top performance in sports, arts and science in the
early 1990’s (Ericsson & Smith 1991; Ericsson et al. 1993; Ericsson 1996a). hese studies
provide a solid research paradigm to elite sports research focusing on the socialization of
athletes, career and its progress, fundamental normative transitions and their timings,
as well as other factors inluencing the development of an athlete.
Career research on Finnish elite athletes, based on the recent international research
trends (e.g. Stambulova & Alfermann 2009; Wylleman & Reints 2010; Stambulova &
Ryba 2014), has not been done before in Finland. Some reports relating to the topic
(e.g. Finni et al. 2012; Kärmeniemi et al. 2012; Kärmeniemi et al. 2013; Lämsä et al.
2014; Mononen et al. 2014) can be found but they do not transmit a proile of today’s
elite athletes, their lives or the milestones of their careers. he searches made in the
article and literature data bases indicate that the amount of academic research in elite
sports decreased signiicantly in the early 1990’s. A few accounts and reports have been
published but they are usually very narrowly deined to deal with very special themes
(Haarma et al. 2010, 5). he 2010 report made by the Research Institute for Olympic
Sports (op. cit., 4) supports the conclusion made on the basis of data base searches:”Still,
research knowledge is typically not produced from the point of view of elite sports, and
the distance between research units and the units focusing on the development of sport
is often big and the interaction between the researchers and the development experts
may be limited.” hese shortcomings partly explain why the development work in the
Finnish sports movement is often based on ‘gut feeling’ and experience whereas research
knowledge is not widely utilised (e.g. Paavolainen 2011; Paavolainen et al. 2013, 35).
his distance between knowledge and actors has, in Finnish elite sports, been named as
the ‘thin stream of knowledge’ (Paavolainen et al. 2013, 8).
Previous international research was thoroughly analysed for the purposes of this
study. Career research of athletes provided an outstanding tool to support the life course
analysis and is the main ‘relection surface’ of this study. In their 2014 review article
Natalia Stambulova and Tatiana Ryba call this research approach the career research of
athletes. According to them, there are three distinct waves in the career research. he
irst wave puts the focus on the athlete’s career and on its normative transitions, on the
general level. In the second wave, national factors gained more emphasis, and in the
third wave the emphasis is put on the cultural and local practices of the elite athlete’s
career. (Stambulova & Ryba 2014.) Stambulova and Ryba (op. cit.) encourage the career
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
researchers of elite athletes to put more focus on cultural and local factors because by
taking these special features into account the practical value of data will considerably
increase. In this study, previous international career research is used as key background
material and as an active discussion partner. he collected interview data and the analysis
thereof is relected and reviewed in the light of international career research, throughout
the entire publication. his creates a framework that provides evidence-based knowledge
on the life courses of the interviewed Finnish elite athletes and also on its relationship
to the results of recent international career research.
he perspective of this study is holistic and national. A holistic approach is a fresh
approach in elite sports research, a paradigm shift which is believed to reach the complex
phenomenon better than before (Stambulova & Ryba 2014). his means that the research
object is the athlete’s entire life and career course as he or she has thought about it, told
about it and described it in the interview (see also Wylleman et al. 2004; Wylleman &
Lavallee 2004; Reints 2011). he new approach emphasizes the importance of social
and societal knowledge as well as psychology (e.g. Stambulova & Ryba 2014). he life
course approach, in particular, has established its position as part of the career research
in elite sports (i.a. Jones et al. 2002; Conzelmann & Nagel 2003; Wylleman & Reints
2010; Debois et al. 2012). he holistic approach implies that elite athleticism can be
studied only by studying those individuals’ lives that really have reached the top. Jean
Côté with his working group (2005, 15–16) notes that it is impossible to anticipate
who will reach mastery and who will not. herefore, the only way to study actual elite
athletes is to study those that have reached the top. Consequently, retrospective interviews
are and will be one of the key methods to gain knowledge on what it requires to reach
the top and stay there. With reference to Patricia Miller and Gretchen Kerr (2002), we
could add that it is important to study athletes in a broader context, as individuals and
persons, not only as athletes.
One of the strengths of the holistic and culturally sensitive research approach is the
placing of the athlete’s career and the fundamental normative transitions related to it
as part of the national culture and the sport system. he approach provides the tools to
optimise that very same sport system in which an athlete’s career, maturation and development take place. (Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010.) he life course and the
athletic maturation of the interviewed athletes have mainly taken place in Finland and
in the Finnish sport system. Hence they have gone through, in one way or another, the
practices (e.g. Hakkarainen et al. 2009) and the resulting normative transitions deined
by the Finnish elite sport system, and its federations and clubs. Normative transitions
(i.a. Wylleman et al. 2004; Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010) include initiation
into instructed sport activities, its development into systematic practice and goal-oriented
competitive sport and, inally, reaching the elite level. he timing of these transitions
varies between diferent national sport systems and diferent sports. Normative transitions
in an elite athlete’s life (e.g. Côté et al. 2007) are of signiicant importance and ordinary
life course transitions (Elder & Giele 2009) often appear subject to them.
As to the artists, the research paradigm is to some extent similar to Elina Jokinen’s
(2010, 54–57) approach: she examines authors ‘in the sociological context whilst empha15
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
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sizing the individual’s perspective, typical to humanistic artist research’ (op. cit., 56–57).
To Jokinen, the sociological context means that ‘it is meaningful to study art as part of
the diferent webs of interaction and not as a phenomenon which is independent of the
surrounding society it’. It is relevant to add that this study heavily draws upon qualitative
data and therefore difers from the so called ‘artist’s status’ studies that are typically built
on register-based data (Rensujef 2014). hose studies and their results are naturally
used as some of the knowledge bases and comparison points of this study because they
provide a lot of information on the Finnish community of artists1. Also, the paradigm
of this study shall not be confused with the so called artistic research (Hannula et al.
2003) originating mainly from humanistic ields and aesthetics.
his study is not restricted to a single social scientiic theory on the art world and
its composition. It can be categorized into the tradition of social scientiic art research
(Karttunen & Rautiainen 2014) but the most important tool for its construction and
its empirical analysis comes from outside the art research; the life course analysis (Giele
& Elder 1998; Kok 2007; Elder & Giele 2009). Various analytical frameworks in the
ield of sociology of arts would be on ofer, including Howard S. Becker’s (2008 [1982])
theory on arts worlds, Pierre Bourdieu’s (1983; 1993; 1996) theory on the ields of art
and Niklas Luhmann’s (2000) systems theory. All these theories as well as many other
theories on the social formation of the arts world (Danto 1964; Dickie 1974; van Maanen
2009) have their own qualities and strengths (see also Piispa 2015b) but, in this study,
individual theories mainly serve as assisting tools and means for conceptualization (i.a.
Kivinen & Piiroinen 2007). he study approach is empirical.
Also, Erkki Sevänen’s (1998) historical-sociological model drawing upon Luhmann’s
systems theory ofers a concrete interface: it stresses the historical development of the
art system and its connection to time and place, and interprets art as one of the part
systems in society. As Sevänen’s (op. cit.) writing indicates, the systems theory approach
puts forward, among others, the role of public authorities in the development of art and
its resources. Such perspective tallies well with the life course analysis which emphasizes
historicity and accumulation.2
Artists were not only recruited as comparison material for athletes although the
possibility to compare the two groups had naturally crossed the researchers’ minds and
some comparison obviously is made on the pages of this book. he artists’ interviews
were put together as a data set of its own. One of the selection criteria was the receiving
of a national or an international award or recognition. In addition, we tried to reach
those artists whose works have been widely on display in recent years. Another central
criterion was to reach young artists in many diferent ields of art.
1
2
According to Kaija Rensujef (2014, 16):”There might not be another country in the world beside
Finland where the working condiions, income formaion and support policy of arists has been
so regularly and systemaically studied.”
When not a single sociological art theory is referred to, we usually mean the same social context of
the world of art (in Finland) when talking about the art world, the ield of art and the art system.
When we mean a certain theory, it becomes clear in the context and in the references (e.g. the
ield of art; Bourdieu 1993).
16
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
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In the beginning of the study, the research object was not strictly deined as artists.
Instead, we referred more broadly to, for instance, young people that have been successful in cultural ields. In the daily discussions and meetings of the research group we
discussed whether deinitions such as ‘experts in cultural ields’ or ‘the core group of
the creative economy’ were too ambiguous (see Florida 2002; Metsä-Tokila 2013). We
also considered the usefulness of concepts such as ‘the key group in cultural production’ (cf. Karttunen 2002) or ‘the makers in the core ields of the cultural industry’ (cf.
Kainulainen 2004, 176). hese may be precise by deinition but, on the other hand,
unnecessarily complicated.
As a result of the discussions, all the interviewed persons were deined as artists. his
was despite that fact that, for example in the ield of design, the interviewed persons
typically had managerial instead of designer roles, actors see themselves often as employees rather than independent artists and authors sometimes emphasize being most
of all ‘ordinary workers’ and not artists (see Houni 2000, 131–133). In any case, even
those interviewees who didn’t identify themselves primarily as artists ended up in the
research data as a result of their artistic skills and achievements. Secondly, all interviewees
had either graduated from an art school and/or they had been awarded a prize in their
own artistic ield. In addition, all were active in the art forms listed by the Arts council
of Finland (see Karttunen 2004, 25; Rensujef 2005; Mertanen 2012). And as Kaija
Rensujef (2014, 21) writes:”[…] the status granted by an institution doesn’t depend
on that individual’s experience. It’s rather the fact that there are diferent perceptions as
to what an ‘artist’ entails, as a concept and as an occupation.”
A lot of Finnish artist research has been done and the results have become a part of the
Finnish cultural policy (of the welfare state). As to biographical research on the artists, Pia
Houni (2000) has studied actor identity and Pirre Pauliina Maijala (2003) top musicians,
among others. Vappu Lepistö’s (1991) and Terhi Aaltonen’s (2010) interview data on visual artists can also be classiied as biographical material although these researchers do not
locate themselves in the research traditions of biographical research or life course analysis
(cf. Haavikko & Sala 1987; Jännes 1998; Jokinen 2010). Relevant observations from previous studies, pertinent to this study, include the review model for vocational development
(Tuhkanen 1988, 23) and the talent model (Gagné 2004; see also Uusikylä 2012, 83–84)
which could easily be placed in the broader framework of the life course analysis.
his is not a guide book on how to become an elite athlete or a successful artist, in
detail or in general. Instead, this book examines how a group of young Finnish people
have become elite athletes and successful artists, and been socialized into athleticism and
artisthood, respectively. At the same time, we analyse what it means to be an athlete or an
artist in the 21st century Finland. It is about in what kind of Finland and in what kind of
societal circumstances the life courses of the elite athletes and the successful artists have
been accomplished. By answering these questions we can sketch a growth story and an
ethos which may otherwise be biased by long-established, persistent assumptions. he
new data helps us to draw a picture of the elite athletes and the top artists of the 21st
century. In order to support and enhance their careers we need to rely on present day
realities instead of long gone myths.
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mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
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INTERVIEW DATA
Research data has been collected by the method of narrative life story interviews (Hoikkala 1999; Atkinson 2002). he life story interview traditionally begins with an open
question to which the interviewee is expected to answer in his or her own words. As the
research setting focused on how the respondents had reached the top and become top
performers in their own ields, the typical opening question was:”please tell your life
story as an athlete/artist”. In this way, the interviewee could tell his or her life story to
the extent and precision he or she found comfortable. After the irst answer, as uninterrupted as possible, the interviewer asked questions on those topics that required precision
or which had not been answered at the outset.
In the more detailed questions, the discussion went back to childhood and the central
themes in the life story were discussed in more detail. In addition, questions were asked
on those topics that were not brought up when telling the life story. By asking these more
detailed questions, features of a traditional semi-structured interview were brought in.
he interviewers aimed at repeating the same questions with each interviewee, to ensure
comparability of data in fundamental themes (see appendices 3 and 4).
he interviewed athletes were very young, from the perspective of the life story
research. hey were, on average, nearly ten years younger than the interviewed artists
so they lived their lives more in the present and hadn’t really stopped to structure it to
a coherent story (e.g. Reese et al. 2010). Some of the athletes asked the interviewer to
proceed directly to the more speciic questions because they felt they could not get their
life story going, for some reason or another. he life lived and experienced didn’t yet take
shape as a clear and structured story. Being an athlete is still an ongoing phase in their
lives and many had just recently reached the top level in sports. Relecting one’s own
life as an elite athlete was still something new. Still, being an athlete is a strong identity
(e.g. Heikkala & Vuolle 1990); as a result, many elite athletes had thought about their
lives as athletes and how they became top performers in sport. his became evident in
the more speciic questions after the more general opening question. Still, the athletes’
interviews stayed, for the most part, strictly in the themes of sport.
he artists, in turn, often need to think about their lives and the diferent stages of
life, as they are, in one way or another, also the ‘raw material’ of their work. hey are used
to talk about themselves. In the artists’ interviews we could see that they had structured
their life courses precisely through their work as artists. he important turning points
in life, certain points of time and events, for example, were often relected from that
particular perspective of being an artist. he interviewed artists primarily took the role
of a reminiscer but when addressing abstract and general themes related to arts, instead
of their own lives, they changed their role to an informant, for that moment. he main
way of telling the story was, however, the self-biographic discourse. (See Merrill & West
2009.) he artists’ more advanced age and accrued experiences were seen in the structure
of the individual interviews in the research data: the younger interviewees were more
inclined to use the present tense whereas the older ones preferred the past tense. Most
elite athletes reported on their lives in the present tense.
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he method of collecting and interpreting the research data is, in addition to the
life story interview method, also close to the methods of oral history research. hese
two traditions are similar in many ways and the researchers’ diferent academic backgrounds3 lead to somewhat diferent ways of reading the data. We write about life story
interviews but our ways to analyse and use the research data, and the thematic realization of the interviews would also it into the oral history memory research approach.
(Roberts 2002, 95–97; Portelli 2006.) he interview data collected by the methods of
life story interviews includes information on the athletes’ lives which is remembered,
experienced and deined as meaningful. Maike Reimer and Britta Matthes (2007) have
reviewed self-biographic memories from the perspective of the life course research and
write: “hey are not aimed at representing reality as accurately as possible, but at making
sense of the past in the light of the present and at creating biographical meaning and
identity”. Remembering is always related to the ongoing situation in life. In this study,
the interviews of the athletes and the artists are interpreted and analysed as insights into
their individual lives and careers, produced by their life situations at the time of the
interview. (I.a. Cohler & Hostetler 2004.) he interview answers describe the cultural
webs of signiicance that the athletes know and that are of particular importance to them
and in which their worlds of signiicance have been constructed (Geertz 1973; Giddens
1979; Giele & Elder 1998, 9).
An individual’s memory is not a tape recorder which would record the course of events
as they have actually taken place. his is why oral accounts never produce completely
objective information but are always imperfect to some extent. his imprecision and
subjectivity applies to each individual’s way of seeing, understanding and structuring
one’s own past. (Portelli 2006.) he strength of this research data is that we can receive
information as to the meaning of the events experienced by the athlete or the artist. As an
example, the comprehensive childhood accounts of the data open up a unique insight into
one of the key themes in the career research of athletes, the socialization into sports and
the respective family practices (e.g. Carlson 1988; Burnett 2005; Wylleman et al. 2006;
Appleton et al. 2011; Kraaykamp et al. 2012; Schubring & hiel 2014). By analysing
these childhood memories, we can produce fresh insights into the origins of becoming
an artist or an athlete and expose some of the previously unknown socialization processes
and related practices, in the Finnish context (see also Portelli 2006).
Diferent ways of collecting data have been used in international research on the maturation, development, socialization and career of elite athletes. he interview method has
been criticized for producing imprecise information on details and only a little quantiiable information (Côté et al. 2005). hese deiciencies of the interview method become
evident when trying to use the athlete’s memory as a source of factual and quantiiable
information, such as the amount of hours of practice. (Côté et al. 2005; Reimer &
Matthes 2007.) Despite methodological challenges, interview data has successfully been
used in studies on the careers of elite athletes (Côté et al. 2005). he well-known name
3
Mikko Piispa and Helena Huhta are sociologists and Mikko Salasuo is an economic and social historian.
19
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
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in the career research of elite athletes, Jean Côté and his research team (op. cit.) regard
the interview method as the best one to study elite athletes. his research method allows
us to get a hold of the life courses of those athletes that have overcome all the obstacles
and actually reached the top.
Athletes
For the purposes of this study, 96 athletes were interviewed. In the analysis, 78 of them
have been classiied as elite athletes and 18 as dropout athletes. he latter were promising
athletes in their respective sports and age groups but, for one reason or another, inished
their careers in sport. here are 61 men and 35 women in the research data and 49 men
and 29 women in the group of the elite athletes. he research data includes more men
than women, mainly due to the fact that the project focuses on elite sports and success.
In the Finnish elite sports, especially on the international elite level, there are relatively
more men than women (Lämsä 2014) and this is also relected in the research data. In
a wider context, this has to do with masculinity of elite sports and greater visibility of
male athletes (e.g. Kay 2003).
According to the basic idea of the research project, we aimed at interviewing young
elite athletes. heir life course is located in the changing Finnish society of the late
1990’s and early 21st century. It has clearly inluenced their growth and development
towards an elite athlete. In the research data, the average age of the athletes was 25 years
and 6 months. he youngest interviewed athlete was 15 and the oldest was 42. Some
of the athletes were older, simply because in some sports the elite level is reached much
later than usually in elite sports (see also Ericsson 1996b, 9). he clear majority of the
interviewed athletes were younger than 30 years of age.
he athletes in the study represent 45 diferent sports4. here may not be many
countries in the world where such a heterogeneous and large group of athletes could be
interviewed for the purposes of one study. Among the interviewees, there are medalists and
gold medalists of the Olympics, World Championships and European Championships,
top professional athletes in diferent sports, Nordic champions, Finnish champions
and several athletes representing the national teams in diferent sports. Listing all the
achievements of the interviewed athletes would be too time-consuming and would not
serve the purpose of this study.
he starting point was to cover the spectrum of the Finnish elite sports as comprehensively as possible. he aim was to recruit athletes who had reached the elite level
4
45 is a igure that requires further clariicaion. Many athletes were acive in several sports at the
elite level. Thus the most important classiicaion criterion in our categorizaion was the sport where
the athlete had been most successful at the ime of the interview. In addiion, track and ield has
been deined as a single sport as, for example, dividing diferent running distances into diferent
sport categories would have required addiional deiniions. The wide range of diferent sports in
track and ield has, however, been taken into account in appendix 1 where the interviewed athletes
with their (main) sports are listed.
20
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
in their respective sports or, alternatively, were very close to it. Our expectations were
exceeded as we could reach, with a very few exceptions, young athletes who had reached
the national or international elite level in their sports. he best athletes in team sports
were more diicult to deine so we consulted the national sport federations in this issue.
he federations interpreted our request in somewhat diferent ways but we were able to
reach key players of the national teams, professionals playing abroad, best players in the
national leagues and the most promising young athletes in their respective sports. In
lifestyle sports, the biggest challenge was to ind those sports which are played in Finland
at all. One of the criteria was that the sport must be organised in some way, either in a
sport federation or under an umbrella organisation. Due to diferent recruitment channels, the inal research data is a very heterogeneous sample of the Finnish elite athletes
which corresponds the broad spectrum of athletes on the elite level of Finnish sports.
Soccer was chosen as a single sport in which interviewees were recruited equally
among the elite athletes, the dropouts and the multicultural athletes. Consequently, soccer
is overrepresented in the research data (25 interviewees). Basketball is also somewhat
overrepresented which was mainly due to the possibility to reach a large number of
multicultural athletes in it. he amount of soccer and basketball players naturally leads
to an overrepresentation of ball game team sports; exactly half of the athletes in the study
represent these sports. We try to take this into consideration as the analysis progresses
and we shall emphasize that this in no way is a judgement of diferent sports or their
order of importance.
he research data was also categorized on the basis of diferent sport types. his is
justiied as the diferences are clear and the categorization facilitated the structuring of
the analysis. he athletes were deined as team sport athletes (50), traditional individual
sport athletes (35) and lifestyle sport athletes (11). Of the athletes deined as elite athletes, 38 represented team sports, 31 traditional individual sports and 9 lifestyle sports.
Team sport athletes include team ball game players (48) and skaters of synchronized
skating (2). We are aware that there is a strong team sport aspect in some lifestyle sports
– breakdance is a typical example of this. Yet in this study, they are not classiied as
team sports because their characteristics difer so much from ‘traditional’ team sports.
Traditionality here refers to established sport institutions and competition systems.
Deinition problems arise also with some ball games, whether they are individual or
team sports. In badminton, for instance, the players also play doubles. herefore, the
categorization in this study is also empirical, i.e. based on the athletes’ own experiences.
Synchronized skating is clearly a team sport but it also difers greatly from other team
sports of this study. Firstly, other sports are ball games – also ice hockey is categorized
as a ball game despite the shape of the puck. As we will see throughout the analysis of
this study, team ball game players constitute a kind of ‘tribe’ that moves lexibly between
diferent team sports. Against this background, skaters in synchronized skating clearly
represent a diferent type of team sports in the larger context of team sports. Synchronized
skating, together with igure skating and artistic gymnastics, are also typically regarded
as early specialization sports (e.g. Baker 2003) or as ‘aesthetic sports’. here are relatively
few representatives of early specialization sports (5, out of which 1 is a dropout) in
21
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
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the research data of this study and therefore they are not classiied as a separate group.
Instead, they are analysed along with the athletes of team sports or individual sports,
whatever suits their sport better. Special features of the athletes in early specialization
sports are discussed in the excursion in chapter 5. hese sports are also separately taken
into account whenever needed.
Despite certain demarcation problems it’s easy and almost intuitive to distinguish
between traditional individual sports and team sports. However, their diference from
lifestyle sports requires further deinition. he distinction between traditionality and
alternativity provides a useful diferentiation tool: traditional sports include established
Olympic sports or other sports with well-established competition traditions. he traditionality of these sports stems from their long history (Kanerva & Tikander 2012)
and from their logic which is subordinate to competition culture and institutions of
sport (Heinilä 1998, 147–165). Once again, the empirical approach, i.e. the personal
experiences of the interviewed athletes, serves as an important guideline in the analysis.
hese experiences have been decisive in some nebulous cases.
Many of the traditional individual sports can also be deined as ‘CGS sports’ (Moesch
et al. 2011) where results are measured in centimetres, grammes and seconds. Karin
Moesch et al. (op. cit.) conclude that physical skills and capabilities are fundamental in
these sports whereas technical and tactical factors are secondary. Running sports are a
classic example.
Furthermore, many traditional individual sports can be categorized as HIS, high
intensity sports. According to Wylleman and Reints (2010) high intensity sports require
long-term and intensive training. heir competition performance is short but very
demanding, both mentally and physically5. Wylleman’s and Reint’s (op. cit.) research
data consists of judokas – martial arts which cannot indisputably be categorized as CGS
sports typically are HIS sports. In the strict sense, approximately half of the traditional
individual sports athletes in this study represented high intensity sports. In general, CGS
(Moesch et al. 2011) and HIS (Wylleman & Reints 2010) deinitions easily cover all
traditional individual sports.
Lifestyle sports need more deinition. hey have also been deined as alternative
sports, extreme sports and youth culture sports (Wheaton 2004; Tomlinson et al. 2005).
he use of several terms indicate that deinition and categorization of lifestyle sports is
not easy. Robert Rinehart’s (2000) deinition provides a good basis: lifestyle sports are
sports that either ideologically or in practice ofer alternatives to mainstream sports and
the values they represent. Rinehart (op. cit.) refers to ‘alternative sports’ and, in a certain
way, alternativity is at the heart of these sports. Most of all, they provide an alternative
to competition – in most of these sports one can be a recognized a legend without ever
taking part in a competition. Sense of community, new experiences and simply ‘doing
it’ are more important values than competition and the pursuit of victory.
5
“HIS are characterized by (very) high impact intensity and coninuous power output with no recess
during a period of 1–8 min, and require intensive training programs combining high volumes of
training with sessions of high-intensity and the development of technical skills.”
22
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
In this study, the concept of lifestyle sports is used instead of other options. his
term is also widely used in research. In the introduction of Understanding lifestyle sports,
edited by Belinda Wheaton (2004, 4), the editor points out that the athletes themselves
use this term. his was evident also in the interviews conducted for this study, so the
choice was clear. he deinition ‘lifestyle sport’ also indicates that there’s more to it than
‘just sport’; it’s a lifestyle. he deining elements are not only related to sports but also to
social life, experiences, style and travel. Wheaton (op. cit.) deines these sports as having
more to do with ‘doing it’ and ‘participation’ instead of success. Or, following Henning
Eichberg (2004), lifestyle sports are the ‘third’ or the ‘joker’ in sport. hey reject the
hegemonic ideology of competition and performance in sport and bring drama, play and
the spirit of Gemeinschaft onto the sport courts (Tönnies 1988 [1887]; see also Willing
et al. 2016). Norbert Elias and Eric Dunning (1986) have deined sport in a classical
way as a ‘quest for excitement’. A group-based quest for excitement strongly deines the
culture of lifestyle sports. Lifestyle sports are, by deinition, much more spontaneous
than traditional sports and therefore have the potential to get young people moving in
novel ways (see Tomlinson et al. 2005).
As to the dropout athletes, nine sports were represented and soccer was overrepresented. his was the researchers’ deliberate choice. In order to understand the mechanisms
of inishing one’s career in sports, the research data has to have an adequate degree of
coherence, in order to be able to identify the explaining factors in the life course, and to
compare them to those athletes who have reached the top. Soccer players form a micro
data which facilitates comparison. hat explains why there is an equal number of them
among the dropouts, the multicultural athletes and there’s an equal number of male
and female soccer players in the research data. As to the dropouts group in general, the
numbers of men and women and multicultural athletes are fairly equal. 12 of them
represent team sports, 4 traditional individual sports and 2 lifestyle sports.
Reaching multicultural athletes was an important dimension in the recruitment
of athletes (see Huhta 2013). here are 20 of them in the research data. Multicultural
athletes mean immigrant athletes, second generation immigrant athletes, athletes whose
other parent are a native Finn, and adopted athletes whose parents are native Finns. (Op.
cit.) Until now, elite athleticism of this group has never been studied in Finland (see,
however, Huhta 2013) even though the ethnic homogeneity of Finnish elite sports has
declined quickly in recent decades. In the early 2000s, multiculturalism in the Finnish
elite sports has become very common and in many sports – in soccer, for instance –
multicultural athletes are well represented. Multicultural athletes are part of the entire
research data but they are also discussed in a separate chapter. his group includes both
elite athletes (14) and dropouts (6).
Artists
Our aim was to reach 30 artists for interviews. We contacted 39 individuals, three of them
were not available and seven didn’t respond. he inal research data consists of 29 artist
23
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
interviews. At the time of the interview, the youngest artist was 19 and the oldest 42.
he average age was approximately 33.5 years and the median age 34 years. he artists’
careers typically start much slower than those of the athletes. As Mikko Piispa (2013d,
152) wrote in his article in the irst publication of this research project: ”Being an artist doesn’t follow your body clock because cultivating mind, thoughts and ideas takes
time”. he birth years of the interviewed artists were very equally distributed on the
years between 1969 and 1983, with the exception of two young top artists in classical
music born in 1989 and 1993.
When collecting the data, the research data and the success level of the interviewees
were indirectly deined by the ‘gatekeepers’ of art and culture because art awards and
recognitions were one of the selection criteria, among others. According to Sari Karttunen
(2002, 44), this approach is an attractive, ‘objective’ deinition tool for social scientists
coming from outside the ield of art research. On the other hand, it seems more neutral
than it actually is.
In this study, artisthood is not only deined by register classiications or gatekeepers
but also on the basis of the research data. Firstly, already when conducting the interviews, the ‘artistic nature’ of the research object was underlined and this conclusion
became only stronger and more saturated as the analysis progressed. In addition, to
support the interpretation of the research data, two social scientiic approaches can be
used. In Howard S. Becker’s (2008 [1982] theory on the art world a work of art is the
sum of uncountable social links yet each work has its unique ‘originator’. With this interpretation, the interviewees represent these originators who can also be seen as artists
to distinguish them from, for instance, critics and dealers of the art world. Secondly,
in Pierre Bourdieu’s (1996, 141–173) theory of ields, the key feature deining the art
world is charismatic economy, meaning that the most important capitals in the ield are
symbolic, not economic. According to this theory (op. cit.), recognition achieved by
hard work is seen more valuable than material success. he artists interviewed for this
study almost unanimously shared these values so they can be seen as representatives of
artistically oriented ields.
When deining the interviewees as artists we unavoidably and indirectly speak out as
to what is art and what is not6 – whether we want it or not. In this respect it’s important
to emphasize that in this study and in its origins, art is understood without any judging
in any way. In this way we want to be open for, for instance, the interpretation of Dewey
which emphasizes art as an experience (Dewey 1958 [1934]; van Maanen 2009). We
try not to deine what good art is or intentionally distinguish between ‘high brow’ and
‘low brow’ art or culture (see e.g. Shusterman 1997, 93–132). he heterogeneity of the
artists interviewed to this study is one manifestation of this.
he range of the artists is very broad: there are 11 representatives of visual arts in the
data. his broad group includes painters, graphic artists and sculptors. Four interviewees
6
Sari Kartunen (1988, 15) pointed out aptly already nearly 30 years ago that ”it might be more
appropriate to deine art as something made by an Arist than to deine an arist as someone who
makes Art”.
24
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
are comic artists. Six of the interviewees work full-time with music; three of them with
classical music, two with pop music and one with game music. here are two of each
of actors, authors, directors and fashion designers. Deinition of the main ield of art
was arbitrary and to some extent irrelevant with many interviewees as many of them
work in diferent ields at the same time. hese classiications were necessary, however,
in order to have representation from several ields of art even though some ields were
left out altogether.
Despite their young age many of the artists in the research data are well merited and
well-established in the world of arts. According to Vappu Lepistö’s deinition (1991,
27) they belong to the principal area of arts as they are ”in diferent ways merited and
oriented, and not only nationally but also internationally”. hey belong to the group
that Derek Layder (1984) calls ‘the elite’ when referring to actors. he interviewed artists also fulil the deinition of successful artists by Helena Erkkilä and Marja Vesanen
(1989, 41–45) because they are not only uncompromising in making their art but they
also make a living from it.
EXPLORING THE PHASES AND THE CHOICES OF THE LIFE COURSE
Life course research is a multidisciplinary approach that has gained in popularity in the
late 1990’s and early 2000s (e.g. Elder et al. 2004; Elder & Giele 2009). At present,
its possibilities are used in both qualitative and quantitative research. In this study, the
research data is analysed by qualitative methods derived from the tradition of the life
course research. he research method is called the life course analysis (see Häkkinen et al.
2013; Piispa & Salasuo 2014; Salasuo & Piispa & Huhta 2015). In its analysis framework
the vertical life history of the interviewees and the horizontal turning points – whether
they relate to the interviewees own life or to the surrounding society – intersect (e.g.
McLeod & Almazan 2004). he analysis framework is a tool through which the life
story interviews of the athletes and the artists are interpreted, viewed and analysed. his
framework has, during the course of development of the life course research method
(Giele & Elder 1998; Mortimer & Shanahan 2004; Elder & Giele 2009), been recapped
to ive principles or axioms to trace and reconstruct the psychological, social, cultural
and structural factors in an individual’s life. he life story interviews were placed on the
‘operating table’ of the researchers and analysed with the help of the ive principles of
the analysis framework.
he irst principle of the life course analysis is the cumulative nature of human life (i.a.
Elder & Giele 2009) meaning that everything that has taken place also has an impact on
the present and on the future. his principle is obvious in the lives of both athletes and
artists and is an actual prerequisite for reaching the top. Diferent choices and turning
points in life have opened up certain opportunities and futures while excluding others.
he present has an impact on the past as a way to assess and structure one’s own life
course and to give meanings to earlier events (Cohler & Hostetler 2004).
he second principle in the life course analysis is the meaning of social networks. Family,
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mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
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relatives, friends and acquaintances build up diferent networks in everyone’s life. hese
networks allow us, in an intergenerational way, to meet the past with its values and attitudes, and to construct with peers a fresh relationship to the past, present and future
(see Mannheim 1952 [1928]). he family is the most important arena of interaction
between diferent generations. he capitals (Coleman 1988) and the habitus (Bourdieu
1986; Wheeler 2012) passed on intergenerationally and their impacts on being an artist
or an athlete are particularly interesting from the point of view of this study. In addition, siblings, acquaintances, friends and other agents are the social factors that strongly
deine the life course of an elite athlete or a successful artist. At the crossroads of the
biological generation of the family and the social generation of the peers, individuals
socialize themselves into sport and culture in diferent ways, they embrace capitals and
create perceptions of self and of their place in the surrounding world and construct a
relationship to the society and its structures (see Berger & Luckmann 1994 [1966],
147–166). An individual is an active agent in his or her social networks. his interaction
creates meanings and every individual contributes to the network and the network has
an impact on every individual (see Giele & Elder 1998; Elder & Giele 2009; Häkkinen
2012; Häkkinen et al. 2013; Piispa & Salasuo 2014; Salasuo & Piispa & Huhta 2015).
According to the third principle of the life course analysis, each individual is born
to a certain historical time and place. In this case, the time is the end of the 20th century
and the beginning of a new one. he place is Finland, struggling to preserve its welfare
state model when entering into the information age and the post-industrial economic
system. In this rapidly changing Finland sport enthusiasts yearn for the past, for the
glory days of elite sports and the feeling of pride they gave to the national identity (see
Kokkonen 2008, 317–320). In the Finnish cultural policy, instead, the so called third
phase dominates (Alasuutari 1996; Jokinen 2010). We can call it the age of competitive economy or, should a more precise deinition be needed and taking into account
the broader development in the society, the age of diversity of art or the age of market
individualism (cf. Paakkunainen 2007, 51).
According to the fourth principle (i.a. Elder & Giele 2009) people actively strive
to steer their lives, within the existing possibilities. his axiom, called the principle of
agency in the ield of the life course research, suggests that people intentionally plan and
execute actions and practices in their lives. In this way, the socially constructed webs of
signiicance and acquired capitals and competences, and the awareness of opportunities
shape the individual’s goals and targets, aspirations, desires and interests. he motive and
goal of these short-term or longer term plans may well be the aspiration of the ‘good life’
(Häkkinen 2016) deined on the basis of one’s own webs of signiicance and in certain
historical time and location.
If the principle of agency appears powerful and special, the same applies to the ifth
and last principle of the life course analysis: transitions. he life course consists of phases
in life and transitions between them. he individual’s position changes along with the
transitions which has an impact on the individual but also on other people. In recent
decades there has been discussion on the decreasing signiicance of transitions and on
how they’ve become more asynchronized and diversiied. In addition, many believe that
26
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
individual choices have gained in signiicance whereas the foreseeability and linearity of
diferent choices have diminished. (Field 2010.)
On the contrary, this development cannot be seen in elite sports. In elite sports, an
athlete reaches the top at approximately age 20 and the career will be inished at approximately age 30 (i.a. Ericsson 1996b, 9). As a result, normative transitions strongly
deine the life course of an athlete (Wylleman & Reints 2010). hese steps to the top
are deined by the national or sport-speciic sport system and they need to be taken in a
predeined order, one step in every few years. Development to an elite athlete takes place
in a very short time frame hence there is no time for hesitation. he transitions have to
follow one another in the order deined by the national or sport-speciic ‘timetable’. If
not, the athlete will be late and the next step disappears – and the athlete’s manuscript
is cut short.
Transitions materialize only if the child, the teenager and later the young adult
wants to proceed towards elite athleticism. hus, the agency and the transitions are
intertwined in an athlete’s life. On one hand, an aspiring athlete striving to the top goes
through normative transitions and, on the other hand, to realize these transitions the
athlete’s agency has to be very engaged and determined. In this way, the life courses of
elite athletes difer from those of the successful artists (Piispa & Salasuo 2014). Time is
short and reaching the goals of an athlete agent requires stability and certainty as well as
exceptional symmetry and linearity in life. he transitions deined by the sport institution have to be passed, otherwise the elite level will not be achieved.
he analytical approach in this study is very much based on the research data. he life
course analysis provided a framework in which the interviews were analysed by using the
method of grounded theory (i.a. Glaser & Strauss 1967). In practice, this meant a codingcentred analysis where grounded theory was used as a methodological and assisting tool.
his guaranteed a coherent logic in the analysis which enabled the systematic joint use of
the research data and allowed the researchers to compare their observations. (see Salasuo
& Piispa 2012, 39–41). he ATLAS.ti programme¸ an analytical tool for qualitative
data, was used for the management of the interview data. With ATLAS.ti (from now on
Atlas), Mikko Piispa conducted a ‘raw coding’ of data as he went through all interviews
by using the same codes. In this way, uniform codes were given to passages where, for
example, parents, training and motivational factors, among others, were mentioned. In
addition, Mikko Piispa wrote a short summary of approximately 1000 characters on
each interview. his raw coding and the summaries provided a solid basis for the interim
report of this study (Piispa 2013c) and Helena Huhta used them and reined the coding
further in her analysis of multicultural athletes (Huhta 2013). he raw coding and the
summaries also provided a strong basis and an essential tool to the study at hand. It needs
to be emphasized that without this meticulous raw coding, further management of the
very extensive interview data would have been much more challenging.
As the analysis progressed Mikko Salasuo and Mikko Piispa continued their independent coding of the data with the help of the Atlas – yet not forgetting an on-going
dialogue on the relevance of their observations and codings (Strauss & Corbin 1990).
Now, the research data was typiied in a more detailed manner. he research data was
27
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
also analysed, with the help of the Atlas, in the light of the life course axioms described
earlier. By virtue of this selective coding the researchers could locate individual themes –
such as family capitals and transitions – in the research data. Sometimes certain existing
theoretical divisions – such as the physical activity relationship (Koski 2004) and the
idea of intergenerational transmission derived from them – served as a basis for coding.
With the help of the Atlas codes, Mikko Salasuo built an in-depth Excel observation
matrix on the athlete part of the data. his matrix included information on each athlete’s
main sport, age, age of entry into sports, number of practised sports, whether the athlete
had reached the top or had discontinued his or her career, what the parents’ background
in sports was and so on. Every athlete was described with the help of 32 variables. It
was easy to analyse the diferent elements of the entire data by using the ilters in the
matrix, for example, to study the number of practised sports of the dropout athletes. It
also provided an easy method to quantify the data – one could, for instance, easily check
how many elite athletes had siblings who were also active in sports.
Still, even the best of programmes do not conduct the analysis for the researchers.
One important result of the Atlas coding is a very thorough and detailed analysis of the
data it ofers – in addition to coding the data it also provides a framework for a thorough
reading of the data. Atlas and Excel are, however, mainly tools with which to manage
the extensive research data better. hey provide a tool to return to the research data and
to its thematization also at the end of the research project when more than three years
had passed from the irst interviews. his is important as it is unavoidable that within
this timeframe the researcher’s memories on the interviews begin to be selective. With
Atlas, the researcher can return to the research data in a thematic manner and, in this
way, avoid returning to those interviews that he remembers best – maybe because he did
them by himself. At the same time, individual interviews remain alive in the researchers’
minds and their large text volumes never become an unmanageable ‘bulk’.
Despite the IT tools it is sometimes useful to review the data on paper. Atlas printouts
of interview extracts and themes helped us especially in those phases of re-reading when
we were looking for, for example, descriptive quotes or recurring themes. Reviewing the
data in a more physical form, i.e. on paper, may sometimes be more suitable especially
when taking into account the restrictions of human thinking. Sometimes it was also
necessary to return to the original interview recordings to better recall the moods, intonations and tones of the interviews. he aim as regards the presentation of analysis results
is to generate culturally thick and theoretically conscious description on the experiences
and interpretations of being an artist or an athlete (Geertz 1973).
he study has been conducted using good scientiic practices and evaluated ethical
aspects throughout the process. We have familiarised ourselves with Finnish guidelines
and pledges to uphold these guidelines (www.tenk.i). Ethical questions were considered
extremely important in this study especially because many informants are well-known
athletes and artists. All the interviewees gave their permission to publish their names in
the publications of the project (see appendices 1 and 2). However, the quotes used are
anonymous and, when necessary, anonymised. In cases where the interviewee could be
identiied from a quote used, the interviewee has been asked for permission. (For more
28
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
details on the research ethics, see Piispa & Salasuo 2014, 22, 182–185; Salasuo, Piispa
& Huhta 2015, 38–39.)
***
Analytical chapters follow the introductory chapter. hey have been divided into four
main parts. hese chapters have originally been written in Finnish and published in the
peer reviewed publications Taiteilijan elämänkulku (he Life Course of an Artist) (Piispa
& Salasuo 2014) and Huippu-urheilijan elämänkulku (he Life Course of an Elite Athlete)
(Salasuo, Piispa & Huhta 2015). hey have been explicitly translated for this publication
and their contents have been edited only to the extent necessary, for example, by revising
the internal text references and the numbering of tables.
In the irst part, we discuss the importance of social networks to the growing up of
the athletes and the artists. In both groups, the signiicance of the family rises above
everything else. he capitals acquired in childhood, from home, school and peers are the
beginning of that cumulative process which leads to an individual’s development to a
successful athlete or artist. ‘he family table’ is the metaphor to that place where adults –
steered by their parenting principles – pass on their values and routines to their children.
In the second part, the research data is relected against the backdrop of that cultural
and social landscape where the athletes and the artists have grown up. he idea of young
people as generations whose living conditions are connected to a certain time and place
plays a central role here. hese circumstances have had a varying impact on the conditions of growing up and to become an athlete or an artist. hus both athletes and artists
are the ‘children of their time’ even though they’ve grown up in diferent ways, steered
by very diferent orientations.
In the third part we focus on the transitions in the lives of the athletes and the artists,
and on the meanings of their own agency. Again, we see that these aspects have very
diferent meanings in the life courses of the artists and the athletes. As to the athletes,
agency and transitions are intertwined and the construction of the institutional structures of sport has a signiicant meaning. he artists’ growth is more uncontrolled and
easygoing although the role of, for instance, education is important and the ‘hard facts’
of professional life have to be faced sooner or later.
In the fourth part we look into the micro data sets within the elite athlete interviews:
the dropouts and the multicultural athletes. We notice that the decision to inish one’s
career in sports must be understood as part of the entire life course. It is not only a question whether things are done ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in sports – although this also matters. In
any case, being an elite athlete is a very delicate equation and its symmetry is constantly
under threat. he analysis of the interviews of the multicultural athletes brings up certain
challenges and opportunities of that particular group, including racism.
he summary chapter comes last. It draws together the diferent notions of this study and
compares the observations that resulted from the analysis. Lastly, we discuss what we have
learned during the research process and provide direction for future research endeavours.
29
I Family and social networks
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
1 Sport and exercise
in the athletes’ childhood
In the research literature on family life (i.a. Cheal 2002, 12; Morgan 2011a, 9–11;
Morgan 2011b), the concept of family practice refers to those repeating and distinctive
daily routines, patterns, habits and activities that deine a certain group of people as a
family and distinguish it from other families. Family practices (Morgan 2011b) include
physical activities as well as values, attitudes, knowledge and thoughts about life (see
Häkkinen et al. 2013; Jokinen 2014). It’s an on-going process, shaped by the actions of
family members, and where the children socialize themselves and build their identities.
In the family practices, knowledge, skills and traditions are passed on, from one generation to another. hese are negotiated between the diferent generations which generates
continuity, interruptions and reshaping (Bengtson et al. 2002, 134–154; Bertaux &
hompson 2007, 1). In the Finnish social science research, the term family capital (i.a.
Häkkinen et al. 2013; Piispa & Salasuo 2014) has been used for the same mechanism. In
the context of international family research, this term is often connected to quantitative
research with variables such as economic status, education level and other quantiiable
variables (e.g. Marjoribanks 1998). In this publication, both family practices and family
capital are used meaning not only the micro level, qualitative practices of socialization
but also the linked life courses of a family generation (see Moen & Hernandez 2009).
Family7 is still important, if not the most important institution, where children learn
thinking patterns, values, attitudes and practices. Some academics suggest that the signiicance of intangible capital passed on from parents to children has diminished in recent
decades as daycare, school, youth work, after school activities and other educational institutions and agents have a stronger presence in the everyday life of children and youth. Still,
the importance of the family in the growing up and development of children and youth
is still indisputable. Language, names, nationality, interests, social roles, housing practices
and, for example, religion are transmitted from parents to their children. Also values, the
model of good life, aspirations, fears, ideologies, behavioural models and many other
capitals necessary in life are learned as part of the family practices. (Bertaux & hompson
2007.) he construction, development and shaping of the child’s habitus – i.e. the child’s
appearance, thinking patterns and behavioural models learned in childhood as well as
other capitals of an individual – is also part of this intergenerational interaction which is
strongly related to the family’s way of life and lifestyle (Bourdieu 1990, 53; Swartz 2002).
7
Instead of the tradiional nuclear family, family is here seen as the social network based on kinship or on living together, including at least two consecuive biological generaions (cf. Bertaux &
Thompson 2007, 2).
33
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
Juha Heikkala and Pauli Vuolle (1990, 91) note that the essential question in the life
career research on athletes is how the socialization into the institutions and practices of
sport takes place. hey view socialization primarily as a linguistic process, a ‘language
game’ in which individuals adopt a certain view of the world (op. cit., 92). In the
philosophically-oriented research they do not delve empirically and in a more detailed
way into those everyday practices where socialization into sport takes place. However,
Heikkala and Vuolle (op. cit.) are right in saying that, in order to become an athlete, an
individual has to socialize himself into the institutions of sport such as the traditions of
training and competition. In this socialization process, the individual’s family plays an
essential role (e.g. Côté 1999; Wylleman et al. 2000; Wylleman & Lavallee 2004; Horn
& Horn 2007; see also Birchwood et al. 2008; Partridge et al. 2008).
Sociologist David Swartz (2002) summarises the intergenerational transmission of
the athletic habitus by stating that children of sporty families are more likely to become
athletes than children of musicians. In other words, in those families where sport is
strongly present, the children absorb, from the environment they are growing up in,
various sport-related elements to their habitus (see Wheeler 2012). hese elements are
shaped as the child grows up and the sport and exercise-related capitals are present,
in the individual’s habitus, in his or her past, present and future. (E.g. Bloom 1985b;
Csíkszentmihályi et al. 1993; Gould 2002; Swartz 2002.)
In previous studies, family members have been regarded as, for example, signiicant
others (Côté et al. 2003; Côté & Fraser-homas 2007; Fraser-homas et al. 2008) from
the perspective of an athlete’s growth process. he concept refers to George Herbert
Mead’s socialization theory that Peter Berger and homas Luckmann (1994 [1966],
147–206) discuss in their book he Social Construction of Reality. An individual is born
in a certain reality, place and historical time into which he is socialized, with the support of other individuals who are close and important to him. Parents, siblings, friends
and acquaintances are signiicant others whose deinitions of situations become reality
to that individual. his is the way in which values, habits and patterns, i.e. the social
nature of reality, are transmitted. (Berger & Luckmann 1994 [1966], 148–150.) In the
context of sport and exercise, signiicant others pass on to the children their own beliefs
as to whether sport and exercise are a meaningful part of human life, or whether sport
is important (see MacDonald et al. 2011).
Sport-related capitals are not only important in the athletes’ lives in their childhood.
hey often remain important well into their careers in sport and the time after that (i.a.
Wylleman & Lavallee 2004). he results of a study made in the Netherlands (Kraaykamp et
al. 2012), on the basis of an extensive quantitative data, suggest that the intergenerationally
transmitted physical activity relationship is strong and often lasts a lifetime. Also a large
number of Finnish surveys support the idea that the family’s sport and exercise-related
practices have an impact on their children’s behaviour. Children who have played sports
together with their parents are known to be more physically active at a later age. his is
also related to the social inequality of sport and exercise: the parents’ average income level
is relected in the quality and quantity of their children’s activities. In Finland, for instance,
the children of middle class families are typically more physically active than the children
34
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
of lower income level families. (E.g. Huurre et al. 2003; Myllyniemi & Berg 2013, 75;
Kay 2000; Collins & Buller 2003; Dubrow & Adams 2012.)
In the following subchapters we examine the development and transmission of
the physical activity relationship in childhood of the interviewed athletes. Firstly, we
delve into the signiicance of the family in general and then in more detail with those
51 athletes that had acquired a strong, intergenerational physical activity relationship
from their parents. We examine both the active and the silent practices with which this
relationship has been passed on. After that we focus on the practical support parents
provide to the childhood activities of their future athletes. Families with a strong physical
activity relationship remain in the centre of the analysis but we also cover those families
where this relationship is not so strong. After that we analyse the meaning of siblings
to the development of the physical activity relationship. Lastly, we take a look at those
athletes who have not obtained any strong sport and exercise capitals from their family
members but have acquired and developed those with the support of ‘signiicant others’.
FAMILY TABLE AND SPORT RELATIONSHIP
In this chapter we analyse the signiicance of family members to the sport and exercise
in childhood and to the socialization into sports of all 96 interviewed athletes – including the 18 dropouts. he focus lies on the irst ten years of age8. During this time, most
interviewees had adopted a sporty lifestyle as something taken almost for granted. Parents,
and for many athletes also older siblings, had played an important transmitting role.
As Sharon Wheeler (2012) notes, children adopt, by way of their families, entire micro
level sport cultures or systems which seem to be able to construct routines and practices
of signiicance giving, important for their future sports careers.
Dropout athletes are analysed along with the elite athletes because they had also
been socialized strongly into sports in the irst place. hey then inished goal-oriented
practice of sports before reaching the top. As to the meaning of the family and the early
childhood years, their stories share many similarities with the stories of the elite athletes.
Also Michael Wall and Jean Côté (2007) who have studied successful and dropout ice
hockey players have come to the same conclusion. hey conclude that both groups had
entered into sports in a ‘versatile and playful way’ and no important diferences were
seen before the early teen years. Divergences to this conclusion are separately brought
up in the text (see also chapter 5). he family backgrounds of multicultural athletes were
somewhat diferent but their life stories also had many similarities with the life stories
of native Finnish athletes. his conclusion is more thoroughly analysed in chapter 9.
8
I.a. Jean Côté (1999) disinguishes three essenial learning phases in the childhood and youth of
elite athletes: sampling years, specialising years and investment years. During these phases, the
role of parents changes from carer to an instructor, supporter and, inally, an encourager. In this
chapter on early years, the role of parents is emphasized. In the subsequent life phases, the role
of parents diminishes and changes its nature.
35
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
In the analysis, the idea of the family dinner table as a metaphoric scene of the socialization process is used (Häkkinen et al. 2013). At the family table, parental values,
attitudes, knowledge, habits and practices are transmitted to children. However, children
do not embrace them as given but personalise them with the help of, for example, their
peers and the reality surrounding them. In other words, they negotiate on their values
and habits at the table and, at the same time, construct their own identity and their
individual view of the world. (Häkkinen et al. 2013). he same applies to, for instance,
artist families where cultural capitals are present and negotiated in the everyday life and
with the help of them, the children develop their perception of the social reality as part
of the family interaction (see chapter 2). he signiicance of one of the fundamental
axioms in the life course analysis, the intergenerational transmission of capitals (see
Coleman 1988), is clearly visible in the lives of many athletes. he family table is a very
functional metaphor describing the process in which parents and children construct
both their personal and their shared worlds of meanings.
According to Pasi Koski (2004, 191) the physical activity relationship is a system of
meanings embraced by an individual through which he or she is attached to and gives
meanings to the social world (Unruh 1979) of sport and exercise. Koski (2004, 191)
divides this relationship into four ideal types: strangers, tourists, regulars and insiders.
A stranger is not familiar with the social world of sport and exercise. Strangers may
have a suspicious attitude to the whole ield of sports but, on occasion, they might be
involved in some activities of this ield in the role of a spectator, for example. Tourists
are interested in the social world of sport and exercise but the deeper meanings in it
remain supericial to them. Tourists may be engaged in recreational sports but the social
content of, for example, occasional morning runs, is not something they are particularly
interested in. Regulars have a more permanent adherence to the social world of sport
and exercise. heir physical activity relationship is an essential part of their lives, they
are committed to sport and interested in its deeper meanings. he cultural meanings
of sport deepen with time and intensity. Regulars may be actively engaged in a single
sport but often without competitive ambitions. hey follow sports in the media and
participate in sport events. Insiders are, by deinition, the insiders of sport and exercise.
Elite athletes are the core of this group as their social environments and identities are
mainly constructed inside the social world of sports. Insiders include those individuals
who are deeply involved in the social world of sport and exercise, and that world has an
important impact on their views of the world. Sport and exercise are very important to
insiders. To some of them, they are the most important context and spectrum through
which meanings to the surrounding reality are given. (Op. cit.)
In this study, the physical activity relationship deined by Pasi Koski (2004) is complemented by the concept of intergenerational sport relationship. he concept applies to those
athletes who have at least one parent whose physical activity relationship has been or still
is that of Koski’s insider (2004, 191). In these families, either one of the parents or both
of them have been elite or competitive athletes themselves, they may have participated, in
diferent roles, in the civic action in the ield of sport and exercise, and elite sports have
been or still are part of their social environment and identity. he intergenerational sport
36
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
relationship is the interviewed athletes’ experience on how actively the physical activity
relationship of one or both parents has been present in the daily familiar interaction.
he intergenerational sport relationship refers to the negotiating process between parents
and children, at the family table, and not as in Koski’s (2004) concept to the relationship
between an individual and the social world of sport and exercise.
Based on the interviews, the intergenerational sport relationship appears to be divided
into two distinctive transmission and negotiating modes. he active transmission of the
sport relationship implies a strong presence of sport in the daily family life, the parents’
continuous interest towards sport and the careful maintenance of their own physical
activity relationship. Children are often actively introduced and guided into the world of
sport and exercise. he passive transmission of the sport relationship refers to one of the
parents or both of them having an insider relationship to the social world of sport and
exercise but this has not been actively transmitted to children. It is more about transmitting the identity of an athlete and the valuations and examples related to it. hese
are transmitted in more passive ways, via ‘silent’ discussions. Diferent ways of passing
on the intergenerational sport relationship are not mutually exclusive. Particularly in
those families where this relationship has been actively transmitted, many mechanisms
of passive transmission have also been in action. On the other hand, in those families
where passive transmission has been dominant, parents have not actively guided their
children into sport or taken any active role, such as that of a coach, in their children’s
activities. Hence the intergenerational sport relationships constitute a layer where, if
parents so wish, active transmission modes can be added ‘on top of ’ the passive modes
of transmission.
he information on the sport participation of the parents and siblings of the elite
athletes, provided by the research data, is indirect because the athletes’ family members
were not interviewed for the purposes of this study. However, from the analytical perspective, it’s not important whether the athlete remembers the previous sport success, the
correct league level or the exact number of medals of his or her parents exactly right. he
individual experience of the interviewed athlete on the meaning of sport and exercise in
his or her family is much more important and, in particular, the impact of this on his or
her own life course. he same applies to those elite athletes who told that their families
only had a minor impact on their sport relationship. Also in their lives, the athlete’s life
course is constructed through experiences and meanings given to them, not through the
‘actual’ historical events. (See Portelli 2006.) herefore, the previous sport participations
of the parents, of which the interviewee was not aware of or forgot to tell, are not relevant
to the experienced and meaningful life course (Yow 2005, 17–22).
In the research data of this study, the sport relationship had been transmitted in an
intergenerational way from the parents to the interviewees in 51 cases. In 33 cases of
these, it had been primarily transmitted through the active participation of the parents
themselves. hese parents were typically former competitive or elite athletes who later
actively participated in the sport activities of their children by, for example, coaching
them. In 18 homes, the parents’ sport relationship had been transmitted in more passive
ways. Also these parents were former competitive or elite athletes but their strong sport
37
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
relationship was mainly transmitted by way of example, attitudes and values rather than
by active participation and direct guidance. In families of active transmission, the sport
relationship had also been transmitted by a number of passive ways.
55 interviewees had siblings who had been or still are active competitive or elite
athletes at least on the junior level. 45 athletes concluded that their sibling had had a
signiicant impact on their own careers in sports. his impact was less important among
ten athletes. Parents’ strong sport relationship and siblings’ athleticism clearly correlate:
in as many as 35 athletes’ families at least one of the parents and at least one of the siblings had a strong sport relationship. Correspondingly, in 20 families the athleticism of
siblings compensated for the weaker sport relationship of the parents. Sixteen of these
athletes reported that the impact of their sibling had been particularly important. hat
sibling was often older than the interviewee.
he parents didn’t have a strong sport relationship in 45 homes. According to Koski’s
(2004) deinition, these parents were not insiders in sport. However, they were often
interested in sports in other ways, in recreational sport or in spectator sport. Most parents
of the interviewed athletes had at least Koski’s (op. cit.) regular physical activity relationship. Also those parents who were closer to tourists or strangers were, almost without
exception, very supportive to their children’s sport careers in many ways. As said, in 20
families of these, at least one other child was active in competitive sports, and in many
cases the siblings were important examples and socializers into sport. he remaining
25 athletes grew into the social world of sport and built their athletic identities mainly
outside their families and, on average, somewhat later than others.
Table 1. The athletes’ intergeneraional sport relaionship (ISR) by the sport paricipaion of their
siblings.
ISR
No ISR
Total
Sibling paricipates in sport
35
20
55
Sibling does not paricipate in sport
16
25
41
Total
51
45
96
Table 1 clariies the igures presented above and the importance of diferent family members.
We can see that in approximately three families out of four there have been other athletes
as well. As noted earlier, also in the families of those 25 athletes who were the only athletes
in their families, the parents generally had a very positive and supportive attitude to sport
and exercise even though their own physical activity relationship was, at best, regular. his
can be seen in the interviews as inancial and psychological support and in transporting
children to training. (See Côté 1999; Rønbeck & Vikander 2010a & b.)
To most interviewees, the family had been the most important factor of socialization into sport and exercise (Bertaux & hompson 2007, 1; Kay 2009; Rønbeck &
Vikander 2010a; Wheeler 2012). Family practices, passed on by parents and siblings,
38
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
have been the starting point of that cumulative process – when expectations, appreciations and behavioural models have been integrated in the habitus – that has inally led
to goal-oriented sports. To a signiicant part of the interviewees, sports and elite sports
have seemed as possible, even as a desirable model of good life, often already from early
childhood onwards. (See also Koski 2004; Birchwood et al. 2008; Howe 1990; 1996;
Baker et al. 2003; Spaaij & Anderson 2010.)
INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF THE SPORT RELATIONSHIP
51 of the interviewed athletes had inherited their sport relationship from their parents in
an intergenerational way. In most cases (33), the parents played an active role whereas in
some cases (18) this transmission was more passive. In this subchapter, these two ways of
transmitting the sport relationship are discussed in parallel but as the analysis progresses,
they are also analysed separately and their special features exposed.
he following quote is a typical illustration of a strong sport relationship family. It
links together the sport participation of the parents, the transmission of the sport relationship to children and the parents’ encouraging and permissive attitude towards the
spontaneous sport activities of their children. A brother with whom the athlete has played
sports is mentioned and the importance of nearby sports facilities is emphasized as well.
All the members of this family are clearly insiders in the world of sport and exercise and
their sport relationship is transmitted in both active and passive ways. Being physically
active is passed on as something taken almost for granted:
We’ve always lived in a row house, there was a shopping centre nearby and some sport ields. It was
a peaceful neighbourhood with a lot of families. It was perfect in many ways, the irst apartment
was good for us until it got a bit too small. I only remember that it was a good neighbourhood, we
were always out playing. My parents were so relaxed about it, they let us play around and when it
was time to go home they picked us up from somewhere.
My parents were into ball games. My dad was coaching and my mum playing. My mum was
even in the irst ever national team of that sport. hey took me to play when I was ive or six, to
the local junior team. And that’s how it began, I made a lot of new friends. I immediately liked it,
I played and then at some point I started to play ice hockey too. We were really sporty, we were
always out playing, at least in summer every day. After school we did our homework and then we
went out playing with friends, or just the two of us [with my brother], and spent maybe ive or six
hours a day out playing.
Many athletes remember how, in their childhood, their parents’ sport activities were their
early touches to the social world of sport and exercise. he contents of these memories
range from sporadic, lash-like moments to sequences of shared experiences that lasted
for years. hese memories are positive and experiential in nature. Sport and exercise are
natural, shared activities of the family; they are established family practice and family
capital. One of the world champions in team sports remembers his parents’ sport activities as follows:
39
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
INTERVIEWER: By the way, did your parents have any background in sports?
ATHLETE: Well, my dad played ice hockey and my mum played [another sport].
I: Did he play on the national level? I mean, has your dad played in the league or something?
A: Yes, he played somewhere, I mean back then he played in [the name of the team], I don’t even
remember anymore. But he played for a long time.
I: Did he play when you were little, do you remember him going to training or matches or somewhere?
A: Yes, sure, and I remember that we went with him, if my mum had something and we couldn’t
stay with her, then my brother and I went with him. I remember those sweets we always got, and
we had a really good time watching his training.
he tone of voice heard in this interview recording reveals even clearer than this written
extract that following the parents’ sport activities has been a meaningful and important
element in the respondent’s childhood. he memories associated to the typically bleak
and bare environment of an ice hockey hall are, in this case, very positive and nostalgic.
Later in the interview, the athlete tells that the smell of ice hockey gear still remind him
of that happy moment when his father came home from his training in the evening. In
this way, the memory is strongly anchored to the everyday family practices not only as
a physical event but also as a psychological and emotional experience. Later in life, his
own training in that very same ice hockey hall, with so many positive memories attached
to it felt as a very natural, familiar and comfortable thing to do. Also his mother’s sport
was closely connected to the athlete’s childhood. his sport became a way of life and an
important recreational sport to the athlete himself and to his sister. he sport relationship of both parents was passed on to their children mainly in a silent way, by way of
example and by the sporty atmosphere at the family table, not by actively guiding the
children into sport. (See also Sloane 1985; Stevenson 1990.)
Diferent sports as part of family life provide a basis for one’s own career and identity
in sports (e.g. Swartz 2002; Jacobs 2007). hese kinds of stories are common throughout
the research data. he next quote illustrates well a phase of life course of a female ball
game player where sport is an essential part of everyday family practices. he statement
“I was always there watching” is a powerful, experiential memory referring to repetition,
frequency and normality – i.e. exactly those factors and mechanisms which transmit the
immaterial and material capital in the family practices (Bertaux & hompson 2007, 1).
My mum played Finnish baseball and rinkball and they [parents] also played together, tennis and
something else. And I was always there watching.
he psychologist Michael Howe (1996) has written about the birth of talent and its
understanding. He reminds us that an individual’s life is a continuum where repeating
everyday events accumulate to habits and routines which strongly inluence further
stages in life (see also Giele & Elder 1998). According to Howe (1996), the mapping
of habits and routines from the childhood onwards is important if we wish to understand the contents and origins of talent. As the quotes above demonstrate, physically
active parents activate their children to participate in sports. At the same time, sport
provides a schedule to everyday life, as to what to watch on TV (see Such 2013), for
40
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
instance, and as an essential part of family practices in many other ways as well.
Many athletes reached the top in that sport that their parents had played either
competitively or recreationally. In the following extract an elite ball game player explains
how this ball game played a very important role in his family already before he was born:
I had two big brothers, both of them played. [With the other one] I played nearly every day, irst
we played, and then we fought a little and played again. My family’s attitude was positive as my
dad was my coach all my youth. [...] My dad has played too, ever since he was little. Although he
needed to persuade his parents a bit more as they wanted him to become a musician.
he extract’s last sentence draws attention, that the athlete’s father was not encouraged
in sport at his childhood home. Later in the interview it becomes evident that he even
had to play behind his parents’ back. his was clearly not repeated in the family of the
respondent as his father was also his coach. One repeating element in the interviews
was that one of the parents or both of them were active as coaches or in other roles in
the sports club. Many parents had been active as team leaders or caretakers and some of
them were professionals in the ield of sport and exercise. hese connections are naturally
present in the everyday life of the family and further strengthen the child’s adherence to
the social world of sports, and emphasize the parent’s role as an active transmitter of the
sport relationship. In the following quote we can read how the parents transmit their
own expertise and knowledge in sport directly to their children. An international-level
elite athlete in ice sports remembers his childhood when he, guided by his father, became
familiar with the sports culture and the athletes of a particular sport, although he later
reached the elite level in a diferent sport:
My dad has always been sporty, he played table tennis and coached that, too. I remember when I
was little and my dad coached. I was not even in school at that time, his team members were a bit
older, end of primary or beginning of secondary, and I used to hang around with them.
he intergenerational transmission of sport and exercise in family practices extends to
relatives as well. Many interviewed athletes described the sport activities of their uncles
and aunts and the importance of their example. In addition to the immediate family, close
relatives form that network through which diferent capitals are transmitted from one
generation to another (Bedford 2001, 318–319). he meaning of relatives or extended
family in recalling sport and exercise activities in one’s childhood and adolescence is
strengthened by the fact that a solid network of relatives is psychologically a very strong
institution of socialization (Neven 2002). In an athletically oriented network of relatives
a career in elite sports is appreciated, the meanings of the social world in sports are deeply
understood and a career in sports is supported. In this way, a certain growth environment and social family networks generate, from early on, that social and psychological
capital which is needed in elite sports (e.g. Baker & Horton 2004; Xu et al. 2006; Wang
2010; Kraaykamp et al. 2012). Within the analysis framework of this study we could
conclude that the sport relationship of the extended family is usually transmitted via
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silent mechanisms as appreciation of sport and the family culture. An elite ball game
player recalls the meaning of his family and the extended family to his childhood sport
and exercise activities and their active role, how he “[...] was made to play sports”:
As to my background, my parents have been active in sports. Especially my dad’s brothers and my
dad too, and I was made to play the ball and ice hockey and try various other sports when I was
little. Maybe it’s also in our genes.
In this quote, the athlete refers to the athleticism of his family being possibly transmitted
”in our genes”. We can discuss whether it has been transmitted in the genes or, rather, in
the habits and practices which are transmitted intergenerationally in an extended family.
According to a common belief in the early 20th century, elite athletes and other talented
individuals were thought to have received a certain programmation in their genes that explained their success (cf. Howe 1996, 260; see also Bale 2002; Väliverronen 2007, 13–17).
Finns generally believed that being athletic was typical to our ethnic origin. his discourse
on ‘athletic genes’ has, to some extent, sustained on its own but it’s not to be interpreted
literally in the athletes’ interviews. It is to be interpreted as a reference to a solid sport
relationship extending over several generations in the family (Koski 2004, 191). Being
physically active is rather a way of life and an intergenerational tradition, instead of a genetic
feature9. his kind of intergenerational transmission – in this example a very active one – is
evident also in the following quote where a soccer player describes her father’s enthusiasm
in introducing his new family member to the world of sports as soon as possible:
Sport has always been an important part of my life. My dad has told me that a day after I was
born, he signed me in to a track and ield club. My dad and grandad have been top track and ield
athletes so it was just natural that my brother and I were taken there, too. Before I even remember
anything on my childhood there are all those pictures where we are doing long jump in a sandbox
or something. So sport has always been a big part of my life.
In the research data, there are some recollections on how competitiveness has been present
in the family practices from very early on. his was seen both as a resource and a burden.
To some people, the impacts of early competitiveness may be positive and supportive
in the context of elite sports but, on the other hand, research generally suggests that too
much competition can be detrimental to the development of a child’s self-image and
personality, and even result in aggressiveness, stress and a number of other behavioural
disorders (e.g. Scanlan et al. 2005; Coakley 2006; Wall & Côté 2007; Branta 2010; Choi
9
In some interviews, by geneic heritage the athletes meant inherited, physical features, for example,
the ”fast cells” or tallness favourable in some sports. The research data of this study can naturally
not prove the impact of geneic factors although they certainly have one. Two interesing features
are worth bringing up: irst of all, late bloomers in sport oten emphasized the impact of geneic
heritage (see chapter 5) and also some mulicultural athletes thought that they had proited from
their geneic heritage in their respecive sports (see chapter 9).
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et al. 2014). hese efects may rather be an obstacle to a potential career in sports than
a factor advancing it as competitive pressure coming too early from outside combined
with hard training very often result in dropping out (e.g. Wall & Côté 2007; Choi et
al. 2014; see also chapter 8). Signs of parental pressure were hardly seen in the research
data of this study except with a few dropout athletes. However, many athletes reported
on a sense and an ethos of competition at home, strongly promoted by parents. An elite
level ball game player describes the competitive atmosphere of her childhood as follows:
I remember how I hated those long summer breaks from school with nothing to do. I just wanted
to play, no matter what. I often asked my parents to play ball with me, or card games, and I always
wanted to have a competition. Whatever we played, whether it was a board game, or a ball game,
there was always some competition involved. he result was all important. I’m happy that now…
or at least I think so, that I can lose. hat if we’re playing some games in the midsummer party just
for fun, I don’t mind loosing. But it took a while, to learn how to lose. And it was tough.
In the quotation above, competitiveness has had some positive implications but the
negative consequences of too much competition are clearly visible. he feeling of loosing
has not been easy, quite the opposite: “it was tough.” he compulsion to win, learned in
childhood, is not restricted to the athlete’s sport activities only but extends to other ields
of everyday life as well. his quotation refers to board games whereas other athletes in
their interviews mentioned, among others, the P.E. lessons at school which were often
considered ”boring” because the other children ”couldn’t do anything”. Such even manic
competitiveness had followed many athletes well into adulthood and often they couldn’t
determine where it had originally developed – a logic conclusion could be that most
likely not only in the family but also in the social world of sport where competition is
an essential part of the sports culture. However, diferences between athletes exist, and
to most athletes, sport and exercise in childhood was mainly deined as a playful activity.
Competitiveness entered the picture only later, when own sport had been discovered.
(See also Moesch et al. 2011.) In this respect, sport is not diferent from other ields of
life where children and youth build their individual identities through trial and error.
All in all, the research data illustrates how all-encompassingly the sport activities and
other sport-related interests of the athletes’ parents have socialized them into a certain
lifestyle and inluenced the meanings they give to diferent things. Children build their
identities in the social interaction of the family, they learn and begin to give meanings
and adopt models for a good life (see also Jokinen 2013). he description of a national
team ball game player brings the metaphor of the family table, as the central arena for
intergenerational interaction, literally into life:
I: Were your parents sporty?
A: Well, my dad was, mum maybe not so much but my dad has played soccer all his life. [And] my
both brothers and then my sister, too, so we were talking about sports a lot.
I: At home?
A: At home we always talked about sport at the dinner table and so on.
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SPORT AND EXERCISE IN THE FAMILY’S PARENTING PRACTICES
In this subchapter, we expand the analysis to those athletes who had not inherited an
intergenerational sport relationship. In those families where this relationship was strong,
sport and exercise were an integral element of the children’s upbringing but also in other
families, they were generally considered good and important. Consequently, sport and
exercise were an important part of parenting practices in most families. his was relected
in concrete actions as well as in psychological and material support to children’s activities
(see also Koski 2004).
In most families of the interviewed athletes, the parents actively played sports with
their children and created the everyday conditions for building the sport relationship.
hey have provided opportunities to try diferent sports, encouraged their children in sport
and allowed them to play sports and games in familiar surroundings. In addition, they
have taken their children to sport events and in many ways contributed to their children’s
socialization into a physically active lifestyle. In the life courses of the interviewed athletes,
these ‘sporty’ parenting practices have been strongly present (see also Woolger & Power
1993; Kay 2009). A multiple world champion in an individual sport recalls the following:
Especially my dad has always been crazy about cross-country skiing. hen my sisters started competing
in skiing and of course I was taken along. We were often out hiking and sport has always been a
natural part of our everyday family life ever since I was little. We were deinitely not taken to school
by car, or anywhere really… we’ve always been physically active and it’s been a lot of fun, always.
Somehow I’ve grown into it and it’s been perfectly normal that every day we did something sporty.
his quotation clearly illustrates how the family has been physically active in many ways
and how the children have been encouraged – sport has been “a natural part of our
everyday life”. his athlete had tried many sports, including cross-country skiing and
artistic gymnastics like her sisters, before discovering her main sport. She emphasizes
two dimensions of sport: the family enjoyed it and it was part of their everyday life. At
a very early age, the signs of the foundation of the so called vocational ethos (Piispa &
Salasuo 2014, 78–87) could be seen (see also the summary chapter).
In most families of the interviewed athletes, the parents supported their children’s
activities inancially. It’s not only about club membership fees, about buying equipment
or transporting to the training. Instead, it’s more about a lifestyle where material and
immaterial capital is invested in the children’s activities and enabling them is considered
important (e.g. Kay 2000). he following quote of a winter sports athlete illustrates how
sport has strongly deined the social order of the family. Parents’ support to sport can be
seen in prioritizing sport and never questioning it.
My dad is a PE teacher in upper secondary school and very active in sport, even more when he was
younger. He wasn’t successful in any important competitions but he’s still doing a lot, including
spectator sports, and that has clearly inluenced me. My mum is also interested in sport but never
had any career in it. Maybe she’s not so talented but she’s interested, always tries her best and always
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gives me her full support. [And] if I ever wanted to go abroad to train they never told me to focus
on school instead or that we didn’t have money, they’ve always given me all the support I needed
in sport. It’s been very important in all this.
Parental support and encouragement in sport has often meant that the parents have taken
their children to instructed sport activities. From the parental point of view, it seems not to
be about ‘raising an athlete’ but rather about good parenting practices and parental awareness. Parents believe that sport and exercise, or playing in general, provide a good platform
for growth for children. Another aspect is, whether they feel that they are deliberately raising athletes of their young children. Jaana Poikolainen (2002) writes about the awareness
of child rearing as an intergenerational practice. Parents use the parenting models of their
own childhood as a basis and reshape them usually on the basis of discussions with other
people (op. cit., 115–116). he awareness of child rearing manifests itself as particular
child rearing actions and activities. Parents try to ofer their children opportunities that,
on the basis of their actual knowledge and understanding, are relevant and important for
their children’s growth and development (see op. cit., 11–12). he interviews of this study
demonstrate that many parents value the social worlds of sport and exercise as essential
elements in the goals and methods of good upbringing. In many families this means that
children are introduced early to instructed activities in sport clubs. Yet at this stage this
is not seen as the starting point of the ‘athlete’s path’ but merely a valued leisure activity.
Table 2. Age of entry into instructed sport aciviies of the interviewed athletes
Age
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10+
Nr
1
6
13
28
19
14
3
12
As we can see in table 2, 48 athletes – every second in the research data – started instructed activities at ages 3–6 for the irst time. Parents of 34 of them had a strong sport
relationship and ten other athletes reported that the role of other family members, i.e.
parents or siblings, was important in entry into instructed activities. Only four athletes
said that their main impulse to start instructed activities came from outside the family,
from friends or from the proximity of sport facilities. In other words, the importance of
family is evident also in the entry into instructed activities and these activities in early
childhood appear as part of the family practices.
Another half (48) of the interviewed athletes started instructed activities at ages
7–15. Only 17 of them had parents with a strong sport relationship. he diference is
signiicant taking into account that 9 out of these 17 had started at age 7. In other words,
the stronger the parents’ sport relationship, the earlier they have taken their children to
instructed activities. In reverse, we could conclude that instructed activities have not
been an element of parenting practices in the families of weaker sport relationship the
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same way they have in families where this relationship is stronger. Entry into instructed
activities is analysed more carefully in chapter 5, as part of the athlete’s transitions.
To sum up, sport and exercise activities have been considered very important and
worth supporting in the families of the interviewed athletes. he next quote illustrates
this: the family’s father has been actively involved, brother has provided an example and
mother has contributed by being the household caretaker:
A: We’re an ordinary middle-class family, mum, dad and my brother who’s ten years older than
me. A sporty family, sort of.
I: What do you mean by sporty?
A: My brother tried all the sports before me, this is how it started, I guess. I wanted to do everything what he did.
I: Did you do it together, as a family?
A: My dad was really involved, he even coached me, until I was 20 or something… He’s still coaching. [...] Dad was really involved and my mum was more in the background [...] she took care
of the dirty business; laundry, cooking and so on. It’s at least as important as what my dad did, he
was always with me, travelled for competitions and everything.
his quotation is an important example of the nature of family practices. Mothers often
do the laundry and cooking in families where children play sports. Parents and siblings
provide support, stimulus, example and encouragement – both practical and mental.
his creates a sport relationship that gives the child a feeling of continuity, stability and
familiarity. At the same time, practical investments in sport communicate to the child
that sport is part of the normal, good life. (See also Morgan 2011a, 5–7.)
he strong sport relationship of parents or the support and encouragement they ofer
do not guarantee the way to the top. However, to many athletes interviewed for the
purposes of this study, it has been an important socialization channel and a safe haven to
construct a sporty self-image. he study by Jessica Fraser-homas et al. (2008) suggests
that if parents focus too much on sport it may become a decisive reason to stop it. he
relationship between parents and children is a complex psycho-social entity where putting
sport before the child’s other needs may result in bad results. Elite athletes are not made
at family tables or in backyard games but by means of these, and in a balanced environment, a child can develop such physical, mental and social capitals that are favourable
from the perspective of elite sports. Childhood is only the beginning of that cumulative
process which contributes to some of the athletes reaching the top.
SIBLINGS AS SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
55 athletes in the research data had at least one athlete sibling. 45 of them reported that
their sporty sibling(s) had had a signiicant impact on their childhood sport activities, on
their development to an athlete and on their career in sport. 37 of these reported that it
was their older sibling who was particularly important to their sport relationship, three
of them said it was their twin sibling and ive of them said it was their younger sibling.
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In addition, ten athletes reported that their physically active siblings had had some impact on their sport activities – three of them said that the older sibling was particularly
important whereas seven mentioned the younger sibling. he remaining 41 athletes were
either only children or their siblings were not, according to the athlete, important from
the perspective of sport and exercise.
On the whole, approximately every second interviewed athlete reported that at least
one of their siblings has been important from the perspective of their sport activities and
sport career. It is important to note that more often that important sibling was the older
one. In some families, the athlete was one of many sporty children who formed, through
joint play and competition, a solid ‘sport gang’ – of these groups of several siblings only
that sibling who was the most important, according to the athlete, has been included
in the calculations above.
hose athletes who mentioned the importance of their siblings, often reported in
a colourful way on the sporty games, competitions and pick-up or backyard games
between siblings. he meaning of siblings was important in all sports. he following
quotes broadly illustrate the various meanings that sporty siblings may have. Two men
and two women representing four diferent sports, two of them ball games and two of
them individual sports, report on the importance of their siblings:
(1)
I’ve got two older brothers and a lot of other boys around me too… so very often we played ice
hockey or soccer. Our school was half of kilometre away from us and in the evenings we got together
to play on ice or on the soccer pitch, or anything really. Or then we just went cycling. We were just
hanging around, often without any particular plans, the sporty environment just provided us all
we needed. Everybody liked to do something sporty, that’s how we got into it.
(2)
I: So you have always competed against one another or actually played sports together, so did you
ever have any mutual competition between you two?
A: Oh yes! his has also pushed us forward that we’ve always competed against each other, who’s
in better shape and so on. Also in negative ways, we’ve been watching what the other one eats, if
one of us had an extra potato on the plate, the other one couldn’t take more and so on, all the time.
(3)
I: So you started when you were around ive?
A: Yes, around ive. My brothers took me along to play and that was it.
(4)
I: So do you have any siblings, at least one brother?
A: My sister is ive years older than me and my brother only a year younger. So we’ve been hanging
around a lot together, as he’s only a year younger.
I: And he played a lot of sports too?
A: Oh yes.
I: Has there been a lot of competition between you two?
A: We’ve fought a lot. It was good, I always had somebody to play with. If I started tossing a ball
at home, my brother was always there to play with me.
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Along with parents, siblings are important negotiating partners at the family table (Häkkinen et al. 2013). heir views, values and attitudes contribute to the family practices
and they ofer diferent examples, knowledge and practices from their parents, especially
to their younger brothers and sisters. Siblings are, together with parents, the most important persons in childhood and their contribution is important in the construction of
the social reality of childhood. Positive attitudes towards sport and exercise are passed
on by parents but they are negotiated and realized together with siblings. Last but not
least, siblings are natural partners for sport and play.
he relevance of siblings in the lives of elite athletes has repeatedly been recognised
in international studies (e.g. Seltzer 1989; Gould et al. 2002; Sulloway & Zweigenhaft
2010). hey suggest that those siblings that have been physically active and engaged in
competitive or elite sports have had a special importance in the growth process of an
elite athlete. Norwegian researchers Nils Rønbeck and Nils Vikander (2011a) write in
their study of cross-country skiers that 2 out of 3 Norwegian and American competitive
skiers have siblings who do either cross-country skiing or another sport.
Daniel Gould and his colleagues (2002) list some of the essential qualities of an
elite athlete which are developed in the sibling interaction from the early childhood
onwards. For these qualities to develop, they need to be nurtured in the trusting and
caring environment between siblings – as a natural part of the family’s everyday activities. Direct feedback and criticism on performance is a natural part of the siblings’ play,
games, competition and sport. Learning to cope with these, often considered negative,
elements is seen as an important capital that later supports an individual’s personal growth
towards elite athleticism. Siblings ofer a lot; not only techniques and ways of athletic
performance are learned from them but the interaction between siblings also transmits,
through everyday learning (see Nyyssölä 2002, 17–18), many types of physical and
mental capitals needed to construct a sport relationship – and a sporty or even athletic
habitus (Wheeler 2012) – as well as resources and means to understand the social worlds
of sport (e.g. Breivik & Gilberg 1999; Gould et al. 2002).
Playing and games between siblings are typically deliberate play (Côté 1999; Côté
et al. 2007). It is motivating and enjoyable. Most of all, it has been observed to inluence in many ways on the psychological skills later in life, on the ‘intelligence in playing games’ and the ‘understanding of playing games’ (e.g. Berry & Abernethy 2003).
All types of backyard and street games, ice hockey without skates, spontaneous skiing
or running competitions between children imitate the real sports. By playing them,
children develop their motoric skills, physical condition, understanding of rules and
cognitive skills, among others. Deliberate play simulates sports. he precondition for
deliberate play is the children’s own desire, enjoyment, interest and lexibility – parents
can generally provide the framework for it, by helping to put together a basketball hoop
or letting their children put a small soccer goal in the garden. Deliberate play has to be
distinguished from deliberate practice, as both a mental and a physical process, action
and learning. Secondly, the competition between siblings should not get too serious (see
also Fraser-homas et al. 2008). In the following quote is an elite athlete remembers
deliberate play in her childhood as follows:
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When I was young my dad made a one kilometre cross-country skiing track on our ield where
my big sister and I could ski. We played diferent games, the other one started 10 seconds ahead
and the other one tried to catch her on that one kilometre track, and then we changed. hat was
quite tough, really, but because it was just a game between us we didn’t really think about it; that
we were actually skiing quite hard.
Gender and age diferences naturally deine the everyday exercise practices, deliberate play
and games. Same sex siblings with a small age gap are likely to play more together (see
Seltzer 1989). Gender diferences are seen in, for example, female athletes of which only
a few had discovered sports ‘on their own’, without the example of parents or siblings.
his observation may be a relection of sport being, to a certain degree, a masculine ield
(e.g. Tiihonen 2002) which may be diicult to approach for girls, without the sport
capital or sport habitus obtained from parents or siblings at the family table (see also
Berg 2005; Berg 2010).
Many of the respondents considered playing, exercising and sports with siblings as
self-evident and, therefore, it was not usually spontaneously brought up in the interviews,
without a separate question. When asked, the athletes did describe their siblings as being
especially important and meaningful in many ways, as signiicant others for their sporty
lifestyles and habitus (see also Van Yperen 2009). he following is a very typical extract
of an elite athlete interview. he importance of siblings in one’s life course is emphasized
only when speciically asked:
I: What about your brothers or sisters, do they play any sports?
A: Well, yes, in fact I’ve got three brothers and they’re all very sporty. he one who’s three years older
than me still skateboards and plays loorball. Quite sporty. And whenever we can, we play “sneaker ice
hockey”, just for fun, my brothers and I. It’s good fun and I think that I’ve got a lot from my older
brothers. I’ve always just followed them and maybe that’s why I got so interested in sports myself.
In this young athlete’s life, playful games with his brothers still continue in the form
of ‘sneaker ice hockey’ – a typical pick-up game in Finland when ice hockey is played
without skates. he interviewee has grown up in a family with three sporty brothers.
As long as he could remember, the family’s everyday life was characterized by various
sporty practices and activities. Siblings have played an important role in raising him
and socializing him into a lifestyle where sport and exercise are natural ways of having
fun and playing games. In the following extract, also cousins are involved in playful,
sporty activities.
A: We always did something sporty. Backyard games or whatever.
I: Do you have siblings?
A: Yes, an older brother.
I: What’s the age gap between you two?
A: Two years.
I: Well then you got somebody to play with.
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A: Yes, and then my cousins lived next door. Even though we lived in the countryside.
I: So you played with them too?
A: Yes.
Sten Eriksson researched Swedish elite athletes in team sports (2001) and concluded that
the younger or the youngest sibling was often the one who reached the top (see Rønbeck
& Vikander 2010a). Also Frank Sulloway and Richard Zweigenhaft (2010) shared the
same conclusion when studying the siblings’ birth order and its impact on baseball success.
he importance of birth order to success is repeated also in other international studies
(e.g. Côté 1999; Breivik & Gilberg 1999; Davis & Mayer 2008). his is explained by
personality traits, the impact of family dynamics on sociability and willingness to take
risks which are related to the competition for parental attention (Sulloway & Zweigenhaft
2010). Younger siblings compare themselves to the older ones and set similar targets to
themselves and try, for example, to beat big brothers and sisters in sporty games. According to Sulloway (1996), younger siblings want to receive recognition on their actions
from the signiicant others and therefore try to identify themselves to the older siblings’
roles, activities and actions (see also Davis & Mayer 2008).
As stated earlier, the importance and example of older siblings was emphasized many
times also in the research data of this study. here were no signiicant diferences between
diferent sports and all athletes, whether in team sports, individual sports or lifestyle
sports, reported on the importance of their siblings. he importance of siblings seems to
be related to sportiness in general, not to a speciic sport or sport culture. he following
quote, where the athlete “simply followed” his older brother and his friends, illustrates
this clearly. Without example, he wouldn’t necessarily have gone that long distance.
he court was there, maybe four kilometres from us. I ended up there because of my big brother.
He started on his own, with a couple of friends, went there before me, and then I simply followed.
I was maybe ten when I went with him. Often children go with parents but, in my case, I went
with my brother.
A similar story was heard in many other interviews in diferent forms. he interviewees
‘just needed to follow’ their older siblings who ofered not only a role model but also
a fascinating view into the world of older kids. If the younger sibling was taken along,
he or she got a new set of friends and always somebody to play with and to win. As the
sibling is always an important contender it’s also natural that the younger sibling played
that little bit harder already at the tender age.
A: I’ve always been very competitive, ever since I was little. I don’t believe I’d been happy with just
doing it for fun [laughs]. I wanted to do competitions and win, or I got bored. Especially as a child
I was very bad at loosing, I think I even hit my sister with a ski pole every once in a while [laughs].
Even though she was bigger… of course she wanted to win but it wasn’t easy.
I: Well, competition between sisters may get quite…
A: Well yes, of course. She’s less than two years [older than me] so sometimes we were competing
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in the same league. At some point I started to be better than she which was very tough for her, of
course [laughs]. I think it’s good to be the little sister, you always need to try that little bit harder.
his quotation crystallizes the idea of why younger siblings are more often those who actually become elite athletes: the younger one always needs to ”try that little bit harder”. As the
older sister did better for years, the younger one always had a target, somebody to overtake.
SELF-ACCOMPLISHED SPORT RELATIONSHIP
In the entire research data, 25 athletes did not inherit a strong sport relationship from
their parents in an inter-generational way, or had a sporty sibling as a contender. Hence
they were the only athletes in their families. he physical activity relationships of their
parents and siblings were deined as regular, tourist or – with a few of them – even
stranger. he life courses of these 25 athletes difer from those who had family members
with a stronger physical activity relationship. Childhood memories related to sport and
exercise are not similarly connected to the sportiness of the family but rather to their
own personal initiative. he following quote illustrates this situation:
We never played any sports together, well we went ice ishing and berry-picking and maybe crosscountry skiing on a frozen lake but it was more like hiking and just doing something together. When
I got into sports it was really my own thing, at least I don’t remember that I had been somehow
nurtured or encouraged or driven to that direction. It was more about my friends; they were a bit
older and into track and ield. We didn’t really talk about it at home and I’d say it was more like
an announcement; that the neighbourhood kids go the nearby sports court, I’ll go with them, ok?
hat’s how I remember it that I simply said that this is what I want to do.
he athlete behind this quote comes from a small municipality. Her socialization into
sports has taken place outside the family setting. he meaning of friends is important
along with her own initiative and determination. he importance of a nearby sports court
in also underlined in the extract although she later discovered her main sport outside
the track and ield. Her family table was not void of exercise altogether as, for example,
hiking and occasional skiing trips were common. However, sport as such stepped in at
the family table only through the child’s sport activities.
he team sports athlete of the following quote had a similar situation. he family table
was void of sports and the sport he heard of in school was something totally new to him.
As he was looking for new friends and activities after moving to a new place, the sport
relationship started to develop partly accidentally, partly through peer-to-peer example.
When I was seven we moved [to that part of town] and I changed school in year 2. And then I
heard about [that sport] in the after-school club where all the other kids in my class played it, and
I wanted to be part of that, too [...]. I just heard them asking each other, I still remember that
situation, if they were going to that [sport] club? And I was like, what club? hen I asked my mum
to ind out, and then my granny took me there.
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In the following quote, a world-class elite athlete in a combat sport tells about his childhood. He was “never pushed to anything”, including sports. However, his family supported his activities, he was always given everything “I wanted and needed”. His own
desire and “what I liked” was important.
I: What’s your family background?
A: My parents were not into sports. I was never pushed to do anything. I’ve always done what I
wanted and gone wherever I wanted to. [...] hey never took me to any sports. It’s my own desire
that’s been important. My parents were just ordinary workers. I could go wherever I wanted to and
try diferent sports, and maybe that’s been important, that I’ve tried diferent sports. hen it’s easier
to change as I did when I changed to my main sport at seventeen.
I: Did your parents always support you if you needed some sport equipment or something?
A: Yes. I always got what I wanted and needed. But I was never really encouraged, never told to
try some sport. No pushing, sport has always been something coming from myself. And we never
played any sport together with my parents.
His childhood has been, as in many small places in Finland, characterized by physical
activities and trials of diferent sports. he positive attitude of the local community to
sport and exercise has been important as well. In the beginning of the interview, the
athlete mentioned the local former Olympic medalist whose tradition he feels he is
carrying on. In addition, he feels that his sport is nationally important, for historical
reasons. he athlete’s values and attitudes are strongly connected to national, regional
and local traditions and they are very far away from the logic of global sport entertainment10. (See also Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013.) An urban counterpart to this athlete is a
lifestyle sport veteran who has won several medals in world-class tournaments. In the
urban environment, many sports were on ofer and the athlete tried several sports before
embarking on his main sport.
I’ve always been physically active, always done a lot of diferent sports. Not too seriously, though…
At four I started skiing and tried tennis, too. hen in primary I started playing basketball and took up
tennis again. At some point I dropped basketball and played tennis somehow semi-seriously. Maybe
until I was 15. hen I dropped tennis at around 18 and started this sport where I succeeded then.
In this quote, the athlete reports on having tried many diferent sports but not necessarily
due to family encouragement. he physical activity relationship of his family corresponds
to Koski’s (2004) deined tourist’s relationship. his elite athlete clearly is a child of the
Finnish welfare generation and the sport and exercise culture it represents (Zacheus 2008,
10 Already in the irst half of the 20th century, playing and compeiion between boys was appreciated by adults. It was regarded as good physical preparaion for agricultural work. In addiion, the
naional sport heroes of that ime contributed to a naional ethos favourable to sports. Right ater
independence, sport and exercise of young men were regarded as important from the perspecive
of naional defence (Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013). The traces of this mentality are sill seen in presentday Finland.
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
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160–161). he growing number of sport facilities in Finnish cities ofered the middle
class good opportunities to actively try and play diferent sports.
he age of discovering the main sport is the common nominator of these two
athletes coming from very diferent backgrounds. Both of them discovered their main
sport in their late teens. he sport relationship of both of them progressed slowly from
early childhood on. However, socialization into sport was spontaneous and both of
them dived into the world of meanings of elite sports in their late teens. In these two
cases the diference between urban and rural backgrounds can be seen in the choice
of sports: the irst athlete emphasizes the meaning of local and national whereas the
second is attached to a new, global youth culture sport. In Finland, a sparsely populated country with long distances, the growth stories of urban and rural athletes are,
unavoidably, very diferent.
hroughout the research data, many athletes emphasized the meaning of a good
quality and nearby sport facilities to their childhood sport and play activities (see also
Suomi et al. 2012). To those interviewees whose other family members were not physically active, the role of these facilities was crucial. An athlete with a rural background
explains how free-to-use sport facilities, i.e. a sport court and a skiing track, provided a
natural basis for childhood sport activities:
he place where we lived played a major role. Before I had even started any sport, the facilities were
always there, the sports court and the skiing tracks in winter. We often went skiing just for fun,
with the other kids around, our neighbours. We went straight from us onto the frozen lake and up
the hills. Sometimes I went to school on skis.
he quotes above are from athletes who have discovered sport and exercise at a very
young age not because they had inherited an inter-generational sport activity relationship
from their parents but because they had own initiative and determination. hanks to the
environment they grew up in and the friends they grew up with, sport gradually became
their main leisure pursuit. Still, there are some ten athletes in the research data whose
childhood sport descriptions and memories remain very thin or random. hey might
have played some sporty games as children but, for some reason or another, these were
not mentioned in the interviews and therefore did not become part of the interviewees’
sport and exercise-related life stories (see also Roos 1987, 35).
he things that are not told and the reasons for that are often important, too (Roos
1987, 20). In some cases, it may well be that other major changes in childhood overpowered sporty activities and games. Moving from one place to another, from abroad
to Finland or parents’ divorce are big and consequential changes in childhood which
were identiied in the interviews and which determine the life course more than sport
and exercise. In some cases, due to parents and siblings not being physically active, own
plays and games have not resulted in shared memories even though the athlete would
have had them. In the spirit of oral history research (Portelli 2006), we could conclude
that sport did not become experimentally important due to lack of signiicant others in
these situations or due to scarcity or occasionality of events.
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In addition, there are a few athletes in the research data who didn’t report on any
sport and exercise experiences in their childhood simply because they didn’t have them –
they started to play sports in their teen years. his will be expanded on in the chapter 5.
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2 Social capital and the social
networks of artists
hroughout his or her life, a human being is part of numerous social networks. Immediate and extended family are important in childhood, the importance of peers increases
with age and in adulthood the number of social networks mushrooms to several dimensions. Social capital is generated and developed in human relationships (Coleman 1988)
and its key feature is trust (Ilmonen 2000). Social capital is present in peoples’ lives in
diferent ways, from birth to death. It’s a personal resource that greatly inluences the
individual’s life course.
his chapter takes us to the analysis of the research data: we delve into the social relationships and networks in the lives of the interviewed young artists, especially from the
perspective of growing up to an artist. First of all, we examine the importance of family
and the capitals obtained at home. Secondly, we explore the other important relationships
for the socialization process in childhood and adolescence, and other essential networks
in the professional life later. As for social capital, we focus on information sharing in the
social relationships and social networks (Coleman 1988; Pulkkinen 2003). Information
sharing is understood as a socialization and negotiation process through which artists
obtain resources for the creation and building up of their own artistic capital.
he mainstream idea in the analysis is the one of a cumulative life course, i.e. that
accrued and accumulated life experiences always have an impact on the following turns
in the life course. his idea characterizes also this study, hence, the importance of social
relationships and networks is not exhausted in the analysis of this chapter but rather
provides a basis for the analytical themes in the chapters 4, 6 & 7.
TRANSMISSION OF FAMILY CAPITALS
We often talk about artistic families. Family is the institution where members of a biological generation meet and share their worlds of experiences, and where various capitals
are transmitted from one generation to another. he family dinner table is a suitable
metaphor for a place of social interaction where parents, children and grandparents share
their values, attitudes, knowledge and ideas of life (Häkkinen et al. 2013). At the family
table, the family members negotiate, build identities and views of the world, and socialize
themselves into various capitals and resources. he idea of this age-old mechanism is to
guarantee the preservation of those skills, knowledge and traditions in the immediate
and extended family. he passing on of these diferent capitals, practices, values and attitudes as such, from one generation to another, is not automatic. Along with continuity,
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disconnections and modiications occur which have an impact on the intergenerational
patrimony of the subsequent generations. (Op. cit.) he intergenerational interaction
has a signiicant impact on the psychological and cognitive development of the children,
on their personality, beliefs and sociability (Riley 1998).
he artist interviews open the door to those intergenerational capitals that the artists
themselves consider relevant for their lives and careers. Capitals are transferred from parents
to children, both consciously and unconsciously. In this way, the parents’ comprehensive
awareness of child-rearing (Hirsjärvi 1980, 18-19; Hirsjärvi & Huttunen 1991, 42–43)
can be seen to be passed on to the child, and to constitute an awareness of opportunities
later in life. Parents’ attitudes to professional life and future opportunities seem to be
transferred to children, too (Uhlenberg & Mueller 2004). Along with the child-rearing
awareness we could also refer to parents’ child-rearing orientation or parenting context.
Here they refer to the family’s art orientation, that artistic capital which is present at the
family table through the parents. Assumingly, a child is socialized into the parents’ art
orientation in the same way as into other orientations in life.
Several studies (e.g. Tuhkanen 1988, 72–81; Vihma-Purovaara 2000, 151–152; Maijala
2003, 77–82; Hirvonen 2003, 135; Myllyniemi 2009) indicate that artistic way of life
and interest in arts are socially inherited. An artist’s parents often work in an artistic or
cultural ield which results in the child’s socialization into a certain way of life, through
the example and the capitals he or she has obtained. Sari Karttunen (1988, 40) writes
in her study Taide pitkä, leipä kapea (art long, bread short) on visual artists’ life stories
in Finland that occupational inheritance is fairly common: “many artists’ parents can be
classiied as cultural curators, i.e. specialists who produce, interpret and distribute cultural
products. hese include artists, art brokers and teachers”. Many artists’ parents are also
academics or artisans (op. cit.).
Such intergenerational socialization stories (e.g. Bloom 1985b; Ericsson 1996b; Côte
1999; Uusikylä 2012), and in a broader sense the inheritance of cultural and social capitals
(e.g. Willis 1977; Bourdieu 1986; Lareau 2011; Myllyniemi 2012), have been identiied in other studies as well, covering other ields of life such as sports. his is typically
seen in educational choices, for example (e.g. Vanttaja 2002; Antikainen at al. 2013,
124–138; Kataja et al. 2014). Correspondingly, the low socio-economic status is noted
to be inherited in many ways (Kortteinen & Elovainio 2012; Kataja et al. 2014). he
inheritance of artisthood, or being an artist, has in previous studies been explained by
the intergenerational transmission of the middle class values which emphasize personal
development and creativity (e.g. Lepistö 1991, 33; Tolonen 2005; Levanto 2005, 99–100).
Hence the family table is the metaphoric scene where parents’ and children’s intertwining
life courses provide a basis for future turns in life, or for what can happen in life at all. hese
are the irst steps in the socialization story of life (e.g. Pulkkinen 2003). At the same time,
it’s important to bear in mind that societal changes constantly reshape the way in which
children later exploit their intergenerational immaterial capitals (Elder & Pellerin 1998).
For example, being born into an artistic family is not a deterministic way to artisthood.
As the following analysis indicates, family background is only one factor out of many in
the artists’ life courses and other backgrounds may result in successful artisthood as well.
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Pasi Koski (2004) uses the concept of physical activity relationship in analyzing
individuals’ relationship to the social world of sports (see also Unruh 1979). In his
analysis on Finnish physical activity generations and their diferences Tuomas Zacheus
(2008) has operationalized this physical activity relationship. Along the lines of Koski, he
divides the physical activity relationship into 1) personal physical activity, 2) voluntary
work in sports clubs, 3) spectator sports and 4) expenditure in sport and exercise. As
for art and culture, and along the lines of Koski (2004) and Zacheus (2008), we could
talk about a ‘culture relationship’ and extend its scope to families and their capitals,
in particular. In other words, the culture relationship of a family could be deined as
follows: 1) how much the family itself has been involved in making art or culture, 2) to
what extent the family members have participated in cultural activities outside home,
3) how much culture and arts have been followed (e.g., by reading the respective news)
and 4) how much the family has invested in culture, by buying art or participating in
cultural activities, for example.
he concept of the culture relationship helps to categorize the artists’ family backgrounds. In the interview data, families with both strong and weak culture relationship
were represented. Most families were located between the two extremes although it was
evident that the culture relationship of the interviewees’ families was fairly strong, on
average. he interviews in the research data can be categorized, on the basis of reported
and experienced family backgrounds, into three groups: art and culture homes (5 respondents), culturally inclined homes (20) and non-cultural homes (4).
ART AND CULTURE HOMES
In art and culture homes, at least one of the parents was a professional artist or a dedicated
amateur artist. here were artists among the relatives, too. he strong impact of the family on the socialization into arts can clearly be seen in the following interview extract:
Well yes my dad is [a professional artist] and we [the children] grew up somehow well […] surrounded by culture. Well, let’s put it this way that we could use our weekly allowances in anything we
wanted. But then we got extra money for cultural activities such as, for instance, movies of course,
to young people. Of course sometimes we said that we were going to see a movie [with a laugh]
but used the money to something else. But in any case, whatever the cultural activity, there was
always money for it. So we were clearly encouraged. My mum is [a professional artist] and we really
watched a lot the old classics in our video library. We didn’t actually even have any new stuf, old
French classics and other old movies, too. So I basically grew up surrounded by those old cinema
classics. Mum and dad liked them, thought they were important and that’s why we watched them,
too. […] And maybe all this somehow gave us a clear guidance or something, so everything was
always very clear to me, and very natural.
At the family table of this home of art and culture, artistic orientation and artistic capital
have been highly valued. he quotation reveals how art – and culture – is in many ways
present in the everyday life, in the household objects, in leisure activities and in the
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everyday conversations of the family. he childhood socialization took place in an environment of rich artistic inluences and art was part of the family’s everyday life (see also
Ruohola 2012, 17). he children of art and culture homes have, through their families,
a long and deep relationship to culture and arts. For them, art is an important mental
and psychological dimension. It’s a knowledge reserve that changes, at the family table,
into a shared interpretation schema with which to understand the world. We could also
conclude that the paradigm of art serves as the prism for this interpretation schema.
With age, as the art-related knowledge reserve expands, the artists can draw upon the
interpretation schema and modify it according to their needs. (See Habermas 1984.)
And then well, we always talked about everything. We always talked a lot with our parents, about
anything really. About literature, theatre, movies, everything. When I was a child it was really important to my mum that we sat down together at the family table, for dinner or some other meal,
at least once a day.
his quotation demonstrates how, at the family table – and not only in a metaphoric
way – art has been talked about. It is worth noting, however, that the family has not
only talked about arts but about “everything” and that these shared moments have been
highly valued.
I grew up in […] what we called an artists’ village… hey are those wooden terraced houses with an
atelier in each one of them. hose houses are diferent in size… I lived there until I went to school…
and it was somehow so natural that everyone was an artist and that it’s an occupation as anything else.
he children of art and culture homes understood at an early age – through example
of their parents and also through professional example of their parents’ colleagues and
other relatives – how is it to be an artist. his is clearly visible in the quotation above. In
the artist’s childhood, there was not only an example but also an awareness and broader
knowledge of what the artist’s profession is and that it’s a job like anything else; acceptable and normal.
Despite strong capitals, the way to an artist is not self-evident and without efort
even to young artists coming of strong art and culture homes. he family ambiance may,
in some cases, get ‘over the top’ and thus push the child away from arts. Sometimes
parents’ careers may cast a shadow to one’s own career – this phenomenon may be more
common and better known in sports where parental pressure is a potential factor behind
the discontinuation of the careers of young athletes (e.g. Frazer-homas et al. 2008).
he materialization of intergenerationally inherited capitals into artisthood requires the
contribution and optimal balancing of other axioms of the life course. he next quote
demonstrates how important the life’s turning points, transitions, timings, social capital
and conscious self-relection are, for the shaping of one’s life course (see also Giele &
Elder 1998):
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
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Well yes I studied, at the Open University […] and then I had some odd jobs here and there and
then I somehow drifted to ilm-making. Well actually I worked in one production and it just went
on. [...] One day at shooting somebody said that they would need some assistants in another shooting
the next day. hen I got to know this production manager who arranged me an assistant job in a
short production which was shot within a week. And it was there where I somehow just fucking
realized that this is where I really feel at home.
his quotation illustrates the lifelong impact of a strong art and culture home which
becomes apparent in the last sentence of the quote. Return to arts from other walks of
life is somehow a natural process because the interviewee knows the norms and codes
of the art world and, with the help of the personal interpretation scheme, feels at home.
CULTURALLY INCLINED HOMES
In culturally inclined homes, art and culture were consumed to at least some extent. Some of
the parents were amateur artists and some interviewees’ relatives were professional artists.
he children grew up in a culturally inclined ambience but, in most cases, without direct
example or guidance. In these families, parents usually had a positive attitude towards
children’s art and culture activities. he most obvious diference to art and culture homes
was that these homes didn’t have, in the same way, direct references to the world of arts
even though art and culture were generally highly appreciated.
Whereas art and culture homes were rich in artistic stimulus, the culturally inclined
homes had some artistic ‘drops’ here and there. But when relecting their own lives,
the artists themselves saw them as early signs of the direction of their life courses (see
also Linko 1998). he following quote illustrates this in a beautiful way: the childhood
musical inluences are still “felt in my body” and, at the same time, the father’s example
encouraged the musician to start playing the same instrument. Also reading as an educational activity is mentioned:
We didn’t go to the theatre or concerts, we didn’t do anything you could call highbrow culture.
Instead, we always listened to music, this is what I remember from my childhood. I think music is
somehow maybe even a stronger path than visual arts. I mean really, it’s something that I really felt
in my body and everywhere. Listening to music clearly comes from my dad’s side. He also played
guitar and of course it has been to me, I mean it was so much easier for me to start playing guitar
myself. I don’t know if there’s any strong connection but there must be something in there. So
that’s how it went. And then of course we always read a lot. But not really any classics, if you want
to make that separation, but we always read something that we were interested in.
In the quotation above, the interviewee wants to make a separation from the highbrow
culture and the family didn’t have any strong artistic background or traces. hese were
located in other interviews, though. he following respondent goes further back in time
and in generations and, in this quote, art can be seen as a strong mental trace:
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In my childhood I heard about these people in my family who had always somehow combined
the academic and agricultural worlds so they ended up as farmers but studied theology and then
there were quite a few missionaries and artists, too. Somehow that sweet mishmash that there was,
somehow I must have embraced it.
he essential part in this passage is that the interviewee felt to have absorbed this ”sweet
mishmash” already as a child. he interview goes on and the artist tells about the childhood home in the countryside and the relationship to arts that the adults who lived there
had and concludes that “the place where you live has an interesting impact”:
But I think that those things that I did, those were the kind of things that many adults were maybe
dreaming of but they just couldn’t do them so then the [adults] were happy to see when a child started
to do those things. It’s really interesting how our living environment has an impact on us, where we
live and in what kind of an environment. Maybe there was some kind of magic in those things I
did, something that the adults usually couldn’t do because they were so involved in the daily chores.
Culture was often present in these homes, in the form of music and cinema, for instance.
Many interviewees reported that even though their parents were not, due to work or
other activities, actually artistically oriented they were interested in art and made sure
that children learned to appreciate culture. his could be described by the concept of
cultural goodwill (Bourdieu 1984). In the following quote ‘being culturally oriented’
simply boils down to being interested in arts:
Well, I couldn’t say that we were an artistic family or somehow culturally oriented but then, on the
other hand, our family, my mum and dad, they were always somehow interested in arts. So we did
have some degree of cultural orientation, in my family.
Contrary to art and culture homes where children were often consciously guided towards
certain art activities, the encouragement in culturally inclined homes was more subtle. In
many homes, it was about encouragement to ‘smart activities’ such as reading or simply
supporting children in the activities they chose. Small details may have been important,
such as mother bringing comics home every week. he inluence of the family is not
restricted to transferring social and cultural inluences and capitals to children. he support and encouragement – or the lack of them – by parents is important whatever the
children’s choices may be (see also Linko 1998; Uusikylä 2012; cf. Erkkilä & Vesanen
1989, 84–89). In this way, even in ‘less culturally oriented’ homes support to children’s
own choices may provide a solid growth environment that supports independence. Also
the possibility of unrestricted free play during childhood strengthens artistic tendencies
(see also Houni 2000, 146; Maijala 2003, 86).
In four families, parents had clearly tried to guide their children to a certain ield of
art (mostly classical music). In these cases, parents own aspirations may overrun children’s
aspirations (cf. Frazer-homas et al. 2008). Some interviewees felt that such guidance
was oppressive. In some cases, where the artistic activity had been changed to another,
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a ‘more lowbrow’ activity, parents had questioned and objected the change.
hose homes where children were encouraged and supported in their own choices
or at least they were allowed to try diferent art activities which, in some homes, could
have been forbidden as ‘useless’, had a more neutral relationship to the child’s (artistic)
activities. Most respondents reported on encouraging experiences. he following quote
where a ‘favourable ambiance’ is emphasized, is typical:
I’ve always been in many kinds of art schools, classes with special emphasis on drawing, after school
activities around visual arts, and I’ve always been into doing something with my hands, I’ve enjoyed
it and I’ve been encouraged to do it. At home the atmosphere has always been very open-minded
and then at school, in primary, I did a creative class as an after school activity and my teacher was
good [...] all these have been good stimuli that I’ve been in that ambience where it has been desirable
to do something with hands.
he culturally inclined homes shared a certain middle class ethos. his became very
apparent in relation to education orientations. Many respondents reported that they
had been encouraged at home to get a good education in any ield; artistic ields were
acceptable, too. he family tables in these homes have ofered the children a spectrum
of possibilities and the children have become artists through other socialization processes
and often also by chance. hese homes also relect the ‘good old Finland’; the society
where children’s social rise was an opportunity taken for granted – often a wish or almost
an expectation (Pöntinen 1983). he following quote illustrates this ethos, emphasizing
‘the children doing well’ and their ‘smart’ activities.
We didn’t have any particular academic background or any obligations in that sense but we had a
very good home to grow up in. And maybe we had that, I don’t know, it was somehow not outspoken but my parents had that maybe more unconscious approach, I mean they must have invested
a lot in us children. It was important to them that the children do well and do well at school and
have some activities. Well they did invest in us although both of them worked and my dad quite a
lot actually but particularly my mum, I think my mum’s life was more that 8 to 4 or 9 to 5 work
and then she was always there for us. I wouldn’t say that she lived through her children but she was
very much there for us, very involved, we read bedtime stories and so on. Our dad took us to the
library so there was a clear orientation, I mean we were kind of shown that here are the books and
that it’s somehow smart to read them.
In the culturally inclined homes, the width of the horizon of opportunities was emphasized. Even as adults, many artists still had a positive attitude towards life, characterized by
an opportunity to choose between diferent options, rationality and, on the other hand,
future optimism. Well educated and well raised children were important to their parents
and many of them would have had other options as well, along with the career in arts.
Many of them had, in fact, thought about other education options in their youth and
often chance played an important role in embarking on arts. he backgrounds of children
of art and culture homes were very identical with the background observations made
in previous artist studies (e.g. Tuhkanen 1988, 72–81; Maijala 2003, 77–82; Hirvonen
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2003, 135) whereas the stories of children of culturally inclined homes were closer to a
typical middle class child-rearing orientation emphasizing personal growth and believing that good education guarantees a good future (e.g. Tolonen 2005; Lareau 2011).
NON-CULTURAL HOMES
Children of non-cultural homes typically described their backgrounds with the following
words:”I didn’t get anything particular from home that would have led me to arts”. Parents
had non-artistic occupations and were not particularly interested in culture. However,
it is possible that to these artists coming from ‘not-so-culturally-inclined-homes’ own
home seems non-cultural because the typical benchmark in the world of arts is other
artists typically coming from stronger art and culture homes. In any case, in our research
approach based on oral history, the personal account of the interviewee is decisive. he
personal account also reveals the life courses which result from the resources of the artist’s background.
I: What about your parents, were they artists?
A: No they weren’t, well my mum was always interested in my art activities but they are, they really are from another world of work. And now they’re retired. And yes well, at least with my dad,
discussions on the philosophy of arts are always cut quite short [with a laugh].
In many cases, the capitals inherited in non-cultural homes would rather have pointed to
diferent white-collar ields instead of artistic ields. his was also seen at the family table
where discussion themes were not particularly ‘cultural’ or discussions on art “were cut
short” as the artist stated above. Parents might have been active readers or music lovers
and some of the interviewees reported on having been inluenced by that. Making art
by themselves was not common in these homes. his doesn’t mean that the children’s
art activities would have been somehow rejected at home but the children were also not
particularly guided towards them, nor was any example given. he activities supported at
home were more often sport and exercise, for example. Some of the artists even reported
on some degree of objection to children’s artistic tendencies in these homes.
As the children of non-cultural homes didn’t receive a clear artistic orientation at
home, other childhood experiences were emphasized. Some of the artists mentioned
diferent youth culture trends and friends. Maaria Linko (1998, 322) points out that
indirect artistic inluences might be as important as the direct ones: “a family which is
not particularly interested in visual arts might have a rich story-telling tradition from
which a sensitive and receptive child draws inspiration for drawing, for instance”. he
artists of non-cultural homes clearly had more diiculties to locate where the spark for
art had originated from: when nothing referred to artistic ields, chance must have had
strong impact, too. he next quotation is quite revealing as the interviewee is still not
aware where that interest came from:
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A: But at the same time I have drawn a lot, ever since I was some six or ive, I really drew a lot.
I: Okay. Do you remember if your parents were somehow involved in arts, or were they into culture
or how did it come about…
A: Well, my parents had typical lower middle-class occupations. So they don’t have any cultural
background. And they didn’t, I mean I didn’t really get anything from them. So I’ve been also wondering where it all came from… well they really appreciated sports and especially those traditional
sports like running and cross-country skiing and those types of sport. hey’ve always encouraged me
to play sports but I could always choose the sport myself. But really they didn’t have any thoughts
on culture, we hardly talked about it. And then, well I actually asked them this spring that where
did they get the idea from, to take me to the Children’s Art School and they were like, well, they
hadn’t suggested anything but I was the one who had the idea. I wanted to go there.
Regardless of the origins of the artistic passion, all the children of non-cultural homes
reported on how they had taken distance and separated themselves from the family
values and habits. Some of them didn’t ind this painful at all because their parents had
given their acceptance to a career in arts, even with the inancial uncertainty related
to it. Others had experienced indiference or even objection from their parents. his
had typically caused problems at irst but had then, at least in some cases, turned to a
resource. To these artists, art and developing in it was perceived as embarking on one’s
own personal path and even as rebellion.
FAMILY’S ECONOMIC STATUS
he socio-economic standing of the family was very seldom brought up in the artists’
interviews. Clearly, the interviewees didn’t see it as a very important factor in their lives
and for their own careers in arts. he most typical impression on the interviewees’ family backgrounds was that the family had enough money for living and most artists had
received inancial support to their art activities. Many activities, such as drawing, do not
require substantial inancial investments in the irst place. hose who needed money for
more expensive activities, such as playing a classical instrument, had got it too, at least
until they could inance their activities themselves.
he inancial position of the families seems to have been fairly stable and even if there
were occasional money problems they were not relected in children’s lives in any particular
way. his was seen despite the fact that the early 1990’s depression hit most respondents
in the middle of their childhood and adolescence. Also, it’s worth noting that none of the
interviewees reported on coming from either very poor or very wealthy backgrounds. he
family backgrounds were not analysed by any quantitative methods but the interviews led
to a conclusion that the artists, deined by their family economic status, came from very
middle class backgrounds. his is in line with a previous study on artists’ social inheritance
(Karttunen 1988; Houni 2000; Maijala 2003; see also Vanttaja 2002; Lareau 2011) and, at
the same time, conirms the hypothesis of the welfare generation (Hoikkala & Paju 2008).
hus social capital (Coleman 1988) and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986) were
seen more important than inancial capital. he inheritance of the former was earlier
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analysed with the help of the family types: social capital is a reserve of mental skills and
knowledge which is passed on from parents to children. he latter refers to the culture
the children are socialized into and to what kind of culture they learn is natural, good
and respected. In this way, the children of art and culture homes, for example, embrace
certain cultural practices, skills and operating models in their habitus (Bourdieu 1993)
and, at the same time, a particular cultural taste and interpretation framework. hey
learn the (high) cultural codes and learn how to put what they learn and experience into
perspective against that background. Home is an important place for the development
of cultural capital and education is important to its reinement. In a way, the cultural
capital is materialized through the degree obtained in (cultural) education (Bourdieu
1986). Already when applying to and getting in in higher education in cultural and
artistic ields, the cultural capitals obtained earlier matter. Education can be seen as ‘a
series of consecutive choices’ (Antikainen et al. 2013, 98) and the social capitals inherited at home ofer resources and strategies also to parents in inluencing their children’s
educational choices (Coleman 1990). It’s probable that the cultural background of the
family, or the ‘right family name’, help in advancing one’s artistic career – in particular
because the measurement of artistic quality is always somewhat arbitrary.
Bourdieu’s (1993; 1996) notion of cultural capital includes the concept of distinction. It refers to the cultural capital serving as a tool of distinction in relation to those
with less cultural capitals. his may strengthen the position of the cultural elite but,
at the same time, take them further away from ‘common people’. Bourdieu’s (op. cit.)
concept is based on an analysis of the French society and is not directly applicable to a
more monocultural and egalitarian Finland (e.g. Kahma 2011). Still, Bourdieu’s (1993;
1996) notion of cultural capital helps us to understand why, for example, ‘being culturally inclined’ is learned and often inherited in the society, via family backgrounds.
SIBLINGS
he family backgrounds of the interviewed artists have been discussed above. In the
previous subchapter, we focused on parents in particular, what they had transmitted to
their children. Siblings are part of the family, too, and because the role of siblings is to
some extent special and varying, it is worth a separate analysis. In the interviews, the
relationship to siblings was typically approached by the question about whether they had
ended up in artistic ields as well. In many interviews, relationship to siblings was not
discussed any further than that, especially if they were not involved in arts and culture.
However, whenever there were similarities in career choices or whenever the interviewees felt that telling about their relationship to siblings was important, the theme was
elaborated on. Some interviewees had siblings who had also ended up in artistic ields
and some of them had even worked together with their siblings in professional contexts.
hree interviewees are the only children of their families and in one interview, siblings
were not mentioned at all. hus 25 interviewees are known to have siblings or half-siblings.
17 interviewees told that their siblings had not ended up in artistic ields. Many of them
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were information technology experts, engineers and professionals in other academic ields.
In fact, many interviewees felt that being an artist was the role that was left for them in
the family. For example, one artist told that “my brother is the engineer in the family and
I take care of the non-serious business”. Still, a few interviewees had worked together with
their siblings by, for example, combining their respective artistic and commercial skills.
It’s notable, that to most interviewees the role of siblings was minor in their childhood
activities. Brothers and sisters have done their own things and the artistically oriented child
his or her own things. Of course siblings have often been important in diferent ways, by
ofering a more ‘down to earth’ perspective and a discussion partner during the art-illed
career. Hence siblings are a contact point to the world outside arts and ofer a valuable
human relationship which is not based on work as the following quote illustrates:
I hang around a lot with my siblings and they are all doing really well and… And then they are
somehow very far away from anything that’s related to arts [...] they’re not interested in what I do,
they’re interested in me as a person. What I mean is that they, kind of, just don’t talk about my
work. Well I couldn’t, I mean I would ind it embarrassing that I should somehow be… [...] So
they kind of understand it in a right way, they take it as a personal matter and, if it was something
else, it would disturb our time together and interaction so that they would feel that they should
somehow have an opinion on it or something. So they kind of don’t even acknowledge my art.
Five interviewees’ siblings had, in one way or another, ended up or were close to end up
in artistic ields. Only two interviewees had siblings who could have been considered of
having had some impact on the artistic career of the interviewees, either by giving an
example or by doing things together. hree interviewed artists had been role models to
their younger siblings. hree interviewees didn’t even mention the professional ields of
their siblings although one of them told that the siblings drew together a lot when they
were younger. In general, siblings were not discussed more than this.
hus, approximately six artists had siblings who were important to their artistic careers.
In these families, solid intergenerational capital had been passed on from parents to all
children, and being an artist has, in a way, provided a model of a good life. Approximately
the same amount of interviewees reported that their siblings had an important role in
their lives but not directly from the perspective of artisthood. With most interviewees,
siblings were not very much talked about. his doesn’t mean that siblings wouldn’t have
had any inluence in the artists’ lives but that they only had an indirect impact on their
artistic careers. his is a signiicant diference compared to athletes (see chapter 1).
EXTENDED FAMILY
When we categorized families by their cultural backgrounds above we already referred
to the importance of relatives. Many interviewees had professional or amateur artists
in their extended families. Some interviewees told that actually the example of their
relatives made it clear, what it is like to be an artist. In a way, they have been pioneers
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in their families, by shaping their family attitudes more positive to arts. Consequently,
the younger generations have had it easier to aim for artistic ields. Approximately every
second interviewee named their aunts, uncles or grandparents as important inluencers.
Well that [aunt] was very important in all my doings, she was the one who took me to the seashore to
watch the stones, how they, I mean like ”look at these stones, if you put them this way, what do you
see in there”. So that happened already when I was very little. And we collected dry twigs, did potato
printing and everything, the list goes on. What you do as a child really has an inluence although
I never went to an art school or anything. But I always had the opportunity to do all these crafts.
his quotation indicates how moments spent with aunt had inspired imagination. he
artists’ relatives had taken the children to lea markets or amusement parks, or drawn a
lot with them. he most important meaning of the relatives was often the fact that time
spent with them had been creative and free. To some interviewees, the relatives have
simply functioned as a source of encouragement and support in their artistic activities.
My cousin was an important friend to stimulate my imagination. She’s three years older and with
her, somehow I remember how I adored her as a child and how we played all these creative things
together, as most children do. I remember how all those things were just so exciting; we did our own
magazine and all that creative stuf. At that age, three years is a big diference and I really admired
her and looked up to her. Well yes, we did everything we could imagine of and many creative
things really, those magazines and then we made our own clothes. We were speculating which one
of us dares to go to a public place in them, I mean those clothes were made out of old fabrics and
sheets, and the one who had the courage to go public was the winner. Well I don’t think I ever went
[laughs] but something like that we did and it surely was good fun.
Six interviewees told that their cousins had been very important to their artistic endeavours. hree artists’ cousins had been their artistic role models and also some sort of
‘mates in art’ with whom they drew or played music. As illustrated in the quote above,
especially older cousins were “looked up to”, with admiring eyes. One of the artists felt
that he was the role model for his cousin and, at the same time, an artistic pioneer for
the whole family.
GROUPS OF FRIENDS AND SOCIABILITY IN CHILDHOOD
he childhood growth environment has a signiicant impact on what kind of social and
cultural networks are on ofer. In smaller places children have to discover their things
on their own and form smaller groups around these activities whereas in bigger towns
there are more children of the same age, more groups of young people, youth cultures
to join and to draw upon. he growth environment determines the degree of sociability
which is considered normal. Groups of friends play an important role in the formation
and development of social capital of children and youth (Coleman 1988; Korkiamäki
2013; Salasuo & Suurpää 2014).
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We could group respondents according to their self-deined degree of sociability. 22
of them told they were mainly extrovert in their childhood and adolescence and that they
had an active social life. Seven respondents said they were rather introvert and preferred
to stay alone. Most extroverts deined their childhood friends as ‘normal’. Normality
was also deined by spending time with children who were not at all into arts. For the
extroverts, childhood and teen years mostly meant just doing things together outdoors
and being generally active, as anybody in their childhood and adolescence. Many interviewees felt that their circles of friends were completely ‘normal’ but some of them
started to develop an artist’s role in them:
In upper secondary school, when we needed to start thinking of what to study, what to work with,
then I somehow embraced that identity that was ofered to me, that this guy is an [artist] well my
friends told me that it was some kind of a joke but then again, in my group of friends, we gave
these identities to each other. Maybe they saw something in me, maybe it had to do with my habit
of being sometimes somehow absent, even autistic, deep in my own thoughts and then of course
I did my own things.
As the quote above indicates, some future artists didn’t always want to be surrounded
by friends but stayed alone, with their own things or thoughts. Socializing with friends
did not always tally with artistic activities and time dedicated to one thing was always
away from something else: “it was somehow in opposition to my social life, that drawing thing”. Some of them found another person as a solution, a friend or a cousin for
example, with whom they could really get absorbed in arts. Some of them preferred a
larger group, around making music, for instance. It is notable that none of the interviewees
felt they had grown up in any very artistic groups of friends, at least not before upper
secondary school. In addition, nearly all interviewees who had ‘artistic friends’ when
they were young told that these friends didn’t always end up in artistic ields although
some of them continued as amateur artists.
Seven interviewees were more noticeably introvert which was strongly related to their
artistic activities. Some activities developed to a more goal-oriented and therefore also
more time-consuming direction already at an early age. For most of these artists, it was
more about just staying alone while creating their own worlds by drawing, for instance.
A few of them told they had a single ‘best friend’ with whom to pursue artistic activities.
In the following quote, this friend is deined as a “soulmate with a similar personality”.
he artist shared everything with her friend that even led to bullying:
Well I don’t know, I didn’t really ind my place especially in secondary school. My friend and I,
we were kind of soulmates and… I met her in seventh grade and… She was also into drawing and
somehow…. a very similar person to myself. She was as tall as I was, we looked alike and we even
dressed in a similar way and I felt we were really like a single person and… well with her we were
together all the time, throughout the secondary and upper secondary. Well, not really of course
and we did have some other friends, too. I don’t know what was the group we kind of represented,
well, we were like… well, we were not nerds because we were not that smart [laughs], but we were
a group of our own, we had our own things. But we were not cool either we were somehow nothing
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special. Well there was also some bullying in the air… just a little bit, I was not that badly bullied
but I’ve always been a target somehow. Maybe it was about [...] my crazy ideas of what to draw or
just something else…
he division to ‘extroverts’ and ‘introverts’ is naturally not static. he location of all
interviewees between these two extremes had varied throughout their childhood and
adolescence. A few artists told they had been very sociable children but then became
more introvert teenagers. Another typical development path is that the future artist
is somehow ‘diferent’ or an outsider as a child or as a teenager but then, as he or she
grows older, inds a matching peer group in which the artistic identity can be shaped
in a more pronounced way. hese descriptions may be relections of the old myth of
genius (e.g. Lepistö 1991; Koskinen 2006), i.e. that an artist always represents diference in his community. It is, however, impossible to estimate to what extent the artists
channel – most likely unconsciously – in their interviews their perceptions inluenced
by the genius myth and to what extent their experiences ‘hold true’. In any case, we can
conclude that this observation supports the idea that all myths always arise from reality,
at least to some extent, although they also live on their own.
It’s also important to note that there were no major gender diferences as to the degree
of sociability in the interviewees’ childhood and adolescence. here are diferent cultural
expectations, norms and stereotypes as to the sociability of boys and girls. Consequently,
genders can perceive sociability in very diferent ways. his analysis has been made purely
on the basis of the respondents’ individual accounts and experiences.
MENTORS AND ROLE MODELS
Some artists reported on their childhood idols and role models. Sometimes they came
from the immediate surroundings of the future artist; an artist parent or an artist cousin.
he more remote childhood idols were often very classic: Beethoven, Madonna, Salvador
Dali and Aki Kaurismäki. As the art activities deepened, the role models became more
speciic. It’s worth noting that most artists didn’t want to name their adulthood role
models anymore. All in all, there was not much talk about role models and idols. Maybe
it’s about artistic creation arising from originality, or simply the fact that professional
artists don’t want to identify themselves with other artists.
And then I had my neighbour, well, he was just a person who was generally interested in many
things and with him we developed diferent projects with the help of some whisky, when I was still
studying. He was about 50 then so he must be about 60 now. He’s an architect, I just met him in
our hallway, then he invited me and we just started talking about things. He was my mentor, in
some way. Well yes, as he lived next door it was really easy to pop in and talk about art.
As the quotation above illustrates, personal ‘mentors’ – or, traditionally speaking, masters of
their apprentices (e.g. Sosniak 1985; Maijala 2003, 99–102; Merta 2006; see also Virtanen
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2001, 351–372) – may be even more important than role models. hey are older artists,
often close to the artist’s own ield of arts, who take the younger artist as their protégé(e) and
ofer guidance and knowledge to an often insecure, young artist. In some cases, the mentors
had been relatives, and in some cases they had been discovered by chance: they had been
instructors in after school activities, ‘guys from next door’ or teachers in school. To some
interviewed artists mentors were particularly important as they might have been the only
people in their childhood circles who understood anything on artistic work. Hence they
knew how to guide and help. Mentors and role models were important at that stage when
own interest had already risen but it was not very clear yet. Also Katarina Eskola (1998,
66) made similar observations in her research data based on life stories: “the stories seemed
to be full of descriptions of how important good instructors, leaders and mentors are, in
the emergence and development of creativity”. hese observations are not to be ignored
when thinking about the actual conditions to creativity and how to support creativity with
the means of cultural policy (see also Cronberg 2011; Uusikylä 2012).
ART EDUCATION AND TEACHERS IN THE COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL
Experiences of educational and training institutions were also analysed. In the artist
interviews, there was very little talk about basic education. Art and drawing were the
favourite subjects of many interviewees and some of them mentioned an inspiring
teacher in either primary or secondary school. Many future artists had been in Steiner
School with its inbuilt creative focus. A few interviewees told they were in a special class
with emphasis on music in the comprehensive school which they felt had been a good
opportunity. Not all of them shared these good experiences of the art education in the
comprehensive school, however. Some remembered the horrors of being forced to play
ipple lute, or the monotony of art education. Some of them also felt that art and drawing in the comprehensive school was simply too easy.
Many interviewees were involved in diferent art and culture activities already as
children. Often they had also inherited artistic capitals at home. hus the fact that there
was not much talk about art education in the basic education is not surprising. he importance of art subjects in the comprehensive school may relate to the fact that ”to most
children, school is the only environment where they can encounter art” (Bergala 2013, 31).
As Sami Myllyniemi (2009, 44) states “the importance of school for participation in art
is central as it can – contrary to the art and culture education services aimed at children
– reach the entire target group”. he fact that art education in comprehensive school
was hardly mentioned in the interviews of this study doesn’t correlate to the potential
importance of art education in comprehensive school as such. We also need to bear in
mind that most interviewees went to school between the end of 1970’s and the end of
1990’s after which art education has changed. We should rather think about the great
potential of the comprehensive school art education if we wish that artistic skills and
creativity really are ‘every man’s rights’. At the same time, the relative importance of the
social capital inherited at home, to being an artist, would diminish.
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SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS DURING EDUCATION
AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER
As noted earlier, family is the main social arena in childhood, having an impact on the
foundations of each individual’s life course. Social capital, deined by Coleman (1988)
as a general mental resource for all human action, is inherited in the family. he role
of professional networks and groups of friends strengthens with age: they generate additional social capital as deined by Bourdieu (1986): relationships and networks as well
as skills to navigate in them. As Riikka Korkiamäki (2013, 36) writes about social capital
as deined by Bourdieu: “Social capital is deined as those actual or potential resources
that depend on individual’s belonging to a group”. In this case, the group can be deined
as the (Finnish) ield of arts where social capital has indisputable importance.
Social capital in the ield of arts means that an individual knows people with whom
to collaborate and who can ofer peer support and friendship (see also Becker 2008
[1982]; Herranen et al. 2013, 141–144). Secondly, social capital is simply making one’s
name known and gaining recognition to one’s personal skills. his makes things progress
naturally and with ease. Social capital helps an individual to operate in the ield of art
even when action in that ield is characterized by competition. One dimension of social
capital is its connection to habitus and, in that way, to unconscious behavioural models
and ways of acting.
In the subchapter above we concluded that to some interviewees, the instructors,
mentors or ‘masters’ met in adolescence became important inluencers in their lives.
To some of them, they were the irst persons to have a direct professional inluence in
them, extending to their careers later on. A mentor typically had the role of a teacher, an
informal supporter or an encourager. Mentors knew how to guide the future artist into
making art, when nobody else could. At the same time they helped, either consciously
or without even noticing it, the future artist to network in the world of arts. Mentors
were particularly important to those future artists who were not from strong art and
culture homes.
More networking took place in the Academy. [...] I think the most important thing in studying is
that you meet those people who do it professionally and you can network with them. If you don’t
ind anybody at least you can talk about art, on an equal footing. [...] I mean that at least you’ll
develop a personal relationship to a teacher, to an artist who’s really in that network, in that ield,
that’s why studying is so important. It takes you forward, the fact that you can talk to that person.
It’s a bit like an idea of having a master.
As seen in the quote above, schools are important places for social networking. According
to the interviewed artists, teachers may at best become personal ‘masters’ of the aspiring artists, with reference to the classic idea of a master-apprentice relationship. Many
interviewees concluded that the most important thing of education is to have those
contacts to like-minded people, to teachers and other students. Most art school graduates mentioned at least one teacher whose impact had been important, in the context of
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art. Some of them even became friends with their teachers. he role of teachers is not
limited to teaching as they often also function as gatekeepers in the ield of art. Many
interviewees said that in art schools it’s important that the teachers ‘remember your
name’ as they often work as curators of art exhibitions and in the selection boards of art
grants. Other students ofered peer support and a benchmark to one’s own art making
and often also an opportunity to artistic and intellectual collaboration (see Riley 1998).
Many interviewees emphasized the time straight after graduation being particularly
important. For example, succeeding in inal project exhibition led to invitations to other
exhibitions, irst small grants and, through that, to the beginning of the professional
career in arts. Time after graduation is, without doubt, an important transition phase
and a turning point in an artist’s life course. John Clausen (1998) explains how the life
course is full of transitions and how the most important ones are those turning points that
have a signiicant impact on the future. Often, a major turning point is not recognised
when it actually takes place but, instead, only much later when its importance as a future
direction provider and a road map becomes part of a longer autobiography. As for the
artists interviewed for the purposes of this study, the critical years straight after school
can be regarded as very important for the success of their future careers. Successful and
positive events in that phase have taken their life courses to the right direction.
Even though the artists recognised the importance of social capital obtained in
school, many interviewees emphasized that in the inal year the competition with other
students should not accelerate into a ight ‘for a place in the sun’. he emphasis should
rather be in making sure that one’s own work is good and that it will be recognised on
its own merits.
Of course higher education in arts means a super tough competition with a lot of mental pressure, I
mean, it was a really tough school and that’s why I thought that I might not have managed it when
I was younger. [...] When you have your own friends then it gets a bit diicult. And then especially
during that last year when I did my inal project I felt how the tension afected our whole year group,
I mean everyone got a bit aggressive which was not always nice. We had some gallerists coming
over to see the projects and, well, I can’t say it didn’t afect our relationships to one another. And
then of course after that, after graduation, the irst couple of years are kind of critical if you think
of everything you have to do and then you already kind of see to which directions diferent people
go, and then of course everything you have to do and experience, not always only nice things… But
now I see it diferently maybe I just hang around more with those friends and colleagues who are
somehow on the same level… I mean then you can share that good and encourage and help others.
But, yes, there’s always been competition and it has had its negative impacts, too.
he functioning of the art ield sparked a lot of discussion in the interviews. he quotation
above brilliantly summarises a few things. Indeed, many interviewees had an ambivalent
relationship to competition and this quote also illustrates how “kind of critical” the
irst years after graduation are (see also Lepistö 1991, 29–30; Vihma-Purovaara 2000,
185–190; Maijala 2003, 105–109). Some of the interviewed artists admitted that they
had competitive mentalities but also said that competition should never have an intrinsic
value as such: you can only succeed by focusing on your own work and not because you
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want to ‘win’11. Of course the role of chance in the lives of successful artists cannot be
neglected and in these happy circumstances, the artists don’t have to think about competitive settings (see also Røyseng et al. 2007). On the other hand, one feature of the
‘charismatic economy’ (Bourdieu 1993; Karttunen 2002, 56–59; Røyseng et al. 2007)
of art making is the idea of disapproving competition altogether.
To all interviewees, fellow artists are primarily cooperation partners, peers and some
of them also friends. his is natural also from the success perspective: sociability and
solidarity of some degree are considered virtues compared to isolating oneself from
others. At the same time, this answers the requirements of diversity of art and increased
cooperation (Tolvanen & Pesonen 2010; Rantala & Korhonen 2012; Herranen et al.
2013, 147; Ansio & Houni 2013a, 66–71; see also Becker 2008 [1982]).12 he pure
human aspect is important, too. Artists understand each other and thus ofer easy-going
friendships and social networks to each other. Without doubt, artists in Finland form
their own community and network where other artists are either personally known or
at least easy to reach through other friends and acquaintances (see Granovetter 1973).
At the same time, social capital in the world of art has its trust-based dimension: it
‘lubricates’ social interaction13 at the levels of both work and personal life (see Ilmonen
2000). When needed, artists may give peer support to each other:
Yesterday I spoke to a colleague because I know that she understands, I told her that you know, I
haven’t touched the paintbrush for a week now, why did I promise that I could teach. I was just
coming from that teaching session and then ran some errands that needed to be taken care of. She
understood it very well and told me that she’d been travelling and that she hadn’t had any time for
painting either, and this week would be the same, and then we were both there, just furious. Only
another artist can understand you and how your happiness comes from being able to do that work
and how annoying it is that there are so many other things that, yes, have a connection to your
work but actually keep you away from it.
Already on the basis of their respective ields of art, the interviewees could be divided
into those who principally work alone and into those who mainly work with other artists.
he irst group includes, for example, visual artists and authors and the second, among
others, those who work with cinema and music. his division is not absolute, of course:
all artists have solitary and social phases in their work. A certain degree of perfectionism
and its impact on their work was felt with some of the interviewed artists: working with
11 This is another point of comparison to the athletes. It is probable that the arists talked more about
the compeiive aspect of their work because they knew that also athletes were interviewed for
the purposes of the same study.
12 As we can see, the research data demonstrates not only the compeiion in the art ield (Bourdieu)
but also the cooperaion focus in the art world (Becker). A more detailed analysis will be made in
another context (Piispa 2015b).
13 This might be another reason for the coninuums created by ”arisic families”: in addiion to the
inherited social capital the arist can proit from the ”family name” which guarantees that the arist
knows the rules of the ield and can accomplish his role and deserve the trust ofered to him. The
reverse is the more closed of nature of the ield of art (Bourdieu 1993; 1996).
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
others is fun and sometimes also necessary but then you inevitably have to compromise.
Often artists didn’t have as high demands as when working on their own when working
with other people, or they simply approached working with others in a more playful way.
Some interviewees emphasized the importance of non-artist friends. hey ofer a window to another world and to another sociability where work is not constantly in mind.
his also applies to non-artistic activities. You can meet people who are not artists and
you can socialize with them without the burden of any titles and status. he following
description illustrates this very well by describing another activity:
A: And then in yoga, it’s so crazy that you are on a level playing ield with all those people in the
dressing room, you meet them and you know them, one of them is a doctor, another one is a lawyer
and the third one is a management consultant and so on… so it’s really diferent when people come
from so many walks of life and backgrounds…
I: So you can talk about something else…
A: Yes and it’s really good fun, I mean often we don’t talk about work at all but about something
else, we know so much about each other but, on the other hand, wouldn’t probably recognise each
other in everyday clothes, only in our yoga outits. So it’s been really good to have all those people
I can now call friends and spend some time with them, maybe even outside the yoga studio.
he position of spouse or partner was interesting. Ten of the interviewees reported on
having a partner who also works in the ield of art and a few artists had amateur artist
spouses. his is only natural and many emphasized its importance in life coordination,
both from mental and time management perspective. Five respondents’ spouses or partners
had nothing to do with arts. In these cases, despite occasional challenges, the diferences
between the spouses’ professional lives keep the couple sane: it’s “very healthy” as one
of the interviewees put it.
EXCURSION: GENDER IN THE INTERVIEWS
It is notable that very few artists emphasized the meaning of gender, in any way, in their
life and work. One could have expected that, at least with women, gender would have
been brought up in some way, with reference to gender inequalities on the labour market,
for instance. However, this was not the case which can result from female domination
in many of the artistic ields which – on the other hand – may be one of the reasons for
the low income levels in these ields (see also Karttunen 2004, 18–19). All the same, the
(inancial) uncertainty of an artist’s life was not approached from the gender perspective
but from being an artist as such. None of artists felt that gender was the reason for low
income levels but being an artist was mentioned by many respondents as being one of
the reasons for that.
In a broader sense, we could conclude that artisthood was, without exception, the
dominant position in the interviews (see the overlapping positions of the life course; e.g.
Gecas 2004) rather than, for example, gender, nationality or parenthood. he dominance of the artisthood position was seen, for example, in artists placing themselves in
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the historic continuum of their own ield, of visual artists, for example, not of male or
female visual artists in particular. Only three female artists briely referred to their roles
as female artists in particular. he irst one felt it was important that after “the established
male-dominant history [my colleague] and I have done so much compared to others in
this ield, and this is rare because we are women”. he second one had discovered her own
strength in being diferent from the traditional female image. he third one mentioned
some other female artist as pioneers to break the traditional male rule.
Many artists already had children and parenthood was typically discussed as motherhood or fatherhood. However, these were not given any particular meanings which
would have been important from the perspective of the theme of the interview. his
is an interesting diference compared to athletes (see Salasuo, Piispa & Huhta 2015):
motherhood is a real risk to an athlete’s career whereas for female artists – at least on the
basis of these interviews – motherhood was considered as a minor risk. he artists did
report on phases of life when newborn children had taken time and energy away from
making art but this was related to both genders, including fathers. A lexible spouse
understanding ‘the artist’s moods’ was a key factor in reconciliating family and work
which many artists underlined. It may be that the even gender distribution in the ield
of arts is relected in the personal values of artists and, for instance child-rearing, is seen
as a responsibility of both parents.
he ‘absence’ of gender or its minor role in the interviews arouses some questions.
Firstly, it may refer to a high degree of gender equality among artists – and of equality of
success or of ‘misery’ – or at least gender equality is a reference value and a natural starting
point in the ield of arts. his would strengthen the assumption that feminisation and
a higher degree of education and professionalism among artists, that have gone hand in
hand with the welfare state cultural policy, have taken away the masculine and mythical
perceptions of artists. In particular, the role of women as equal and hard-working artists
is a powerful tool in breaking up the genius myth.
Secondly, the invisibility of gender in the artist interviews may be a result of the
interview approach. he personal lives of the artists were approached from the perspective of artisthood and not from other positions, as already mentioned. his may have
resulted in ‘forgetting’ the importance of gender. Gender naturally and certainly has an
impact on the interviewees’ life courses as individuals but maybe not so much as artists.
74
II Society and culture,
time and place
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
3 Children of the rapidly
transforming Finland and its
sport and exercise culture
In the introduction we discussed the societal and cultural developments which are
important from the perspective of this study. We concluded that understanding this
framework requires evidence-based knowledge or, as Grant Jarvie (2006, 61) writes: “no
informed debate on sport, culture and society can take place without reference to the
historical dimensions or processes involved in the making of sport”. Historical factors
have to be taken into account as changes in sport are part of a broader development
in society. From the perspective of this study, understanding the present state and the
recent history (e.g. Mäkinen 2010; Kokkonen 2013; Rantala 2014; Kokkonen 2015)
of the Finnish sport and exercise culture has to be complemented by understanding the
ongoing, deeper change in society: for the purposes of this study, this means that Finland
where the interviewees were born and where they have grown up (see also Heinilä 1998).
As stated earlier, the life course analysis has been chosen as the key research method of
this study. One of its key principles is that every person’s life course is connected to a
certain time and place (Elder & Giele 2009; Häkkinen 2012).
he perspective of this chapter brings together the most signiicant changes in sport
and in society in the past 40 years, from the point of view of the research questions of
this study. he focal points of the analysis are athletes as generations and their growth
environments. he growth environment is a very important factor as Finland – contrary
to popular beliefs – is not a uniform, homogenic community: cultural changes that have
an impact on young people’s lives and change their everyday practices occur at diferent
times in diferent places (Helanko 1953, 67–76; Lähteenmaa 2006; Tolonen 2010).
his means that, for example, rural athletes have been socialized into a diferent sport
culture and ethos (e.g. Hämäläinen 2008; Heikkinen et al. 2012) compared to their
urban peers. It is also evident that the oldest athletes in the research data have had a very
diferent growth environment compared to the youngest ones (about physical exercise;
Vasara 1992a,b,c; Koski 2004, 198–204; Zacheus 2008; Kokkonen 2013; about youth
Aapola & Kaarninen 2003; Vehkalahti & Suurpää 2014). In elite sports in particular,
the meaning of time and place is paramount.
In this chapter, we analyse the childhood and adolescence sport participation of the
Finnish athletes of diferent ages and of diferent growth environments. he analysis is
a follow-up of chapter 1 where the importance of family capitals and socialization into
sport were discussed. he societal and cultural landscape where the athletes grow up is
also relected in the analysis. We also take into account those athletes who have inished
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their careers. As in the chapter on the importance of the family, there is no need to
distinguish between dropouts and elite athletes here.
GROWTH ENVIRONMENTS OF ATHLETES, IN TIME AND PLACE
he quantiication of certain elements of the research data of this study provides an interesting view to the changes of sport and exercise culture and the generations of sport
and exercise, even though the research data of this study is not quantitative in nature.
his is relected in the following table 3 where the interviewees are crosstabled according to their birth decade, growth environment and their sport type. In the 1970’s, more
than half of Finns lived in urban environments but rural environments and individual
sports still produced a large number of elite athletes. After that, the situation changed
and towards the 1990’s most elite athletes had grown up in urban environments: in
the entire research data, 67 athletes came from urban environments and 29 from rural
environments. However, we cannot make any direct quantitative conclusions or generalisations on the basis of the research data of this study. For example, urban environments
and team sports are emphasized in the two youngest age groups, due to a large number
of soccer players in the data (see also Heinilä & Vuolle 1970, 6; Kortelainen 2007). On
the other hand, if we were to “standardise” the number of soccer players and drop it to
the level of, for example, basketball players, “urbanisation” of elite athletes would still
be a clear trend. his trend could be seen even without the soccer players altogether.
his table illustrates a clear tendency: from rural to urban environments. Another trend
to be seen in the table is the growing interest in team sports and lifestyle sports even
though they haven’t yet completely replaced the traditional individual sports. It’s also
worth noting that nowadays the athletes of traditional individual sports most often come
from urban environments, too.
Table 3. Athletes of diferent sports according to their birth year and childhood growth environment
Individual
sports
Team sports
Lifestyle
sports
Total
Urban
1
4
1
6
Rural
6
1
-
7
1980–1984
Urban
4
6
2
12
Rural
4
4
1
9
1985–1989
Urban
4
16
3
23
Rural
6
4
-
10
Urban
7
15
4
26
Rural
2
-
1
3
1969–1979
1990–1997
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
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Next, we discuss the importance of the athletes’ growth environments in relation to time
and place. he physical activity generations, as deined by Tuomas Zacheus (2008), are
a useful tool for time analysis. Zacheus distinguishes between those born in the 1970’s
“the generation of the rise of technicalised exercise” and those born between 1980 and
1988, “the generation of personalised exercise”. hese deinitions illustrate the change
of the physical activity culture, or the sports and exercise culture. From the generational
point of view, this is the transition from natural outdoor sports and play towards a
more diferentiated and instructed and, on the other hand, also more urban sport and
exercise. he turning point of the transition can be located in the mid 1980’s. Compared to Zacheus’s (op. cit.) classiication, the research data of this study is analysed in a
more detailed way: those born in 1969–1979 (13 interviewees), in 1980–1984 (21), in
1985–1989 (33) and those born in the 1990’s (29). he cohorts cover diferent lengths
of birth years which can be justiied by the turning point of the mid 1980’s. In the mid
1980’s, the persistent features of old Finland slowly started to fade away from the life
stories and remained in minority (also Herva & Vuolle 1991). As Outi Aarresola (2014,
97) writes, ”the divergence of the Finnish sport movement coincided with the rise of
the generation Y” – generation Y referring to those born in the 1980’s, the generation
of individual choice (e.g. Hoikkala & Paju 2008; Siltala 2013). Kimmo Jokinen (1989,
135–144) has referred to the same phenomenon as the ‘fragmentation’ of the ields. In
other words, the thorough societal change in the childhood and adolescence of those
born in the 1980’s coincided with the change in sport participation and was relected
in it. his could be seen in table 3, as the diference between the number of urban and
rural athletes, and these changes are also clearly seen in the further analysis.
he division between urban and rural environments is not unproblematic, however, as
the diference between a small town and the capital is often bigger than that between a small
town and countryside. In addition, some interviewees had moved from one type of area to
another, the urban environment of the 1970’s is not similar to that of the 21st century and
so on. For these reasons, the division has not been made on the basis of quantitative diferences or registry deinitions but on the basis of the research data itself; how the respondents
themselves deined their childhood growth environment. For example, some of the athletes
who ‘oicially’ grew up in cities emphasized of having lived in the outskirts of the city and
therefore, in ‘rural’ or ‘village-like’ environments. Consequently, the urban environment
may mean more ‘urban-like’ as deined by the interviewed athletes themselves and it can
be anything between the capital and a small town. Also, rural is more accurately ‘rural-like’
if the childhood residence had oicially been within city limits. hus the research data was
allowed, on the basis of the grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss 1967), ‘speak with
its own voice’ and therefore the division was, after all, very straightforward – however, not
forgetting that, in some cases, it can be very approximate.
In analysing the changes in sport participation, the respondents’ irst sport story
serves as a useful tool. he life story interview method (see introduction) was used for
collecting the data for the purposes of this study. hus, every interview started with an
open question, “please tell me your sport-related life story”. Most respondents started this
by characterizing, in their own words, their irst experiences in sport and exercise or just
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those experiences that irst came to their minds. he remaining respondents also reported,
in the beginning of the interviews, on their sport experiences. To some interviewees the
irst experiences included pick-up games or backyard games, or general physical activity
whereas others reported on their irst instructed sport activities.
In this analysis, we distinguish whether the interviewees emphasize the importance of
deliberate play or deliberate practice (e.g. Côté et al. 2007) in their stories and, whenever
possible, which one they think came irst. It is notable that these two forms of physical
activity are not mutually exclusive but rather explain what was the interviewee’s irst
memory and experience of his or her childhood physical activities (Abrams 2010, 78–105).
Also in cases where deliberate practice was named as the irst memory, socialization into
sport and exercise had often taken place in the family (see chapter 1). Whilst the analysis
on family capitals illustrated how and through which ways the young athletes had been
socialized into sport this chapter delves into the practical framework of that socialization.
So it is about the experience the athlete puts irst in the framework of elite athleticism.
he emphasis of these telling sentences (Hyvärinen 2010, 93–96) may expose the chronological course of events but they also reveal what was the most important thing from the
point of view of the athlete, something that has led him or her from one developmental
stage to another. For example, stories such as “I always ran everywhere. I went to track
and ield school.” or ”I started kids’ league at six. We also played backyard footy.” have
a clear diference. hey lead the reader, in this case the researcher, to draw conclusions
on the cultural diferences behind the stories (op. cit., 94). In a previous study based on
interview data (e.g. Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013), the way diferent generations emphasized
certain types of sport and exercise as part of their autobiographic relections corresponded
fairly accurately to the broader changes in the sport and exercise culture (op. cit.).
From the point of view of remembering, we could conclude that those interviewees
who mostly emphasized deliberate practice seem to have experienced it as a turning
point. To them, it was the starting point of a sporty lifestyle. On the other hand, those
athletes that mostly remembered deliberate play and games experienced it as a natural
part of their childhood. To them, the deliberate practice started later was not seen as
an important transition because those sport ields and facilities were already so familiar.
(See also Salmi-Nikander 2006.)
Grandchildren of old Finland
he sport and exercise childhood of those born in 1970’s was already clearly diferent
from that of their parents who often had ‘one foot on the skiing track, the other one on
the running track’. Still, even their conditions and framework to do sport were so different from those of today’s young people that it, in some cases, arouses some nostalgic
feelings. Many of those born in 1969–1979 reported on their habits and on the old
times, on how typical it was, just to go out and play with friends. However, it was not
only about playing games and maybe skiing or running as for instance team games were
popular, too (e.g. Vasara 1992b, 413–419; Zacheus 2008; Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013,
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
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149–152). he physically active lifestyle was, at least to the athletes interviewed for this
study, something taken for granted even though the age of ‘compulsory physical activity’
was already gone (Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013).
In the opening stories of those born in 1969–1979, the respondents often reported
on frequent own-initiative physical activity and outdoor play. Eight athletes out of 13
reported mostly on various backyard games and also on playing sports outside sports
clubs, with parents, siblings or friends (see also chapter 1). he remaining ive reported
on having started sport by deliberate practice and some of them even emphasized of not
having been physically active or even interested in sport before that.
he following quote is a typical example of playing sports on own initiative. An
athlete in traditional individual sport starts the interview by reporting on various sporty
plays, games and activities. She also participated in competitions but was not involved
in deliberate practice. Long cycling distances to the games further accentuate her overall
physically active lifestyle.
From very early on, I was out there, playing with the neighbourhood kids. We were out playing
in summer and in winter. I remember how I participated in competitions, interscholastic competitions and all that. I was somehow very involved all the time. And if I didn’t have a ride to where
I wanted to go, then I just cycled that 6–8 kilometres even when I was still in primary school, just
to get there to play with friends.
It is revealing that many of the older athletes discovered or chose their own sport very
late. his correlates with an all-round sporty background, acquired in childhood plays and
games, and also with the fact that these athletes didn’t have to choose between competing and stopping sport altogether in their youth, as often is the case nowadays. In fact,
nearly all those born in 1969–1979 had a very physically active, and in many ways so,
childhood and adolescence. Many have also had at least one secondary sport as long as
possible, often even well into their 20’s. Today such multiple sport participation might
be considered impossible. Many of these athletes started deliberate practice relatively
late and also specialized late in their respective main sports.
hose born in 1969–1979 are the only age cohort in the research data with more rural
than urban born respondents. Traditional individual sports were popular among those
born in rural areas whereas city children favoured team sports. his could be seen in the
interviews: rural children spent their childhood ‘running around’, just playing out there
and being physically active in their free time. Many reported on having walked, cycled
or skied even several kilometres to school and an interest in more traditional sports had
been a very natural part of lifestyle. Urban children, in turn, played diferent outdoor
and backyard games. hey also had an increasing number of sports and sport clubs to
choose from, without any strong need to specialize at a young age. It’s worth noting that
for both urban and rural athletes sport and exercise were mostly seen as social action.
Again, it has to do with the idea that at that time, ‘all children were physically active’
– even though it wouldn’t have been the whole truth with that generation (Salasuo &
Ojajärvi 2013, 148–160; 2014).
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Children of the turning point of the sport
and exercise culture
he onset of the transitional phase can already be seen in the childhood sport and exercise activities of those born in 1980–1984. Some of them described their childhood
activities in a somewhat nostalgic way “how we played all those diferent games back
then, like all the children”. Still, more children than before participated in deliberate
practice and sport began to be partly separate element of everyday life, something to go
to. Deliberate play had become deliberate practice to more children than ever. here
is a substantial diference between living environments, though, as those born in rural
areas mainly reported on outdoor games and free play whereas urban children typically
entered into sport through deliberate practice in sport clubs.
hose born in the early 1980’s have grown up in an important turning point in society,
extending to all ields of life. hey are among the last age cohorts to have memories of
Finland before the early 1990’s depression, the time before the information technology
revolution and the rise of Nokia (Castells & Himanen 2001). he old Finland still
prevailed in rural areas until it inevitably started to disappear as a consequence of the
turmoils of the early 1990’s. We could even suggest that those born in early 1980’s have
been socialized into two diferent social realities: on one hand, into the culmination
of the Finnish welfare state (Roos 1999) and, on the other hand, into the onset of its
decomposition.
As regards the irst sport experience the interviewees were split in two groups: ten of
them reported mostly on deliberate play, eleven on deliberate practice. he former were
mainly raised in rural environments, the latter in urban ones. he following quote clearly
illustrates this dichotomy. A ball game player reports irst on her own-initiative sports
but also on how her parents took her to deliberate practice, to instructed sport activities:
I guess I was quite an active child and my mum keeps telling me that she never knew in which
tree I was climbing or doing something else in our garden, running around or something. But
practicing... I don’t know, maybe they took me to diferent places, to some instructed track and
ield activities or somewhere else.
he importance of sport and exercise facilities was brought up, too. hose who grew up
in the 1980’s and 1990’s could enjoy the results of a wide-spread planning and building
of sport facilities not only in cities but also in smaller municipalities (see Salmikangas
2004; Kokkonen 2013; Kokkonen 2015, 175–178). An athlete born in the early 1980’s
recalls their meaning as follows:
We had so many options to choose from. here were tennis courts and ice-skating rinks, skiing
tracks, Finnish baseball and the list goes on. You could ind facilities for any sport. And in our
municipality you could do almost anything for free, and everything was just so accessible, you just
went there. I should really thank our municipality, for having all these sport facilities as a child.
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hose born in the early 1980’s shared a lot with the urban born 1970’s children. Both groups
participated actively in instructed activities in team sports, in particular. In the interviews,
sport was characterized in many ways as less enforced and more playful than what the
younger age groups have described. Many athletes had had time to play and test diferent
sports before embarking on their own favourite sport. Chance played an important role
to many athletes in choosing their main sport and for good reason one could suggest that
these all-round athletes could have made it to the top in other sports as well.
It is also interesting to see that there are no signiicant diferences in the experiences,
sport activity backgrounds and opportunities between urban and rural athletes. On the
basis of the athlete interviews we can conclude that those who grew up in the last years
of the heyday of the uniform culture and the culmination of the Finnish welfare state
had fairly equal opportunities to participate in sports regardless of their place of residence
(e.g. Zacheus 2008, 81–84). he situation started to change from the 1990’s depression,
after which those born in the 1980’s started to specialise in their main sport. With many
athletes, this took place fairly late and, again, the beneits of all-round physical activity
in childhood and of late specialization are emphasized.
Children of the diverging and urbanising sport
and exercise culture
As could be seen in table 3, those born in late 1980’s difer only little from those born in
early 1980’s as regards their living environment or their range of sports: most of them are
urban born which is, on the other hand, greatly inluenced by the overrepresentation of
soccer players among those born in 1985–1989. For those born in the 1980’s, the dividing lines in sport are the qualitative aspects of sport and exercise and, in particular, the
increasing participation in deliberate practice, in organised and instructed sport activities.
If those born in the early 1980’s were the children of the turning point of the sport
and exercise culture, those born in 1985–1989 had already experienced this change
and the divergence brought by it in a much more concrete way in their childhood and
adolescence. In the interviews of those born in the late 1980’s, we could hear only a
few echoes of the old sport and exercise culture, and only with rural athletes. hus, the
juncture or the turning point between athlete generations can be placed, on the basis
of the birth year, to the mid 1980’s. In post-depression Finland, where most of those
born in the late 1980’s entered into sport, sport participation became much more instructed and club-based (see also Kokkonen 2013, 172, 177–178; Salasuo & Ojajärvi
2013, 164–173). It may not be exaggerated to say that, at the same time, sport activities
changed to the direction of mainly instructed training (cf. deliberate play vs. deliberate
practice; Côté et al. 2007).
his change can clearly be seen in the irst sport experiences as reported by the respondents: eight of them emphasized playing sports and games on their own whereas
as many as 25 reported on having participated in instructed activities. At this point,
the way to report on one’s athletic autobiography makes a clear u-turn in the research
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data. he following description by a soccer player is, in all its simplicity, a very typical
beginning of the stories of those born in the late 1980’s. He tells about the club and the
sport played in it, and about the continuum which is still going on:
Well, when I was four my mum took me to play soccer in the kids’ league [in club x], and then
the playing just went on.
As many as 18 representatives of this age group started their athletic autobiography with a
similar, or nearly identical, story. his reveals how sport participation can easily become a
‘pipeline’, a system of reining and producing athletes. In the sociology of sports, concepts
such as the commodiication of an athlete and the athlete as a product of a global system
are part of the debate around this phenomenon (Ingham 1975; Heinilä 1998, 133–140;
Chung 2003). he quotation above is very typical especially to urban athletes and, more
often than before, also to rural athletes – even though in discussions with some of the rural
athletes we could still hear echoes of the old ethos emphasizing more ‘natural physical activities’. Among these athletes, old and new were sometimes mixed in interesting ways: there
might have been a sports hall even in the smallest of municipalities but children came to
instructed activities on foot, by bike or by skis, even from a distance of several kilometres.
On the contrary, those urban children who emphasized deliberate play sometimes referred
to urban play locations: “well I’ve been quite active ever since I was a kid, running around
the shopping malls etc…” he activities of the end 1980’s born ‘booster seat generation’
(Kyttä 2003) were, however, often observed by parents or trainers, and children were usually
taken to training by car, even in the countryside (Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013)14.
hose born in the late 1980’s also ofer an interesting view to the rise of lifestyle
sports. hey secured their place in the spectrum of sports towards the end of 1990’s (see
Kokkonen 2013, 158–159). his coincides with the increasing media exposure and the
inlux of international youth culture trends to Finland15. Many lifestyle sports arrived to
southern cities (i.a. Jokinen 1989) already in the 1980’s but from the perspective of elite
sports, they were still far away from the mainstream. hey became mainstream only after
the early 1990’s depression, through young people, and slowly reached all parts of Finland.
he ever increasing media exposure played its role, too. “I saw that [lifestyle sport] on
TV and it looked cool”, one of the lifestyle sport athletes born in the late 1980’s told.
With the rise of lifestyle sports, sport and exercise began to expand to totally new
directions and cultural ields which had not traditionally been deined as sport (cf. ”street
sports”, Hoikkala 1989, 107; see also Rinehart 2000; Piispa 2015a). Henning Eichberg
(2004, 13) writes about three models of sport, the last of which is characterized by carni-
14 One young athlete born in the 1990’ told that his club policy was and sill is that the athletes come
to pracice by bike or by other means of their own. Car could be used only if the distance was more
than 10 km. The interviewer got interested in this pracice and promised to recommend it in the
publicaion – here it is now.
15 Thus is not surprising that also the lifestyle sports athletes born before 1985 discovered their sport
only in the 1990’s or later.
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val and play. Instrumental rationality is not among the principles of such sports and the
sense of community in them. Instead, human interaction, emphasis on being diferent,
identity and non-identity are emphasized. Eichberg (op. cit.) writes about street parties,
dancing and playing, and about a culture where the sense of belonging is a consequence
of human encounters and the aim is not to unify or to streamline the group as in elite
sports. his could well apply to lifestyle sports, too.
Whilst free play and outdoor games have become less frequent in childhood, some
people gather similar experiences later in life when establishing their own social reference
group or community. Lifestyle sports ofer positive experiences and a sense of community
that many look after, and that cannot be reached in competitive sports. As the research
data indicates, this ‘experience pathway’ may well produce world-class athletes in previously unknown sports. For example, the Finnish aviation magazine Ilmailu (Ilmailu/
Tuominen 2007) suggested that the wingsuit lyer Jari Kuosma must be, “without doubt”,
the best known Finnish aviator in the world.
Children of new Finland
hose born in 1990’s have clearly grown up in new Finland. his can be seen in the
emphasis on deliberate and diverged practice of sport. he diference to those born in the
early 1980’s and to the children of the 1970’s is signiicant. Sport and exercise have been
practised almost exclusively in the context of deliberate practice, not in that of free play
and outdoor games. In the interviews, courts, tracks and sport halls were listed as places
to play sports. Most 1990’s born athletes have grown up in cities with a large number of
facilities for organised sport activities (e.g. Kokkonen 2015, 175–178). As the amount
of deliberate play has decreased, children and young people need to go to speciic places
to practise sport, in other words it doesn’t come naturally anymore (Zacheus 2008,
199–202; see also Kinnunen 2001). his development is seen in traditional individual
sports, too. Also individual sport athletes have grown up in urban environments and with
modern training facilities: rural landscapes have changed to all-weather running tracks.
As for the irst sport experience, the change in sport culture is evident: only 6 athletes
mentioned non-organised sport, whereas 23 mentioned instructed activities. Four out
of these six had entered into sports with their parents, one with his friends in backyard
games and only one reported on having never been involved in sport clubs. It is notable
that only two athletes reported on natural, own-initiative physical activity which was
taken for granted only ten years earlier. he following quote tells about entering into
sport in a club, about early target setting and competitions which were emphasized
among most younger athletes in the research data:
My mum took me to [a particular sport] training when I was seven and that was it. I trained for a
couple of years and then I was told that I could go to the older kids’ group to learn more. hat was
the start and when I was young maybe the irst big achievement was the Inter-Scholastic Finnish
Championship, I must have been 8 or 9.
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hose born in the 1990’s talked about concepts such as development squad, sport school,
special sport emphasis in schools and junior level competitions. he reality of sport and
exercise was very diferent from that of the childhood and adolescence of the oldest athletes
in the research data. Sport and exercise had become instructed and target-oriented activities,
serving competitive goals. he diference to earlier generations is signiicant and not only in
the light of the research data of this study: in the Heinilä and Vuolle study (1970, 14–15),
for instance, most elite athletes born in the 1950’s began their competitive activities only
after 10 years of age. he change correlates with a broader development in which, along
with rising commercialism and intensifying global competition, elite sports have changed
substantially during the last decades – “the game is getting tougher in elite sports”, as
Jouko Kokkonen (2013, 106) described the change in competitive and elite sports from
the 1970’s onwards (see also Amis & Slack 2003; Phoenix et al. 2007).16
In most cases, socialization into sport still takes place through family or friends.
However, it doesn’t mean going cross-country skiing with family or playing backyard
ice-hockey without skates with friends but going to sport clubs with parents or friends.
his seems to hold true also among lifestyle sport athletes: most of them had entered
into sport in instructed sports either in their own sport or in something more traditional
such as team ball games, and their own initiative had been emphasized only later when
they joined diferent subcultures and communities. In the following quote, a lifestyle
sport athlete tells about deliberate sport practice in primary years:
Yes, back then, maybe during the last years of primary, in the sixth grade. I did track and ield, went
to training. Well we did running and long jump in the school sport facilities and so on… and then
I danced, I had disco dance once a week.
CHANGES IN THE GROWTH ENVIRONMENTS OF SPORT
As could be seen in chapter 1, the impact of the family is signiicant in the socialization
into an active lifestyle and in the development of an athletic habitus. his process seems
to be the ‘universal of growing up as an athlete’ in which essential habits and meanings
are transmitted. his chapter has so far indicated, however, that even if family members
passed on the essential habits, the framework of action has changed: the interest towards
sport may come from the family but the initiation or actual entry into sport often takes
place within deliberate practice or in instructed activities. Also, the content and goals of
sport and exercise in childhood and adolescence have been redeined. he older athlete
generations have inherited a more informal physical activity culture from their families
16 We may very well ask if this ”tough game” is even good for the growth of elite athletes? Some may
say that children of freer sports culture, the likes of Jari Litmanen or Teemu Selänne, simply don’t
emerge anymore. Sill, these athletes did very well also in this “game geing tougher” coninuing
their careers well into the 21st century. Thus, is educaing athletes to the tough game the correct
approach, ater all?
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whereas with younger generations, the family transports the young athlete to and from
organised sports. Exercising together with friends or family and ‘natural, everyday physical activity’ (Zacheus 2008) has been replaced by participation and inclusion in sports
club activities (see also Koski 2009; Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013).
he divergence of sport and exercise is, however, not the only factor behind the shift
of the sport initiation to ‘club level’. Other factors include the construction of sport facilities, changes in parenting practices and changes in the practices of sport associations
and club. All this is complemented by urbanisation and the rural lifestyles being replaced
by urban ones (e.g. Kokkonen 2015, 175–247). More people simply live in urban areas.
For them, participation in instructed activities in purpose-built environments is only
natural. In urban environments, children’s free play and backyard games are being replaced by instructed activities but the changes in the average living environments have
an impact on the practices of sport, too. Once again, we can conclude that sport and
exercise do not take place in a societal vacuum (see also Tamburrini 2000; Jarvie 2006).
Two elements have to be emphasized here. First of all, the analysis above and its
categorizations – age groups, living environment and the nature of sport and exercise
– entail certain generalizations. For example, dividing athletes into diferent age groups
or using more sophisticated characterizations of the living environments or the nature
of sports would have been an option. In this way, certain nuances could have been
analysed, such as the connection of certain sports to certain living environments but
at the same time, the bigger picture of the analysis could have become blurred. he
broad research data extensively covers the spectrum of diferent sports but for individual sports, the sample sizes would have been limited. For example, comparing two
wrestlers and three volleyball players wouldn’t make much sense hence the method of
this study is well justiied. he athletes’ biographies were in the core of the analysis and
the result of the study is clear: there have been important changes in the contents of
childhood and adolescence sport and exercise within just a few generations and these
changes are mutually connected to broader changes in the society such as urbanisation.
A more detailed, case-by-case analysis could have led to a jungle where these mutual
relationships between diferent phenomena would have been more diicult to detect.
Secondly, it’s worth noting that the authors don’t want to value the underlying change
through their analysis in any way. his would be tempting, in particular because the
authors themselves, born in the early 1970’s and early 1980’s, are the same age as the
older generations in the research data. Attaching value to the change wouldn’t ofer
more than useless nostalgia as the societal changes have already taken place and they
have become irreversible facts. Now that we know that today’s and future’s sport and
exercise are more likely to take place in cities and in urban sport facilities we should
look for solutions to, for example, decreasing physical activity levels among children
and youth, in urban environments (e.g. Husu et al. 2011). In addition, climate change
may have even more irreversible impacts than urbanisation at least in some sports such
as skiing; as a consequence, the raising of future cross-country skiers may even become
impossible (Yle, Finnish Broadcasting Company/Kluukeri 9.12.2014). hus, there is no
point in longing for the past. Instead, we have to look for new activities and maybe even
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new sports which are intrinsically urban (see also Jokinen 1989; Harinen & Rannikko
2013; Kokkonen 2013, 221–252).
he change in society can also be seen in the stories of rural athletes. One athlete,
raised in a rural environment and born in the end of 1980’s, remembers the local multi-purpose hall as follows: “It was like I nearly lived there, in that environment, and it
was all so… well, good fun. We could do whatever we wanted to. ”he enthusiasm with
which the athlete told about the past is not very well transmitted through the text extract.
he interviewer had written the following complementary note in his research diary:
“he athlete’s eyes were lit and a broad smile came to her face when she was telling about
the time spent in that multi-purpose hall, of how it was her second home when she was
young.” Hence the experience was very nostalgic. However, the nostalgia didn’t result
from backyard games or from other elements of a traditional rural childhood but from
the time spent in the sports hall. he origins of good sport moments or the key elements
of growing up are not tied to a certain growth environment, or to any time or location.
hus, there is no categorical imperative that a certain environment would be clearly
better for sport and exercise than any other. In this context, lifestyle sports ofer a solid
new ield and perspective in which sport and exercise concretely correspond to modern
living environments and mindsets. As Kauko Kämäräinen wrote in 1979 (see Kokkonen
2008, 116), “Sport and exercise may, as a whole, be one of those ields in the society that
especially have to adapt to societal changes”. If this is not understood in sport and exercise
policy and in sport movement, the physical activity levels of children and youth might
decrease even further (see also Puronaho 2014). he traditional inertial force (Lähde
2013, 27) may hold up the sport institutions (Piispa 2015a) longing for the past success
but it shouldn’t slow down those children and young people who still want to play sports
and have fun in the growth environments they feel at home with.
EXCURSION: THE LACK OF SOCIETAL DISCOURSE IN THE INTERVIEWS
It is worth noting that the athlete interviewees didn’t explicitly relect almost any factors
connected to societal and cultural time and location. he athletes were talking from their
own point of view; about their lives and their careers as athletes. he talk was mainly built
on the athlete’s perspective and only very few ‘grace notes’ were heard in the interviews,
to relect the meanings of the changing time and place. his happened mostly with older
interviewees and with multicultural athletes although, with the latter, this was due to the
‘additional’ theme in their interviews, i.e. the features and challenges of multiculturalism.
In addition, in the interviews of multicultural athletes it is important to note that these
themes, such as racism experiences, were usually brought up by the interviewer. When
comparing the athlete interviews to those of the artists, in the same study context, the
athletes’ interviews were relatively ‘void’ of societal and generational experiences.
It’s well-founded to relect the reasons for this observation. Firstly, it’s evident that
the theme of the interview, i.e. an athletic life course guided and restricted the discussion
to some extent. It doesn’t entirely explain the phenomenon, however, especially taking
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into account the signiicant diference to artists’ interviews. One explanation could be
that, compared to a career in arts, a career in sports takes place here and now and the
athlete doesn’t really have time to think about the past or the future of his career. An
artist’s career, on the other hand, requires a certain degree of maturity and it generally
materialises considerably later than that of an athlete (see chapter 6; see also Ericsson
1996b, 9). For that reason, the interviewed artists were, on average, nearly ten years older
than the athletes which could clearly be seen in the interview talk. As Katarina Eskola
(1998, 149) points out, young people don’t talk less about their lives just because their
lives are somehow ‘void of experiences’ but simply because they have less life behind
them, compared to older people. his could also be seen in the average length of the
athletes’ interviews which was shorter than that of the artists. In addition, the interviews
of older athletes were, on average, longer than those of the younger athletes.
Another reason for little relection of societal issues in the interviews of the athletes may
be that a career is sports materialises, in certain way, in isolation. Certainly, this doesn’t
mean that the life courses of athletes or the world of sports in general were somehow
separate from the society as a whole. Instead, an aspiring athlete must focus strictly on
sport and just turn down many dimensions of the normal life course. As a result, the
immediate everyday experiences of an athlete often consist of a much regulated and
carefully timed sport-based rhythm with training and competitions and little time for
‘normal’ experiences. One way this was relected in the interviews was that the athletes
talked very little about following sports in the media or their own idols – these were
usually mentioned only when speciically asked.
he life course of an athlete is indeed very ‘exceptional’. Artists are not the best reference
group, though, as they often draw inspiration for their work from the cultural reality
surrounding them and usually relect it very strongly. he athletes’ setting is often the
opposite. his could be analysed with the help of the character types as deined by David
Riesman (2001): athletes are inner-directed whereas artists are other-directed. An athlete
is strongly focused on goals and he has learned the values behind them from his parents
and other authorities through the socialization process. He has embraced the competitive
culture of sport and its norms. his can be concretely seen in the impact of the Olympics
on the practice and competition rhythm in many sports. An athlete practises on his own
but his targets are set by the norm system of sports whereas an artist constantly observes
the signals coming from his social environment. he norm system of arts is not deined
by authorities but by the peer networks of individual artists. As a result, the targets and
values in art are in constant change and each artist can also inluence them.
he societal terms of the life courses of athletes are, in any case, the same as with
anybody else. If the athletes themselves do not relect on them, the researchers may do
so. As for the athletes, the researchers also focused on the sport system which has a very
strong hold of the athletes. Consequently, in chapter 5, we focus strongly on the institutional terms and conditions of sport which are very tight compared to almost any other
ield of life. he ‘window’ of elite athleticism is very narrow and, for example, tightly
tied to the athlete’s age and therefore doesn’t really allow any ‘drifting around’ (see also
Heinilä & Vuolle 1970). Again, the diference to artists is signiicant. Another important
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conclusion is the sport sociological observation (see Hughes & Coakley 1991; Heinilä
1998, 133–134; Dunning 2005) made above, i.e. that the athlete’s career materialises in a
very tight and predeined institutional framework. By this we mean that an athlete must
embrace a culture – almost an obsession – of competition and, in practice, participate
without questions in the predeined competitive structures given from above. here is
no room for revolution in the ield of sports (c.f. Bourdieu 1993; 1996) – except in the
form of establishing totally new, often subcultural ields of action (such as lifestyle sports;
see also Wheaton 2004; Rannikko et al. 2013).
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4 Artists and the societal
and cultural landscape
One of the main principles of the life course analysis is the impact of social conditions,
contexts and changes on the life courses of individuals (e.g. Giele & Elder 1998; Kok
2007; Häkkinen 2012). he place where an individual is born and raised has an impact
– and not only whether he’s born in Finland but also whether he was born in Helsinki,
and in which district of the city, or somewhere else. Secondly, the timing of the major
changes in the society and their coincidence with the major events in the life course
impact individual’s life. In our age of sudden changes, it makes a big diference whether
the individual was born in the 1950’s or 1970’s Finland.
Most interviewed artists are children of the big societal change (see Roos 1987). For
the baby boomer generation the 1970’s was the decade of the most positive turning points
in their lives: landing in a relationship and having children, for example (Purhonen et al.
2008b, 45–47). he turbulent 1960’s and the heyday of the youth revolution had been
left behind although political radicalism and, on the other hand, opposing it continued
well into 1970’s. Also the vast majority of those who were not personally touched by the
political movement of the 1960’s experienced the changing living conditions (Purhonen
2008, 197–226). he most important features included the increasing standards of living
resulting from phenomenal economic growth.
Urbanisation continued strongly in the early 1970’s. Already in the late 1960’s more
than half of the population lived in urban areas but, in the 1970’s, many still had a
rural mindset and a rural way of life (Kortteinen 1982; Häkkinen & Salasuo 2013).
Urban life started to develop in the form of regular paid jobs and in suburban residential areas (Kortteinen 1982, 143–146). In many families, the change in life was radical
as, compared to the agrarian society, the spouses were not anymore work partners and
the traditional, gender-based division of labour fell apart (op. cit., 146). Naturally, this
had an inluence in child-rearing, education and the whole educational system. he
comprehensive school system and 9 years of compulsory education were introduced in
the 1970’s. Going to school and education were taken for granted, as common goods,
or resources. (Antikainen et al. 2013, 100–104.)
Urbanisation led to changing culture in cities and to respective new lifestyles. New
middle class was characterized by the husband’s good position as a salaried employee
and the wife’s ‘double burden’ at work and at home. At the same time, a new working
class was born and it started to diverge from the successful middle classes by way of
housing, socioeconomic orientation and status (Kortteinen 1982, 161–163). In the
1970’s at the latest, a new social development phase followed: the ideas and attitudes
of younger generations became educated, learned and thoroughly thought (Häkkinen
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2013, 53; see also Van den Berg 2007, 68). Values were not transferred or inherited from
parents and relatives anymore, through a very slow change, as they were in the agrarian
times, because now there were so many new options and so much information on ofer.
New, small stories started to lourish along with the old national narratives, challenging
and weakening the past, and at the same time creating new ways to adhere to the past,
present and future.
What was the connection between the life courses of the interviewed artists and the
changes in the society? All the artists, with one exception, were born before the 1990’s
depression. All of them were born and raised in the shelter of a well-established welfare
state. he material conditions of their childhood were much better than those of their
parents. hey were born and raised in the ‘society of plenty’ (Hoikkala & Paju 2008,
280) with access to many resources and opportunities in the ield of arts.
URBAN AND RURAL GROWTH ENVIRONMENTS FOR ARTISTHOOD
he interviewees grew up in many diferent localities in Finland and some of them had
spent considerable parts of their childhood abroad. Seven interviewees were deined as
‘born and raised in Helsinki’ as they had lived all their childhood and teen years in the
capital. heir childhood was characterized by a large number of options for education
and after school activities and their ability to use them. Many options to consume art
were available, too. Parents could easily take the children to, for example, museums. According to the ‘culture relationship’ (cf. Koski 2004; Zacheus 2008) as deined in chapter
2 we could conclude that the thick realization of the culture relationship was in its own
class in Helsinki compared to other parts of Finland. Most of the Helsinki-raised artists
went to Kallio or Torkkelinmäki upper secondary schools with special emphasis on arts.
In the following quote the importance of the special school becomes evident, not only
as a place to study art but also as a social environment:
A: And then I went to that art, whatever it was, don’t really remember the name of the subject
anymore. It was something like a theatre group where they do all these things. And I immediately
loved it. I liked everything in that school, not only the art subjects.
I: Yes, well, you said that your friends were really important that they really got you into that upper
secondary school and helped you to integrate into it?
A: Yes and in those years what is often more important is the social environment, not the school
itself. Although I was always quite good at school, even in upper secondary, I never really invested
that much or really studied a lot. But what was most important was that group of people and those
new friends I made, and all those good parties and all that good life in general, you know what you
appreciate when you’re sixteen.
In the quotation above, the interviewed artist emphasizes the meaning of friends, even
from the perspective of school work. Friendship relations are strongly connected to different youth cultural trends and involvement in them. Today, the growth environment
strongly deines – and deined even more in the 1980’s and 1990’s – what kind of youth
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(sub)cultures are even theoretically possible to an individual in a certain experiential
context. he last few decades can be characterized by the changing nature of the ield
of youth cultures. Youth cultures used to be large, often dogmatic and even somewhat
serious movements (e.g. Heiskanen & Mitchell 1985) before the fragmentation of the
ield of youth cultures (e.g. Salasuo et al. 2012). his change is related to the increasing
speed of communication and information. he younger generations have not only lived
in the juncture of the information society but also experienced the change in youth
cultures. For those born and raised in cities, the youth cultural trends of the 1980’s and
1990’s were strong, new experiences. For a few artists, those trends and the social circles
ofered by them became very important to their subsequent career in arts (see hornton
1996). In the following quote, the artist names hip hop, graiti and snowboarding and
the new circles of friends they ofered, where the future artist was ”very much in”:
Well, yes, I guess I was still a child but then at some point I got really involved in the hip hop
culture, and all those urban culture things, that must have been when I was in secondary school.
And then I hanged around the graiti gangs and maybe through that I developed, well, an interest
in urban culture and through that, to music and I was somehow very much in in that whole thing.
And then that developed into having all these diferent phases in my life. After graiti and all that
I got into snowboarding which was somewhat related to that same culture.
Other urban children (7) were from Espoo (3), Tampere (2) and Oulu (2). hey don’t
share that many common features in their experiences compared to those raised in Helsinki or, on the other hand, in rural areas. However, as those raised in Helsinki, they
have taken advantage of the large number of educational and cultural opportunities
their cities had to ofer:
Well sometimes we went to the theatre and to some art exhibitions but it was fairly occasional,
and then to classical music concerts, too. And also through school, we had all those opportunities.
I remember I loved our library and our local cultural centre. We went there quite often, or maybe
not that often, some three times a year maybe, to some concerts. And the library was there, I really
enjoyed going there, in that world, looking for books and really get absorbed in them.
Helsinki was very attractive especially to those raised in Espoo. All of them went to
school in Helsinki and moving there was a somehow a natural passage to where the
action takes place. In the following quote one can clearly see that Helsinki and HKTL,
its upper secondary school with special emphasis on visual arts were natural moves but
the foundation obtained in Espoo was good – that ”optimistic spirit” provided a good
basis, and other ”successful people” were mentioned, too:
Well, I’d say that the Greater Helsinki Region, well it’s diicult to say and compare to what it
would have been like had I lived somewhere else, in another town or in the countryside, but well,
it’s diicult to imagine that… but I think that when it comes to stimuli and opportunities, if I had
lived somewhere else I wouldn’t probably have gone to Helsinki and to HKTL and well... But on
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the other hand, well I do think that where I lived had some impact, too, we’ve always lived there
[…] well, there were very diferent people there but somehow the spirit was always optimistic, at
least that’s how I felt it, and then I know many people who study and work and are successful so…
Small town artists (6) had less cultural opportunities in their childhood but there were
some, at least if they looked for them. Some respondents were heavy users of libraries, for
instance. Other opportunities existed too: ”I remember that I took all possible courses
in comics and in graiti, whatever they had on ofer”.
Friends became very important to some of the interviewed artists raised in small
towns. Groups of friends were active in discovering and doing diferent things, within
the limits they had. In the following extract, the respondent inds reasons for his interest
in horror movies – that he later drew upon in his artistic work – in his group of friends
and its shared interests:
Well, I don’t know, in my teen years I somehow got really into [horror movies]. At that time,
there were not many horror movies available for rental. Movies were also heavily cut then, it was
really diicult to ind uncut versions. But I had my channels, I knew where to order VHSs. And
we watched them with friends, it was exciting because it was somehow forbidden. Of course, the
VHS quality was very poor, those ilms that we watched in somebody’s home. I collected incredible
amounts of them. So that’s where it all comes from. I don’t know why we were so thrilled about
them but I really felt that it was something that we were really into, all of us. But the others didn’t
choose any career in arts then.
hose raised in small rural municipalities (6) emphasized the impact of the growth environment. All of them talked about the impact of their growth environment, in both positive and negative sense. Nearly all of them had memories of both the happy ‘countryside
childhood’ but also of some frustrating elements. As for (art) activities, everything needed
to be looked for or even invented on their own as there were very little stimuli available,
maybe ”just a library bus”. Countryside living was diferent also because the respondents
felt that they were somehow cut of from the big wide world. In the following quote, the
respondent explains how, especially before mobile phones and internet, people lived in a
”sort of bubble” where information was often replaced by ”weird rumours”:
Well, I’d say it’s great to live in small places although at that time it felt really depressing and it was
somehow embarrassing to admit that I lived there. And you really live in a sort of bubble, especially
before the internet and mobile phones… Now it’s diicult to even imagine that you wouldn’t have
internet or mobile phone but back then, really, if you wanted to talk to somebody you made a
phone call or you went to see your friends… And somehow stories evolved to totally new versions
of what had actually happened, and some weird rumours were going around, all the time. Maybe
this example sheds some light on this; well at school during break times we had this issue, and
there were really two schools of thought in this; the other one said that Chewbacca in Star Wars
was played by Billy Idol and the other one insisted that it was Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P, and
these two groups really fought over this during breaks and nobody ever came up with the idea of
just reading the list of actors at the end of the movie… of course it was none of them… [laughs]
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Nearby cities were seen as almost magical places, exciting to visit and where everybody
wanted to go to study. Social skills were of particular importance to those born and raised
in the countryside: all of them made friends and got into circles of friends to make art
with even with a risk of being seen as a rural weirdo. Many of them also had a very strong
introvert dimension in making their art. Up until 1990’s, youth (sub)cultures arrived late
and somehow watered down in the countryside, and they had some interesting forms of
appearance. hese were meaningful to most interviewees even ”in all their comicality”,
as could sometimes be added afterwards.
For those who moved around a lot (3), there was no particular growth environment
characterizing their childhood. Regular moves and changing environments afected all
of them. Two Finnish-born artists moved a lot with their families, both in Finland and
abroad. Constant moving and inluences from around the world became important.
his story of an immigrant artist obviously difers from the life courses of all the others:
We were placed in Jyväskylä in the autumn of 1990 which I still remember well. here had been
nearly no foreigners there before us, I mean that our group was really the irst one. And those were
really, well, interesting times. And the feeling was mutual. When we came to Finland, we knew
nothing about it and Finns didn’t know anything about us. I remember when people asked me if
they can touch my hair because it was so dark.
he passage above also tells how much Finland has changed in the last 20 years. In
Jyväskylä, this artist and his family were among the irst foreigners in town and foreign
presence in Jyväskylä was something new to both groups. Later, he moved to bigger
cities and inally to Helsinki. It is notable that even though the interviewees had grown
up in diferent environments in Finland and also elsewhere, at some point their paths
have – especially due to concentration of art education and art circles – crossed in
Helsinki or ended up there. In the entire research data, there are only four artists who
had never been in any art school in Helsinki. hey were happy with other educational
options: two in Tampere, one in Lahti and one in Kankaanpää. his is clearly a sign of
the Helsinki-centricness (see also Karttunen 1988, 42–47; Rensujef 2005, 6; Herranen
et al. 2013, 46; Ansio & Houni 2013a, 59–61; Rensujef 2014, 36–40) of the art world
but is naturally also connected to the ongoing urbanisation and to the change in urban
economic structures (e.g. Kainulainen 2004; von Bruun & Kivelä 2009). he next quote
is another good example of this:
When I went to [Helsinki] to do the entrance exam and other stuf, I thought that everybody is
there. Well, in a certain sense. It’s sad but if you think of ine arts education and ine arts in general,
well, everything’s there. And it’s really diicult to have that education somewhere else.
Certainly, Helsinki has a special status as a hub or as the inal point but, at least so far,
artists have been educated in other places, too. One of the themes of the cultural policy
debate in recent years has been the cutting of places in art education which would hit
hard at least some smaller localities (OKM 2011; OKM 2012; Herranen et al. 2013).
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In addition, this could lead to an increasing Helsinki-centricness and to homogenisation of arts17.
Experiences abroad had been eye-opening to anybody, not only to those who had
moved a lot. To ive interviewees, the upper secondary school exchange student year
abroad had been important. It opened up new perspectives to own doing and to life in
general – “seeing diferently” Skeggs 1999) – and in general, to what art and diferent
ields of art could be.
In the 1990’s, the education system [in the other country] and the Fine Arts Academy was so hierarchical and classical [...] When I came back and was asked about it at school, about how it was,
well I remember how I said to one of my professors that now I know what I want to do.
he exchange year had had its challenges but, on the other hand, overcoming and
winning them were exactly the important things. Four interviewees had studied in art
schools abroad. he experiences were often two-sided as well. In the quote above, the
interviewee had irst been disappointed with the hierarchy and conservativeness of the
school but had at last understood what art is and what to aim for in life.
THE TURNING POINT OF THE 1990’S AND THE CONTEMPORARY
SOCIETY
he transition from an agrarian society to a post-industrial society occurred very fast
in Finland (Kortteinen 1982; Relander 1998, 44; Häkkinen 2013). he country was
uprooted from an agrarian way of life in the late 1970’s and already at the end of 1980’s
and in the beginning of 1990’s, the country had become a model of a modern information society (Castells 1996). In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Finns were still adapting to an
urban way of life and to the rhythm of industrial work. he 1990’s depression swept
away many established structures and, at the same time, many people’s jobs.
he lifestyle and ethos of the ‘old Finland’ stayed alive mainly via older generations
(cf. Hoikkala et al. 2009) whose mental heritage has been complemented by the ethos
of excellence, characterized by competition and pressure for success (e.g. Simola 2001;
Hoikkala & Paju 2008). Foreseeable rural life has changed to a new mentality that
socializes people into uncertainty on the labour market, into the building of their own,
do-it-youself life story and into the structures of changing sociability, individuality and
the debate on the diminishing sense of community (Putnam 1995; Julkunen 2008, 14).
In recent decades, the importance of biological generation, i.e. the family, as the
source of opportunities and choices, seems to have risen, regardless of whether the family
17 We should also relect how urbanisaion and Helsinki-centricness, for their part, contribute to the
change in the ”great story” of the Finnish arts. It’s clear that arists raised in urban environments
draw upon diferent aestheics compared to, for example, the naional romanic arists admiring
and drawing upon agrarian and forest Finland.
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has these ‘resources’ or not (Wierenga 1999; Bengtson et al. 2002, 155–168; Jallinoja
2006; Häkkinen & Salasuo 2013). One of the reasons has been the adoption of the
purchaser-provider-model in the organization of after school activities for children and
youth. For example, many non-governmental organizations have changed their way of
working and are now based on a purchaser-provider-model instead of a trust relationship
which has afected the trust and social capital in the society (see Putnam 2001). In the
past 20 years, this purchaser-provider thinking has led to a dramatic rise in the costs of
sport and art after school activities for children and youth, and to an alienation of the
third sector from the civil society (Saukkonen 2013, 8–10).
With rising costs, the possibilities to try diferent leisure activities are narrowed down
and become more dependent on parents’ socioeconomic position, and on their parenting
competencies and practices (see Wierenga 1999; Häkkinen et al. 2012). Parents’ diferent capitals and own activity in organizing their children’s after school activities very
much deines what activities children may choose and what kind of capitals they may
gather (Myllyniemi 2009; 2012). he importance of the family as a central action unit
seems to have risen as the social capital ofered by the support networks of the society
has diminished, and supporting the activities of children has been left to their parents’
shoulders (Häkkinen & Salasuo 2013). his development is important to understand
as after school activities are an important pathway to the recruitment into culture, arts
and sport.
In this context it’s not surprising that an artist’s typical family background is middle
class, culturally-inclined and encourages to both formal and informal education. Such
background seems to be able to provide good resources and a broad horizon of opportunities well into adolescence when understanding major societal changes, such as information
technology development, becomes easier. Socialization continues throughout life, also
after that sensitive age (e.g. Giddens 1979). he family backgrounds of the interviewed
artists’, their growth stories and other life stories are interrelated in the shared middle
class experience of a safe and protected childhood and adolescence and, following that,
a (relatively) happy adulthood built on those elements. Of course, modern adulthood is
also characterized by opportunities, options and making choices (Mikkola 2002, 116),
as well as the ethos of self-realization, related to the middle class habitus of the 21st century (Hoikkala 1998, 162; see also Linko 1998, 312–313; Julkunen 2008, 126–128;
Tuohinen 2010). Seen through the glasses of the mass generation interpretation, artists
clearly share middle class, modern and individual, romantic values (see also Sulkunen
2009, 159–178).
Art is often present in the middle class set of values, in one way or another18. he
socio-cultural heritage is in many ways relected in the adulthood and professional career.
he children of art and culture homes sail smoothly in the world of arts whereas those
with less artistic capitals obtained in their upbringing use diferent strategies:
18 Peri Alasuutari (1996) also suggests that the needs and wishes of the educated middle class have,
above all, been taken into account in the planning of public art services.
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I haven’t had that role model as to how to be an artist. In fact I’m happy that this is the way it is,
I mean it’s also…as I’ve seen in that theatre where there are a lot of children of artistic families,
second generation actors, somehow working with them has sometimes made me think about their
background, how diferent it is from mine. hey take it for granted that they are artists and that’s
where they belong to and they can somehow enjoy that freedom, too. [...] What I’ve got from
home is a certain middle class lifestyle [...] but then that’s somehow that multitension, or, in a
more sophisticated way, the source I draw upon, or where my art comes from, it’s a big part of it.
Somehow that tension between the middle class lifestyle and the freedom of an artist. I believe I
wouldn’t have this problem if I had a model of another kind of lifestyle. But then I would have the
problems they have, constant comparison to parents and ighting their way out of their shadows,
very diferent stuf. I mean that due to my background, I also have a lot of freedom and all that
space to realize myself.
he quote above reveals how family background also deines one’s own artistic process,
not only the social and mental orientation in the world of arts. Having a middle class
lifestyle and identity is something to draw upon, to one’s own art works. In the interviews, being middle class was noticed in the relections of professional career in a sense
that being an artist was not necessarily taken as a realistic career option even though art
had always been a central part of life. As an example, the following quote shows that
passion for writing did not yet mean an author’s career but the interviewee had more
practical goals, in the irst place:
But it was actually good, in that sense I didn’t really think about a career in writing, I had no aspirations for it, the writing itself was more important. In some way the writing as an activity was
stronger than the idea of being an author. As for my part, I was also thinking that it’s not a decent
job, being a writer, I should rather be a vet, or a lawyer or a teacher. So these were my dream careers.
A certain zeitgeist is seen in the research data, also elsewhere than at the transitions of the
ethos of the culturally-inclined middle class. For example, the changes in information
technology and media have clearly provided some artistic stimuli. hese are strongly
related to time as the generations before them didn’t even have the opportunity to draw
upon these new ‘things’ (see also Mikkola 2002). In the following quote, movies and
computer games are mentioned, the latter having ofered “adventures” and “inspiration”:
Movies have interested me the most in this world, they clearly are a source of inspiration on their
own. And another source of inspiration are games. I’ve had so much fun with X-Box and Play
Station with all the adventures they ofer, those worlds where you really immerse yourself in, they
really give you so much inspiration, that experience.
he multiplied ofer in the ields of youth cultures, art and entertainment and its relection in younger generations and artists is related to urbanisation and the so called
post-modernisation of culture. End of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st
are important junctures where people have just recently detached themselves from their
rural roots (Häkkinen 2013, 53). he mindset of the Finns has followed these changes,
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protesting only silently. he great narratives of history have not just abruptly broken of,
as explained with the concept of the linguistic turn. Instead, they have become multiperspective (cf. Ahonen 1998; Van de Berg 2007, 75). Marko van den Berg (2007, 149)
writes about today’s young people’s ways to use history as an existential process, in their
search for new mental focal points. his process of looking for small-scale narratives can
be regarded as that silent protest with the help of which people detach themselves from
the old narratives, and the new era with its new narratives – expressly in plural – begins
to take shape.
It is also understandable that the performance-oriented middle class in times of
constant change is exposed to the pathologies of their time. he best known of these
may be the ethos of excellence (Simola 2001) and the battle to succeed. Seventeen artists
reported on having at some point of their career – at this point it’s worth noting that
all of them were in relatively early phases in their careers – experienced a burnout or at
least work-related stress. Pia Houni and Heli Ansio (2013b, 132–133) have had similar
results in their study; more than half of the interviewed artists had experienced some
work-related stress, and approximately one ifth of them a lot or very much.
I had this point in my life, I had just completed my second degree, my child was still quite young, I
had a lot of important projects in the pipeline and then I taught a lot, too. I had just been accepted
to do a PhD and I was teaching. I had just opened my exhibition and then, on the following week,
I thought I’d be teaching all week and then suddenly I just stopped, needed to take a deep breath. I
was walking in that corridor, then I felt like, well I didn’t collapse but I just felt that I cannot stand
anymore. I just felt so dizzy […] I was so exhausted. So I’ve been down there. Nothing was ever
found. I fell asleep in the ambulance. I was taken to the ambulance, with that trolley on wheels,
then I was taken to the hospital. As soon as I lied down, I fell asleep. So I’ve been in that point…
where everything just feels so important, all those opportunities that you just don’t say no.
Stress experiences are of course part of modern working life (e.g. Sennett 2002; Julkunen
2008) but artists associate stress and exhaustion with their work, in particular. In the
artists’ interviews, there was a certain mechanism to be seen: when everything seems so
important you cannot say no to anything. As if the performance-oriented generation
was afraid that if you don’t catch the train, it’s gone and there is no new one. his was
clearly seen in the quotation above.
GENERATIONAL REFLECTIONS IN ”NEW FINLAND”
And well part of the reason was of course that there was the economic depression when I started my
studies. It was so evident in the construction industry, and I couldn’t do my training as part of the
studies so the whole thing felt very theoretical. It really was diicult to ind a traineeship, and real
architects were out of work, too. And then I started to do illustrations, to a magazine.
In this quote, we can see how the early 1990’s depression contributed to the artist’s career
change. his was one of the few occasions in the entire research data when the depression
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was brought up – and in a fairly neutral tone. Maybe the depression was not seen that
important because the artists could cope with it (cf. Wass & Torsti 2011; see also Puuronen
2013). In the society as a whole, some people had also seen positive consequences of
the depression, as pluralism in the value debate increased and consumerism was calmed
down to some extent (e.g. Mikkola 2002, 36–39). In many ields, the Finnish art world
sufered from the depression as public funding was diminished although Pertti Alasuutari
(1996), among others, has noted that budget cuts in arts were still relatively small. he
artists in this research data were not directly afected by the depression as they were still
largely outside the labour market during the diicult years. On the other hand, the ‘age
of healthy realism’ (Mikkola 2002, 36) after the depression could have been beneicial to
artists as it encouraged them to look for and to develop new ways of making a living, and
maybe even ofer something to draw upon in the evolution of one’s own artistic work.
he ‘depression generation’ (e.g. Virtanen 2005; Wass & Torsti 2011) is a frequently
used concept in many contexts, where the depression itself has been seen as the key experience of that generation. his can lead to the following hypothesis: the key experience of
those who coped with the depression with no major consequences is, from Mannheim’s
perspective (see Mannheim 1952 [1928]), the post-depression rise whereas, of those who
sufered from the depression, it is the depression itself. he irst group includes, among
others, the ‘successful people’ of this study. hey can be called the ‘welfare generation’
(Hoikkala & Paju 2008). he latter includes those who, for example, trained themselves to
industrial work before the depression just to notice that there were no such jobs left after
it. hus they can be called the ‘depression generation’ (Wass & Torsti 2005; Puuronen
2013). hus, it is justiiable to suggest that there are, within the same age group, at least
two strongly divergent generation experiences. Maybe these two fractions of the same
age group also share something: they could be described as the ‘junction generation of
the information age’. hey still remember the time before mobile phones, computers
and the internet but they have been forced to use new technologies. Some of them have
learned easily, some of them haven’t. he following quotation is about childhood before
the digital age, where the artist also sees a seed of creativity (see also Uusikylä 2012):
I think as a child of the seventies that my childhood was somehow diferent as we didn’t have any
computer games or anything. What I mean is that everything we did was made and developed by
us. We did a lot ourselves, we developed diferent plays and games on our own and built a lot with
our hands. hat was creative, in that way.
In another interview, an artist reports on how he doesn’t understand anything on his
brother’s ”computer man” job, and doesn’t even feel the need to:
My brother works with computers and information technology. [...] he’s some kind of a computer
man [laughs], something to do with information technology, well, I don’t really understand but
what I do understand is that I’m very happy when he explains me things and then I ask ‘well is this a
good thing?’. ‘Well, yes’ he says and then I’m really happy. And the same goes the other way around.
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he quotations above suggest that the artists in the research data located themselves
somewhat outside the digital world. Other interviews shared these same features. hus,
the immaterial dimensions of making art were more pronounced although some artists
(such as authors) naturally work with computers. In the world of arts, new equipment
does not have an intrinsic value in itself although new technology is very welcome in
some ields as it cuts costs19 and provides new opportunities to create and display art
(e.g. Dworsky & Köhler 2011).
In the 21st century, the rise of the information age, ruptures in youth cultures and
the unavoidable digitalisation of art are naturally relected in arts in many, also invisible
ways. For example, new digital tools were irst adopted in some youth cultures and the
innovations they generated was inevitably relected in arts and, consequently, in the
way world view of an entire generation. Good examples include graiti, skating and
snowboarding, the importance of which was also emphasized in some interviews.
Well I´m somehow, how should I put it, well maybe I have some social criticism, of course. he
idea is that somehow I would like to change the world to a better place. It´s not ready yet and the
fact that I do have these possibilities through my work, to make things visible or better or whatever.
Well I don´t know, maybe it´s a question of one´s life control, like in this way I feel more of being
in control of my own life and…. that I don´t just sit and wait.
he generation that many of the artists represent is the generation of the children of the
political generation of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Taking into account that art (Karttunen
1988) as well as political views (Virtanen 2001) often run in the family, and that artists
often represent a certain avant-garde in the society (e.g. Purhonen et al. 2008a, 295–297;
Grindon 2011), one could expect a certain (left-wing) political inclination to be read
in the stories of the interviewed artists. his was indeed the case although the political
views were not very strong. Being straightforwardly political in art was not very typical
but many reported on expressing their political views by other means. his may relect
the decreasing degree of politicality in art20 (Hacklin 2010) and, on the other hand, the
rise of aestheticism and escapism in art. In the following extract, the artist emphasizes
how works of art can be seen as “places to escape to” or “fantasy worlds”:
19 Alain Bergala (2013, 148–149) gives a hilarious example on this. In one project, young students
had to use expensive and unforgiving 8 mm ilm instead of modern technologies: ”You should have
seen that seriousness and dignity when they turned on the camera; that distress and hope about
everything that could happen […].”
20 Esko Ranta (2013, 145–146) writes about the KOM theatre and its visits to Lapland decades ago:
”Back then, it was enough to answer the quesions who we are and where do we belong to, as
for the willingness to collaborate. Now, the most important quesion to everybody seems to be
who I am”. Ranta’s noion is very topical and he adds, with a hopeful tone: “It’s a pendulum on
the move. I’m waiing for the change of direcion.” If Tommi Hoikkala (2000, 386) is right in saying
that ”utopias are becoming more personalized [...] in a way that there’s no energy let for collecive
utopias”, Ranta may have to wait for a long ime.
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I want to ofer places to escape, something that are like the best classic fairytales, they’re sweet but
there’s always a danger lurking behind a tree. And of course the good guys win, 6-0. [...] When I
read the papers and I’ve also done some human rights projects, I watch the news, I know about all
inequalities in the world, so I don’t want to further provoke people with my art, to awaken them
further. I understand those artists. It’s good that they’re there but it’s my statement that I’m not
that kind of an artist. Being so apolitical is somehow very political. I want to show people utopias
and fantasy worlds, that’s my statement.
When the world is too big, too complex and, as many of us think, in a bad shape, inluencing it becomes a second job and art is the place to escape, a territory of its own.
It’s a place to build utopias and forget dystopias, maybe even reality. As Aki Kaurismäki
said, when he was asked about the ‘tenderness’ of his recent movie Le Havre, compared
to the ‘darkness’ of his previous movies: “When all the hope is gone there’s no reason to
pessimism anymore” (Turun Sanomat Newspaper 5.4.2012).
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III Agency and transitions
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
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5 Transitions and turning points,
agency and choices
In the life course analysis, it is essential to locate the important events and transitions,
from the perspective of the life of an individual (see Elder & Giele 2009). Growing
up to be an athlete and the career in sports take place within a short period of time,
typically within 30 years, which means that transitions occur frequently and often in
predeined stages of life (e.g. Bloom 1985b; Monsaas 1985; Wolstencroft 2002; Wylleman et al. 2004; Balyi et al. 2005; Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010). he
so called normative transitions deine the career and the life course of an elite athlete
(Wylleman et al. 2004; Wylleman & Reints 2010). hey are stages of the sport career
which are located in the life course mainly as deined by the national sport system and by
sport federations, clubs, teams and coaches. (Abbott & Collins 2002; Balyi et al. 2005;
Kirk et al. 2007; MacPhail et al. 2010.) With age and skills development, also the nonsports related transitions become more dependent on the normative transitions of being
an athlete. his conclusion could be made on the basis of the interviews: the athletes
very much emphasized their athleticism, or being an athlete. A career in sports had, in
nearly every athlete’s life story, become a certain prism to look through into other ields
of life; something that has an impact on everything (cf. Vuolle 1978). Sport and elite
athleticism were the dominant elements in their manuscripts of life (Gould et al. 2002).
he socializing impact of sport as an institution, together with sport-oriented parents,
siblings and friends, seem to cover the entire agency of an athlete and thus deine his or
her self-perception (e.g. Stevenson 1990). From the sociocognitive perspective, we can
talk about ‘self-competence’ which is developed in social interaction. In the life courses
of the interviewed athletes, this means embracing the agency of an athlete.
Accumulation is an important aspect in the agency, identity and choices of an elite
athlete. A cumulative athlete agency is seen, with the advancement of age and skills, as a
stronger will and desire to move from one normative transition to another (e.g. Sosniak
1985). he relationship between transitions and agency lead to an intertwined, virtuous
circle: each transition strengthens the experience of the agency which, in turn, motivates
the athlete to pursue the next transition (see Stevenson 1990).
As athleticism becomes more serious and the athlete agency strengthens, with increasing age and development, there is less and less space for other experiments and trials
of young age. In this sense, the life course of an elite athlete is – as the name of this
publication suggests – exceptional: as agency is led by an atypical rationality, only a few
features of a typical childhood and adolescence it in (see Schulze 1992; Piispa 2013b ).
In this rationality, there are features of both rigorous purposive rationality (Weber 1978
[1921]) but also of experience rationality as deined by Gerhard Schulze (1992). However,
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purposive rationality primarily targets only the internal goals of sport – whereas an
elite athlete puts aside the protected and ‘ordinary’ life (cf. Kok 2007). he number of
young people’s options typically increase when they approach adulthood (Salasuo 2006;
Hoikkala & Paju 2008) but for athletes, they become fewer.
To be able to reach the elite level, the life course of an athlete has to follow the principle
of symmetric accumulation (see also Gould & Diefenbach 2002). With accumulation,
the athlete’s skills and knowledge develop and certain choices exclude others. An athlete
must aim for symmetry: life must be in full balance, and being an athlete strongly deines
the entire life. he most important choice of an elite athlete is a certain non-choice: to
opt not to opt for anything else. As a consequence of this non-choice the athlete engages
himself, transition after transition, stronger to his career in sports, prioritizes his development as an athlete and thus enables the status quo of symmetry and the continuation
of accumulation. Each step towards the top takes the athlete closer to the ideal of ‘good
life’ (see also Allardt 1975; Vilkko 1997; Häkkinen 2016) in sports and further deepens
his desire to reach it. hese dimensions of symmetry and accumulation are evident in
the following analysis of this chapter.
In this chapter, we discuss the diferent transitions of the life courses of those athletes
who have reached the top (78) and the choices behind them. Two elements of the life course
analysis – agency and transitions – will be analysed combined (see Elder & Giele 2009).
Combining these two axioms of the life course is particularly justiied with elite athletes
as it underlines their complementary nature. Intertwining of agency and transitions is, at
the same time, the precondition and the burden of being an athlete: transitions and phases
of normal life are ‘haunting’ beside the career in sports, and the aspiring athlete is in a
constant cross-draught where life balance and symmetry are hard to achieve and maintain.
he consequences and challenges of this dyssynchronicity will be analysed in the end of
this chapter. Dropout athletes (18) will be analysed separately in chapter 8 as their careers
are deined by one transition above all: discontinuation of the sports career.
NORMATIVE TRANSITIONS IN THE ATHLETE’S CAREER
Nearly each interviewed elite athlete had gone through, in one way or another, the
typical transitions of a career in sports. hey can be seen either as transitions from one
career stage to another and the changing positions of being an athlete or as physical,
psychological and social processes taking place between the transitions (e.g. Côté et al.
2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010). In sports, the importance of normative transitions
varies according to individual sports and nations (e.g. Stambulova & Alfermann 2009).
For example, in early specialization sports, intensive and systematic training usually
starts before the age of ten and the normative transitions take place in a very short, typically a ten-year period. Lifestyle sports are in the other extreme, as the athletes typically
discover their sport later in life. In these cases, normative transitions are usually not the
most suitable interpretation framework at all. It is worth noting that the importance of
normative transitions can also vary from one national system to another: in Norway, for
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example, children’s early competition in sports is restricted by regulations (e.g. Skirstad
et al. 2012).
In this chapter, we use the typiication of transitions, constructed on the basis of a
large number of research results in elite sports (Côté 1999; Wylleman & Reints 2010;
Erpić et al. 2004; Wall & Côté 2007; Reints & Wylleman 2008; Moesch et al. 2011).
he frequently used DMSP-model21 by Jean Côté et al. (2007) (see igure 1) has been
composed on the basis of empirical research and it illustrates the diferent normative
transitions in sport in a clear way. he DMSP-model serves also as the basis of the analysis
of this study, and the research results are illustrated by applying and complementing it.
At the end of this chapter, we present an illustration drawn on the basis of the analysis
where empirical observations are presented with the help of the DMSP-model (Côté et
al. 2007, 197). his enables the comparison of the career transitions of the elite athletes
of this research data to the optimal timing of these transitions and to the optimal training between them, as seen in the light of present knowledge.
Figure 1. The Developmental Model of Sport Paricipaion, Jean Côté et al. 2007.
21 Developmental Model of Sport Paricipaion.
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We need to bear in mind, though, that there are several exceptions in the research data:
dyssynchronicity, variation and exceptions to the norm. hese features are, within possibilities, taken into account as the analysis proceeds although it is carried out on the
basis of the type transitions. In addition, the career in sports should not be seen as a
separate entity from the other elements of the life course, instead, these two must be
analysed side by side.
Figure 1 illustrates the diferent transitions and phases in the life course of an elite
athlete, based on previous research (Côté 1999; Côté et al. 2007; see also Wylleman &
Reints 2010). he irst transition is entry into sport, or initiation, usually occurring at
age 6–7, but according to several studies (e.g. Wylleman et al. 2004; Bruner et al. 2008),
it can also occur as late as at age 12. In practice, initiation means the start of instructed
sport activities, or deliberate practice. Initiation leads to a phase which is called the
sampling phase22. It lasts, on average, until ages 11–13. he following transition leads
to what Côté et al. (2007) call specializing years23, usually starting at around age 11–13.
Specializing years at age 13–15 is followed by investment years after the age of 15.
Practice becomes more intensive and competitive. However, there may be even signiicant
variation according to particular sport. Transition to next phase, elite performance (or
mastery), occurs at approximately age 18–19. he last transition in the career of an elite
athlete is the retirement phase, discontinuation (see Wylleman et al. 2004). Its timing
depends on particular sport but it usually takes place at approximately 28–30 years of
age. Discontinuation doesn’t necessarily mean discontinuation of the career in elite sports
but at least starting the preparations for it (Wylleman & Reints 2010).
As we have seen, diferent transitions structure and set the rhythm to the life course
of an elite athlete. It is clear that in reality they are not as deinitive as in the typiication
(e.g. Wylleman & Reints 2010; Côté et al. 2007). For example, the athletes interviewed
to this study demonstrated great variation as for their transition to mastery, from age
sixteen to more than thirty years of age. However, type transitions could be located in
nearly every story of the interviewed athletes hence they can be seen as good indicators
of the average or the ‘middle of the pack’ (see also Abbott et al. 2007, 18).
he transitions of an elite athlete’s life course have been subject to systematic research
only in recent decades (Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 49–66). Ideological models describing the
transitions in sport and exercise have been constructed on the basis of these results (e.g.
Abbott & Collins 2002; Balyi et al. 2005; Kirk et al. 2007; MacPhail et al. 2010). Helena
Huhta (Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 49) suggests in her review article that the most relevant,
international ideological models ofer practical insights into and applications of diferent
ways to organise sport and exercise for children and youth. hey mix research, value choices
22 It’s worth noing that e.g. Wylleman et al. (2004) talk about the sampling phase by using the term
iniiaion. Diferent models share many similariies but diferences exist, too, which will be seen
later. Thus, misunderstandings are possible. In this study, we aim to bring the categorizaions and
classiicaions of previous studies to the Finnish context, by using the vocabulary of previous studies
but not commiing ourselves to it. Instead, our aim is an interpretaion which takes into account
the special naional features (Stambulova & Ryba 2014).
23 Wylleman et al. (2004) call this development phase, approximately at age 13–19.
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and experiential knowledge. he ideology of these models means that they include value
choices and an open or hidden agenda, i.e. a subjectively deined target. In many models,
this aspiration is related to recognizing and selecting top talents whereas in other models the
most important value choice is to provide access to sport and exercise to as many children
and young people as possible (sport for all; see Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 49–66).
Certainly, no single theoretical model reaches the diversity of sport and athletes. he
advantage of evidence-based models is the explicit analysis framework they ofer. It can
be used in the development work of elite sports which can improve athletes’ possibilities
to reach the top. At the same time, we can prevent dropping out, burnout and mistakes
(e.g. Vaeyens et al. 2008). Roel Vaeyens et al. (2008) underline that agents in elite sports
should actively try to understand all those diferent factors that interact when a talented
young person develops to an elite athlete. Research and practice in sport should constantly interact. At the same time, we should understand that there will inevitably be
something else in young person’s life than just sport. his diversity of life is not always
well taken into account in the so called path models, thus, we must be able to interpret
and apply these models, and understand their function in a wider context. When not
properly used, even feasible models can harm children and youth as individuals, and
elite sports and society as a whole.
In Finland, the debate around the need of a national model began in the beginning of
the century, and some drafts have been sketched (Lämsä 2012; KIHU 2014; Mononen
et al. 2014). However, this is only the beginning. So far, the recommendations by Nuori
Suomi (2004; 2005; 2008) have been closest to any ideological models. According to
Huhta (Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 70), they difer from international models in being general and very inclusive, covering the entire ield of sports. Yet, they don’t seem to take
evidence-based knowledge into account.
Due to lack of evidence-based models, paths or transitions, the development and
career transitions of the athletes interviewed for the purposes of this study have taken place
nearly exclusively as deined by the practices of that particular sport, club or team (see also
Hakkarainen et al. 2009). hey can be referred to as experience models or opinion models
as there is very little, if any, research knowledge behind them and their value choices have
been mostly implicit. On the basis of the research data, the diferent stages of the progress
and career development of athletes have been the result of practical work of diferent sports
and sport clubs, experiential learning and the beliefs of individual, strong personalities.
INITIATION TO DELIBERATE PRACTICE AND THE SAMPLING PHASE
According to typical transitions (Côté 1999; Erpić et al. 2004; Wall & Côté 2007;
Côté et al. 2007; Reints & Wylleman 2008; Wylleman & Reints 2010; Moesch et al.
2011), childhood’s deliberate play and playful games are followed by an initiation to the
institution of sport at around 6–7 years of age. he following sampling phase continues
up until age 11–13. In optimal situation, initiation should not diminish the amount of
deliberate play but rather increase it. Repeating experiences of physical activity in difer109
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ent environments in the sampling phase strengthen those capitals in children that will
make the overcoming of the physical and cognitive challenges easier in the following
career phases. (See Baker & Côté 2006; Côté et al. 2007.)
One of the determinants of the initiation experience is the sport relationship embraced
at the family table (see chapter 1). Especially to those born and raised in families of strong
physical activity relationship the irst transition may be self-evident but, at the same time,
it is also very important. It connects the children to a similar life course to that of their
parents, or at least one of them. Initiation, where the children are introduced into the
social world of sport and exercise, valued by their parents, is an important transition of
the whole family. Also many other interviewed athletes and their parents have experienced
this transition as an important one. Strong intergenerational physical activity relationship or the example of peers and siblings make the initiation into deliberate practice a
natural and also an anticipated transition.
Especially with older interviewees, childhood had been a period of own-initiative
sport and physical activity (see chapter 3). hose with rural backgrounds reported on
abundant and varied everyday physical activity whereas those raised in urban areas reported on continuous backyard games and so on (see also Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013). In
such environments, deliberate practice has been a natural continuum to the childhood
plays and games. he childhood of many elite athletes seemed to be illed with sport and
exercise either at home, in school, at leisure or in deliberate practice.
With the initiation the child has, for the irst time in his or her life, a position in a team,
in a training group or similar, i.e. he or she becomes part of the organized sport system.
Symbolic signs of the transition include the transfer of parental responsibility to the coach
during the training, predeined timings and locations for training and a uniform training
outit of the team, among others. he transition has a clear dimension of place as the immediate inluence of home and other familiar surroundings change to, for example, a sports
ield where time is spent without parents. his time is experienced as social and attractive.
In the interviews, the irst training sessions were remembered as important experiences,
positive rituals and as a transition to the ‘real’ world of sports. In the next quotation, an
elite athlete in traditional individual sport recalls how playing with his father changed to
training with a coach. Informal activities changed to instructed activities in a sports club.
When I was younger, not even in school yet, I went to those father-son sport activities with my
dad. Well, it was so close to us and through that, there was this instructor who knew my future
coach. And those other guys were just, by chance, establishing this sports club and my instructor
heard about it, that there was this new club and so on… well, he told about it to my dad and then
my dad took me here to practice. I must have been seven or something. And that was it, I’ve been
training every day after school [my own sport] here.
he importance of the family for the entry into sports was clear but also the role of peers
was brought up in the interviews. In the following quote of a ball game player, the impact
of ”friends of the same age” was considered important in the entry into deliberate practice:
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Well, we used to play outside every day and once I even went to play in a team with those guys a
couple of years older than I was. I was quite a shy boy when I was little and I just stood there, beside
the court, ready in my shoes and everything but I just wasn’t brave enough to go there and train.
Well, I waited for another year and went there with my friends of the same age then.
Athletes wanted to deepen their physical activity relationship by entering into instructed
training as it was seen as the fascinating world of real sports, in child’s eyes. As the ball
game player of the quote above, many interviewed athletes followed older children’s –
often siblings’ – practice. Sometimes they were taken along to try some instructed plays
and games. For this reason, childhood’s deliberate play and the sampling phase following
the initiation were often actually quite similar among the interviewed athletes; it was
rather a natural continuum instead of a signiicant change. Initiation into deliberate
practice on the nearby sports ield was a smooth transition in many ways, also physically.
To many athletes, their future main sport was already familiar from backyard games
and activities. hus initiating deliberate practice was rather the deepening of an already
existing physical activity relationship (Koski 2004). On the other hand, those who
discovered their own sport later in life, typically entered into deliberate practice via
another sport and started their own sport only later – this was typical with athletes of
lifestyle sports, in particular. Hence we may conclude that, in the sampling phase, the
interviewed athletes were socialized also into the institution of sport not only into their
own particular sport (see also Heikkala & Vuolle 1990).
According to the interviews, in most athletes’ youth the sport and exercise activities
for children and youth were very accessible at the age of the sampling phase, and the
costs were considerably lower than nowadays. None of the athletes said they would have
prevented them from participating in sport activities (see also Puronaho 2014), however,
some of the multicultural athletes (see chapter 9) stated that the costs afected their choice
of sport and narrowed down the available options. In a typical situation described in
the interviews, children were practically ‘taken in’ from the wings of the sports ield,
without asking for any payment commitments. Hence, just a few years ago, the sports
institution’s doors were much more widely open than nowadays.
Different types of initiation
he age of entry into deliberate practice in team sports was 6 years and 10 months on
average, the median age 6 years and range from 5 to 13 years. In traditional individual
sports, the age of entry into deliberate practice was 7 years and 4 months on average
and the median 7 years. he age of entry varied from 5 to 12 years of age. In lifestyle
sports, adherence to deliberate practice or instructed activities occurred at the age of 6
years and 10 months on average, the median was 6 years and range from 4 to 10 years.
hus we can conclude that there are no signiicant diferences in the initiation age
between diferent sports. he big picture is very uniform and as for those Finnish athletes interviewed for the purposes of this study, the age of adherence to the institution
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of sport generally occurs at the starting age for irst year of school. Consequently, two
very important transitions in the life courses of the interviewed athletes have overlapped
in childhood. Within a short period of time, the children have become members of two
important national institutions which are important to their life courses.
According to research of success in elite sports (e.g. Staford 2005; Côté et al. 2007;
Bruner et al. 2008; Wylleman & Reints 2010), the optimal initiation age into deliberate
practice should, in most sports, be between 6–10 years of age, up until age 12. Research
doesn’t suggest any speciic ‘recommended age’ to initiation and diferent studies ofer
diferent, often cautious interpretations. It seems that academics are reluctant to ofer any
strong recommendations which could later prove harmful. In addition, special features
of diferent sports have an impact on the reasonableness of the initiation age.
Lack of precise deinition may be a good thing as it takes into account the children’s
diferent rhythm of psychological growth. It seems that what happens in the sampling
phase following the initiation is more important than the age of initiation. he adherence to the sport institution of the athletes interviewed to this study occurred at the age
of 6–7 on average, being at the low end of the suggested optimal initiation age of many
studies (Wylleman et al. 2004; Bruner et al. 2008; Wylleman & Reints 2010). his earliness or anticipation is relected in the entire career in sports, up until the mastery years.
If too big a role is given to deliberate practice in early years, due to early initiation, we
can talk about ‘expediting athleticism’.
We will return to the idea of expediting athleticism as the analysis progresses as recent
studies suggest that hurrying clearly narrows down the possibilities of reaching the top
(e.g. Güllich 2014b). Lowering the age of initiation into deliberate practice which has
taken place in recent decades in Finland does not, in the light of recent international
research (Güllich et al. 2000; Güllich & Emrich 2006), seem a positive development
contributing to later success in elite sports. At the same time, there is no consensus as for
the optimal timing of initiation, from the point of view of elite level athletic success later
in life (e.g. Vaeyens et al. 2009; Gulbin et al. 2013). Post-initiation training intensity,
multiple sport participation, timing of transitions and the amount of deliberate play are
more important factors (Baker et al. 2003; Côté et al. 2009).
In addition to the age of initiation, the sport of initiation is an important factor, too.
Every second athlete in the research data started deliberate practice in that sport in which
they later became elite athletes. As for individual disciplines, the dividing line seems to
be between team sports and traditional individual sports (see table 4).
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Table 4. Iniiaion into deliberate pracice; athletes of team sports, tradiional individual sports and
lifestyle sports, and of men and women
Iniiaion
in team sports
Iniiaion in
individual sports
...of which
iniiaion in one’s
main sport
Team sports men
25
-
17
Team sports women
11
2
7
Tradiional individual sports men
8
10
4
Tradiional individual sports women
1
12
7
Lifestyle sports men
5
1
-
Lifestyle sports women
-
3
2
52
26
39
Total
In the research data, there are 25 male elite athletes who have reached the top in ball
games. All of them had started deliberate practice in team sports and 17 of them had
started it in the same sport in which they later reached the elite level. As for female athletes in team sports (13) initiation had mainly taken place in team sports and with seven
of them, in that sport in which they later reached the top. As for initiation, skaters in
synchronized skating are an exception: they had entered into igure skating whereas all
ball game players had started with a ball game24. Especially those male athletes who had
immediately discovered their main sport mostly talked about this sport in the interviews
even though they would have had another sport later on, beside the main sport. Multiple
sport participation was more common with female athletes in team sports.
In the traditional individual sports, the initiation of 31 elite athletes occurred fairly
equally in track and ield sports, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and with some boys
also in team sports. Of the male athletes, ten of them entered into deliberate practice
in individual sports and eight in team sports. On the contrary, only one female elite
athlete in traditional individual sports entered into the sport institution via team sports.
Eleven of the athletes in traditional individual sports entered into deliberate practice in
that sport that later became their main sport. It’s worth noting that two of these athletes
represented the so-called early specialization sports where early specialization is required
for later success. In traditional individual sports, multiple sport participation was common
with both men and women in the sampling phase, and only one third of them entered
into deliberate practice in that sport in which they later reached the top. hus the path
through the sampling phase was more exploratory than that of the team sport athletes.
Five out of six men who later reached the top in lifestyle sports adhered irst to team
sports whereas none of the three women did that. Only two lifestyle sport athletes, both
of them women, started in that sport in which they later reached the top. Lifestyle sport
24 We will return to synchronized skaing later in the excursion on early specializaion sports.
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athletes entered into deliberate practice approximately at the same time as the others but
they typically discovered their own sport later than them. Hence their sampling phase
was characterized by playful and multiple sport participation and their initiation into
sport was not in any way determinative for their future.
Team sports athletes in the sampling phase25
As regards childhood’s deliberate play, initiation, post-initiation activities and the main
sport in mastery, there are many similarities among, in particular, male athletes in team
sports. hey have typically taken a very normative route, with transitions occurring at
approximately the same age, close to the average age of the research data. To most of
them, initiation into deliberate practice was a transition taken for granted, following the
example of parents and siblings. Initiation into deliberate practice was often reported as
a transition which didn’t require much personal relection.
In the following quote, a ball game player tells about his initiation as a very easy-going
experience. Adherence to the sport had already taken place before joining the team. he
last sentence of the extract and its ”why not” summarises his relationship to initiation into
deliberate practice in ball games. Soccer is also the sport in which he later reached the top.
I guess there was an ad somewhere that a soccer team will be set up near where I lived. At irst, there
were no kids of my age, they were a bit older but I went there to try. hat was my irst activity as a
child, and that’s how it started. At irst, I just wanted to try, as I’ve always liked sport and exercise,
soccer too. So I thought that why not, and joined this team to play soccer.
In the following extract a ball game player tells how, right after initiation, he started
dreaming about a career in elite sports. His initiation into sport materialized in that
sport in which he later reached the top. He tried other sports, too, but the number one
sport was clear and his relationship to it was passionate. Entry into deliberate practice
appeared as part of that path that, in the child’s eyes, ends up in “buying a Ferrari”.
I started in boys’ development squad and my dad started to train us. When I was very little, I said
to my parents… and this of course sounds like something coming out of a 6–7 years old mouth….
But I had promised that when I start to play professionally, I’ll buy them a Ferrari. hat was maybe
the only car I knew… Even though I said it as a child, well, I did have this target from very early
on, that this is how I could make a living and this is what I’ll do in my life.
Athletes typically moved from childhood backyard games through initiation into some
team sport which often was the subsequent main sport, as in the following quote. his
25 In analysing the transiions and life phases of team sport athletes, the focus is on team sport ball
games. This applies to both the sampling and the development phase.
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ball game player describes the early stages of his relationship to team sports and the
deepening of that relationship to soccer in the sampling phase. Events outside the soccer practice are important, too. Life is illed with soccer, he not only plays it but is also
an active soccer fan. Elsewhere in the interview, he reports on having tried other sports,
too. And sometimes his mother had hard times with her son’s activities.
I guess I started [playing soccer] in our backyard when I learned how to walk and understood what
a ball is. I was out playing all the time and didn’t have time to PlayStations or television. I was out
playing all the time. My dad bought me two goals and there was this little soccer pitch to play on.
Sometimes we played inside too, mum was not always so happy about it because we broke some
lamps and lower pots. And I remember when I got my irst soccer jersey, I slept in it, I played in
it and, if somebody hadn’t said no, I would have taken a shower in it. It was Maradona’s shirt and
it’s something that I’ll always remember, I even framed it to the wall.
Nearly all interviewed team sport athletes had played several team sports in the sampling phase, i.e. not only that sport that later became their main sport. According to the
interviews, these other sports were played both just for fun but also in clubs. However,
it was not about deliberately playing ‘supportive secondary sports’ but about genuinely
enjoying and wanting to sample diferent sports. he main sport was selected through trial
and error, often on the basis of what the athlete feels he or she can do best. Sometimes
the main sport becomes evident already ‘at a very young age’, despite the trials. Early
selection of sport is apparent in the following interview extract of a ball game player.
My parents started to take me by car to the neighbouring municipality, I must have been ten or something. I was so sure about [my sport] already at that age although I played other sports too, soccer and
others. But of course when I grew up and started to do well, it motivated me further to that direction.
Due to strong connection between team sports it appears that, particularly in the sampling phase, young athletes start to develop a very speciic relationship to sport, through
deliberate play. Sharon Wheeler (2012) views that children of sporty families develop a
network of behavioural models and values, a certain habitus. Team sport players in ball
games seem to develop a typical habitus of a team sport ball game player in which the
worlds of at least soccer, basketball, volleyball, bandy, ice hockey and loorball intersect.
he habitus of a team sport ball game player ties the boys, in particular, very tightly
to the social webs of signiicance of team sports (cf. Ford et al. 2012). hose who play
team sports establish their own, speciic group at age 7–12 where they smoothly move
between diferent sports, be it in the shape of deliberate play or deliberate practice. In
the research data, this is particularly pronounced with men but the same phenomenon
is also visible among female team sport ball game players.
Multiple sport participation during the sampling phase was more emphasized among
female team sports players compared to men. Men embraced a strong ball game athlete
habitus already at a young age whereas women had sampled diferent sports more than
men. Still, nearly all women had ball games in their main focus. In the following quote
a ball game player reports on how she entered into sport in that ball game in which she
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later reached the top. Still, she sampled many diferent sports in both team and individual sports. As girls’ teams were not always available, she also played in boys’ teams.
his athlete had not been taken to sport but she had discovered her sport on her own.
Again, we see that a girl’s path to an athlete is not as straightforward as that of a boy.
Yet multiple sport participation provides a good ‘athletic basis’ and in the end, the main
sport is selected on the basis of which sport the athlete feels she is good at.
I was six when I started to play [my own sport]. I just saw an ad in a newspaper and wanted to go.
hat’s how it started, I guess. It was good fun. And we played against boys as there were not enough
girls’ teams. We were always beaten by 11–0 but I still wanted to continue. And I’ve also played ice
hockey, I started when I was maybe nine. I played it some ive years, always with boys. One of the
girls in our class played too, and her brother played so that’s how I started playing ice hockey. I’ve
done some track & ield, too, running diferent distances, some long jump and so on, I’ve always
been very sporty. I just wanted to try all possible sports. At some point, I chose [my own sport] just
because I felt that I was quite good at it.
he gender-based diferences in the sport institution are relected in the quotation above.
he girls’ place in the ield of sports is not as straightforward as that of boys and, consequently, girls seem to have more room for trials and sampling. In and after their initiation, they are not as easily ‘siloed’26 (e.g. Koski 2009; OPM 2010a) to one speciic sport
as boys. (See also Kay 2003.) Female athletes also relect their own initiation more than
men, i.e. the meaning of diferent sport trials and their relationship to the main sport.
he initiation of the ball game player of the following quote took place in the 1980’s
and 1990’s when women were a clear minority in sport clubs and in elite sports in particular (Kay 2003, 95–97). A girl’s active participation in sport typically aimed at boys
(e.g. Drummond 2002; 2011) has, as an individual experience, been special and delightful
(see also Sturm et al. 2011). he athlete tells about her initiation and the years following
it. Her sport was not very common in her youth, at least not among girls. Hence she got
a ‘strong head start’ when she also did track and ield in summer.
Well I was about eight when I started [that ball game], nine when I started track and ield and I
played those two side by side until I was 14. Track and ield in summer and that ball game in winter.
I had a real head start to others who just took vacation in summer while I had my practice. At that
time, that [ball game] was not so popular yet so there was no training in summer.
he soccer player of the following quote develops her strong relationship to soccer very
early which is comparable to the experiences of the male team sports players cited above.
26 In the 1990’s, sports movement began to adopt business-like operaional models. Historical roots
and ideological tradiions were replaced by new public management models, customer-centric
thinking, service markeing and inancial targets. This has led to the so-called ‘siloing process’.
Sports clubs specialised in a single discipline and began to compete for the customers – clubs
and federaions became single discipline silos. Thus sampling diferent sports has become very
expensive and more diicult.
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Her relationship to soccer includes deliberate play, backyard games and more intensive
training. Interestingly, soccer had been discovered through her father and brother – i.e.
passed on by the male family members – who were familiar with the team sports institution.
I was three or four when my big brother started to play soccer and I’ve been around ever since I
was very young, always there on the pitch playing with my dad. hen I said that I’ll start playing
too when I’m old enough. [...] When I was ive or six my grandma took me to kids’ soccer school,
we were crawling on the loor so it didn’t have a lot to do with soccer, it was more like just doing
something a bit sporty. When they set up a team of my age group I immediately joined, I was six
or seven. After that I’ve always played in my own age group, and sometimes I’ve helped the boys
and the older team.
hose who play team sports often stated they were ‘team sport personalities’. In the following quote, a ball game player tells how she started doing track and ield which was
too individual-oriented to her personality. She changed to a team sports ball game in
which she later reached the elite level:
I did track and ield because that was something that all of us did, it was somehow natural. I went
to track and ield school, did my things and tried to get along but then I realized quite quickly that
team sports were my thing. In [track and ield] I enjoyed relay and other stuf that could be done
with others. But I lost my interest when things got too individual-oriented. […] I then landed in
[my own sport] by participating an activity that was organized near us. hat was the irst time when
I really tried it. I started to play a little with my brother’s team, they were three years older than I
was, and there was this other girl too.
Socialization into the social world of sport through team sports seems to create a psychologically strong tie that creates a solid ‘sport capital’ (e.g. Wheeler & Green 2014).
Playing diferent team sports side by side, either in the sense of deliberate play or deliberate
practice, is seen useful also from the point of view of biomechanics and anatomic learning. Richard Schmidt and Craig Wrisberg (2000) have classiied inter-sport transferable
skills. hey suggest (op. cit.) that ‘observation’ related to decision-making, moving on
the ield and ‘instinctive’ situational awareness develop and broaden when an athlete
plays similar sports, or sports where certain moves or situations are similar to those of the
main sport. Examples include anticipating opponent’s moves in team sports or tossing
the ball in serving at tennis or Finnish baseball (see Baker & Côté 2006). On the basis
of the research data, the added value of playing other sports was considered useful and
the skills learned in own sport were easily applied in other team sports as well.
Traditional individual sports athletes in the sampling phase
he most common initiation sports of the elite athletes in traditional individual sports
include track and ield, cross-country and alpine skiing and team sports. his means the
interviewed athletes typically had a wide range of diferent sport and exercise activities in
the sampling phase. he sampling phase was literally sampling and trial to those athletes
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who later chose a traditional individual sport. his cumulative process was typically more
nonlinear and multidimensional than the nearly deterministic descriptions of male team
sport athletes. Others had found their own sport already before school age, others at the
end of the sampling phase and some only after that. his indicates that many technical and other skills needed in individual sports can be learned also later as long as the
athlete has a background of multiple sport participation and the motoric and physical
skills developed in it.
he importance of multiple sport training seems to apply to all those who later
selected a traditional individual sport. In addition to deliberate practice, especially the
older athletes in the research data continued diferent own-initiative plays and games
during the sampling phase. he individual sport athlete cited below has sampled and
tried many diferent sports yet the main sport selected later had been discovered in the
form of play already before the school age. Initiation into deliberate practice occurred at
around the school starting age. Competitiveness and possibility to compete from early
on were decisive factors when the athlete later selected the main sport. he sport of
initiation “was always there” throughout the years but it didn’t prevent diferent trials.
A: I’ve been around that sports hall basically ever since I was born and I’ve always loved it, and at
school age we started to prepare for competitions and so on. But I had all those other sports to
do, too, and maybe when I was 13–14 I realized that I just didn’t have time anymore so I selected
[my sport]. I had ballet too, until the end. I was so competitive, really a competitive character and
[my sport] felt so good that I was always looking forward to those competitions [laughs]. hat’s
why I chose it.
I: What were the other sports, ballet and...?
A: Ballet, yes,… and then I went to triathlon training and sometimes I even tried soccer but that
was not my thing at all. And I’ve done diving and artistic gymnastics and really everything [laughs]
but [my own sport] has always been there.
he athlete in traditional individual sports of the next quote had a completely diferent
initiation from the athlete above. She also reported on childhood plays and games and tried
diferent sports when she was seven and inally discovered her own sport only at age 15.
A: he food was served in that way and we spent four hours a day outdoors, no matter what the
weather was like. So that’s how I learned this healthy…
I: Sporty?
A: Yes, a sporty lifestyle. My brothers had a big role, they are 8 and 10 years older than I am and
sometimes we played soccer, I was alone against them. And their friends, too [with a laugh].
I: So you were the goalkeeper?
A: Yes, and this is where the resilience comes from. And many other crazy things… We were skiing,
I was maybe 2 or 3 and my brother put me in a big black garbage bag and pushed me down the
hill. I didn’t mind little knocks and bruises. And I really loved PE in school.
Another athlete in traditional individual sports shares similar memories. Diferent team
sports with brothers and friends have played an important role in the deliberate plays
and games of her childhood:
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We had tough games in our garden every summer and we invited the neighbour’s son, too, to play
with us. Somebody always started crying when his team didn’t win. And we played Finnish baseball,
too, and many other games, ice hockey and others.
To many athletes of traditional individual sports, the role of friends has been signiicant
to sport choices. It’s also worth noting that the individual sports have not – at least not
to the athletes interviewed for the purposes of this study – appeared as a lonely activity.
Recurring themes in the interviews include the importance of diferent sport facilities
and their proximity, and free access to them. Interviews include many descriptions on
playing and competing just for fun on sport ields and other facilities. For example, a
possibility to try diferent track and ield sports in ‘real’ setting with siblings and friends
was an important source of motivation to many athletes.
Some athletes reported on having speculated the suitability of one’s level of itness
and personality to various sports. In the following extract the athlete reports on team
sports being left out on the basis of such relections which did not, however, prevent the
athlete from sampling individual sports:
A: Yes, well I was in junior soccer league. I was not good at it but there I was.
I: Do you remember how old you were?
A: I must have been nine or ten. Motorically I was maybe ok but playing in a team was just not
my thing. My dad is a former track and ield athlete so I gave it a try, too, but somehow I was so
much more into winter sports.
Adherence to the sport institution of some athletes of the traditional individual sports
seems to be a playful process where there was no need to hurry or to be too serious. An
athlete of traditional individual sport tells about some ‘unpersistent’ trials as follows:
A lot of diferent sports from early on. Soccer, volleyball, handball, whatever ball. All these traditional
ball games. I tried everything but nothing very seriously or persistently. At eleven I started [my own
sport] and here I am, still. Haven’t had any real break since then.
LIfestyle sports athletes in the sampling phase
Similarly to traditional individual sports, lifestyle sports athletes typically had a sampling
phase which was, by deinition, sampling and trying diferent sports. Only 2 out of 9 had
entered into deliberate practice in their future main sport. Naturally, also the lifestyle sport
athletes have proited from their experience in deliberate practice of more traditional sports.
he initiation often occurred into team sports; many male athletes played loorball, for
instance. he sampling phase was often characterized by diferent trials and free play and
games outside the deliberate practice. No clear path or early socialization into a certain
sport or sports could be identiied. Deliberate practice and own-initiative deliberate play
in childhood and adolescence provided a basis for subsequent physical activities, and the
most important turning points in their athleticism often took place later, in their teen years.
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All lifestyle sports athletes had adhered to deliberate practice in their childhood but
their main sport was often found later. When discovered, that lifestyle sport usually had a
signiicant impact on the athletes, something very diferent and social, something related
to innovation, discovery and searching, as the following lifestyle sport athlete describes
his initiation into his own sport:
At irst we didn’t even know how to do it. We were just messing around and at irst we thought
we had discovered all these new tricks as there was no internet at that time. Later we found out
that everything had been more or less invented already, when we started to ind out more about
it in the internet.
he traditional development models of elite sports portray the career progress in lifestyle
sports only in a limited, even erroneous way. Even in the mastery phase, there are many
of those elements present that, in elite sport models, are deined as typical elements of
the sampling phase in childhood. hese include emphasis on the element of playfulness
in training, and the limited amount of systematic practice (cf. Côté et al. 2007). Instead,
having fun and enjoyment in training are underlined (e.g. Wheaton 2004). Even in
mastery, these sports could be described as ‘tribes’ or ‘subcultures’ (e.g. Hänninen 2012).
he elite athletes in lifestyle sports seem to have consciously taken distance to the
traditional sport institutions, after teen years at the latest (e.g. Rannikko et al. 2013;
Piispa 2015a). With top lifestyle sports athletes we can even talk about a kind of inverse
transition; the initiation might have occurred into the world of team sports or traditional individual sports but the athlete may have returned to deliberate play and playful
games after that. he athlete had rejected the rationality of elite athleticism and started
to build an identity of his own, characterized by combined individualism and a sense of
community. We will return to this pattern later.
Excursion: early specialization sports
Five athletes in the research data have competed on adult level in the so-called early
specialization sports or in ‘aesthetic skill sports’ (e.g. Baker 2003). he sports include
synchronized skating (2), igure skating (2) and artistic gymnastics (1). One of them is
a dropout and four of them are classiied as elite athletes in this study. Typical features
of early specialization sports include early start of deliberate practice – often already
before the school age – and goal-oriented and systematic training already at a young age.
his often leads to one-sidedness in training which can have physical and psychological
consequences (Fraser-homas et al. 2008; see also Skirstad et al. 2012). For example, in
the DMSP-model (see igure 1) Jean Côté et al. point out that early specialization may
lead to less enjoyment of sports at the top level, and even to deterioration of the physical
condition (Fraser-homas et al. 2005; Curran et al. 2011; Enoksen 2011). One-sided
training also exposes the athlete to sport injuries (e.g. Malina 2010; Huxley 2014). Harri
Hakkarainen, specialist in sport medicine and coach, has made the following summary
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in a magazine interview (Tiede [Science]/Mutanen 7.8.2008): “From the health point of
view, it’s not a very good idea to start intensive training at a young age but, on the other
hand, if you want to succeed at the international level in these sports, you just have to”.
In these sports, the initiation age was fairly low among all the interviewed athletes:
median was ive years, variation from four to seven. his result seems to correspond
to the initiation age recommendations of the Finnish skill sports federations (Valto &
Kokkonen 2009; Kalaja 2009). Initiation occurred into skating with skaters and into
gymnastics with the gymnast. However, initiation didn’t always ‘orthodoxically’ lead to
early specialization as some of them had other sports – such as aerobics and mogul skiing
– on the side for a fairly long time which was considered useful. Despite this, training
had been very specialized from early on, especially in skating sports. Desire to develop
and enjoyment in sports were mentioned as the motivational factors in childhood and
adolescence, along with having fun and spending time with friends. Strong desire to
reach the top and a high degree of competitiveness were evident with two interviewees,
from an early age on.
From the perspective of normative transitions and phases, many athletes showed a
number of development phase features already in the sampling phase at age 6–12. On
average, we can conclude that the development phase had started before the age of ten.
Similarly, mastery was reached fairly early, in the form of invitations to national teams
or the irst championship level competition, at age 14–19, when many other athletes are
just shifting to the development phase. he activation of the sport agency and realizing
that one could reach the top in his or her sport seem to be located at this age, too. In
other words, success goals have started to crystallize in that phase. All the interviewed
athletes achieved their irst successes at the adult level by the age of 20. With a few
athletes, early intensive training had disturbed their school work but most athletes were
able to combine elite-level sport and school work at least reasonably.
As stated earlier, one of the igure skaters was classiied as a dropout athlete. Also the
other interviewed skaters had discontinued their careers in the mastery phase, i.e. ‘retired’
at less than 25 years of age, shortly after the interviews were done. his supports the
observations of an earlier study (e.g. Côté et al. 2007): in skill sports mastery is reached
relatively early and, for example, the consequences of one-sided training are seen as a
relatively low age or retiring, too. he fact that mastery in skill sports is typically a short
phase which also ends at a relatively young age can also have positive consequences, for
example, studying after the sports career becomes easier.
Despite the relatively small number of the interviewed skill sport athletes in this
study, the results are similar to those of the previous studies. Early initiation seems to
be imperative in igure skating, in particular. he same seems to apply to early specialization: it results in one-sided training but, on the other hand, is necessary to reach the
top. Instead, artistic gymnastics seem to be less restricted (see also Kalaja 2009) in the
comparison although only one athlete in the research data represents this sport. In general, in early specialization sports athletes are likely to meet more unavoidable challenges
than in other sports. However, it doesn’t mean that these challenges were completely
diferent from those of other athletes.
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Deliberate play in the sampling phase
Deliberate practice in the sampling phase is just the beginning in the development of an
elite athlete towards mastery. According to international studies, all-round, deliberate
play should play a dominant role, measured by the number of hours spent, in children’s
training up until age 11–12. (E.g. Côté et al. 2007; Ford et al. 2012.) he life story
interview is a very rough tool to estimate details such as the number of training hours.
However, we can draw some general conclusions on the basis of the research data. he
most striking issue, already discussed in chapter 3, is the generation speciicity of deliberate play. Athletes born in 1970’s and 1980’s reported clearly more often on free play and
backyard games outside deliberate practice or instructed training. (See also Côté et al.
2009.) One of the explanatory factors is that the increase in the number of team sport
clubs took place in the 1980’s and the ofer on instructed activities to children and youth
was fairly limited before that (e.g. Zacheus 2010). Hence own initiative was needed in
at least part of the sport trials. It was also about a young urban culture in which children
of 1960’s to 1980’s had learned from their parents that garden or backyard is the natural
arena for play, sports and games (Salasuo & Ojajärvi 2013).
Spontaneous play and games are much less present in the interviews of younger
generation athletes, indicating the impact of a strengthening ‘siloing process’ (e.g. Koski
2009; OPM 2010a). In the following extract, a young athlete in individual sport reports
on diferent sports where spontaneous trials or own-initiative practice may not even be
possible, in many cases. It is notable that the athlete has tried “everything” but everything
in an instructed, not in a spontaneous way.
I didn’t do competition but I did some gymnastics at around seven and then all these children’s
gymnastics. I also tried water polo but that was clearly not my thing and I also tried soccer, for a
week or so. I’ve tried so much of everything but these things were just not for me.
Along with the generational impact, the amount of deliberate play and games decrease
with age, already during the sampling phase. In many interviews, descriptions on deliberate play become fewer as the athlete approaches the age of 12. Instructed activities
become the dominant arena in the athlete’s life. his is particularly emphasized in the
interviews of those athletes born in the end of 1980’s and in the 1990’s.
he interest – evident in several international studies (e.g. Carlson 1988; Côté et al.
2007; Côté et al. 2009; Ford et al. 2012) – towards the relationship between deliberate practice, multiple sport participation and deliberate play and games is related to a
number of indicators. he most obvious of them is the total amount of hours spent in
sport and exercise. In many sports, it is the highest among those children that are active
in all forms of sport and exercise outside deliberate practice during the sampling phase.
According to the consensus in many sports, the amount and importance of deliberate
practice should optimally be less than that of deliberate play as late as at age 7–12. (E.g.
Carlson 1988; Baker 2003; Côté et al. 2007; Ford et al. 2012.)
here are studies on single sports and on the optimal relationship between deliberate
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practice and deliberate play during the sampling phase. One study analysed the role of
them from the age of seven onwards, of soccer players who were the best of their cohort
at age 16 (Ford et al. 2012). he researchers sketch a hypothesis according to which
those who have made it to mastery in soccer have, at age 7–12, focused on soccer-like
plays and games, in addition to deliberate practice (e.g. Ford et al. 2009; 2012). he
researchers write (Ford et al. 2009; 2012) about ‘early commitment’ to soccer, instead
of early specialization. In this article published in 2012 Ford et al. (2012) compared
Brazil, UK, Portugal, Mexico, Ghana, France and Sweden.
From the perspective of Finnish soccer, the observation by Ford et al. (2012) that
the number of hours spent in deliberate play along with deliberate practice was much
lower in the UK, in France and in Sweden than in other countries when measured by the
number of hours, is of particular interest. In Sweden, the amount of deliberate play does
not exceed the amount of deliberate practice in any phase. his observation, obviously
due to societal development, living conditions and climate factors, leads the researchers
to suggest certain country and culture-speciic actions to increase the number of hours
spent in deliberate play and games (Ford et al. 2012; see also De Knop et al. 1999). hus
according to their hypothesis (op. cit.) the best result from the perspective of the development of a soccer player will be reached when soccer is played in both deliberate practice
and in deliberate play, i.e. that free play is, for the most part or even exclusively, related
to soccer. However, this hypothesis of ‘early commitment’ has certain methodological
shortcomings, as the researchers themselves point out. he research data does not entail
soccer players who have reached the top but only those players who represented the ‘elite’
at age 16. (Ford et al. 2009.) In the light of other studies (e.g. Leite et al. 2009; Güllich
2014a & b) we can conclude that these hypotheses only report on how these 16 year
old players reached the elite in their age class.
Deliberate play and games develop diferent qualities from deliberate practice. Côté
et al. (2003) write about, in particular, how lexible strategies and creativity needed in
team sports develop in deliberate play. At the same time, players can test their physical
abilities and limits in diferent circumstances without considerable costs. In addition,
motoric skills, physical condition, understanding of rules and cognitive skills develop
diferently as part of deliberate play compared to deliberate practice. Too much instruction and guidance in the sampling phase may rather hamper the learning of motoric
skills (Wulf & Shea 2002). When deliberate play is based on the children’s and youth’s
own desire, enjoyment, interest and lexibility it strengthens the positive experiences of
sport and exercise (e.g. Côté 1999; Côté et al. 2007; Côté et al. 2009). Deliberate play
with socially signiicant others, siblings and friends, supports the athlete’s perception
of his own athleticism, deepens the athletic habitus and is important from the point of
view of the athlete’s identity work (see van Yperen 2009). An elite athlete in traditional
individual sport portrays the ideal growth environment of an elite athlete as follows:
We were a big group of boys and girls, we were maybe 15, and as far as I can remember we were
always outside. Sometimes we played some sort of sport, bandy on the parking lot, and then all
these backyard games, hide and seek, you name it. I remember them being really exciting. I was
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one of the youngest in the gang and we got to play with those bigger boys and girls. We lived in a
great place too, we could play by the lake all year around. And then there was this sport ield on
the other side of the block.
Deliberate practice during the sampling phase doesn’t exclude the deliberate play of
childhood. In the following quote, rich in nuances, a ball game player tells about his
deliberate play before and after the initiation. Playfulness and spontaneous play continue
even after entering into deliberate practice. his quote is an ideal type recollection of
the importance of deliberate play.
When I was ive or six I got this little goal in my room [...] Every night I had my own games there,
I played with my imaginary friends with the door shut and came out sweating every night. I must
have been an easy child; as long as I had a ball, I was happy. Of course I didn’t think about it in that
way as a child but later, when I’ve been thinking about those days, it’s been quite fantastic, really.
And those games in my own room are one of the few things I remember of my childhood at all.
When friends came over, we had competitions and everything, we developed them on our own.
Usual tricks were not enough anymore, we needed to put the ball through two walls, through the
ceiling and one wall, whatever, all those crazy things.
In the light of present-day research it appears that in nearly all sports, too hard, too
frequent, one-sided and goal-oriented deliberate practice in the sampling phase results
in negative consequences from the perspective of reaching mastery (e.g. Wiersma 2000;
Baker 2003; Scanlan et al. 2005; Wall & Côté 2007; Baker et al. 2009; Branta 2010;
Choi et al. 2014). We come back to this issue in the chapter on dropout athletes. It’s
noteworthy that athletes who have reached the top have, with a few exceptions, practiced in their sampling phase in such clubs and teams which have allowed multiple
sport participation and a more liberal rhythm of practice. In other words, they have not
specialized in their main sport too early.
Perspective: are costs, structures and competition between sports
hindering success?
In recent years there has been debate on the rising costs of children’s activities and the
impact of the family’s socioeconomic status on children’s opportunities to participate
in diferent activities (Kantomaa et al. 2014). he issue has been debated mainly from
the perspectives of equality and national health (e.g. Keskisuomalainen 8.4.2014; Yle,
Finnish Broadcasting Company/Ranta 7.5.2014a; Yle, Finnish Broadcasting Company/
Ranta 7.5.2014b). Rising costs mean a serious problem to Finnish elite sports as well.
Firstly, it hampers the important sampling phase which is essential to subsequent success as the costs of multiple sport participation have risen considerably. Secondly, some
potential elite athletes cannot, due to rising costs, even embark on ‘the athlete’s path’
and, consequently, initiation will never take place (e.g. Hakamäki et al. 2014). hirdly,
rising costs may force a young athlete to give up his or her activity particularly in very
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expensive sports – this situation has become widely recognised in ice hockey, for example
(i.a. Yle, Finnish Broadcasting Company/Ranta 18.11.2014).
Rising costs of children’s activities have been criticized but means adopted to remedy
the situation have not been unproblematic either. Katja Rajala (2014, 41) has written
about the inancial aid awarded to sport clubs to support families with limited economic
resources as follows:
”he action plans of those sport clubs who have applied for inancial aid to enhance
possibilities of children with limited economic resources to participate in sport activities
have been mainly reliant on external funding. here have been very few new ideas as
to how to inancially support sport and exercise of children and young people. Most
projects give direct assistance to children with low economic resources to participate in
sport clubs’ activities. In some cases, one child can receive support only once. Such model
is in nobody’s interests in the longer term. Economic equality in sport club activities
would require more thorough development of sports club activities and the deinition
of common rules and practices between sport clubs and their cooperation networks.”
In the 2010 statement of the Ministry of Education and Culture, a large number of
athletes in recreational sports was named as the irst priority (OPM 2010a). According to
the statement, a broad ‘talent reserve’ provides a solid basis for elite sports: “As for sport
activities of children and youth, the idea is simple: as many children and youth should
do as much sport and exercise as possible, as often as possible and in many diferent
ways. his is the way to spot talent and develop it.” (OPM 2010a, 10.) On the basis of
international research results (e.g. Green 2005; De Bosscher et al. 2008, 86–89; Bailey
et al. 2010, 14; De Bosscher et al. 2011) it is clear that inancial factors are an obstacle
to multiple sport participation and the consequences of rising activity costs reduce the
opportunities of Finnish athletes to succeed in elite sports.
he structural changes in the Finnish sport system have also had an impact, in many
ways, on the initiation of athletes and the consequent sampling phase. Pasi Koski (2009,
41–46) has noted that sport clubs have changed from multi sport clubs to single sport
clubs in recent decades. At the same time, the importance of single sports and single sport
cultures has become stronger in the sport club activities. his development has reduced
the possibilities to try diferent sports or participate in multiple sports. One important
reason for the increase of single sport participation is the competition between sports
and sport clubs for junior athletes as ‘paying customers’. his seems to be resulting in
more losers than winners.
he setting can be illustrated with the help of the prisoner’s dilemma, the idea of
which is as follows:
Two members of a criminal gang, A and B, are arrested and imprisoned in solitary
coninements. hey have agreed not to admit the crime if caught but in prison they
cannot communicate with one another. he clever interrogator suggests to both prisoners,
in separate interrogations, that the suspect can either plead guilty and, at the same time,
betray his accomplice or he can remain silent. If the interrogated prisoner commits but
the other one doesn’t, the other one will serve three years in prison and the interrogated
prisoner will be released. If both commit and betray each other, they both serve two
years in prison. If both of them remain silent, both of them serve one year. For the best
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mutual reward, both would be best of to remain silent. Pursuing only their individual
reward, they may either serve longer in prison or be released altogether. Individual and
mutual rewards meet if the prisoners hold on to their original agreement. However, these
interests conlict if one or both of them betray each other.
How is this allegory related to the Finnish sport system then? Research suggests that
it’s in the interests of both sports in general and elite sports in particular that children
and young people do as many sports as broadly as possible. However, it may be in the
interest of a single sport or an individual sports club that children and youth commit
themselves as early as possible to one particular sport: in this way, the sport or the sports
club secures its own customer base and ‘seizes’ the potential elite athlete. his situation
is something similar to the prisoner’s dilemma – the following imaginary and simpliied
example illustrates this:
An agreement is reached within the sport system that states that young athletes are
encouraged to participate in deliberate practice in at least two sports in the development
phase, at age 12–15. A twelve-year-old athlete plays both ice hockey and soccer. Both
sports consider whether the athlete should be made to choose between the two sports. If
the two sports follow the ideal as agreed within the sport system, the athlete continues
for another three years playing the two sports and selects the main sport then. Multiple
sport participation supports the growth and development of the athlete regardless of the
sport which is later selected as the main sport. In addition, multiple sport participation
reduces the probability of dropping out of sport altogether at 15. If only one of the two
sports asks the athlete to specialize by ofering improved success outlook, the athlete
selects that sport and dedicates the following three years to it. However, inishing the
other sport increases the probability of dropping out of sport altogether at 15. Another
option is that both ice hockey and soccer force the athlete to make the selection. As the
athlete doesn’t want to stop any of the two the situation becomes both physically and
mentally stressful and, again, the probability of dropping out of sport altogether increases.
In both sports, there’s an incentive to break the agreement and seize the athlete to that
particular sport. Also, both sports share the risk of losing the athlete if the other sport
breaks the agreement and seizes the athlete. he following table illustrates this foursquare
dilemma further (see table 5).
he table illustrates how, if the two sports only pursued individual reward, they
should try to make the athlete to select that particular sport. In this way, the athlete
would dedicate all the time to it and would probably continue with it, also after the
age of 15. From the perspective of mutual reward, however, the two sports would be
better of not to push the athlete to choose. In this scenario, the athlete would probably
continue multiple sport participation with all its advantages. he worst case scenario is
also obvious: if the athlete felt pushed from both sides, it is not only the two sports that
lose but most probably also the athlete himself or herself.
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Table 5. Prisoner’s dilemma as an illustraive applicaion in Finnish junior sports.
Ice hockey makes
to choose
Ice hockey doesn’t
make to choose
Soccer makes to choose
The athlete tries to play both
sports resuling in very litle
free ime. The joy of playing
sports decreases and the risk
of a burnout increases. Ater
a while, the athlete either
chooses one of the sports or
stops sports altogether.
The athlete chooses soccer,
but the training becomes onesided. The joy of playing sports
decreases and the athlete’s
development is not supported
by muliple sport paricipaion. The risk of dropping out
increases.
Soccer doesn’t make
to choose
The athlete chooses ice
hockey, but the training
becomes one-sided. The joy
of playing sports decreases
and the athlete’s development
is not supported by muliple
sport paricipaion. The risk of
dropping out increases.
The athlete plays both sports
in a lexible way. Muliple
sport paricipaion supports
the athlete’s development and
increases the joy of sports.
At 15, the athlete probably
chooses one of the sports and
coninues to pracice it in a
goal-oriented way.
TRANSITION TO THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE
AND THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE
hat point of time when the relationship to the sport institution deepens and training
becomes more serious can be located in every interviewee’s career. he sampling phase
comes to an end and the interviewees start to talk about more serious training and sport
in general, competitions and success. Also, the irst references to one’s own talents,
strengths and weaknesses become visible in the development phase.
he sport agency of a young athlete typically strengthens as he or she moves on
to the development phase. Contrary to initiation, where parents’ parenting practices
usually have an impact, now it’s the young athlete’s turn to choose what he wants to do
and on which conditions – he may even choose to discontinue his career. If the athlete
experiences success in this phase, symmetry and linearity start to deine his career in a
more pronounced way. On his path towards mastery, the athlete tries to select the most
favourable route towards the next normative transition, without any unfavourable turns
(see also Wylleman & Reints 2010) such as injuries or other personal disappointments.
he transition to the development phase was most often located at around age 11–13
in the interviews of this study. he median was 12 years. he youngest athletes in this
second normative transition were only 7–9 years old whereas the three oldest ones were
15–17 years old. On average, the timing of this second transition in the Finnish elite
athlete’s career corresponds to the respective timing of other elite athletes, according to
international studies (Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010; see also Côté 1999;
Wylleman & Lavallee 2004; Erpić et al. 2004; Wall & Côté 2007; Reints & Wylleman
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2008; Moesch et al. 2011). During the development phase, training becomes more
intensive and competitive. At this transition, the division of hours between deliberate
play and deliberate practice should balance out. In addition, the amount of practiced
sports should narrow down to a few sports only (e.g. Côté et al. 2007).
At the transition and in the development phase following it, four important changes
relevant to the athlete’s life course can be brought up. First of all, the athlete discovers his or
her main sport. Secondly, children enter their preteen years which is an important change
from the psychological point of view. Transition decisions from one phase to another should
be made consciously and independently. hirdly, the roles of signiicant others; parents,
siblings and peers start to have new emphases in the athlete’s life. During the development
phase, friends become psychologically the most important group in deining the athlete’s
athleticism and, at the same time, the role of the coach is emphasized, especially in traditional individual sports. Parents still have their important roles in the support network.
(See Wylleman & Reints 2010.) In this research data, the role of siblings as signiicant
others can be seen with many athletes. Fourthly, the young athlete moves on to secondary
school which is an important transition in the life course; the transition from childhood
to preadolescence (e.g. Pekkarinen et al. 2012). Again, transitions in sport coincide with
other normative and institutional transitions outside the world of sports.
Free play, sporty games and trials of diferent sports become fewer in the development
phase. he margins of athleticism narrow down towards deliberate practice although many
athletes in the research data still participated in multiple sports. Further investments in
one’s own sport were made by spontaneous practice at leisure. In the athletes’ accounts,
signs of a strengthening athlete rationality became visible at around age 11–13 (Schulze
1992; Piispa 2013b). his can be seen as more pronounced target setting, determination
in the main sport and willingness to compete and compare one’s ‘real’ skills to other
athletes. his transition often requires changing the sports club, longer transportation
to training and abandoning the childhood friends. he institutional support systems
in sport become visible for the irst time when some of the athletes apply to secondary
schools with special emphasis on sport.
Intergenerationality in the development phase
At the transition to the development phase, the capitals obtained at the family table were
still seen in the agency of many athletes. Athletes of families with active transmission of
the physical activity relationship don’t really see this phase as a decision as to whether or
not invest more in sport. hey have been socialized very strongly into sport and athleticism (Stevenson 1990), already in the beginning of the development phase, and they
have already embraced the habitus of an athlete (see Wheeler 2012). hus, the elements
determining their transition are, rather, the early-embraced athlete rationality and the
embedded accumulation in the sport agency (Heikkala & Vuolle 1990, 91–92). A more
relevant question would be what is the next sport to be tried or what is the sport to
invest more in than about choosing between sport and not doing sport. he interviews
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of these athletes gave an image of ‘sport being everywhere and everything in life’. his is
how, irst an elite athlete in lifestyle sports and then a team sports player report on their
sport activities in the preadolescence phase:
1) I got bored with cross-country skiing and track and ield and started to play team sports. Soccer
and Finnish baseball, then ice hockey in a bigger club. I did a bit of everything and was always on
the move.
2) I must have done something every day when I was little and played both sports. I spent all my
time at the sports hall, just went there after school to play or something. Didn’t always remember
my homework though… but I was sporty at least.
In the following extract an athlete in a traditional individual sport tells about the role
of the family that has taken her well into the development phase and even further. he
whole family’s enthusiasm about her sport contributed to a successful specialization.
Siblings and parents who originally were sport insiders in another sport adhered to
the new sport as a family. he sport capital’s role at the family table grew further and
remained strong over the years:
It was somehow so natural that my mum and dad were always there to support me. hey didn’t
know that much about my sport, as they had never done it themselves. [...] I didn’t really do track
and ield anymore after I turned 14, I did only my own sport in summer. And all my family started
to do the same sport, my brother and my sister and it really became a family sport. Whatever we
did in that sport, the whole family was involved. We were there together.
In families with strong physical activity relationship, the dominant role of sports is also
relected in non-sport choices. Sport is not prioritized above all other ields of life but it is
placed side by side with schoolwork, for instance. In the following quote of a team sport
ball game player sport activities replace musical pursuits in the development phase and
sport plays an important role in the school selection which is not without compromises:
I stopped playing violin in primary school. Well I didn’t really stop but I wasn’t just interested in it
anymore and every Monday I sufered from headaches or something [laughs] when I was supposed
to go to my violin class. It was just because I was more interested in other things, it felt so much
nicer to go to sport practice than to violin lessons. And then I went to this secondary school with
special emphasis on sport. [...] I needed to travel some 10 kilometres to get there. So it was a big
change. It was not that bad but it was quite a long way, at that age anyway.
In this quote the athlete tells how the distance to school became longer due to the special
emphasis school. he school itself and all the work related to it have always been priorities that, even in families of active sport relationship, precede sport. A typical memory
of the development phase is the athlete’s mother or father saying “you do your sport
but school comes irst!” (See also Brettschneider 1999.) In the research data, the Finnish comprehensive school system is seen as the only institution (e.g. Paju 2011, 18–26)
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that is placed above sport or at least beside it in the lives of every interviewed athlete.
Athletes who didn’t inherit a strong sport relationship at home oriented diferently
in their development phase. In these situations, the role of own agency is emphasized.
In transitions it can be seen as conscious choices where parents have rather stayed on the
background. Usually parents were not passive either but their role was mainly that of a
driver, spectator, supporter and enabler. he attitude towards the sport activities of the
child was positive at the family table but the young athlete took the main responsibility
of his or her choices in sport. In the following quote of an elite ball game player the
importance of own agency is emphasized when the athlete describes his deliberations at
the transition to the development phase:
I was quite young when I realized that I have to spend a lot of time on the pitch if I want to move
forward. And every time when I wrote something at school or something similar, it was always
about soccer. Of how I was going to be a soccer player in the future. I must have been 12 or 13
when I started thinking that now I need to play hard.
In addition to own agency, some athletes stressed the importance of peer relations and
sport facilities in the development phase. Some of them also started sport so late that the
development phase remained very short, a kind of ‘honeymoon’ with sport.
The development phase in team sports
Transition to the development phase implied an important change in the careers and
life courses of the team sport athletes in the research data. At the age of 12 or soon
afterwards the athletes moved on to a very diferent world, to a competitive club and
team. he number of training hours increased, other sports were left out either on own
initiative or imposed by the main sport and ierce competition between peers started at
full speed. he time window to young athletes’ national teams is only a few years long
and, in order to succeed, one has to invest much more in the main sport compared to
the sampling phase. he interviewed athletes were asked when their own sport became
really competitive and serious. Of the team sport athletes, 38 reported on competitiveness and seriousness having increased considerably at age 14.5 on average. here was
not very much variation as, with the exception of four athletes, all responses were in the
age frame 13–16.
Individual sport and gender were noticed to have some inluence when the research
data was analysed from the perspective of intensifying competition. he development phase
window was opened irst in basketball, at age 14 on average. In soccer and ice hockey it
was at 15 and in loor ball and volleyball at 16 on average. he number of interviewed
athletes in other sports is so limited that a similar age comparison is not meaningful.
he development phase in women’s team sports difers from that of men. Talented
girls typically play in the older age groups of their own club already at a very young age.
According to the experiences of 13 female team sport athletes in the research data, the
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intensiication of training and competition takes place at age 13–18 on average whereas
the median was 14. he small gender diference is not exceptional as for instance in the
Jean Côté’s (1999) study in the end of the 20th century, the intensiication of training
occurred at age 14 on average with women and at age 15 on average with men. A typical
development phase description is the following account of an athlete, of how the women’s
age groups were mixed at age 14:
In secondary, in grade 9, I trained with [adult] women two times a week and then I had my own
training a couple of times a week. I trained some four times a week on average, I had 4 to 5 events
a week and at some point we just had an incredible amount of games.
In team sports, the transition to the development phase often occurs hand in hand with
the change of team and club. his can be regarded as an important turn from the perspective of the athlete’s athleticism and there’s often a psychological dimension involved
in it. An aspiring athlete selects a better team over his old team mates as it supports
the development of his athleticism. his is the irst time that the athlete’s rationality is
put to a test. A ball game player recalls his move to a competitive elite squad at age 12:
I: Do you still remember how often you trained, in grade 8 or 9?
A: I changed my team then. I had more training of course. Five times a week.
I: hat’s quite a lot.
A: It was quite a lot, yes. Somehow it worked, though, from school to sport to home. Maybe it was
quite smart, at least I didn’t spend my afternoons just hanging out somewhere.
I: Do you think it was a good thing?
A: Yes, I think sport helps a lot. You can avoid many problems. You don’t have to invest too much
but a little, of course. You use your time more wisely in that way.
he athlete’s rationality is clearly seen in the quotation above. Life becomes simpler and
there’s symmetry in it which also favours athleticism: everything considered irrelevant and
not worth doing is abandoned (Gould & Diefenbach 2002). In the following quote, a
ball game player recalls how she played in several teams with older team mates until, at
the age of 12, she moved on to the competitive elite squad – again, to the older age group:
I’ve always played with older girls. So it was only natural to go to that squad. And then I moved on [to
another squad]. he distance was always bigger [laughs]. And then I followed my coach to this team.
he interviewed athlete was talented for her age and used to play with older girls from
early on. Moves from one team to another seem natural in the interviews. In addition,
this athlete went to a secondary school with special emphasis on sport so her athleticism
strongly deined her choices not only in her sport but also in other ields of life.
In team sports, transition to the development phase seems to advance the intensiication of training and the experience of competitiveness more pronouncedly than in
traditional individual sports and in lifestyle sports. Also the development phase itself seems
to ‘intensify’, in particular as regards the national team and elite squad requirements,
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and this development is often faster than the recommended optimal as deined in earlier
international studies (Güllich 2014b; see also Côté 1999; Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman
& Reints 2010). he development phase career development of the interviewed team
sport athletes can be characterized by an intensifying requirement towards symmetry. In
the beginning of the development phase other sports are typically abandoned and the
development continues in only one sport. his is how a soccer player who was made to
select his main sport at age 11 sees it:
First I started soccer and then I went to ice hockey. I would have been selected to the elite squad
in ice hockey. But I had some hard time with my coach who didn’t accept soccer. And then my
dad said that it was up to me. hat he’s not going to say what I should play. Well I liked soccer and
didn’t want to stop it. And I think the junior ice hockey team was training too much. I should have
been there training all the time, and things like that.
The development phase in traditional individual sports
he athletes of traditional individual sports interviewed for the purposes of this study
moved from the sampling phase to the development phase at age 12, on average. he
youngest were seven but they represented early specialization sports. he change in traditional individual sports is not as abrupt and agency-narrowing as in many team sports.
he following quote of an athlete in traditional individual sports is an extreme example
of the number of sports in the development phase which often favours the career in elite
sports (e.g. Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010):
Well my main sport, ever since I was 12… throughout my childhood I did so many things, irst
cross-county skiing and then that [main sport]. But then I played volleyball for seven years and loor
ball for 5 years and ice hockey for 3 years and soccer for 2 years and competed in track and ield
and in cross country running and […]. All my friends were there. Well, I had some other friends,
too, in primary the children who lived next to us. And then later I had my team mates in all those
diferent sports. And of course we played all possible sports also in our free time.
he transition to the development phase has, in the life of this athlete, meant a total
immersion into the world of sport and exercise. She comes from a small municipality
where sport and exercise have played an important role in the leisure activities of children
and youth. he athlete continued playing other sports even though the main sport took
up more and more time. Other sports were an important resource for this athlete as the
total number of practice hours in sport has been considerable and the essential qualities
needed in the main sport have been strengthened as well (Côté et al. 2007).
In the following quote, an athlete in traditional individual sport recalls how she
gradually had to narrow down the range of sports, due to overlaps and lack of time:
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I: When did you give up those other sports?
A: Well I gave up Finnish baseball when I was maybe 13 and javelin throw just a couple of years ago.
I: So you didn’t have time right?
A: No I didn’t, and the important events and competitions in javelin coincided with my [own sport]
so I couldn’t really focus on the two.
In the development phase the family table is not necessarily the most important location anymore, for sharing the sport relationship, as the shared table with other athletes
and team mates starts to gain in importance (see also Wylleman & Reints 2010). Other
young athletes who share the social world of athleticism together with the athlete become
important signiicant others beside his parents. In the development phase, the life course
of an athlete begins to narrow down to an ‘exceptional’ life course, thus, discovering likeminded peers becomes important. In team sports, inding such peers is naturally easier
than in traditional individual sports as there’s always a whole team of them, in training
and in games. A world-class elite athlete in a traditional individual sport describes the
social drawbacks of this ‘unconventionality’ as follows:
I was a bit, well not lonely but I wanted to do things on my own. I also enjoyed having other
people around me but usually they didn’t stay for a very long time so I had a lot of time to be on
my own then.
In traditional individual sports the transition to the development phase gives the athlete
some leeway but the importance of discipline is emphasized in the absence of social team
control. here are eight traditional individual sport athletes in the research data who
started in their main sport at age 12 or later. From the point of view of their athleticism,
the deepening of the individual physical activity relationship and the strengthening of
the sport agency were essential at the transition to the development phase. his is how
world-class athlete describes his sport selection process in the development phase:
I just went to play some sports with my friends so that was the selection, I selected those sports with
good instructors and trainers when I was 13 or something. hen I just gave up some of the sports
which were not so interesting but I still did a lot of things around sport and exercise. And something
else, too, we did carting and RC car racing all around Finland. At some point, I only had volleyball
and [my own sport] left, by chance and through my own choices. hen I needed to choose between
these two at around 16 or 17, then I made my choice. Actually our volleyball team fell apart then.
he description of this quote reaches beyond the next transition, too, and illustrates
well the narrowing of margins of an athlete. First the athlete samples new sports with
his friends after which ‘less interesting’ sports are given up. In the end, only the main
sport remains.
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Lifestyle sports athletes in the development phase age
Also elite athletes in lifestyle sports have gone through a certain development phase. However, this transition is not similar to that of the athletes in team sports and in traditional
individual sports. Transition has taken place as part of deliberate practice but it has not
been experienced from a career point of view. Age-related development from childhood
to preadolescence and the new sport opportunities related to it are more pronounced
at the transition. hus, instead of referring to the development phase of lifestyle sport
athletes, the term ‘development phase age’ is more suitable.
he desire to exercise and develop oneself in a number of ways is more pronounced
than the drive to succeed in the interviews of many lifestyle sport athletes. his may
be considered as the desire to physical development aiming to a better physical self-apprehension. Tapio Koski (2000, 89–92) refers to Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the French
philosopher, when he writes about physical ‘self-competence’, about how an individual
aims at recognizing and embracing the competence of his or her own body. he body, as
an objective tool, enables a physical performance which is realized and developed when
the person exercises and trains. In the accounts of lifestyle sports athletes, aspiration to
stretch out to one’s personal limits is emphasized, from the body control point of view.
he context of practice and competition is social, as the sense of community is the
binding element among enthusiasts of lifestyle sports. Physical self-apprehension and
realization of one’s own physical competencies and qualities are possible only in relation
to signiicant others who share the intention to seek and understand one’s self-competence
via the same physical activity.
In such culture, development arises from one’s own desires instead of the institutionally deined nature of a certain age phase (e.g. Rannikko et al. 2013). Instead of talking
about practising, lifestyle sport athletes frequently refer to simply ‘doing’. here’s also
variation whether they see themselves as athletes or not. hey may have been athletes
in other sports but not in the lifestyle sport. he personal relationship to the sport is
important, too. he interviewed lifestyle sport athlete describes the diference between
an ordinary athleticism and his own experience as follows:
I: Did you already have talent in sport? Did you ever think of the talent or was it just having fun?
A: I didn’t usually take sport so seriously, well maybe loorball a bit more seriously as I also competed in it, in some smaller settings. My [own sport] has been more about just doing something
nice and having fun.
he interviewee avoids the question on talent by describing his relationship to loorball.
he lifestyle sport is not seen as traditional sport even though he progressed to the national
elite level in it, already at a young age. Also the following extract reveals how distinct
the lifestyle sports are in many ways, from the institutional systems of sport. he athlete
didn’t even know that a sport like that existed. A single event (see also Alfermann & Stambulova 2007), in this case spotting an ad and connecting it to a memory of something
that his father used to do, aroused interest. his phase of life, when deliberate practice
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in traditional sports is typical, is here characterized by the athlete’s own enthusiasm in
lifestyle sports, and by doing and learning on one’s own.
My dad really didn’t do it [anymore] as there were too many of us children. Towards the end of the
primary, in year 5 or 6, I saw this ad that [a particular sport equipment] is on sale. hen I realized
that we had those at home and that my dad had been playing with them sometimes. And then I
thought that what is it really, I didn’t know anything about it. Well, I ran straight home and decided
to try… it was so cool and I was just so excited about it. he following day I went out to try again
and I’ve played every day ever since, I think.
Only very few lifestyle sport athletes reported on intensive training. One exception is
presented in the following extract. he ‘brutality’ of this experience is partly due to tight
timetables and accommodating training to other life course elements.
Well, in secondary school it started to get quite tough as I had more training. I needed to travel
some 20 kilometres in a bus to get there. I went there straight from school and just waited there
until the training started. hen I had my training, took the bus home, and arrived there at around
9 or 10, just in time for homework.
With many lifestyle sports athletes the sense of being an athlete or an elite athlete usually occurs later than in other sports. In this research data, the variation is 14–27 years.
Competition is not obvious in all lifestyle sports and, therefore, the transition to the
development phase does not necessarily mean competition but only deepening of the sport
or activity relationship, and more intense testing of one’s own physical self-competence.
he possibility to compete is welcomed, if the athlete so wishes. Interestingly, in two
lifestyle sports there were no competitive structures at all when two of the interviewed
lifestyle sport athletes reached the age of the development phase. Many lifestyle sport
athletes had experienced the sampling phase in some more traditional sport and the
whole sport orientation changed in the athlete’s teen years.
Lifestyle sports difer clearly from other sports but their athleticism still follows the
principle of accumulation (see also Gould & Diefenbach 2002). As for symmetry and
linearity, a career in lifestyle sports leaves room for variation, change and breaks. he
meaning of own agency and transitions are subject to individual choices (see Elder &
Giele 2009). Career progress requires the actualization of transitions but, rather than being
normative, they are a consequence of the athlete’s own desires and will. Consequently,
the development phase does not follow the predeined rhythm of the sport federation,
club or team – they often don’t even exist in these sports. Lifestyle sport athletes typically report on features typical of the development phase even in mastery. Nevertheless,
measured by the traditional indicators in sport, they would be classiied as very successful, world class athletes.
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I: So we always start with an open question. Maybe you could tell us your life story in sport, how
did you become an elite athlete?
A: An elite athlete...
I: Well yes! [with a laugh]
A: Well I don’t see myself as an elite athlete…
I: Come on, you’re an Olympic medallist right?
Crossroads in the development phase
he athletic life course of many Finnish young athletes comes at a crossroads at age
14–16, in the middle of the development phase. his crossroads can lead to discontinuation, recreational sport or towards mastery and national teams of the respective age
groups. his is obvious in the following quote of an athlete in traditional individual
sport. hose who have the motivation for competition and development start to stand
out from those without that spark. Competition becomes iercer and tougher among
those who determinedly aim for the top.
I: Was there any lexibility if somebody just couldn’t take it, that hard training?
A: Well yes, there was a big contrast there, we trained really hard and that’s how it should be but
then we also had like pancake parties where everybody could be something else, totally. here are
big diferences already quite early between those who are really motivated and ambitious, and the
rest. For myself, it’s always been important to win, or at least to do better than what I used to do.
It’s not equally important to everyone but even those girls stayed in the group for a fairly long time,
till they were 15 or 16.
Jean Côté et al. (2007) distinguish the development and investment phases in their developmental model for sport participation and, in this way, take into consideration the
crossroads or the barrier between these two phases. Investment refers to a considerable
increase in deliberate practice (op. cit.). he crossroads or the barrier is not present in
the Paul Wylleman and Anke Reints (2010) model describing the transitions. In this
study, this crossroads is considered, instead of a normative transition, a decisive choice
and a barrier which has to be crossed in the athlete’s life course.
he barrier in this crossroads often means that a young athlete becomes physically
passive and chooses to quit sports. Only a few choose the recreational path in sport.
(E.g. Aira et al. 2013.) Own agency and coercion from the sport institutions have an
impact on the discontinuation decision. After comprehensive school there are a number
of important changes in a young person’s life – both physiological and psychological
– which are related to transitions outside the world of sports and to new positions. At
that point, a young athlete easily loses interest in instructed sport activities, loses his or
her motivation, becomes tired with the one-sidedness of training, becomes unmotivated
because of early specialization or simply enjoys sport less. At the same time, the prices of
competitive sport activities (Puronaho 2014; Urheilusanomat/Aarre-Ahtio 4.3.2015), in
particular, increase to new heights. As young people’s free time is so severely restricted
by sport, many may want to aspire new capitals in other ields of life. (See Tiirikainen
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& Konu 2013, 34–36.) Many sports do not even ofer realistic recreational paths to
15-year-olds hence these young athletes easily feel that they have to either discontinue
or try to reach mastery. Discontinuation clearly afects elite sports as well. On the basis
of international research (e.g. Güllich 2014b; Ostojic et al. 2014; Barreiros et al. 2014),
we can conclude that there are many potential athletes among the dropouts who would
reach the top later if the pyramid of sport would just narrow down slower. We will
return to this issue.
Crossing that crossroads is, in many sports, a certain initiation into aspiring mastery.
Especially in team sports, entry into junior national teams and transition from junior
leagues to adult leagues is, according to our research data, a prerequisite for career
progress. he sense of intensifying competition that many athletes describe can be seen
as a phase when also team sport athletes are treated as individuals and ‘talents’ who
need to be tuned towards the top. At the same time, among those who had reached the
top, their strongest memories included the approaching national team selections and
other special squad selections in their respective age groups. At least the interviewed
team sport athletes had a clear understanding of that ‘window of opportunity’ in their
sport which is followed by the separation of talents from others and investing more
in the former.
In the light of the research data that window of opportunity is very narrow in Finnish
elite sports, especially in team sports. hose aiming for the top have to ‘train themselves’
quickly, in a straightforward and determined way, without much time for relection. In
the development phase, the athlete has to grow up quickly, get selected to adults’ leagues
and cut out adolescence at least in a way it is usually understood (Hoikkala 1989; Mary
2012). his straightforwardness becomes particularly tough in those sports where the
top leagues only exist abroad. Being an athlete becomes being in a hurry, with a wish to
reach the international elite level as quickly as possible. his was seen as an explicit and
implicit ethos in the accounts of the team sport athletes in this research data. Reaching
the top early was seen as opening up possibilities to test one’s skills in a foreign elite
level team. When the window of opportunity had opened at age 14–16 the athlete had
immediately jumped in. In the light of international research, such model that drives the
athletes to expedite may be counterproductive and lead to a waste of potential resources
(e.g. Güllich et al. 2000; Güllich & Emrich 2006). It is known to even eliminate most
potential future talents from the pool of young athletes (see Côté et al. 2007; Güllich
2014b; Ostojic et al. 2014; Barreiros et al. 2014).
Well I was there until I was 15 and I had already played my irst junior-level international matches.
hen the elite squad approached me and I needed to choose which team to go to. he [team X]
had a very good A-junior team then and I got in when I was only 15 which was a big thing, really.
hat’s how it went on, I played in junior-level international matches and when I got a bit older I
joined the elite squad.
his quote of a ball game team player encapsulates this: the window of opportunity to join
the junior national team opened at age 15 and very soon a new opportunity, joining the
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men’s team, opened up. here were only six team sports athletes in the research data who
were not selected to the junior national team at age 15 at the latest (cf. Güllich 2014b;
Barreiros et al. 2014). Volleyball was the only exception as in that sport players reach
mastery later (see also Leite et al. 2009). On the basis of the research data, the way to the
top in team sports goes through junior national teams and a relatively early recognition of
talent. In the light of present knowledge (Leite et al. 2009; Anderson & Miller 2011; Güllich 2014b; Barreiros et al. 2014; Ostojic et al. 2014), the Finnish team sport system very
probably loses a large number of potential athletes by following this road. he way to the
top in many team sports is too expedited and, at the same time, physically, psychologically
and socially narrow27. It is probable that many athletes sufer from burnouts due to early
specialization and the system loses the talent of those who develop slower.
In the traditional individual sports, age at crossroads is not in the same way important as in team sports. A little less than half of the athletes in the research data had been
successful in the respective age leagues, Nordic championships and in other important
competitions at age 14–16. Early specialization sports are naturally excluded from this
review as these athletes are typically selected to adults’ leagues or national teams at a much
younger age. As for track and ield athletes, short distance runners and athletes in some
traditional summer Olympic sports had been identiied early. Slow development sports
in individual sports include golf, shooting, strength sports and alpine skiing, among
others. On the basis of the interviews, most athletes had participated diferent national
level competitions from age 14–15 onwards – many even earlier than that especially in
younger age groups – such as Finnish junior championships. However, the way to the
top was often not straight but rather winding. Some athletes had even changed their
main sport at a later stage.
Perspective: The procedures of selection and
de-selection in German soccer
In 2014, when Arne Güllich (2014b) published his extensive study of German soccer
players we received some strong research evidence as to the advantages of taking into
account the slow development of the athletes and the variation related to their diferent
age phases. According to Güllich, German soccer has, in this century, tried to move
towards a system where talented players are identiied and developed from very early
on28. According to his results, however, the inal nomination of top players is not based
on early identiication but on repeated procedures of selection and de-selection. (See
also Güllich & Emrich 2012.)
27 Veera Niemi, 14, stopped soccer for its seriousness. She summed this up in her newspaper opinion
(Helsingin Sanomat Newspaper/Niemi 9.10.2014): “Soccer didn’t feel like a free ime acivity anymore but it was hard work. I don’t take pressure very well and was always very nervous before cups.
I needed to play well and succeed in there. Therefore, I thought it was best to inish playing it.”
28 Early talent ideniicaion and talent promoion.
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he youth elite squad, starting at age 10, is in practice not based on continuation
of the same players or nurturing the early identiied talent but on annual selection and
de-selection of players. Only 7 per cent of those players who played in youth elite squads
at age 10 were at the elite level at age 19. On the contrary, 67 per cent of those who
started in the elite squad or returned there after a few year’s break at age 18 were in the
elite squads at age 19. hose players who were ‘recycled’ to the elite squad for the irst
time at the high end of the age category 16–19 were more likely to reach the Bundesliga.
20 per cent of those who started in the elite squad at age 16 made it to the Bundesliga
whereas nearly 60 per cent of those who were recycled to the elite squad as late as at age
19 played at the highest German league level at age 24. (Güllich 2014b.)
he same phenomenon can be seen in junior national teams. Only 36 per cent of
those players who debuted in the national team at age 15 were in the junior national
team at age 19. On the contrary, nearly 60 per cent of those who were selected for the
irst time or after at least a year’s break to the national team at age 18 still played in
the national team at age 19. In addition, it is to be noted that most of the players who
reached the Bundesliga had been recruited to the elite squad at age 14 or older for the
irst time, and at age 13 or older one league level lower, respectively. A similar late development of top players can also be seen in the young players’ debuts in the national
team: Bundesliga players played for the irst time in junior national team at age 19, on
average, whereas the Bundesliga 2 players debuted in the junior national team at age
18, on average. (Güllich 2014b.)
Instead of early talent identiication and a narrow window of opportunity, repeated
procedures of player selection and de-selection are the more secure way to the top in
Germany. Similar results have been reached in the UK (Anderson & Miller 2011).
Güllich calls this approach a collectivistic approach as opposed to an individualistic approach. Güllich notes that whereas the aim of the German system has been to identify
potential talent as early as possible and focus on nurturing it this is not how it works out
in practice. As a consequence, a corrective system has been developed within the system,
to correct the errors of the early talent identiication system. he idea of the collectivistic
approach is that an individual player is part of a collective system and always replaceable
by another player. herefore, it is not important who is successful but that there is a large
number of potential successful players. At the same time, teenage players can very well
develop outside the youth elite squads or junior national teams and simply ‘side-enter’
to the top level later. (Güllich 2014b; see also Güllich & Emrich 2012.)
In addition, Güllich (2014b, 534–536) lists factors challenging the idea of early talent identiication and development. First of all, only a fraction, less than one per cent of
the licensed, young soccer players in Germany end up in youth elite squads or national
teams. Secondly, there are no guarantees that this small group, identiied at an early
age, are going to be those players who later reach the top. his element is emphasized
in a sport like soccer where evaluation of the usefulness and the stage of development
of diferent qualities, and therefore identifying the best players, is very diicult. Güllich
(2014b, 535) illustrates this by asking whether we can really be sure that the selected
youth elite squad really represents the best players of the respective age category if there
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are 120000–160000 young players in each age category in Germany. hirdly, there are
no guarantees that the training ofered by academies, assumingly of better quality than
other training, actually is better than the training received outside the academies or elite
squads, from the perspective of the development of an individual player. Again, Güllich
(2014b, 536) illustrates this with igures: Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 players, in 36
teams, had gone through 895 diferent soccer clubs. In other words, they have been developed and trained in very diferent environments of training, playing style and living.
In addition to Güllich’s study, other studies in soccer (Leite et al. 2009; Anderson &
Miller 2011; Güllich 2014b; Ostojic et al. 2014) and in other team sports (Barreiros et
al. 2014) highlight the potential loss of talent in the early selection sport systems. Whilst
comparison of diferent national sport systems is not unproblematic, we might ask, as an
example, what would have happened in Germany if only those who were selected at age
16 would have been nurtured to the top level: roughly only 20–30 per cent of the present
Bundesliga players would actually play in that premier league level (Güllich 2014b).
Late bloomers in elite sports
Ten athletes in the research data discovered their main sport at age 15 or later. Some may
consider it peculiar that an athlete can rise to the world-class level after having discovered
his or her main sport so late – and we are not talking about late specialization but the
start of a new sport. How is this possible?
First of all, it’s worth noting that only two out of these ten are team sport athletes.
Intuitively it is easy to see that especially the most popular ball games are so widely
played and competed that someone starting late would simply not have enough time
to learn the required skills for success. A Portuguese study (Leite et al. 2009), however,
suggests that in basketball and partly also in volleyball a late start may lead to the top.
In team sports, the main reason might be that it’s simply diicult to ‘side-enter’ to an
institutionalized training system at a later age.
Secondly, four of these athletes discovered a totally new sport which was only in its
development phase, also internationally. In other words, it was easier to reach mastery as
there was no deinite, established elite. Still, it’s clear that without an athletic background
and a certain aptitude these athletes wouldn’t have reached the top. All of them had a
solid, athletic background that very well supported the new sport.
With all these late bloomers, the discovery of the main sport can be reviewed with
the help of an efortlessness–chance axis. Two athletes discovered their sport through
easy, efortlessness transition. One of them found it via physically active friends, one of
them through another sport. Two athletes discovered their sport by pure chance: one
athlete remembered how she mainly ‘smoked cigarettes’ in her youth even though she
clearly was physically talented. She inally discovered her sport through boyfriend. One
of the stories difers from the others in one important aspect: this athlete was not at all
physically active in his childhood and youth and discovered his sport only in his late
teen years, on his own and half accidentally. In his own words, he just needed ‘something
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to do’. After a couple of years training he realized he could aim higher and his practice
became more goal oriented.
hus embarking on a new sport had been a combination of chance and natural transition with six of the late bloomers. hey had been physically active before and regarded
themselves as physically talented. Five of them had practised another sport, with an aim
of reaching mastery. Two of them found their sport by auxiliary training of another sport
thus the transition to another sport was quick and logical. Two of them found their sport
through a recommendation of a friend. Both of them quickly understood that they could
do well in that new sport. One of the athletes followed his big brother to a new sport
and quickly understood he had potential in that new sport. he story of the last athlete
is more exceptional: he played another sport for a long time and, inspired by a newspaper
ad, went to try a new, similar sport. Discovering the new sport was partly accidental but
the transition from one sport to another was smooth and efortless.
Despite late discovery of their main sport these athletes have accomplished a lot: four
of the late bloomers are the world champions in their sport, three of them have other
world championship medals, one of them is an Olympic medalist, ive of them have
European championship medals, one of them golden. In addition, they hold several
Finnish championships and other achievements. Some of them have, at some point
of their lives, made a living on sport and three of them have received the government
sport grant.
Realization of possibilities and elite athleticism
as a psychological conidence
Many of the interviewees had their irst signs of their potential success in their respective
sports during upper secondary school years. Typically this meant success in junior leagues
at the national level. Success brings with it a realization of opportunities, an awareness that
one is really good in his or her sport. his leads to a feeling of self-competence (Häkkinen
2012) and it’s an important psychological turning point, an epiphany (Denzin 1989,
70–72; see also Ziehe & Stubenrauch 1982). With athletes, also the term tipping point
(Wilding et al. 2012) has been used. Previous research suggests that such turning point
is essential to enable the transition from the development phase to mastery (see Côté
1999). Bloom (1985b, 522–525) sums up that the motivation of elite athletes increases
after realization, owing to recognitions and awards. he athletes start to draw long-term
career plans and to monitor closely their own practice. Above all, the athlete’s internal
motivation to develop increases signiicantly after the realization. Internal motivation
becomes the main driving force. (Op. cit.)
Of the interviewed athletes, 59/78 accounted on such realization. he average age of
realization was 17 years 4 months and the median 16, i.e. at the end of the development
phase, just before reaching mastery and soon after crossroads. Fourteen interviewees
reported on having realized they have potential already at age 10–14, 37 reported on
the realization at age 15–19 and eight at age 20 or later. he latter were mainly those
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athletes who had discovered their own sport very late. hey often had an immediate
feeling of that sport being worth investing in (see also ‘drifters’ in art, Piispa & Salasuo
2014, 126–131).
Regardless of the timing and the particular sport, realization was usually connected
to athletic success or to reaching a milestone. In team sports in particular, this was often
the irst invitation to the junior national team. he following quote illustrates this: the
national team camp went well and the athlete received positive feedback. he experience
was “so rewarding”.
I remember that irst camp and that it went really well. I got very positive feedback from the national team coach. It boosted my conidence of course, that the national team coach gave me that
feedback… I remember it really well, it was so rewarding to me.
With the athletes in individual sports, this realization was often related to being successful in a single competition. hese included the Finnish junior championships or good
results in international competitions. Some of the athletes reported that realization was
connected to a conscious decision to practise more and to take sport more seriously.
his decision wouldn’t have been taken without the feeling of having potential to succeed. he following quote includes these two dimensions: irst the decision to aim for
“the world championship” and then the good results resulting from this decision. As
a consequence, the young athlete realized that “wow, I could do well in this”. Last but
not least, realization was supported by the coach, the ‘master of the apprentice’ (see also
Keegan et al. 2014):
When I was about 16 we had this discussion with my coach. he coach asked me whether I want
to be the Finnish champion in ive sports or the world champion in one sport. And then, well that’s
what he told me, I had replied that I want to become the world champion. And then maybe it was
the following summer [...] I did win two Finnish championships. And this is how it started, I really
enjoyed it. he following summer I had the junior national team match and the result was quite
good and then we took a look at the global statistics and I realized that my result was the third best
or something. It was then when I thought that ‘wow’ I could do well in this.
As stated, the most important career deining decision of an elite athlete is the decision
to aim for the top. It excludes many other options in life and subjects the athlete’s life
to determined practice and development. However, this decision wouldn’t probably be
taken if there was not that feeling of its meaningfulness. he realization of one’s own
potential is an important psychological turning point and a prerequisite for subjecting
future choices to elite sports and believing in it. It is also an important driver for building
the identity even more irmly around sport and athleticism (Stevenson 1990).
More serious practice means aiming at that skill level and psychological preparedness which is needed of an elite athlete (see also Jones et al. 2002). Luck is needed too:
lucky coincidences – and avoidance of unfortunate coincidences – have a great impact.
It means that the elite athletes consciously start to aim for continuous symmetry and the
corresponding lifestyle. As Natalie Durand-Bush and John Salmela (2002) concluded,
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after studying the best of the world-class elite athletes: the elite athletes had, without
exception, ‘everything ine’ in their lives – they had both the athletic and the personal
resources as well as the psychological prerequisites to practise sport at the world-class
level. In the following quote a young athlete who doesn’t really see himself as an elite
athlete yet, tells how his whole identity and life goals are determined by the target of
reaching mastery one day29:
Well [elite sports] do deine a lot of my [identity]. I’ve done sports nearly 18 years out of 20 so
it clearly means a lot and of course I always try to behave accordingly. But I don’t think of it that
way that every time when I go to a new place that I should behave in a certain way, like an athlete
does and so on. I reckon it somehow that I’m an athlete, maybe even elite athlete soon or at least
on my way to the top. here’s a thin line between an athlete and an elite athlete, I don’t know…
Some may think that you need success but maybe I see myself as an elite athlete because I practise
so much and live my life like an athlete does. I don’t have any success yet of the adult level as many
could think I should have but then again I do my things and make my decisions with a view of
being in a good physical condition all the time. hat I would be an elite athlete, not only an athlete.
Flexible institutions of education
Very few determined young athletes actually reach the top during their careers. And those
who do, inish their career relatively early, typically at around 30 years of age. Hence they
have to ind a new place in life. Careers that provide inancial security for the rest of their
lives are very rare and not even possible in many sports (Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 33).
Consequently, education is ever more important to athletes (cf. Heinilä & Vuolle 1970)
not only because the relative importance of education on the labour market has increased,
in Finland and elsewhere. Educating young athletes is important not only for the athletes
themselves but also to society. (E.g. Ura-työryhmän muistio 1999.) However, combining full
time and goal-oriented sport practice and studying is not unproblematic (Ura-työryhmän
muistio 1999; Lämsä et al. 2014). Hence many countries have established special schools
and other educational establishments to young athletes. (Metsä-Tokila 2001, 281; Huhta
& Nipuli 2011, 34.) Combining determined sport practice and education without special
arrangements is diicult as both of them require a lot of time and efort (Savolainen &
Härkönen 2014; Härkönen 2014). Finland has ofered special educational paths to athletes
already from the 1980’s on (Ura-työryhmän muistio 1999; Lämsä et al. 2014). he aim of
these arrangements is to provide opportunities for combining efective sport practice and
education. (Metsä-Tokila 2001, 11–13; 281.) Sport-oriented educational establishments
have proven to be good places to recognize talent and to ofer young athletes optimal
conditions for elite level sport practice and education.
29 The following extract is another relevant opion for the deiniion of an elite athlete: An elite athlete
does things to become an elite athlete – and in reverse, if he can’t, he’s not elite. However, it’s
not as simple as that, though: the available resources do not always enable full-ime professional
athleicism even though “things were done as en elite athlete does”.
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At age 15, sports had become the main driving force in life to many of the interviewed
athletes. After the 9-year comprehensive school one has to decide whether to invest
exclusively in sport or to continue one’s studies. hus, already during the last years of
comprehensive school and especially after that, the athlete’s career and other demands
in life increasingly collide. To alleviate these pressures, special classes with emphasis on
sport were established in the 1980’s. With the 1990’s comprehensive school reform many
schools chose sport as their special emphasis. By mid 1990’s already more than a 100
Finnish schools had sport as the special emphasis in their curricula. (Ura-työryhmän
muistio 1999.)
he Finnish system of upper secondary schools with special emphasis on sport has
been an important element in the education of young athletes from the late 1980’s
onwards. Towards the end of the millennium, more than 1,500 students studied in
these schools. (Ura-työryhmän muistio 1999.) he irst vocational institutions with
special emphasis on sport were founded in the 1980’s as well. Now this practice is well
established and young athletes have a large number of vocational education options to
choose from. In 2014, Finland had altogether 25 secondary level educational institutions
with special emphasis on sport, accredited by the Ministry of Education and Culture,
and in 2012, 2,900 students studied in them (Savolainen & Härkönen 2014). Research
results (Kärmeniemi et al. 2013; Lämsä et al. 2014) indicate that the present Finnish
educational system ofers so much lexibility to young athletes that they don’t have to
make a selection between sport and education.
Hence the upper secondary schools with special emphasis on sport function well in
Finland. Problems typically arise after that when determined and goal-oriented sport
practice and higher level education both require much more efort and investment. One
solution has been sport academies, i.e. local or regional cooperation networks which
have been established in Finland in this century. hey focus on coordinating existing
structures, trying to assist athletes to coordinate their dual careers in education and
sports. One important task is to support athletes in their university level studies. (SOK
2009, 3; Lämsä et al. 2014.)
In this century, the ‘dual career’ concept has been launched to describe the combination of sport and education. Also the European Union and its Commission aim at
improving the athletes’ possibilities to study during their careers in sport. he orientation paper of 2012 lists recommendations to member states (EU Guidelines for Dual
Career of Athletes 2012). Finland has been actively involved in the project since the
beginning of the century. Dual career has become one of central concepts with which
the EU, within the framework of its sport policy, tries to give comprehensive support
to athletes during their careers.
According to Jari Lämsä and his colleagues (2014, 5) Finland is seen as a pioneer
in developing lexible educational options to athletes. heir 2014 report, ‘How slow the
athletes are?’ (Lämsä et al. 2014) maps the dual career options in Finland. he report
divides the policy of combining studies and sport to three phases in recent history. he
irst one started in the 1960’s and 1970’s when debate and planning around the issue
were launched. his phase covers the establishment of special classes and upper secondary
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schools with special emphasis on sport, and the connecting of vocational educational
establishments to the policy of supporting athlete’s education. (Op. cit.) he second
phase began at the turn of the century when the networks of sport academies were
founded. Increasing concern over the possibilities to continue one’s education after the
upper secondary level was the factor behind this decision. According to the Lämsä et al.
report (2014), the development of the sport academies networks has been fast and it has
focused on the improvement of educational options of athletes after the upper secondary level and on the level of higher education. (Manninen & Lämsä 2015.) he third
phase was launched along with the reform process of elite sports in 2010–2012. Sport
academies were named as one of the priority areas of action and the programme was
named the Programme of Sport Academies. (Lämsä et al. 2014.) In 2014, there were 20
Sport Academies in Finland with more than 6000 athletes studying and training in them.
International research on this subject has been done and is frequently being done
(Aquilina 2013; Debois et al. 2014; Stambulova et al. 2014). he arrangements to coordinate sport and education vary between countries. Common features between countries exist regardless of whether they aim at educating elite athletes or just sporty young
people. All educational institutions aim at ofering lexibility to their athlete students,
targeting at better coordination between studies and sport practice. We can measure the
efectiveness and eiciency of the systems of special educational establishments in many
diferent ways but with varying national systems the igures of these comparative studies
are only rarely comparable. (Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 41–42.)
Danish researchers Mette Christensen and Jan Sørensen (2009) noticed in their study
that there are three essential problems between education and determined competitive
sports. Firstly, many young athletes aiming at the top regarded reaching the top and the
respective practice diicult if, at the same time, academic success was required. Secondly,
the lexibility of the educational systems has not been fully utilized yet. hirdly, professionalization of sports at an early stage was seen as a problem. In Denmark, for instance,
young soccer players need to deal with money and contracts at a relatively early stage.
Young athletes have to make choices, deal with changing clubs and contractual issues
which causes stress. Researchers suggest that young athletes should be better supported
at this stage; if and when the choices are mutually exclusive they might also have farreaching consequences that the young athlete cannot thoroughly understand on his own.
(Christensen & Sørensen 2009; see Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 43–44.)
Eike Emrich et al. (2009) observed the diferences in Olympic and academic achievements of students studying in German elite sports schools and in ordinary schools. Despite
the comprehensive German sport school system, the diferences in Olympic success in
summer sports and in academic success between students studying in German elite sports
schools and in ordinary schools were not signiicant. Diferences in winter sports existed
but the researchers suggest that this is due to many elite sport schools’ location near winter
sport resorts and their excellent training facilities. hus the research results challenge
the beneits of special sport schools from the perspective of both academic and athletic
achievement. Sport schools do provide more time for sport practice but, at the same
time, this time is taken away from the athlete’s leisure and academic pursuits. Isolation
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to an elite sport school may also afect relationships to friends and family. (Emrich et al.
2009, 166–167; see also Radtke & Coalter 2009.) On the other hand, transferability of
sport school models is not simple and the results obtained in, for example, Germany or
Denmark are not directly applicable in Finland. herefore, Finnish sport schools and
their functionality have to be studied in the Finnish educational and sport context. (See
Huhta & Nipuli 2011, 45.)
he athletes in this research data had completed their basic studies during the irst
and the second phase. Five athletes had completed part of the comprehensive school
in a school with special emphasis on sport. In the following quote, a ball game player
describes his experience on combining studies and sport:
We had morning training [in our own sport], maybe three times a week but not every day. Well
anyway we could practise our own sport already in the morning, beside our studies. In that sense it
meant progress in one’s own sport. We also had more PE than in ordinary schools but other than
that, it was a fairly normal school.
Our research data suggests that a comprehensive school with sport emphasis was considered useful but not decisive for the subsequent career in sports. Emphasis on sport was
a welcomed additional tuition element for the young athletes. All athletes emphasized
the signiicance of peers in their basic education with special emphasis on sport: “It
was more like having all those like-minded friends around.” Our conclusion is that the
topmost experience of the sport school was the strengthening of one’s own sport agency
and identity.
Also the sixth athlete would have been accepted to a secondary school with sport
emphasis but he considered it too hard in combination with other training.
Well I applied and I got in. But then I started thinking that I just can’t. hat there’s too much sport
and it takes away too big a chunk of my life. Life cannot be just sport and the school was a bit too
far, too. hen in summer I said that I won’t come and of course that meant some trouble. But they
cannot make me go there. hen I went to an ordinary school nearby.
his quote exposes the limits of a young athlete. Motivation to sport begins to deteriorate
if there’s too much practice and competition at a young age. In the quotation the athlete
talks about limits, of how much sport can control life and whether almost full-time
practice is meaningful to a 12 or 13-year-old child. Such relection at a very young age
is a sign of maturity and decision-making skills but, at the same time, a symptomatic
example of the consequences of too hard and intensive training, started at a young age.
Upper secondary school with sport emphasis had clearly been the most important
educational institution providing the needed lexibility to the elite athletes of the research
data in their development phase. At the time of the interviews, altogether 49 elite athletes
had completed or were completing upper secondary school and 35 of them had been
or were in a school with special emphasis on sport. Two athletes had completed another
secondary level diploma in an educational establishment with sport emphasis. Altogether
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19 athletes were studying or had graduated from a university or college. 12 athletes had
graduated or were studying in a polytechnic. Only six athletes had not studied after
comprehensive school and three of them made their living as a team sport professional.
For those who selected an upper secondary school with sport emphasis, combining education and sport seemed to be important from the athleticism perspective. To
many, sport school was an actual prerequisite for aiming for the top. he intensifying
competitiveness at age 15 includes a requirement to invest more in sport, really to ‘go
all out’, meaning that coordination between sport and other things in life becomes very
challenging. An athlete in traditional individual sport explains how studying in a special
school with sport emphasis was lexible:
My school was really very understanding [...] he teachers understood and as my brother had already
been there they kind of knew me. I lived a couple of kilometres away and I had a lot of freedom.
When I went on training camps I never needed to think if I’ll be sanctioned or something. Instead,
they just always told me what to do, for school.
An upper secondary school with an emphasis on sport ofers a place to prioritize between
sport and education without excluding any options. It’s also a place which, with specialized practice in diferent sports, supports specialization and provides opportunities
for versatile and persistenst sport training. (See also Emrich et al. 2009; Christensen &
Sørensen 2009; Moesch et al. 2012.) he following quote is a good illustration on this:
I was so lucky when I started the upper secondary school. We were only six girls so the coach had a
lot of time to focus on each one of us. And yes, we did practise and practise, also the more boring
parts. Everybody loves to attack but we also went through a lot of technique.
To many interviewed athletes, special school was the place to understand one’s own
athleticism. Other students were athletes too, in diferent sports, which expanded the
perception of being an athlete. By peer support, the feeling of one’s lifestyle being ‘particular’ has been shared and become normal (see also Ullrich-French & Smith 2005). In
many interviews, peers as signiicant others have helped the athlete to understand what
athleticism is. An athlete in traditional individual sport shares the following memory:
Well I really liked it and of course as there are so many other athletes there it’s easy to get peer
support or whatever you want to call it. And it’s really easy to ind like-minded friends. here were
also other guys from national teams and other athletes of that level so it was very motivating to train
with them a couple of times a week. So it was a really nice experience, that upper secondary school.
Team sport athletes in particular emphasized the location of the school. hey applied to
schools in cities with a premier league team in their sport. In this way, the athletes had an
opportunity, already in their upper secondary school years, to become selected to adults’
teams and leagues. An athlete describes his upper secondary school years as follows:
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here we of course went to a more professional direction, practised nearly every morning and put
a lot of emphasis on techniques. I was at the top of my age group so after the irst year at school I
was selected to the premier league team. I had my morning practice there [at school] and then my
evening practice with the league team. here I trained with better players than myself, and I really
needed to push myself there.
ATHLETE AGENCY
At crossroads and realization, both connected to the development phase, the young athlete
aiming at the top identiies himself or herself strongly as an athlete. his choice, as has
been seen, becomes a strong, even dominant, attribute in life. However, the young person
with an elite athlete identity feels that he is ready only when he has reached mastery, i.e.
reached the ‘athlete adulthood’. Juha Heikkala and Pauli Vuolle (1990, 93–98) write
about certainty and knowledge related to the athlete’s view of the world. Along the lines
of their study (op. cit.), we can conclude that being an athlete becomes, after mid-teen
years, the dominant view of the world, something taken for granted and with certainty.
To many athletes, being an elite athlete starts to become an entity of certainties and
signiicances which cannot be given up anymore. Should it happen, the athlete’s view
of the world would collapse (op. cit., 96).
Sport agency and certainty of one’s own athleticism can be seen in the following answer
of an Olympic-level athlete when she was questioned about the losses due to investments
in elite sports. She doesn’t feel she has lost anything because she has received so much
from sports, already at a young age. he athlete also sees things related to normal youth
in her life even though she hasn’t “gone out” as much as others may have done.
Well I don’t regret anything, I think it’s only a good thing that I haven’t gone out as much as others
have done. I don’t feel I’ve missed anything because sport has given me so much more. It has made
my world so much bigger when I’ve been around the world in diferent teams and in diferent age
groups, and you learn so much all the time. I really don’t think I’ve missed that much, I had my
day of once a week and I’ve done many normal things… been shopping [with a laugh] and to the
cinema and everything.
Even though the athlete cited above feels that she’s living ”as any other young person”,
the agency of the interviewed athletes had clearly narrowed down after 15 years of age,
in general. Practice had become more serious and competitive sports developed into an
aspiration to reach mastery. he decision and possibility to move on from the crossroads
of the development phase started to deine the whole athleticism of the individual. After
that, options became fewer and sport was put above everything else (see also Heinilä &
Vuolle 1970, 17). In the interviews, the athletes described of having realized one’s own
potential in sport after which athleticism started to become a kind of vocation, even
an obsession. At least it becomes an attribute that strongly determines and steers the
athlete’s lifestyle and identity.
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The development of sport agency and choices
of the young athlete
he athletes were asked in the interviews what they feel they have lost due to a demanding
career in elite sports and whether they have ever regretted their choice (see also Heinilä
& Vuolle 1970). he interviewees were also asked to relect, in a more thorough way,
‘what if ’ type questions such as possible investing in other career options. he athletes
typically answered that they have been made to do some compromises but that they are
happy with their choices. A classic conclusion “I wouldn’t change a day!” in its diferent
forms was heard many times. he athletes had taken a determined decision to invest
in their career in sports and even though they realized they had to give up many other
things, they received something meaningful in return. his could be described as following one’s vocation (see also chapter 6).
As the sport career progresses, a young aspiring athlete has to make more and more
compromises as regards the normal life course. For instance, higher level studies cannot
be taken for granted and some of the athletes inished school already at the end of the
comprehensive school. In addition, a ‘normal’ youth will not be experienced in full as
team mates and coaches constitute the young athlete’s primary peer group.
Perhaps the most important choice of a young athlete is the deinition of the relationship between sport and education. he interviewed athletes had several approaches to
this dilemma, often depending on the individual sport. Some of them prioritized sport,
others tried to combine school and sport as well as they could, and a few compromised
sport to be able to study properly. his applied to those sports, in particular, where an
athlete cannot really make a living. he following three quotes illustrate these diferent
orientations. In the irst one, sport is the clear priority:
I made my choice at a young age; my sport will be taking me forward in life. I’ve done some studying
but it’s been, and still is, clearly secondary to sport.
In the following quote, an athlete in individual sport praises the Mäkelänrinne upper
secondary sport school where she could study and, at the same time, develop in sport:
Well I’ve always been quite good at school, got good grades and always wanted to invest in it. But of
course I’ve had less time than others. Well, I did well in upper secondary as I went to Mäkelänrinne.
It was my natural [with a laugh] choice. I really loved being in that school, in fact, I think that I
developed most during those years.
Both studying and sport are important elements of identity to the following team sport
athlete. hey also deine the use of time. here’s not much time for anything else as both
elements require full efort. Sport “comes irst” as the athlete describes in the following
quote but the life choice has also required certain compromises from the sport perspective.
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I’m a studying elite athlete and this is the order I usually put it. he order of priorities has to be
clear, if there’s anything that promotes sport, it comes irst, and then I use the rest of the time for
studying, for instance. his is how it goes, that’s what I say. It’s a bit old-fashioned to keep asking
simple questions such as ‘are you a professional athlete?’ hat’s what I think and our sport is a good
example of that, you can practise in a professional way, I mean practise on a daily basis as much
as professionals do, and still do something else in life every day. Of course it requires some efort
and the days can get quite long sometimes. Due to my studies, mainly due to my studies really, I
haven’t been able to go abroad to play… it’s been my choice, school is important and it’s easier to
study in Finland. And I’ve always been able to play in good teams here so I think as a whole, this
has gone quite well, the whole thing.
In addition to school, an aspiring young athlete has to make other choices as well, when
sport is often automatically put irst. It can be seen as a sort of non-choice: the athlete
abstains from the ‘temptations of youth’ and certain ceremonies and rites connected to
young age. his, in turn, strengthens the primality of sport (Heikkala & Vuolle 1990).
Determined sport practice naturally requires a healthy lifestyle and the interviewed
athletes reported on, in particular, abstaining from the use of alcohol and from staying
up late. In the following quote, an athlete in individual sport tells how sport required
more disciplined choices already in secondary school. It wasn’t any problem, however,
as sport was “so strong”:
Of course I had to make some choices. In secondary, for instance, whether to go out with your
friends or to play sports. I always had the competition on weekend so I couldn’t stay up late on
Fridays. So I needed to choose but it felt right. Of course it’s nice to hang around with friends but
I really didn’t even want to go out partying on Friday nights. Sport has always been so strong in me.
Team sport athletes seemed to have a more liberal attitude towards the ‘temptations of
youth’. Most of them reported on having made some compromises for sport, especially
when it got more serious, but they also had time to do the ‘teenage stuf’. Another typical
story was that the athlete had tried drinking but abstaining from it was later not dificult as it ‘was not my thing’ (Koski 2005). he following very typical interview extract
illustrates the easiness of abstaining. On the other hand, one might question whether
the explanation works the other way, too, i.e. does having ‘decent’ friends and a ‘safe’
environment protect the athlete and inluence her values in such a way that she later
reached the top? Most probably the answer is found somewhere halfway; certain social
capitals and social networks not only encourage to a healthy lifestyle but also support
the chosen path, that of athleticism.
All those trials, well, you just have to do them all. But I’ve done them in diferent, and maybe safer
circles. Of course I’ve done my underage drinking like everybody else in this world, and been to
the pubs and drunk my ass of – all these horrible words – when I was younger than I should’ve
been. And learned that it wasn’t that cool. So I’m not more innocent than anyone else, in that sense.
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Goal-oriented training doesn’t only afect lifestyle at young age but it also takes time of
from other activities. In many interviews, the athletes told how they had been forced to
discard some of the ‘milestones’ of young age such as some major school events. hey
were seen as important but not crucial. Some of the athletes had made them, some not.
Often it was pure coincidence; whether there was an important sport event at the same
time, or what the attitude of the coach of that time was. hose who had to discard these
rituals due to sport didn’t usually think twice. he following extract illustrates this:
I remember the Ball of the (new) Seniors very well, in upper secondary school, we had been practising all winter with my partner and then I got this invitation to the national team and of course
I needed to go there then… I didn’t really think about it, the choice was clear, so I just said that
I’m sorry [laughs].
Compulsory military service is a potential disturbance to the sport career of male athletes. Depending on the sport, practice often sufers due to time spent in military. One
option for combining military service and sport career is to serve in the Sport School of
the Finnish Defence Forces in Lahti. Some of the male athletes in the research data had
completed it and found it useful, although they also understood the drawbacks of the
military service. In general, the athletes didn’t often refer to the army in their interviews.
It appears that the army is seen as an obligation that has to be completed despite its detriment to sport practice (also Hoikkala et al. 2009). On the other hand, some interviewees
brought up the lexibility ofered in the military service, especially in the sport troops,
when the harm was not considered insurmountable. One interviewee even concluded that
his physical condition actually improved during the service. Another young interviewee
had more to say on the army because he had just started in the Lahti Sport School. He
noted that despite being an elite athlete he has to complete the service, too. According
to him, the time spent in military may afect his technique a little bit but not necessarily
his physical condition, as can be read in the following quotation:
I: And you can practise here after all?
A: Well, not too much so far but at least the physical strain has been reasonable, so at least I haven’t
forgotten exercise. At least I have to use my muscles so it’ll be all right… let’s see how it goes. We’re
now in the basic training and after that we start a bit tougher training, here in the sport troops,
and then I’ll start my basic practice too. So I’ll ind out then, whether the army has been good or
bad. I’d say it doesn’t afect that much, at least not my physical performance.
Especially young team sport athletes had to make choices as for their sport environment
in the beginning of their careers. When choosing the club they have to think whether
they aim at playing in international leagues and, if yes, at what age to go there. Many
uncertainty factors are related to these choices and those athletes who felt they had
made good choices, considered themselves lucky but were also grateful to their social
support networks. he following team sport athlete who had been successful at young
age concludes how important it was that somebody advised her to stay in the national
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league for another season. At this important juncture of the athlete’s life, guidance and
good advice were more than welcome.
When I had these options to go abroad and I was thinking about what to do, then my [parents
and coach] said that ‘don’t go, stay here for another season’ [...] I’ve been lucky to have this good
advice from older people around me.
Turning points
hus far, we have mainly discussed the important transitions in the life course of an athlete. Turning points are diferent from transitions as they are single events (Elder 1994;
Wylleman et al. 2004; Alfermann & Stambulova 2007) or phases instead of normative
transitions from one life phases or career phase to another. Positive events in an athlete’s
life include, for instance, winning an important contract or major achievements such as
medals or championships. hese athletic goals, when they materialize, typically become
turning points. Also negative events, such as injuries, may become turning points. In
addition to these, certain ‘non-events’ may become signiicant turning points; as an
example, being left out of the Olympic team may lead to inishing the career in sports.
Turning points difer from transitions in many ways but sometimes they are connected
to one another. For instance, selection to junior national team (turning point) can serve
as the inal conirmation to pursue an elite athlete career or, alternatively, an injury
(turning point) can be the last straw for giving up career in sport.
Winning and success in competitions clearly are important events in an athlete’s life.
his is the basis of the entire sport system; athletes are aiming for success in institutionalized
competitions (e.g. Heinilä 1998, 133–134). Winning is also not ‘just’ winning because
competitive success is the foundation for the athletic career. Cumulating success opens
up new possibilities to the athlete. he next quote demonstrates how the irst successful
events in the athlete’s career open up the door for future success. Winning meant access
to competitions and sponsorship contracts.
I got some travel budget, to be able to participate in those competitions. I did well, it must have
been one of my best seasons when I won so many competitions. I won the World Cup and then,
suddenly, I was a professional. After that season, I got good sponsors who paid me a real salary.
Hence winning means opening up the doors to something bigger. A typical example
could be an athlete in individual sports who receives his irst grant after success in junior
competitions. With the help of the grant he can train more intensively, resulting in success
also in adult leagues. his, in turn, leads to a full scholarship, meaning that the athlete
can practice full time. In the end he is so successful that he can become a professional
athlete, owing to income from sponsorships and prize money. As we can see, winning
is not ‘just’ winning but something more concrete, a way to make a living, for example.
his phenomenon is another sign of the cumulative nature of the life course of the elite
athlete (see also O’Rand 2009).
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At its best, athletic success is connected to other walks of life. In the following quote,
the athlete tells about the beginning of the career when everything went well. First successes build trust. he psychological meaning of winning and the resulting increased
self-esteem are emphasized in this extract. After the initial success everything went
smoothly and other successes followed, leading to a feeling of low in sport (Jackson &
Csíkszentmihályi 1999; Csíkszentmihályi 1990).
And then we had the irst World Cup event in summer, and I got medals from two out of three
competitions [...] And so it went on, everything was just so good. [...] hat was a supergood summer.
I was happy and healthy, and even in love, and everything just went so well… I got medals from all
the World Cup competitions and then my irst personal medals from international championships.
[...] I just did what I could and the results were just so good, it felt almost automatic, I succeed in
everything I did.
As evident in the quotes above, success in international competitions is a very important
success indicator for the athletes. It provides an opportunity to compare oneself to global
competition which is needed to convince the athletes that elite sports make sense. his
is particularly emphasized in Olympic sports.
Competitive success and winning are not the only success events in sport. Other typical success-related turning points include winning a professional contract, being selected
to the national team or to represent the country in international championships. hey
are naturally closely connected to competitive success as was demonstrated above. In the
following quote, the interviewee reports on how being selected to a better team was an
important turning point in her career. Elsewhere in the interview, she also told that this
selection was such an important event that, had she not been selected, she might have
discontinued her career in elite sports.
I thought that I’ll never make it. I was just hoping for the best. hen I suddenly got this text from
my coach [...] that said that I was welcome to the team, if I wanted. hen I immediately rang [my
team mate] to know if she had been contacted too, and she was!
Invitation to the national team is one of the most common athletic turning points named
in the research data. his particular invitation entails many important implications to
the athlete. It’s a psychologically far-reaching recognition as it tells the athlete that he or
she is one of the best in the country.
Also poor athletic success might be a psychologically important turning point. It
makes the athlete think whether reaching mastery is possible, in general. Typically these
disappointments are the most signiicant at the end of the junior years and at the beginning of the elite career, i.e. approximately at age 20. he following individual sport
athlete reports on such situation; how she inally decided that she “wants to do things
like an elite athlete does”.
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At that time we had the junior World Championships here in Finland and my results were, for some
reason, poor. After that I had this, I remember it very well, that I wanted to be better and I wanted
to do this better and I knew that I could do this better than I did. And then I just tried to look for
the right persons to help me. It was the irst moment after diicult two years that I clearly had my
own strong motivation in what I was doing. hat I wanted to live like an athlete, do things like an
elite athlete does. Until then it had been just for fun, without any determination. hen suddenly I
realized that I wanted to have those goals and reach that level.
Psychological turning points are not always self-driven. Sometimes a coach or other
members of the support network might have an important encouraging role making the
athlete understand something important about the nature of elite athleticism. Supporters
may be initiators or, as in the quote above, those right persons whom “the athlete was
looking for”, somebody to ask and to rely on. his resembles a situation where the athlete
is an ‘apprentice’ led by his ‘master’ (see also Sosniak 1985; Virtanen 2001, 351–372).
Each sport has its own mental challenges that can materialize for any reason or
another. In some sports these challenges appear easier and may severely disturb even a
good performance. Performance anxiety might prevent success in some sports, such as
shooting sports. To overcome such obstacles some interviewees had engaged a mental
coach or were considering of hiring one. hese problems are naturally not related to
young athletes only but can occur also later in life – but the economic resources of a
young athlete for hiring a mental coach might be more limited.
Diferent outside factors may cause other mental and psychological problems. In
the next quote, the interviewee reports on her feelings of disappointment and shock,
due to unexpected de-selection from the Olympic team. She saw the decision as hidden
politics in sports without any relation to the real level and skill of the candidate athletes.
Elsewhere in the interview she admitted that she was about to discontinue her career due
to this. At best, sport ofers “very positive experiences” but also the negative experiences
are, at worst, so strong that you wouldn’t have them in “normal” life.
A: People I wouldn’t have thought…. his was the irst time I realized that it’s not only athletes but
also other people… who see it important, and then there are a lot of people who think that they
can get something out of it. And then the athlete is actually just a small part of it.
I: Just a man in the game...
A: Well yes… it’s been a tough school of life. Platitudes were commonplace too, many people told
me that if it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger. Well, I still don’t know if it made me any
stronger or what it did. Sport can give you something very big and some very positive experiences
and maybe not everybody sees it like this. But then there are the negative sides, too. By living a
normal life, you just don’t have all those experiences.
Also certain ‘non-events’ (Wylleman & Reints 2010) can be decisive to an athlete’s career.
A typical example is not being selected to the competition where the athlete had aimed
for. Nearly every second athlete in the research data had had disappointing events like
this. hey can actually be worse than failing in the competition itself because the athlete
doesn’t even have the chance to test his potential. In the following extract an individual
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sport athlete reports on how it felt to have been left out of the Olympic team. he
qualiiers were tough and the athlete understands that being left out was due to own
performance. It doesn’t take away the disappointment, however, since the Olympics had
been a long-term goal and as it’s an Olympic sport, they had been the main goal. If you
miss the games, you have to wait four long years. his athlete actually decided to put
an end to the career in sports.
It was tough, of course. Most of all that I wasn’t in that condition that I was supposed to be. Well,
I don’t want to go into details but still… [...] hat had been my motivation for the past couple of
years, to train for the Olympics. [...] Now, I’ve decided to stop. My last goal is the next European
championships, and then I’ll ind something else to do.
Events not related to sport may be relevant to sport, too. A classic, by no means irrelevant,
turning point is the birth of a child. In the next quote, a team sport athlete reports, using familiar phrases of how his “values in life have changed, totally”, on the birth of his
irst child. At the same time, the athlete has calmed down which is also good for sport,
as he concludes elsewhere in the interview.
I: So now you have other priorities that you have your son and your family?
A: Well, yes, my values in life have changed, totally. Well, I wasn’t that much of a party animal even
before his birth but I did ind new sides in myself. I’ve been quite surprised myself that I’ve been
able to switch roles so quickly. Without any so called withdrawal symptoms. Of course sometimes
you get crazy at home but then you just go outside for a while, to cool down.
Injuries have an interesting role among the turning points of the athlete’s life. At worst,
an injury can break of the athlete’s career but it can also have positive consequences.
Many athletes reported on how an injury in junior years gave a welcome break from
sport and enabled a more motivated return. A similar conclusion has been made in
previous studies. For example, Jill Tracey (2010) noticed that the attitudes of injured
athletes towards sport in general and towards own sport in particular vary a lot. Immediately after the injury, feelings of anger and disappointment, powerlessness and low
self-esteem typically follow. After that, the injury is accepted and the attitude becomes
more positive: it’s taken as a challenge.
A similar psychological development path can be seen in the injury experiences of
the athletes of this study. In the following quote a team sport athlete tells how he understood, only after being injured, how he now has “to work” and how his injury was a
sort of “wake-up call”:
I had always been the best talent in Finland. hen when my knee got injured I realized that I have
a long way back. And then I realized that you need more than talent. hat you have to work and,
after all, I think my knee injury was a good wake-up call. It was only afterwards that I realized that
I also need to work hard.
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An injury can have other positive consequences, too. In the following quote a team sport
athlete who was injured in his late teen years tells how he, by accident, found a good
doctor for the operation and was rehabilitated in a good group. In this way, he learned
“professionalism” and after the injury his training became more serious and professional.
My shoulder was dislocated in the junior European championships. Just by accident, I was irst
taken to [doctor X] for the shoulder operation and then to [doctor Z] for rehabilitation. During that
course of events I met these other athletes who had had the same problem. And I got to train with
some of them, we had a proper training programme. [...] Everything was somehow so professional,
there were all those people who worked full time with team sport athletes, they trained us, so they
really knew what they were doing. And I got really good tips for my rehab and through all that my
training became more serious and more professional at the same time.
Due to positive consequences of injuries we can also see that a short break from sport
doesn’t usually destroy young athlete’s chances to reach mastery. As a result, we should
think whether the current sport system ofers the young athletes enough breathing space
and space for a ‘time out’. Such breathing space would leave room for possible ‘mental
injuries’ such as feelings of a burnout. For example, the repeated procedures of selection
and de-selection of the German soccer system seem to provide that space (Güllich 2014b).
Diferent – wanted and unwanted – turning points are an integral part of an elite
athlete’s career. hey are in a reciprocal relationship with the important, normative transitions of the athletic career, as the moments of training becoming more serious and of
the psychological realization demonstrate. Often the unwanted turning points actually
become essential turning points for the career as a whole. Sometimes, the same applies
vice versa as can be seen in the chapter on dropout athletes. For example, success in
junior years which, as such, is often the goal of many aspiring young athletes may lead
to a point of saturation and, in turn, to early discontinuation of career.
he following conclusion on the transitions and turning points of the elite athlete’s
career can be made: the role of accumulation is signiicant throughout the athlete’s career
and through this accumulation the athlete tries to proceed towards the next important
transition and the career goals it enables. However, no career is protected from the unforeseen. Accidental events can be either positive or negative, and their consequences
are impossible to predict. Usually, an elite athlete tries to minimize the impact of the
unforeseen (‘nothing is left to chance’) and aims at a linear, logical and successful career
in sport. For example Angela O’Rand (2009, 134–138) notes that the cumulative impacts of the life course are often irreversible. Consequently, a bad life chance with bad
timing may be fatal.
In this chapter, we discussed agency and transitions from the point of view of those
athletes who have reached the top. One possible conclusion, on the basis of the analysis
and on the interview extracts related to it, is that elite sports can be seen as a risky investment which, for the interviewees, inally bears fruit. We should underline, however,
that this research data includes successful athletes. hey have had their career hardships,
too, and many of them concluded in the interviews that many things could have gone
better. he interviews of dropout athletes, analysed in the chapter 8, provide a diferent
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view into the issue. hey emphasize that as much as talent, support networks, motivation and the athletes’ own choices matter they are not enough for reaching the top and
staying there. A bit of luck is always needed.
Options to sports career and the ‘what–if’ debate
In the interviews, options to the present career in elite sports were often discussed. On
one hand, it was about the choice of a particular sport, on the other hand, about what
could have followed if the athlete had invested in something else, instead of sport. In
these relections, the elite athlete’s identity and certainty of one’s own career choices
were emphasized. It is no coincidence that elite athletes in general are conident with
their choices, especially if they have been successful (see also Koivula et al. 2002; Soyer
2011). In the following interview extract an athlete in traditional individual sport views
that his own success is not so much dependent on his choice of sport but on his own
“willpower”. He emphasizes his own athleticism and sportiness and, in accomplishing
that, his personal devotion.
I usually give 100% of myself to what I do and I do believe that I could have made it to the top in
some other sport, too. I’ve always been very sporty. I don’t think it’s because of the sport I selected,
it’s mostly about the willpower I have.
Situations in which the sport career has been continued even though it seemed as a nearly
absurd option are another indicator of willpower, determination and maybe even a manic
approach to sport. In the following quote, the interviewee tells how she “just couldn’t”
switch to studies even when injured but just decided to go on with sport:
It would have been sensible, at that stage when my body just couldn’t take it anymore, to opt for
studying, just say that that was it. But I just couldn’t [...] I don’t really know… I couldn’t have
chosen anything else [laughs].
In addition to high self-esteem, successful elite athletes often are very ambitious. In the
following extract an athlete in traditional individual sport explains how she would have
had professional ambitions, too. It’s interesting that the interviewed athletes have, nearly
without exception, thought about their career in sports and options to it – but in reality
nearly everyone has been happy with his or her choice. he following quote ends with an
idea that maybe some things she can’t accomplish anymore, but it “doesn’t matter”. On
the other hand, the athlete also understands the preconditions set by her sport career;
at this age, she will not become a “career person” anymore.
Well, I could have had other options too. Maybe there would have been something else to do, some
other great things… Sometimes I think how my life would be now, if I hadn’t chosen sport, would
I have a family of my own. here are a lot of things to speculate on, actually. But I don’t think I’ve
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missed anything…. Well maybe to some extent, if I think that I could have had a great professional
career. It’s maybe not that easy anymore, to embark on a career, when I inish sport. I’m that old
already, at least I don’t think I’ll become any career person in anything… Maybe I cannot achieve
everything in that walk of life but it doesn’t matter.
In the following quote, an elite level ball game player thinks about her career in sport and
the sacriices she has made. Many aspects in sport and in everyday life are brought up.
I: Do you feel that you’ve missed something because of your sport career?
A: Well, in the junior national team, there was this friend of mine, she’s an institutional investor
now and has reached a very good position. Maybe she put school irst. And then at some point she
inished sport. Now she’s very successful in her career. Sometimes I realize that I’m jealous about
ordinary things, often related to working life. But then again, I realize that she’s jealous to me when
we catch up, about the things that I do, that I’m still playing sport. Like I said I still have a lot of
time for other things in life. I don’t have a feeling that I’ve missed something. Well, I missed the
upper secondary school inishing party while we were playing in Paris or somewhere. But then I
got something in return, I got to visit the Eifel Tower and so on. It takes a lot but it also gives a lot.
Envy of those who have been successful in working life is emphasized in this quote.
It’s interesting to compare the athletes’ prioritizations to the results of the Heinilä and
Vuolle survey (1970) of those athletes who were on the elite level in 1956. he athletes
in this survey had made most sacriices in relation to holiday-making (56%), family
life (46%), education (41%), personal freedom (40%), economic status (37%) and
professional career (36%). Being an athlete and the approach to life related to it were
fundamental when the athletes were asked which ields of life were the most important
to them, during the mastery phase of their careers in 1956. Athletic success rises above
everything else. About half of the track and ield athletes named it as the most important
element in their lives. 46 per cent of cross country skiers, 38 per cent of soccer players
and 32 per cent of Finnish baseball players shared this view. In all the sports listed above,
professional success was the most important element for 18 per cent of the athletes. A
happy family life was named as the most important element by only 13 per cent of the
respondents and education and studying by 10 per cent, respectively. (Op. cit., 22–28.)
In this study, comparable percentage distributions cannot be made. Still, we may be
able to conclude that similar themes were frequently brought up when asked about the
sacriices an athlete has to make. As for the valuations in life, modern athletes seem to
value sport even higher than the athletes of the past. he nature of elite sports – at least
on an individual, mental level – seems to have changed relatively little in half a century.
Instead, many other factors including the position of sport in society, resources and requirements have changed a lot. Athletes’ options and themes related to retirement from
sports are also discussed in chapter 8 on dropout athletes.
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AVERAGE ACTUALIZATION OF THE SPORTS CAREER
Figure 2 illustrates, as an application of the model of Côté et al. (2007; see also Wylleman
et al. 2004)), the average career development of the interviewed elite athletes and the
actualization of their transitions. hus the igure represents the ‘average’ of the actualized
life courses. he optimal career development and the timing of transitions presented in
the previous international career study (e.g. Côté 1999; Côté et al. 2007; Balyi et al. 2005;
Wylleman & Reints 2010) are surprisingly similar to the research data of this study. In other
words, the way in which the young athletes interviewed for this study reached mastery is,
to a large extent, similar to the ‘ideal’ outlined in previous international research.
Initiation has typically occurred at age 6–7 on average and the sampling phase has
followed many of the Côté et al. (2007) recommendations. In particular, the amount of
deliberate play has been bigger than that of deliberate practice. A special Finnish feature
is the early separation between team sports and traditional individual sports. he team
Figure 2. Average actualizaion of the sports career in the research data
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sports athletes have, already before initiation, deliberately played team sports. Similarly,
deliberate play of traditional individual sport athletes has focused on individual sports,
already prior to initiation. his diferentiation continued, in team sports in particular,
also throughout the sampling phase. Team sport athletes played almost exclusively team
sports and the same applied to deliberate play. Taking into account the importance of
national and local level, as emphasized by Stambulova and Ryba (2014), the results of
this study shed some further light on, for instance, the early commitment to soccer (Ford
et al. 2009; Ford et al. 2012). In the Finnish sport and exercise culture team sports seem
to be closely connected. Diferent team sports in both deliberate play and in deliberate
practice seem to support each other and beneit the reaching of mastery. Deliberate
play included in the sampling phase is not always easy to organize all year round, due to
weather conditions in soccer, for example. his is not a problem, however, as combining
diferent team sports can easily lead to at least as good results.
In traditional individual sports, deliberate practice focused on individual sports but
also team sports were sometimes sampled. In deliberate play, individual and team sports
were mixed. On average, team sport athletes played two sports and traditional individual
sport athletes three sports, respectively. Lifestyle sport athletes moved lexibly between
sports although few of them directly adhered to their sport. For both the traditional
individual sport athletes and the lifestyle sports athletes, the sampling phase was realized
literally; as multiple sport participation crossing the boundaries of individual sports.
Transition to the development phase was realized at the age anticipated by previous
international research, i.e. at 12 on average for both traditional individual sport and
team sport athletes. For many team sport athletes, the transition was expedited. heir
practice didn’t accelerate slowly but, at some point, its amount increased signiicantly as
if it had jumped onto another level. In traditional individual sports, progress was more
constant with a steady increase in the amount of practice, enabling simultaneous multiple
sport participation. he transition of the lifestyle sport athletes was diferent: multiple
sport participation continued without strong normative pressures created by the sport
system. Multiple sport participation of the lifestyle sport athletes was also underlined
by the fact that many of them didn’t discover their main sport until the development
phase. Often the sport itself, at least in that phase, didn’t necessarily have any connection
to the traditional institutions of sport either.
he so called crossroads in the middle of the development phase is not taken as a
normative transition even though in the Côté et al. (2007) model it is deined as such.
Wylleman & Reints (2010), among others, don’t consider this transition in their model.
In this study, ‘transition’ is rather an age-related step involving determined investments
in sport and career. In team sports, it’s also about ‘being selected’ to continue, at age
15–16, because at that point only the most talented are taken along. Junior national
teams and the possibility to play on the highest level of one’s own age group were signs
of ‘being selected’ which was often followed by the realization of one’s own potential.
In traditional individual sports, most athletes had already discovered their main sport
when arriving at the crossroads. Steady intensiication of practice continued. With
traditional individual sport athletes, the realization of one’s athleticism also occurred at
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age 17, on average. To many, going to an upper secondary school with special emphasis
on sport concretized the idea of elite athleticism: sport practice during ordinary school
days and peers representing other sports strengthened this experience. Also travelling to
competitions and national team camps were important elements of this identity work.
his applied to both team sports and to individual sports athletes. After the crossroads,
female athletes in team sports very quickly reached the highest national league level. In
the lives of the lifestyle sports athletes, competition and deliberate practice slowly rose to
the level of deliberate play although the amount of practice varied considerably between
diferent sports. Some lifestyle sport athletes realized their athleticism at age 15–19 and,
to some the possibility to continue their favourite sport in a more intensive way was,
most of all, a source of joy.
As with previous transitions, the average age of the transition to mastery follows the
timings suggested by previous international studies. Despite the natural degree of individual variation, the average age of entering mastery was approximately 18 years. In team
sports, the transition was typically very concrete, a transition to ‘adult leagues’ whereas
in individual sports and lifestyle sports the transition typically was a result of a more
constant development. he nature of the sport had an impact on the realization of the
transition. he development of the athletes was characterized by hastiness especially in
those sports where goals were set on professional career and international arenas. hose
athletes having their career in Finland with occasional international competitions had a
more stable and less stressful path to mastery.
At the end of this chapter we have to emphasize that even though the sport-related
transitions and phases of the interviewed Finnish elite athletes clearly followed the ideal
suggested by previous international research, this similarity does not seem planned.
Rather, those athletes that have now reached the top had, more or less by coincidence,
timely been in those transitions and phases which have supported their growth to elite
athletes according to ‘the ideal model’ as outlined by international research.
In addition, this study focuses on those athletes that have already reached the top
– i.e. what should be done with those athletes that are now aiming at that level doesn’t
belong to the scope of this study. Is the system changing or has it already changed? For
example, the rising costs of sport activities indicate that the possibilities of today’s children and adolescents for multiple sport participation are fewer compared to the athletes
interviewed for this study, due to this silo development (Koski 2009; OPM 2010a). One
thing is certain: we now have better knowledge as to how the development of today’s
elite athletes has really taken place (see also Côté et al. 2005) and this, or a model derived
on the basis of this knowledge, should be used in elite sports in a systematic way. Exact
numbers of potential elite athletes lost throughout the years, due to bad systems or other
reasons, will never be found out. However, we will try to shed some light on this aspect
in the chapter 8 where we analyse the mechanisms of dropping out from sport.
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6 Artists’ choices and goals
In addition to social networks and cultural backgrounds every individual’s life course is
deined by self-steering, own agency. Life lessons, living environment and other life course
axioms have an impact on self-steering, its options, various situations of choice, choices
made and their timing (Elder 1994). Individuals also plan their life in the framework
of those opportunities they have accrued over their life course. Besides rational choices,
target setting and its motives are related to agency, in a wider context; whether an individual is looking for, for example, mainly enjoyment, achievements or just tranquillity
and security in life. Diferent individual decisions and choices can only be interpreted by
taking into account the cumulative nature of the life course. (Giele & Elder 1998, 9–11.)
In the chapters 2 and 4 the importance of social capitals and social networks, as well
as that of cultural backgrounds and the capitals accumulated thereof, in the artists’ lives
mainly in their childhood and teen years, has been discussed. In this chapter, we’ll see
how the interviewed artists have used these capitals, how they have consciously steered
their lives to the directions of their intentions – what kind of choices they have made.
It’s natural to start at that point of time when the realization of artisthood started to crystallize. It precedes the consequent self-steerings in the artist’s life, especially the major
ones but also the minor ones. At the same time, the importance of own agency grows
as the artist grows older, in teen years and towards adulthood. And, as in anybody’s life
course, chance plays its role, too.
VOCATION?
Although the romantic artistic myth with its notions of genius and bohemian lifestyle
has lost some of its appeal, the idea of artisthood as vocation is clearly apparent in previous research. he actors interviewed by Pia Houni (2000, 161) brought up the idea of
tendency. It was associated with childhood when the actors felt that they had seen the
signs of their future career. In her study, Pirre-Pauliina Majala (2003, 117–120) deined
seven of the 12 elite musicians she studied as lifestyle musicians who had been guided
by “donated gift” or “calling”. She deined the remaining ive as career musicians who
also considered the “personal need to express oneself ” as the starting point of their career in music. Also, being a dancer has been interpreted as a lifestyle choice (Löytönen
2004, 154–156). When writing about actors, concepts such as calling and mission are
frequently used (Pirttilä & Houni 2011, 144). he motivations of working of the creative
class have been explained by working primarily for the pleasure of it (Rensujef 2005, 8).
hese examples and the use of the notion of vocation require clariication. Our view
is best clariied by examining the two optional terms for this notion; calling and voca162
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tion. he irst one refers to something as a “donated gift” and is therefore in close connection to the genius myth, that somebody is born into a certain profession or calling
in life. his idea is in contrast with the modern scientiic and everyday intuition, and
for example the analytical chapters of this study so far suggest that there’s a very clear
impact of social and cultural factors behind artisthood, with no supernatural involvement. hus the term ‘vocation’ is better suited for present day purposes. Its etymology
is related to Christianity as well but in modern usage it’s mainly understood as referring
to the contents of the work; working primarily ‘for the pleasure of it’ (Rensujef 2005,
8), or ‘for the burning desire’ (Vihma-Purovaara 2000, 181–182). he modern notion
of vocation is not mystical anymore although it still has some mythic features.
Why is it pertinent to discuss and analyse the notion of vocation at this point of
this publication? We believe that understanding the concept helps to understand the
artists’ choices and goals, i.e. the self-steering of life, even though the idea of vocation
as ‘predestination’ is outdated. In this study, vocation is understood as the intergenerational attitude to work among generations of artists. hus, vocation is the prevailing and
mainstreaming idea behind all the themes of this chapter.
A vocational attitude to work is part of the traditions of the intergenerational artistic
profession. It can be understood as an in-built assumption of making art, even as a ‘law’
in the ield of art. Sari Karttunen (2002, 58–59), for example, notes that artistic work
still requires a certain ‘purity of intentions’ (Bourdieu 1969) or, to put it simply, integrity
and loyalty towards oneself and to one’s own methods of work. At the same time, in
determining who is an artist, we could ask, instead of formalities, about “how and what
for he or she is making art” (Karttunen 2002, 59). his of course challenges the value
of education, for instance: if being an artist is merely an ‘attitude’ or ‘nature’ what do
we need education for (Røyseng et al. 2007)? he artists don’t want to ‘sell themselves’
too much because they share the idea that “true art should not require marketing – it
simply surfaces” (op. cit., 12). Erkkilä and Vesanen (1989, 15) express the same idea in
other words: “by emphasizing the altruism of own actions in the ield of art the artists
can accrue symbolic capital that, sooner or later, also leads to economic beneits”.
he artistic altruism and sellessness are also seen in the Finnish young people’s
position towards art activities: enjoyment, self-expression and creativity are seen as the
main motives, whereas publicity and proiting from art are not seen as that important
(Myllyniemi 2009, 38). Similar judging have been recognized also among amateur artists; “the same central themes – inspiring childhood experiences, ideas of self-fulilment,
receiving external support, the uniting impact of art and the enjoyment of making art
– repeatedly appear” (Linko 1998, 318). hus the professional artist’s ethos is in many
ways similar to that of a (young) amateur artist30 and his or her attitude towards art.
It has also been suggested that the idea of vocational artisthood is at its strongest
during studies and soon after that (e.g. Røyseng et al. 2007; Herranen et al. 2013, 102),
during the turning point of the career (see also Clausen 1998). Time after graduation is
30 In this case we could see that an amateur is a ”lover” of his or her own ield (i.a. Stebbins 1992).
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critical to an artist as he should make a breakthrough and establish his position in the
chosen ield. At this point, when faith may be tested, a vocational attitude to work may
keep the spirits high, and diiculties and challenges may even be seen as an ‘initiation
rite’. If and when the artist establishes his position, the realities of work become evident
in the everyday work. At this point, the notion of vocation may give way to professionalism (Røyseng et al. 2007; Jokinen 2010, 255–270). Still, to many actors in the diferent
ields of art, work still has a vocational undertone.
he notion of artisthood as vocational profession is naturally not an illustration
sketched by research only; the theme frequently appears in other art-related literature
and popular writings. Autobiographies and other stories on artists, for example, regardless of time and location, are illed with diferent expressions on vocation. hey usually
don’t go any deeper in the deinition of the nature of the vocation but strongly witness
on, for instance, the ‘holiness’ of artistic work. he same applies to publications on
the diferent ields of art in Finland; whatever publication you read, at some point the
vocational nature of artistic work is likely to come up.
Vocation was fairly often mentioned in the interviews of this study. In the artists’
talks, however, vocation is not usually seen as destined artisthood or predetermined
course of life, although a few stories like this were included in the research data. It rather
refers to work and the way of working that the artist is grown up with or socialized into
(Giddens 1979) over the years. Making art was seen, at the time of the interview, as an
integral part of the identity; in other words, the deinition of vocation that was referred
to earlier. his is similar to the dictionary deinition of vocation: ‘a strong desire to spend
your life doing a certain kind of work’ (http://www.merriam-webster.com, accessed
17.3.2016). Making art can be deined as work whose main purpose is not to make
a living. Seen this way, vocational professions include, among artists, many religious
occupations, scientists and athletes. As the content factors and qualitative values of work
increase in importance in today’s work life (e.g. Myllyniemi 2007, 39–40; 2009; Siltala
2013, 196–208; Piispa et al. 2015), increasingly more people may see themselves as
being engaged in vocational work.
In addition to vocation, the concept of lifestyle is strongly present in the artists’
interviews. It is deined as something that strongly determines an individual’s life, in
an all-encompassing way. According to J.P. Roos (1988, 12), lifestyle is connected to
life history, habitus and actions. It can signify the lifestyle of an individual, a family or
extended family, a social group or a social generation. Artisthood as a lifestyle is built
on the artist’s personal history which has been shaped in certain cultural and societal
circumstances and guides the individual’s life and actions. From the individual point of
view, lifestyle is constructed on the basis of individual subjectivity, including values and
highly valued ields of life (Roos 1987, 45). hus, artisthood as a subjectivity is the way
in which the individual’s life is lived and through which his or her world is interpreted
and given meanings to. In the following quote, own ield of art is seen rather as a lifestyle
which is more than just work:
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But then again, at times my life is really something like, well I mean it’s not working from 8 to 4.
Sometimes I just hang around for an entire day, meet my friends and then in the evening I might
write something and then, I mean even though I’m a hard working person but it’s just not like
that that you get up at six every morning, go for a morning run and start to work. It’s more like a
lifestyle, maybe.
he way in which the young artist generation in the research data of this study uses the
concepts of vocation or lifestyle is very synonymous: both of them are built on a set of
values where art and art making are in the focus of life and essential building blocks of
identity (see also Houni & Ansio 2014). Both are close to ‘conviction’ (Vihma-Purovaara
2000, 181–182) or ‘personal way’ (Houni 2000, 254) as deined in previous studies.
Whereas the artists of this study are fairly successful and have at least managed to ind
their own conviction or their own ‘belief ’, not everybody succeeds in it. Even if being
an artist were the ideal of the generation not everybody can aim for it. It’s much simpler
to ind one’s own lifestyle by other means than by being a purebreed artist. Still, many
young generations sufer from anxiety and rootlessness stemming from not having found
one’s own lifestyle yet (e.g. Salasuo & Suurpää 2014). Personal choices to be made are
not only related to education or working life but also to lifestyle and adherence to it (cf.
Ziehe 1991; Hoikkala & Paju 2008). hus we could conclude that vocational work as
a cornerstone of lifestyle is the ideal for a number of young people today.
As noted above, the concept of vocation required some clariication and hence is always vague and open to interpretations and, inevitably, partly blurred by myth. Vocation
is not to be equalled to the genius myth, i.e. as an inherent disposition for making art.
Instead, the concept of vocation is better suited to describe the artist’s relationship to
work and, in particular, his or her experience of its meaning. In this sense, artistic work
is not a choice but vocation – especially when artists themselves often point out that a
large number of more rational career choices exist. However, being an artist is an irrational
career choice only in the economic sense: emotionally taken it’s very rational as the artist
follows his or her genuine desires and wishes when striving for a balanced and happy life.
It’s easy to note that artistic vocation develops within those frameworks and motives which have been discussed in the previous chapters: the inherited, learned and
accumulated capitals, both social and cultural. Often chance plays its role, too. As one
visual artist puts it: “he most important things are often those we cannot really see”. It’s
worth noting that practically all artists had been involved in some kind of art activities
in their childhood. his is not enough, however: at some point you need to have that
desire to do more and to do things more thoroughly, i.e. to follow your vocation till the
end. his may be called realization of artisthood. Realization refers to a moment when
an artist has understood what he wants to do (for work) or what is his ‘own thing’. It’s a
moment when making art is seen as a potential career choice or life path (see also Houni
& Ansio 2013d, 74–75) and when the individual becomes “very conscious, in a special
way” (Hanii 1998, 414) of the importance of art. his may be called the moment when
the cumulated capitals of the life course turn to a clear awareness of opportunities (Ziehe
& Stubenrauch 1982, 35–39; Uhlenberg & Mueller 2004) or an idea of self-competence
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(Häkkinen 2012; see also Gecas 2004). It’s a turning point in life, an epiphany (Denzin
1989, 70–72), “a feeling of a meaningful moment” (Eskola 1998, 104) which precedes
and also deines future life steerings, especially artistic ones.
All artists could identify, more or less exactly, that point of time or phase in their
lives when they had that artistic realization. A small number (5) of the artists placed
this point of time in their childhood, at less than 10 years of age. hey felt that being
an artist had been their childhood dream from very early on. Artisthood was seen as a
self-evident path and, with some missionary and mythic elements – these are the artists
whose vocation could also be called calling. Most (18) interviewees had experienced
realization in adolescence when future-oriented choices are typically made – the ‘critical
period/age’, as Mannheim (1952 [1928]) would put it. his could be seen in educational
choices after which the artists’ life courses naturally took them towards artisthood. Part
of the artists (6) had experienced this realization much later than others, after age 20.
Before that, their life courses had been characterized by searching.
REALIZATION OF ARTISTHOOD
Five interviewees reported on how they, at less than 10 years of age, knew that they
wanted to be artists. he dream was maintained during childhood and youth and inally
materialized as a career in arts. Two of them explicitly reported on how they had this
calling for art, already at a very young age.
I’ve always wanted to be an artist, already when I was very little, maybe six or seven, I have a really
strong ethos of an artist. Of course it was more childish then and diferent now. Well, and inally it
changed quite a lot when it became my profession [...] it’s in my character that I take these things
as a life mission, in a very, let’s say totalitarian way. It has always followed me throughout my life.
his idea of calling, a vocational profession. It’s been quite straightforward. I’ve never...well ever
since I was six or seven, really thought about any ordinary careers or really any other choice. And
now, even more than maybe ever before in my adult life, I feel like I have this calling to my work.
his quote clearly illustrates how following one’s vocation has been seen as the only choice.
he interviewee also tells about an artist’s ethos, life mission and a totalitarian approach
and takes a clear distance to ”ordinary careers”. his artist and others who experienced
realization early are, in some way, exceptions of an ordinary life course: they had a very
determined approach to their childhood dream which was maintained through adolescence, and when the dream actually comes true, it’s no wonder that the career in arts is
seen as ”extraordinary”. he artists’ commitment and devotion to making art, also in
their adult lives, were felt very strongly in the interviews. At the same time, a feeling of
certain unavoidability, even coercion, was connected to their life choices which was not
always seen as only positive. Still, they saw no other choice for their careers or even for
life in general. Also the next artist expresses this vocation with a strong choice of words:
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I couldn’t really imagine of doing anything else. At least anything which doesn’t have anything to
do with my [ield of art]. I feel that it’s a big part of my life. [...] Of course I have my moments
when it… I mean when I’m really annoyed of doing this but… I don’t feel that I’ve really made any
conscious choices here that now I do this and now I do that. It’s been more like… something that
you can’t escape… how should I call it… I mean that you don’t choose art but art chooses you, to
put it this fancy way [with a laugh]
Most interviewed artists experienced realization later in life: 18 of them placed it in
their adolescence. Most of them had of course had their art activities as children, some
of them so young ”that I can hardly remember anything”, some of them in their early
teens. For them, doing arts and craft, drawing or ”other creative activities” had been an
integral part of their youth for years. Still, they were innocent activities without any clear
intention to become an artist. Most of them placed their realization at age 16–19. hen
they started to realize that their passion could become a career. Before that, they hadn’t
even thought about a career as a freelance artist, for instance. Some of them also reported
on having thought about it for a long time, that they could very well be amateur artists
but, at the same time, they should have a “decent” full time job31.
When realization occurs in adolescence, the activities and interests of childhood are
typically involved in planning career choices. hus, realization of artisthood typically
leads to education in arts, either on secondary and/or tertiary level. In the following
quote, this moment is precise: when the future artist understands, for the irst time, that
an artistic profession and an education preparing for it exist. At the same time, ordinary
upper secondary school is abandoned and an ‘atypical’, or exceptional, life course steps in.
I guess it wasn’t until I was in upper secondary school that I even realized that something like this
could be a profession. I didn’t really know any artists who did it for living so I wasn’t really aware.
[…] I went [with my mum] to Ateneum, the art museum, and I really didn’t even know that this
Academy of Fine Arts existed and then I spotted this ad on its entrance exam, ‘ok, six works of art
to be submitted’ and then I realized that I still had two weeks time left so I went for it! hat was
it, it was a sign of something, it was good that we went there on that day, to do that guided tour.
hen I took my projects there, got in, and dropped out from ordinary school.
Six interviewed artists placed their realization after their 20th birthday. As nearly all other
interviewed artists, they had had some exposure to art already in their childhood and
youth. hey hadn’t had any clear direction, though, and all of them discovered their own
particular ield of art only after the upper secondary school. Some of them searched for
a long time and were even educated to other ields where they never worked for a single
day. When they had their artistic awakening at last, it was quickly complemented by
realization that this is something that they really want to do.
31 There are interesing diferences and similariies to athletes here: on one hand, aspiring athletes
see invesing in sports as their ”only choice”, something that you have to go through. On the other
hand, dropout athletes clearly miss “normal life” which many see as in invesing in ”sensible”
studying, for example.
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On the irst day at that school I realized that damn, I had chosen the wrong thing [...] then of
course I was disappointed although I was excited at the same time and everybody told me that
it was great that I got in in that school, that it’s a good school and so on… Well but it wasn’t my
thing, it was so much about doing things with computers but luckily we had this subject… this
subject called visual planning and there we had this teacher who actually was a sculptor and they
were interesting lessons, the teacher showed us his sculpting things, showed us some slides so in
fact it was something to do with arts, and that was something I really liked so never missed a lesson
there. And then maybe he kind of understood that I was interested in it and maybe I even said to
him, I don’t remember, but maybe I said something like that I don’t feel this is my place and my
thing so he advised me to apply to the Institute of Arts that it could be something better for you…
well, that’s how it went… So I changed to that Institute. And well, a couple of years went by and I
thought that well, this makes even less sense, they’re just painting some pictures here [laughs] and
this is clearly not something one could make a living with. But then, after two years, we had [this
course] there and then inally, everything felt right, that was it. So this is the road I’ve taken, all
these steps had to be taken before I found my own thing and it felt right.
his quotation clearly reveals how it can take years to ind one’s own ield and, at the same
time, lose time in school which is not interesting. Finally, the own thing was discovered,
partly by chance. On the other hand, own desires, dreams and ideas could mature for years
without a clear direction: this was typical to all those with late realization. With them,
it was more about a subtle development in which the life experiences accumulated over
years materialize only when the individual inally inds his or her own ield of interests.
hese artists had been going towards ‘something’ without really realizing it. Finding one’s
own way has been a long journey and realization occurred relatively late. he next quote
illustrates this in an amusing way, of how there’s a certain ”culmination point” in every
artist’s life when realization occurs and, after that, things progress ”in their own rhythm”.
I think that the time had come, then. People mature in diferent rhythms and women or girls are
usually quicker, they know already when they are younger whereas boys are busy with other things
at the time when girls already know a little bit of what they want to do. So they mature in diferent
rhythms and as for me, I matured as late as six years after all the boys too. So I’ve been really late in
everything. When the girls were at the university, I was just thinking whether I should change my
rustic boots to some sort of more elegant shoes so I was really at a diferent level, just climbing down
from the tree, so to say. But you see, everybody has his own rhythm, and the culmination point or
how would you call it. hat’s when I asked myself for the irst time whether I should get something
done and then it just moved on and that’s how it’s been ever since and I haven’t really needed to push
myself to anything, it’s been kind of automatic. It’s been going on in that way ever since it started.
Regardless of the age of realization, it’s a sum of several factors and doesn’t necessarily
seem a rational choice even to the artist himself. In the self-steerings of the artists’ life
courses, there’s always some degree of following one’s vocation involved and also conscious
risk-taking, at least when compared to normal life courses. People often try to avoid risks
instead of maximizing their proits (e.g. Kok 2007, 213). Artists typically strive for doing
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exactly what they want to do, despite the risks involved, often economic in nature32. On
the other hand, we can see that learning new things and continuous development – the
basic elements of artistic work – are essential skills (Antikainen et al. 2013, 164) in today’s
risk society (Beck 1986). In any case it appears that the artists’ life choices are typically not
steered by economic rationalism. As Antti Häkkinen (2012, 382) states: “at the outset, the
principle of agency doesn’t mean that actions would always be conscious and rational”.
Even if artisthood as such was not a choice but rather a ‘dive into one’s vocation’
it doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be relected. he most important decision to support
self-steering and artistic vocation is to apply to artistic education. To apply to a school
is a conscious decision with long-term consequences. Realization of what one wants to
do may be even frightening – and still that choice appears the only possible choice. In
the following quote the reader can see how it’s not a rational decision but one based on
emotions and intuition; the career choice is done ”as if in love”:
But then when I let myself think about [my own ield], I always felt like… As if being in love that I
couldn’t believe it, that something that special really exists. Well yes, I’ve never been a very rational
person. I think I’ve never taken a rational decision in my life [laughs]. It must have something to
do with my ield and my art. hat I’m kind of intuitive, that is. Well yes, this is how it was, I really
didn’t have any other choice. If I feel so strongly about something I just can’t ight it. [...] hen
I decided that I’ll apply ten times. If I don’t make it, I still have time to apply to the university, I
mean that I just have to see where it takes me, if anywhere.
Education is highly valued, as seen in the quote above: the interviewee was prepared to
apply ten times to that particular school and if not successful, there would have still been
time to apply to somewhere else. Applying to an art school was the most typical form of
long-term, artistic self-steering. Nearly all interviewees had applied to art education and/
or art school and most of them, like the above example illustrates, did it right after their
artistic realization. his is coherent with the Finnish ethos of appreciating education33.
Also other developments in society, such as increased amount of education in creative
ields and a certain zeitgeist when it comes to emphasizing creativity and individuality
as resources (e.g. Simola 2001), have supported this choice.
EDUCATION AS TRANSITION
Education is an integral part of the normal Finnish life course. Good education is highly
appreciated and its acquisition has almost become a norm (e.g. Jokinen 2010 45–47;
Rensujef 2014, 42–52). Education and choices related to it are important transitions
32 On the other hand we may suggest that the ”relaive risk” of employment in cultural ields and
the general insecurity on the cultural labour market (Kartunen 2004, 34) have decreased since
the 1990’s depression as other ields are now sufering from insecure employment and pay, too.
33 On the other hand, we should note that young people’s faith in educaion in improving their posiion on the labour market has weakened in this millennium (Myllyniemi 2007, 32).
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in an individual’s life, ‘junctures on the educational market’ (Hoikkala & Paju 2013,
16). Art is no exception: the importance of education as part of the artist’s career is
emphasized in the Finnish artist research, and the importance of education seems to
have risen in many ields of art – “one of the milestones of the artist’s professional path
is the vocational education of the respective ield of art” (Houni & Ansio 2013d, 72;
see also Karhunen 2004; Rensujef 2014). In some ields, in classical music and theatre
in particular, formal education has been an important path in the process of becoming
an artist and developing as one. Also in e.g. ine arts very few artists can enter the ield
without any formal education (Karttunen 1988, 51–55; Rensujef 2014). he same
applies to graphic ields, such as design, where there’s been some debate on the oversupply of education and school places in recent years (OKM 2012; Herranen et al. 2013).
Literature has traditionally been and still is an exception as there is no formal education
leading to a degree. Many authors have completed some studies that support writing
and being a writer34 (e.g. Karhunen 2004, 43). Also in pop music, self-learning and
completing supportive studies is still a very typical way.
I always wanted to be an artist but my school didn’t teach any artisthood. It wasn’t, what I mean is
that it’s a university but somehow it’s not, you can’t study that way and it’s not academic. And that’s
something I would have needed. So it was a big disappointment to me. [...] I don’t have anything
negative to say, no bad memories, quite the contrary. About the education itself, well, I didn’t learn
that much. But I got to know so many good people and I’ve learned from them, for example, my
most important colleague went to that same school. And many other people. I feel proud to be able
to say that I know these people. I mean that, in a way, they’re my friends.
In the quote above, even though education itself was somewhat of a disappointment, its
impact was seen as positive, if not in other ways but through friends made and colleagues
met there. In the biographic studies on artists it has been seen that the meaning of education to artists is not solely related to learning new skills or obtaining a formal degree.
Often the main beneit of education is the artistic identity that evolves during education,
the social networks that can be formed, socialization into the activities of the world of
arts and internalization of its informal codes (e.g. Herranen et al. 2013, 60–66; Houni
& Ansio 2013a). Education is taken for granted, as part of the ordinary life course (e.g.
Mikkola 2002, 78–79; Aapola 2005; Häkkinen 2012). To the interviewed artists, education implied partly following the normative expectations of society as well as acquiring
formal competences and social capital. To many of those who dream about a career in
arts, education is a welcomed transition phase during which own skills are developed,
social networks are created and future with its diferent options can be relected.
Artist research indicates that time after graduation is very often a critical moment
to many new artists (e.g. Vihma-Purovaara 2000, 185–190; Maijala 2003, 105–109;
Karttunen 2009, 59–74). Totti Tuhkanen (1988, 114) writes on this critical transition
34 These include, i.a., humanisic social science studies at the university level but also studies in nonacademic establishments such as in the wriing school of the Criical Academy.
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from the perspective of visual artists: ”he beginning of the professional career, coming
to the market from the art school, is the most critical moment during the artist’s career.
Most graduated artists drop out at this stage – or, rather, are never able to embark on a
freelance career in arts. ”
According to Erkkilä and Vesanen (1989, 98) you can become a visual artist only by
”crossing that no man’s land which is located between the graduation from art school
and establishment of your ‘name’ on the market, i.e. obtaining accreditation by the elite
of the ield of art”. A quarter of a century later, in the light of this study, this quote is
still valid to describe one of the most critical turning points in the artist’s career. It’s not
only about inding a job but about whether one becomes an artist at all. In this turning
point (Clausen 1998), the artists’ experiences constitute a tangle in which realization of
being an artist, social capitals, experience of vocation, chance and structures meet (with
many artists) – this is the end of education and the beginning of the transition into the
working life. Artisthood obtained at school and immediately thereafter quickly collides
with realities of artistic work and the realities of the modern working life in general,
however. he gatekeepers of the world of art are not only watching by the two doors of
the art school but, above all, in the real world after education.
I: When did you ind [your own ield of art]?
A:.Well, I didn’t, I only found it when we moved away from Finland, after graduation.
I: Ok, so that late..
A: Yes, that’s how it went, or I had done some projects in my own ield when I was still studying
and this is actually how it happened, one of my teachers told me that this company had contacted
them because they were looking for a young student to do something new there. And then my
teacher recommended me or two other students and this is how it started.
he contacts established during a student job, the teacher’s role as a ‘mentor’ and the role
of chance are notable in this quote. Again, the relationships and networks established
during education, the so called ‘weak ties’ (Granovetter 1973) play an important role.
he relationship between education and entry into professional life after that naturally
varies between diferent ields of art. For example, Houni (2000, 183) notes the following
on theatre: ”nowadays many actors work in a professional way already when studying”. On
the other hand, inding employment is very diicult in the ield of theatre. Karhunen (2004,
63) refers to statistics indicating that music and design art are the best employers whereas
only ine arts are poorer employers than theatre and dance. Karhunen and Rensujef (2006)
report on similar results; statistically, the average employment rate in arts is 74 per cent.
Recently, there’s been debate as to whether there currently are too many school places
in art education, or is it just because society cannot properly employ the artists it has
educated (Karhunen & Rensujef 2006). For example, Christine Bauer et al. (2011) write
about introducing the teaching of entrepreneurial skills to art education as, even though
artists are among the best educated groups in society they also have, on average, relatively
low income levels and often work in temporary jobs. he economic downturn of the
recent years has further reduced the resources in the ields of art which can be seen, for
instance, in the cuts in art and culture budgets in 2015–2018 (OKM 2014). he rise
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of creative ields (Florida 2002; Wilenius 2004) in this century has further changed the
funding of cultural ields but the fact is, in any case, that in the traditionally insecure
ields the poor economic times are felt even harder than in other ields (Rensujef 2014).
As Karhunen and Rensujef (2006) recall, in addition to insecure employment in the ield
of arts, even being employed does not necessarily mean an adequate level of income. In
any ield of art, inding a full-time employment in a job corresponding to one’s educational level is so challenging that it has become a strong indicator of success in itself. In
the following quote this is described as being lucky, or being rewarded for hard work:
Of course I feel lucky because I’ve got all these things, it’s been a kind of blessing or something,
and somehow… sometimes I think if I’m grateful enough that all this has happened even though
I’m still so young. Well, there’s something, I’ve understood that already as a child I thought that
all these great things just happen, or can happen. Like at some point I thought that some day I’ll
break through even though it required so much pain and hard work. Maybe it’s just that one good
thing leads to another. I feel that I’m very lucky but still I don’t think that these things just like…
fell from the sky. I mean I also see all the hard work that I’ve done for it.
his view was quite common in the interviews. Many interviewees seemed to think that
”great things just happen”. An optimist could say that, in the logic of the art world, good
things happen to good people. It’s not necessarily the case in reality, however, and this
was repeated in a number of interviews. his is illustrated in the following quote where
the artist states that many other artists would have deserved the same success but, on
the other hand, it’s just not possible due to the scarce resources in the world of arts (see
also Herranen et al. 2013).
I: Do you feel that you’ve always been able to do what you want to do, after graduation? Do you
feel that you have, or how should I put it, do you feel that you’ve deserved it?
A: Well yes, I do. But it doesn’t take away the feeling that many others would have deserved it, too,
those who were not given that possibility. Or who just don’t have it.
Education, in one way or another, was an important transition in the lives of most of
the interviewed artists in the research data. hree artists had not been educated in their
ields but all of them had completed some artistic studies, however. Two of them had
done ”some courses” in the open university whilst one of them had completed a university degree in a totally diferent ield of art. he interviewees viewed the importance of
these studies as very irrelevant to their current career. As expected, self-taughtedness and
self-initiative were emphasized in their artisthood: ”[things] have just moved forward by
trial and error and [I’ve] learned these things on my own”.
LIFE STEERING DURING PROFESSIONAL CAREER
After their educational path the artists of the research data entered professional life,
a small part of them already before graduation or without any education in the ield.
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Many diferent types of life steerings are connected to professional career in arts and
these are very diferently valued among the artists. he most important long-term goal
seems simple: to develop in one’s own work and to be able to continue it as long as
possible. Many hoped they’d be as “lucky” in the future as they’ve been so far which is
understandable now that they had found their “own thing”. In practice, aspiration to
self-development is an in-built ideal in the artistic work and hence a common observation in artist studies: in, for example, Herranen et al. (2013, 84–86) research data the
most important building block of the artist’s identity was the artistic vision and the
aspiration to continuously develop it. Even though an artist would have found his own
ield and it feels right, there’s still a lot to learn, as becomes clear in the following quote:
I: Ok, have you ever doubted it, after that? Did you ever have any doubts on being good enough?
A: Well, yes, that’s of course something I always doubt a little bit, at least on some level. he more
you learn the better you understand that you actually know quite little. And… well I don’t doubt of
being in the wrong ield, that’s not the case. Especially taking into account that I can’t do anything
else [laughs] so it’d be better to have found the right ield, as I haven’t gone to any school or anything… so well… but of course I do have some doubts, and you always should have because that’s
the only way to develop. But it’s not like feeling that ‘oh, I’m so bad’. I do recognize my strengths
but I also want to develop in everything I do.
In a way, constant change is in the heart of art making. An artist has do develop and
have the potential for renewal. He has to generate new ideas in order to remain interesting to the public and, most importantly, to himself; he has to ind his work interesting
and satisfying. Most changes just occur over time and are not always planned. Artistic
work takes the artist to new and surprising directions, and too much planning may be
detrimental. At times, conscious decisions have an impact, too: an artist’s career is full
of small-scale life steerings and inetuning related to, for instance, choice of projects and
time management. On the other hand, searching one’s position is typical, too:
I: Do you think there’s a lot of competition... Competition between artists and so on...?
A: Well, yes. But as I said, I try my best to exclude myself from it, to remain above it or outside
it. I’ve chosen to do completely diferent things from others. To be so special that you don’t have
to… that you compete in your own league. So that’s my method or however you want to call it.
One conscious artistic solution that repeatedly came up in the interviews was distinguishing oneself. he quote above illustrates this well: the artist tells that the starting
point is to do diferent things from others, to distinguish oneself from the competition
and create a league of one’s own. he ambivalent attitude to competition is revealed too:
there’s no willingness to compete against other artists but, at the same time, the artist
tries to secure a place of her own and exclude others from it.
Artists often have a critical stance towards commercialism and competition but not
all of them ind selling their own works unpleasant. Some artists reported on having
considered themselves fortunate when their artistic career has progressed on its own and
invitations to work in diferent projects have followed one another. All of them were
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not that lucky and they needed to get their work in front of people in a more conscious
way. An experience of being able to impact things with one’s own activities becomes
apparent in the following quote:
Well, it was somehow that I understood that you can’t just sit and wait, do your art and then
somebody comes and takes your works of art and puts them on display. It’s more that I realized
how you can inluence the world around you. [...] I mean that I understood that it’s not that they
choose you but you can also choose them. And if you actively push your ideas to them and, if they
are good enough, they’ll buy them.
Many artists tried to expand onto other ields of art: a musician becomes an author, a
sculptor becomes a painter and so on. To many artists, being an artist literally meant
being an artist, in the broad sense of the word. his is not only a conscious choice but
also, at least partly, following one’s own artistic ‘instinct’. In this sense it’s also about a
conscious decision on time management. Time that could be used to something else,
also something non-artistic, is used to expanding onto new ields of art – or actually
developing oneself as an artist. his is a sign of multidisciplinarity of arts, not only
forced by market forces (Ansio & Houni 2013a, 66–71), but also of being able to make
choices on the basis of one’s own desires, drawing upon the freedom of art. At the same
time, it’s connected to the constant renewal and reform of the artistic work. his aspect
becomes evident in the following quote when one ield of art starts to feel monotone:
And then it was only later that I realized that it was that [one ield of art] somehow. I felt like doing
something a bit boring and monotone at that time. I had the feeling that many things annoyed me
there, so I decided to try that [other ield of art].
his is clearly related to the looking for new challenges within one’s own artistic ield. It
has its drawbacks, too: when things go well, they may go too well, and suddenly the artist
is faced with too much work. If you forget good time management and prioritization,
challenging work and inability to turn down additional work may lead to burnout. In the
following quote the interviewee concludes that if you cannot take time of, it can lead to
burnout but, on the other hand, when you inally have vacation and it feels good, it can feel
almost “frightening” because the artist’s desire to nourish his or her creativity is so strong:
I: Well, well… Do you ever take any time of…?
A: Well, I’ve never been very good in these things. Well, I did have some days of now at Christmas.
It felt so good and suddenly I realized that two weeks had gone without any work… well at least one
and a half. It just went like that, almost frighteningly quickly, maybe because I didn’t have any vacation
last summer either… so it just went by. Well it’s always a little bit like that, that maybe I should have
taken some, it’s good for everyone, isn’t it? I mean that it’s good to take some days of otherwise you
may end up having too much work and stress, too, if you just can’t spend your time on anything else.
And also, if you’re involved in art it’s good to have those moments that you don’t even think about
it, that you spend time on doing something completely diferent. It’s nice to do something diferent,
every once in a while, things that normal people [with a laugh] do on holiday, something fun.
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Most interviewees emphasized that making art is mostly pure work. If you really want
to invest in something, you have to focus on it and often also sacriice other things for
it. Of course, when making art is your vocation and you really enjoy doing it, it’s not
a conscious sacriice but something taken for granted. However, some lifestyle choices
were emphasized:
I work in a determined way and long hours too, all the time. I’m not just waiting for inspiration,
if it comes from somewhere or not, instead, I get up early in the morning and work until late at
night. [...] Well that’s, as far as I know what other artists do, how it is nowadays, everyone does it.
Competition is so ierce and you just have to work all the time. [...] I’ve been thinking about that
bohemian myth thing. Maybe it’s starting to be a thing of the past.
Hence even creative work is work that requires concentration and discipline. hese aspects
are evident in the quotation above, along with the fact that competition has become
iercer and ”the bohemian myth” starts to be a thing of the past (see also Houni & Ansio
2013a). At the same time, vocation as deined by the term calling is questioned in this
ethos, emphasizing diligence and hard work (see also Røyseng et al. 2007). If work was a
”god’s gift” one should not be obliged to make such big efort35. Most interviewees told
that they try to work even in their bad days and create something. Disciplined work may
also help in the everyday time management so that the daily grind doesn’t become too
challenging. he drawback of artistic (and of any other creative work) is that the limits
of the working time may be expanded or blurred (e.g. Salasuo 2013). A clear time-related
system is the solution found in this quote:
hen I just decided that all emails, everything has to be inished by the evening news, a classic limit
that all work has to be done by that. Otherwise I can’t sleep. But it can develop into that routine
that everything is so, so… there’s so much of everything, people keep asking me something all the
time, that I just become so tired that everything feels so, that you just forget how to take time of.
To an artist, borders between work, leisure and holiday are not easy to draw – not in time
nor in place. Most artists reported on not being able to take time of and when they did,
they kept on generating ideas and having that artistic view of the world. Being an artist is
clearly a holistic way of life (see also Houni & Ansio 2013c, 99–104). According to the
interviewed artists, an ideal situation does have some degree of balance. he artist of the
following quote has solved this problem by seeing the all-embracing work as ”just life”.
On the other hand, the artist is not stressed about thinking of work while on vacation:
35 Røyseng et al. (2007) continue on this theme. They suggest there’s a common belief in art world
that good art will reach success, sooner or later, as an inbuilt mechanism. They see similariies
between this logic and the Calvinisic predesinaion doctrine: when you can’t be sure about your
desiny, you just have to work hard and wish for the “salvaion”.
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A: Well it all goes on all the time but still, I think I can have my vacation and spend it as it is and
you can also generate good ideas while on holiday, can’t you, but it doesn’t feel like working all the
time that I couldn’t somehow relax. So yes, I can relax, actually quite often. If I don’t have work, I
can do it. But the process is somehow always going on but I wouldn’t call it work.
I: Ok, so it doesn’t feel like work?
A: No, it’s just life, so… And hey, it’s great if you get a good idea or you see something and realize
that this is something cool that you can use in some future project but it’s not working, it’s just life.
Some of the interviewed artists pointed out that the typical idea of artists that ”they’re
never on holiday” is romanticised and therefore even dangerous. his is clearly seen in
the following quote where the importance of taking time of is emphasized – but the
idea of two weeks ”without thinking of art” also feels somewhat frightening:
Well what I used to think, in my teen years, was that if you’re an artist, you’re an artist full-time,
this romantic idea. hat you feel that you’re an artist 24/7. Well you are, in some ways. But what I
try to aim for is a normal working day that you go to work and leave work and do something else,
too, sport or spend some time with your friends instead of thinking about art all the time. Now I
even have holidays, not the same way I used to do, that if I went somewhere I always had an art
project with me. Now I can have holidays, just some time of which can be quite frightening, too,
that you suddenly spend two weeks without even thinking about art at all.
Some of the interviewees told that they regularly take other work beside their artistic work.
his is not only economically advantageous but also mentally balancing. It also helps to
relieve pressure from artistic work. Some artists also pointed out that better paid, more
commercial work projects enable less economically proitable artistic work and projects.
Most of the earnings may come from art-related work whereas most of the time may be
used to ambitious artistic work. Secondary jobs typically include teaching, occasional
projects in other ields of art or something completely diferent and non-artistic.
At the moment I have many projects and events going on, beside my [own work]. [...] I’d like to
explain this as sharing my energy because I think I’m not one of those persons who can concentrate
on something long-term and in detail. On the other hand, I like to have long projects, I don’t want
to work too fast. I really prefer long projects but in the meantime… I’d like to keep it in the back
of my mind and do something else in between. It has worked very well in this way.
he situation described here is typical to many artists: ideally, own artistic work is always
on but not all the artist’s time is invested in it. To be able to decide how much to invest
in the artistic work is one of the irst indicators of artistic success. In this respect, the
grant system plays a vital role.
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WHAT CAN YOU STEER BY YOURSELF, AFTER ALL?
As seen above, the life of an artist takes place in the same societal and social framework
as anybody else’s: via family background and socialization into education, from social
restrictions and opportunities to modern ideals and ideas of their generation, and inally
to the necessities of life. Still, it seems that artists somehow escape from the perimeter
of the ‘normal life course’. Due to following their vocation, the self-steerings or choices
of their lives often seem irrational and, at the same time, artists typically abandon some
of the traditional indicators of success. In other words, an artist voluntarily accepts such
things in life that many others wouldn’t: inancial insecurity, stress on the results of their
creativity, publicity, criticism and doubts about the meaningfulness of their work. Many
interviewees concluded that what they actually do doesn’t make any sense but still, they
wouldn’t change a day of their careers.
An artist’s work is mentally very demanding and all-encompassing. At least in principle, the artist’s life and self become material for the artist’s work. Whatever can serve
as inspiration and the artist can draw upon anything. In this way, life can become very
consuming. At the same time it means that all life phases are an integral part of what
inluences the artistic work. his reminds us again on the cumulative nature of the life
course (Giele & Elder 1998). Even those with late artistic realization have accrued life
experiences, all of which can later become relevant to their artistic work.
All interviewed artists had had the experience that their careers, at some point, started
to ‘move forward’ on their own (see also Karttunen 2009). his is understandable against
the background that only successful artists were selected for the interviews of this study:
not being successful often means that things just don’t progress but become stuck (cf.
Herranen et al. 2013). When career moves forward and things progress well, the artists
don’t even have time to relect their choices and transitions, things just happen. Sometimes
this can have negative consequences, too, as we’ve seen above when discussing the stress
experiences. At the same time, we notice that chance plays an important role, too. he
artist of the following quote had recently won a notable national award after which he
was looking forward to what would happen, with great interest. At the same time, he
underlines that the award itself was a total surprise to him:
I’m also thinking about the concept of time as I’m never in a hurry to do anything, I just don’t and
I don’t have any need to be involved in any great projects next year or so, well I had this recognition and I should be very happy with it, and I certainly am. It came as a surprise, and I’m really
genuinely surprised, and I just wonder what has happened here and I’m certainly looking forward
to the future, where all this leads to. [...] Well, I wasn’t looking for it and I wasn’t aware of all this,
I didn’t know anything about these eight people who were sitting around the table, and then my
name somehow repeatedly came up, from one meeting to another, well…
One frequent theme in the interviews was the dichotomy between own projects and
projects done for somebody else. his signiies that in one hand, there are external expectations towards artist’s work and pressures from the ‘normal society’ related to, for
instance, being successful. On the other hand, an artist should remain loyal to his own
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ideals and ways of working in order not to lose his sensitivity or ‘touch’. his could be
seen as a dialogue and a balancing act between the artist’s self-expression originating
from the artist himself and the ‘more popular’ art looking for wider resonance (see also
Røyseng et al. 2007). In some interviews, the agonising diiculty of combining ambitious artistic work and commercial success became evident, too. Some of the artists had
solved this dilemma by dividing their work to artistic work in which substantial time
and efort are devoted but little money is earned, and to more commercial work with
less allocated efort but more money earned. Most of them concluded, however, that in
the most rewarding situation their artistic work would generate suicient income. All
of them hadn’t reached this yet even though we’re talking about fairly successful young
artists here.
In any case, it seems to be important for artistic success that the artist doesn’t care
about external expectations. he most often named factor for the high quality of artistic
work was integrity towards oneself. Artistic work should be done in the best possible way
for oneself and in the best case, success will follow. However, it’s not about perfectionism
which many interviewees condemned as detrimental. It’s about doing everything as well
as possible in the existing circumstances. he following quote wraps this up and touches
upon artistic success, too:
You do those things because you have to do them well. Not in the perfect way but well enough. As
well as you can do them. But not in the perfect way and there’s a thin line between those two [...]
Maybe that’s what deines success then. It’s not possible to do it in any other way, everything has to
be perfect for yourself. To yourself, not to anybody else. It’s maybe important to think about nobody
else in this context. Although you do work for other people, too. But the irst thing to think about
is to do this for yourself exactly the way you want to do it.
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7 Artist and the zeitgeist
– artisthood in the 21st century
Finland
One of the fundamental principles of the life course analysis is that each individual’s life
course is located in a certain time and place (e.g. Häkkinen 2012). hus not only societal
resources and beneitting from them but also existing values and attitudes are visible in
each individual’s life course. Frequent themes in the interviews included the freedom and
independence in the artist’s work which were seen both as assets and challenges. From
the generational point of view this is about the new ideal of work: the possibility and
freedom to organize one’s own work in a personal way. An artist is the master of his own
work and his own timetables, in a way a creative entrepreneur (see also Giddens 1991;
Wass & Torsti 2011). Independence and the possibility to have an impact on the timing
and content of one’s own work were clearly seen as important factors in the interviews,
almost as an indicator of success, as the following quote indicates:
If you can achieve such order in your life that you have enough time to [make art], it means that
you’ve been able to organize that work, prioritize so to say… so that your life expenses are in balance
with your income from work so that you can make a living on that artist’s work.
his quote illustrates that work is an integral part of life. Work is meaningful and its
rewardingness is more important than its pay or the stability of it (Tuohinen 2010;
Siltala 2013, 196–208). his means that conscious risk-taking becomes more important
(Sennett 2002, 88–93) and the border between work and non-work becomes blurred
(Julkunen 2008, 136).
As for working life values, there has been a more general change in recent years compared to previous generations (Roos 1987; Tuohinen 2010; Tuohinen 2014; Piispa et al.
2015). It seems that the importance of work has by no means decreased, only changed.
hus the present generation is not work-averse. Rather, one could say it’s a generation which
is demanding as to the content of the work. For example, in the 2007 Youth Barometer
(Myllyniemi 2007) 54 per cent of the youth named the content of the work as the most
important work requirement. In addition, the amount of pay was important only to 16
per cent of the respondents. Similar results have been achieved in previous surveys in this
century (op. cit., 39). As Antti Häkkinen (2013, 53) – who names those born in 1971–2000
as the urban generation – states work controls the life of young people of this generation
but not as a force but as a ield of life generating opportunities and capitals. Titta Tuohinen
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(2010) adds values of cooperation and the sense of community to this. Expectations on
the rewardingness of work lead to work and its qualities deining the identity of young
professionals in a signiicant way. his is highlighted especially with the artists because their
work is a fundamental element of their identities.
Sari Karttunen (2004, 34) has relected the increasing popularity of art professions
in young people’s career choices and writes: ”art promises opportunities to self-accomplishment and self-development, independence as regards working hours and the ways
of working, and possibilities to lexibly move from employer, project and community
to another one”. he most important (working) life values of young generations include
freedom and choice, the ethos of entrepreneurship and the possibility to reach self-fulilment and “internally beautiful life” (Tuppurainen 2009, 21–25) or even “obtain life”
(through work) (Sennett 2002, 129). When listing the values of young generations we
have to include at least the following: creativity, freedom, choice, entrepreneurship and
independence, internal rewardingness of life, life-long learning, youth cultures, cultural
youth, civic activity, work as vocation and lifestyle. It’s easy to see that all these are naturally and intuitively connected to artisthood, some of them even very obviously. (see
also Myllyniemi 2009, 38–43.)
We could argue that the logic and values of making art are similar to the shared ideals
of young generations and if not those of all young people, at least most of those with
middle class backgrounds. When using generation deinitions, we can talk about the
generation of welfare and the generation of individual choice (born in the 1970’s and
1980’s respectively; Hoikkala & Paju 2008) which are often referred as X and Y generations
(e.g. Siltala 2013). he interviewed artists did not mention their generations as such but
in their interviews many themes, attitudes and values typical to their generations were
expressed. However, we should bear in mind that in selecting the interviewees for the
research data, young generations were emphasized on purpose so some of the themes
were, at the outset, expected to be highlighted more in the interviews. An additional
view to the generational thematic is the assumption that the members of the cultural
elite, including artists, are the most sensitive interpreters of the experiences of their
generations (Purhonen 2007, 77).
Central themes that bring together artists and their work include professional insecurity, unconditionality of making art, attitudes towards commercialism and entertainment,
the diiculty of being a successful artist and the relativity of success, the role of chance
and the diferent identities of artisthood. One could sum this up as the bliss and the
misery of being an artist. We could also conclude that this is a very similar theme to
that one present in the debate and writings about the modern abstract work (Holvas &
Vähämäki 2005; Jakonen et al. 2006).
PROFESSIONAL INSECURITY
An artist has to live with many insecurity factors. his conclusion has been made not only
in this report but also in many analyses of artists in diferent ields of art (i.a. hrosby &
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Zednik 2010; Bauer et al. 2011; Houni & Ansio 2013a). In her study on visual artists
Sari Karttunen (1988) summed up the nature of artist’s work already in the name of her
book: Taide pitkä, leipä kapea (Art long, bread narrow). Professional insecurity doesn’t
only mean ‘narrow bread’ (Rensujef 2005, 29) but the situation where bread doesn’t
always come from that source the artist would like it to come (op. cit., 21), or sometimes
it doesn’t come at all. Income diferences between diferent ields of art and artists are
big and high incomes of a small minority of very successful artists increase the average
income of artists to look better than what it actually is, with the great majority of artists
(Rensujef 2003; Rensujef 2014). In addition to polarization, other features of modern
work which are increasingly disturbing the entire working life, have been typical in many
artistic ields for a long time already (Julkunen 2008; Pirttilä & Houni 2011; Herranen
et al. 2013, 98–99). What is more, as for example Rensujef (2005, 6–7) concludes,
atypical work has become more frequent also in those ields of art where employment
used to be more stable, such as theatre.
I: What are the worst features [in the artist’s work]?
A: Permanent lack of money. It gets on my nerves, I can say that, especially with age, when you
have to count your cents in every turn… it’s really diicult to enjoy life in those moments. Well,
I’m getting along, I’ve learned how to cope with it but it really, especially at this moment it’s very
topical because I’m just waiting for the decision on my annual grant… the answer on how to survive
this year, I should inish a big project in six months and every evening I have to do teaching so I
don’t know how I’m getting along, really. I have one day of per week and I try to keep it that way.
Because I don’t have those energy reserves anymore, what I used to have when I was 25. I just can’t
stay up anymore, I need more than six hours of sleep a night, I used to sleep only six hours and it
was ine, I could manage with it. But as I’m getting older I know that it’s not going to get any easier.
I’ve been thinking about how diferent it would be, to have some kind of a basic income, to have
that freedom for ideas and other things. I remember, I think it was the summer before last summer
when my greatest stress was that I didn’t have time to think and it was just horrible when I realized
that I’m stressed because I don’t have time to think at any point [laughs]. I just go and do, go and
do and I’m afraid that I’m going to have that same situation again and I also have to admit that
somehow I’m more and more stressed about this as time goes on… and now that I have children,
I have my responsibilities, I really need to think about other people, too, not only about myself…
back then [when I was younger] I could eat porridge and live however I wanted. And then I want
to have a big space for work, I need this space for work, this costs a lot of money, not to mention
the other things… so this is my greatest fear, can I aford all this next month or not. It does stress
me and it’s a clear minus of my work.
he public sector has traditionally been and still is an important funding source for art
in Finland. In fact, public funding, in the form of the grant system in its most concrete
manifestation, is the mechanism to reduce the insecurity of artistic work36 (Rautiainen
36 Pauli Rauiainen (2008, 12–16) sums up nicely why art and arists should receive public support.
He concludes that even though supporing art can be both jusiied and contested by economic
and social policy arguments, we should also bear in mind the aestheic value of art, i.e. the intrinsic
value of art should be valued more than its material value.
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2008). he quote above clearly illustrates how even the grant system cannot take away
the insecurity: it’s stressful to wait for the grant decisions, one should always have a plan
B, such as teaching work in one’s own ield of art (see also Herranen et al. 2013, 69–71).
With age, the problem often escalates, and especially those with family responsibilities
may encounter signiicant inancial diiculties. he artist’s concentration on artistic work
sufers which was evident also in the passage above. (See also Houni & Ansio 2013a.)
his theme was frequently brought up in many interviews.
he growth of artistic ields cannot necessarily keep up with the increase in the number of artists, thus, the average income of artists may decrease. In addition to scarcity
of jobs and funding, atypical work, shorter projects, overlapping of work and necessity
to take multiple jobs (e.g. Karhunen & Rensujef 2006; Houni & Ansio 2013a) have
probably only increased. In conclusion, the psychological insecurity of the artist’s work
has not disappeared, on the contrary.
Life-long learning and development are in the core of artisthood – as stated by a
70-year-old visual artist interviewed by Terhi Aaltonen (2012, 89), “if an artist gets old
and just begins to doodle, he’s not an artist anymore”. In some ways, artisthood appears
as eternal youth – not in a way that bohemian artists would hang around bars until the
bitter end (which may have been a more realistic image with the previous artistic generations). Rather, it’s a requirement of life-long curiosity which also answers to modern
expectations of life-long learning (e.g. Elinikäisen oppimisen neuvosto 2010) or even of
continuous self-development as an “ethical requirement” (Hautamäki 1996, 26–28; see
also Hänninen 2000, 44; Julkunen 2008, 210). his is not only a demand of the ‘ever
more eicient’ working life but also a middle class ideal, part of the normal life course.
As Sinikka Aapola (2005) states, entering adulthood is postponed until after graduation
among university graduates and in academic ields in general. Informal learning experiences, the ‘school of life’, is important along with the formal education37 (see also Noro
1995; Hautamäki 1996, 36–38; Mikkola 2002, 78–79). his applies to artists, too. hey
need to tirelessly educate themselves and their ‘graduation’, be it artistic maturation or
just growing up, is postponed or never actually takes place.
Even though the artist’s work requires a certain ‘eternal youth’ in terms of curiosity
and self-development, a disciplined adulthood is required for the determinedness of
artistic work. At the same time, laziness is to be avoided: success may be a double-edged
sword here, as the following, future-oriented sarcastic quotation suggests. It’s interesting
to see how the change in making art, from a “life mission” to “just a profession” is seen
as a potential threat:
37 According to Sinikka Aapola (2005) those who study in the ”school of life” feel that they enter
adulthood later than vocaionally focused young people. Interesingly, this might be one of the
diferences between arists and athletes. The life course of an athlete is more straighforward and
is, in this way, similar to vocaional training. At the same ime, an athlete enters the adulthood
earlier. This may also explain why athletes someimes tend to be “let with nothing” ater their
professional career: they enter the labour market without having completed the school of life and
maybe they lack other schooling, too. They have been forced to enter adulthood too early.
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A: Well this is it, whether I have this same attitude to my work in, let’s say 20 years, that’s another
question altogether. It may be that I don’t believe in what I’m doing anymore – I mean that I wouldn’t
see this as a life mission but just as a profession. Or maybe I’ve given up all my artistic ambitions.
Maybe I just have commissioned work and feel that I just don’t have time to anything else.
I: Do you mean that not having time would be an excuse for not having energy?
A: Yeah...so this is how my life would look like: in the morning at around 9–10, after my cup of
cofee and the morning newspaper, I’d work a little and then send my work, and then I’d go for
a walk with my big fat belly, eat my lunch somewhere and then come home for the rest of the
afternoon to sip wine with my dear wife. hen I’d listen to old jazz records. It can happen. If you
ask me, it’s even possible. You never know, but this is not what I hope for because I still have that
boasting of a 20-year-old, still believing in my omnipotence.
he artist tells that he hopes to be able to hold on to the illusion of the ”boasting of
a 20-year-old”. he ideal of the ever-lasting youth is a typical and very common life
orientation of the younger generations (Hoikkala 1989; Ketokivi 2004; Mary 2012).
However, holding on to youth might also have distressing features and an extended
youth may be an unscrupulous ideal to any generation or its representative (see Salasuo
& Suurpää 2014). Unlike many of his peers, an artist cannot necessarily live the typical
transitions of growth and entering adulthood which would entail socialization into the
norms and ‘normality’ (cf. Pulkkinen & Polet 2010) of the mainstream population.
Nevertheless, ‘eternal youth’ of artists is, at its best, something else; eternal playfulness
instead of an ever-lasting adolescence. In artisthood, it’s more about maintaining that
curiosity of a child, as if everything was always new, or at least could be. As Kari Uusikylä
(2012, 41) writes, on creativity: “it’s essential that an individual is free to observe the
world open-mindedly, like children do, forgetting self-criticism”. he following quote
aptly illustrates this:
I particularly liked that comment in that book [Hytti nro. 6; Rosa Liksom] when this guy, this old
drunkard said at the end of the book, something like ‘when I was ive I knew everything about life
and I´ve spent the following 40 years trying to understand it’. I really liked that idea; and this is
exactly the instinct I mean. hat quite often we are quite ready and able and we don´t need all this
self-awareness that ‘now I´m doing this and that here’. A child plays without being told so or being
told so by himself. [...] But after that, when we have all this awareness and we understand more and
our processors somehow become weaker and weaker and everything requires just so much efort.
On the other hand, qualities that describe today’s work such as subjectivized, project-like,
aestheticized, lexible and individual (e.g. Siltala 2004; Julkunen 2008; Pirttilä & Houni
2011) are very familiar to any art-maker. Artists are a certain vanguard of the precariat
(e.g. Julkunen 2008, 112), together with researchers, for instance. And it’s not all: artists
typically put their entire personality into their work which is an intrinsic part of their
identity (e.g. Houni 2000). his is something that is required also in other ields as work
becomes more subjectivized. Raija Julkunen (2008, 123–124) states that success and
achievement in this situation strengthen the whole personality but, on the other hand,
also failure afects strongly. he feeling of failure is not related to performance only but
‘it hits the entire self ’ (op. cit.; see also Houni & Ansio 2013a ).
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I feel that in this profession or maybe the people that are in this are like that, and again, when you
do this kind of work you have to challenge your performance all the time, if you are good enough,
are my works good enough and whether the critics like them. What I mean is that we, or at least
our brainchildren, are somehow public property that anybody can praise or diss. Well, I think that
you have to be really brave somehow in this profession, especially taking into account that you don´t
get paid. Sometimes I feel that I miss so much because I can’t lead a normal, stable life. Something
that you could rely on, something that you would know would lead to something, that you could
achieve something… and then, when you’re in need, you would have this earnings-related income
support or whatever it´s called, I don´t even know these things. To have at least some protection
which you simply don´t have in this job. Well, I don´t even think about my retirement, I think
that I´ve accumulated some 40 euros of pension a month so far. I mean really. I don´t even think
about that far ahead but… just to have a normal, simple and easy life. I don´t know if any of us
has that anymore but sometimes, in my childish and naive moments I feel that I´ve lost something,
that quiet, easy-going life. But can you lose something if you never had it? Well, it depends on your
ield of art but it would be really great to be paid sometimes.
his quotation summarises many insecurity factors in the artist’s life. First of all, publicity and personality of work; your work is your “brainchild” which puts successful artists
both mentally and socially in a vulnerable position where a certain courage is required. In
addition, an artist’s work is often poorly paid: this ine arts artist had calculated that the
accumulated pension pay is only some 40 euros a month, at the age around 35. hirdly,
an artist’s profession is characterized by insurmountability of the eternal youth, that
period of economic and mental insecurity. herefore the aspired “quiet, easy-going life”
never actually materializes and the artist may actually never be able to reach it. Similar
observations have been made in other studies. In the research data of Ansio and Houni
(2013b, 150), for instance, the nature of creative work, economic worries, working conditions and being all the time publicly judged were listed as the burdens of artistic work.
In the end, it’s worth emphasizing that none of the interviewed artists regret their
career choice. To many, this impression is related to the concept of vocation discussed
earlier when the career is not even seen as a free choice. A typical thing that artists felt
they had lost due to their career choice was the certain normality, the “quiet, easy-going
life” mentioned above.
INCREASING COMMERCIALISM, ENTERTAINMENT AND
‘THE SELLING OF SELF’
Separation of art and entertainment has always been an integral part of the artist’s ethos
(see also ‘charismatic ideology of creation’, Bourdieu 1993; Karttunen 2002, 55–59;
Røyseng et al. 2007). According to it, an artist should never ‘sell himself ’ to entertainment and commercialism – and should there be any commercial success, it should
rather come as a by-product of high-quality, pure art, somehow by chance. According
to the strictest interpretation, demonstrating any commercial interests can even lead
to the decrease of artistic value (Røyseng et al. 2007). As artists typically struggle with
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inancial insecurity, this principle and holding on to it can be seen not only as challenging but also old-fashioned and idealistic. However, on the basis of the research data,
this seems to be the only imaginable option as selling oneself would, at the same time,
mean betraying oneself.
Hugo Pratt is one of those [...] in his own genre he opened up a new depth in the war and adventure
comics and ended up in those mystic levels, and to the level of great literature, with his adventure
comics. And with his visual expression. To new spheres. And he became very popular among the
wider public in France. Not anywhere else, really. One could say that he appeals to wider public…
well at least Corto Maltese is a ictive character who’s well known around the world [...] and then
those poets such as Pentti Saarikoski or Allen Gingsberg or Charles Bukowski; they are such characters that one could think about… I´m thinking, I often think about their works and their lives,
all of them are dead by now, they are really like real stories, stories with an end. hey have that, in
a way… reasonable success. he only one with commercial success was Bukowski. [...] maybe that´s
why I admire poets; they sell so little. Even the big names. It has similarities with my ield, comics.
Fiction writers, those bastards, I always envy them, their lives seem so easy.
he quote above exposes how diicult and also enviable it is to combine high-quality
artistic work and at least reasonable commercial success. Very few seem to succeed in
this and if they do, they probably don’t, at least intentionally, aim for big sales igures.
his comic artist also ironises the “easy” life of iction writers. However, compromise is
not an option and the personal, professional pride goes above anything else, also commercial success. he following conclusion can be made of the next quote: being able to
work is a happy situation in itself to many artists but it doesn’t mean that they would
be willing to do anything. It’s better to hold on to the artistic dignity and even accept
occasional unemployment as long as one doesn’t have to do something which is not
artistically rewarding38:
I´m so lucky, inancially for example that I’ve got work more or less on a regular basis. And then I´m
a member in the union, I can get earnings-related income support whenever I´m not working, so it´s
possible for me… here must be many diferent situations but I think that it´s up to me to think
of what kind of a career I want to do or how I think that I could develop just by doing anything.
Well, that´s not like that although I realize that other people don´t see it in a similar way but I do,
I mean that if I cannot give anything new, if I just keep doing those things I´ve done for hundreds
of times, that really paralyzes me, it makes me look boring or at least bored in my own eyes. And
then, the other way around, if you can choose what you do, it makes your world somehow clearer,
it makes you feel better about yourself also in a way that I can prove that I have some taste, that I
have this artistic taste and artistic vision, maybe, and not just anything goes.
In the artistic work diferent capitals contradict in an interesting way. Commercial success
can be ‘traded of’ for more artistic projects. On the other hand, more artistic projects
38 It’s notable that even a successful arist menions the possibility of an earnings-based unemployment beneit as a posiive thing. This further demonstrates the economic uncertainty of arisic
work.
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accumulate the symbolic capital, highly valued in the artistic ield, in such way that an
artist may sometimes ‘sell himself ’ also to more commercial projects with purely economic
gain in mind (see also Røyseng et al. 2007). Balancing between art and entertainment,
as deined simply, is in one way or another the everyday life of every artist interviewed
for this study. On the basis of the research data it seems that exactly this possibility to
choose artistically ambitious projects is, in itself, an indicator of success.
his research data does not directly tell about the blurring boundaries between culture
and entertainment and the interviewed artists mostly emphasized their artistic integrity.
Clues on dispelling boundaries were, however, seen. he most typical manifestation was
the acceptance of entertainment; even if the artist was not involved in it himself. In some
interviews the artists also stated that getting rich by artistic work is very acceptable. Some
of the artists reported on having had an upbringing where both ‘high brow’ and ‘low
brow’ culture were ‘ok’ (see also Kahma 2011) and, to some of the artists, entertaining
elements were important raw material for their artistic work.
Admiration of success and the media’s inluence on what is ‘in and out of fashion’
also provoked critical comments, including from those artists who can be classiied as
successful and, therefore, proiting from publicity. he following quote aptly summarises
this and reveals how the automatic appraisal of the winner is seen as very “blunt”:
It was silly, I was like, so what I mean that I´ve been just wondering this situation, this is all so
new and odd to me, I already had a lot of art works for sale, there were so many diferent ones, I
had made them and they were included in the annual sales event and then they were taken to the
sales archive where people can go anytime and see those works of art. hen I got this news that I
had [won the prize] and during that week, almost all my works of art were sold from there. And
then I just couldn´t help thinking of, well, that ok this is how it works, that some authority from
above releases this piece of information, that this is now cool, this is now ‘it’. Well, then, I think
it´s quite blunt that way.
Commercial success and good reputation as such are, however, not the most important
indicators of success, on the basis of this research data. As stated earlier, success and
reputation are the by-products of high-quality artistic work, whether desired or not.
he most important indicator always is the internal feeling of success, the experience of
doing one’s work as well as possible. his reverts to the generation ideals discussed in the
beginning of the chapter: internal rewardingness of work has, with younger generations,
become the top value before rude achievement and success (Julkunen 2008; Siltala 2013).
At the same time, this principle constitutes an interesting contrast to the modern ethos
of rude neoliberal values. Artistic work can be seen as fairly unalienated work (cf. Marx
1959 [1844]; Rosenblum 1986). An interesting question for the future is whether the
middle classes are willing to surrender to poverty when aspiring internal rewards, and
could this downshifting be relected in the economic elites as well?
he successful artists’ talk about success and reputation is partly the product of the
art system, its institutional talk, or at least a culturally shared ideal. he artists adopt,
as part of the art system, certain ways to talk with which they shape their relationship
to art and its conventions (see Douglas 1987). According to Mary Douglas (op. cit.,
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10–30), diferent communities have shared ways of knowing and remembering through
which these communities explain themselves, ofer their members categories of thought
and strengthen their identity. Commercialism and self-promotion come across as
strongly negative categories of thought in the art system which was also underlined by
the interviewed artists. he mode of speech produced by this category of thought can
be summarised as follows: I’d rather sufer from cold and hunger than let commercial
success guide my work. his position is paradoxical as an artist’s breakthrough to success
requires (paying) audience. At least it makes the artists tightrope walkers; when is the
border to ‘dirty’ commercialism crossed, how much commercialism own integrity can
take and can the artist aford it?
Increasing commercialism has been discussed in many writings in Finland recent
years (e.g. Cronberg 2011; Mononen 2014). On one hand, it’s related to the discourse
on the rise of the creative economy and its possibilities, on the other hand, to questions
on how artists’ skills could be used in lexible ways and, in this way, improve their economic position. In recent years, talking about artists as entrepreneurs (i.a. Feinik 2011;
Herranen & Karttunen 2012) has become more frequent and entrepreunial skills training
has been included in the curricula of arts schools (Karhunen 2004; 60; Herranen et al.
2013, 167–177). hus, one could say that modern artists should or even must have a
certain degree of entrepreneurship (Bauer et al. 2011).
Interesting, but not necessarily surprising is that, according to research, artists have
traditionally had a very hesitant stance to entrepreneurship although artistic work in
basically any ield has a number of entrepreunial features, such as willingness to take risks
(Poorsoltan 2012). As one reason to this, Elisa Akola (2014) explains that making art
usually originates from the artist himself, not from the customers’ needs and, therefore,
artists don’t have that experience of being in contact with customers, as entrepreneurs do.
In addition, the idea of the ‘pure intention’ (Bourdieu 1984) in making art is connected
to the ideal that an artist should not work by following the economic goals which is
often connected to entrepreneurship (see also Tolvanen & Pesonen 2010, 33; Herranen
et al. 2013, 170–171).
hus most artists have a doubtful attitude to business which may be related to fears
about loosing the ‘purity’ of art, among others. As a counterbalance, art has always had
to justify its speciicity and, furthermore, its existence by convincing its funding sources
whether the mechanism is located between a bourgeois and a bohemian, between the
welfare state and an art professional or between a consumer and a salesman. For example,
the relationship between the art system and the welfare state can be seen as so close that
it must strongly impact on deining what kind of art is good and hence worth supporting (Alasuutari 1996, 238–244; Sevänen 1998, 352–365; Jokinen 2010, 278–310). In
this sense, there is always the ‘ghost of contamination’ lurking behind the making of
art – and it’s always present also in the form of gatekeepers of art, i.e. publishing houses
in literature and distributors in ilm-making.
hus we can ask whether the artists’ worry about the ‘contaminating’ efect of commercialism is justiied anymore. Self-promotion may be seen as a transition from art to
entertainment but the inching of entrepreneurship into art can also take place in a smaller
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scale, for example, by strengthening the business and bureaucratic skills of artists by way
of education (e.g. Bauer et al. 2011). At least in ideal cases, these skills are not directly
related to making art but to taking care of one’s own living and inances.
In the light of the values of the present art system, it appears that this contradiction
between art’s internal judging and market judging is permanent even though its boundaries
may be changing. An artist can work towards success and keep his ‘intentions pure’ but this
‘purity’ is only deined in the appraisals and critique by fellow artists and the art system.
he discourse dismissing success and reputation may also be interpreted as the shared way
inside the art system to protect the artists already before the possible commercial success.
An artist who either consciously or unconsciously does not share the art system’s categories
of thought as regards success, reputation and commercialism may even be categorized as
“a loser whose understanding of aesthetics and political stance happen to contradict with
the other extreme represented by the cultural elite” (Onninen 2013). One can of course
question whether the stigmatized artist is even interested in gaining the acceptance of the
cultural elite but it is, however, very clear that there’s a need to draw a clear line between
‘genuine’ art and the commercially oriented entertainment within the art system.
he negative stance of the artists to business and entrepreneurship can also be seen
as a counter-reaction to the empty promises of the creative talk. For example, the target
put forward by Tarja Cronberg (2011; 2013) that artists should be able to inance 70 per
cent of their life expenses by their art, by using the mechanisms of the creative economy,
is far from its realization and as long as there’s no improvement in sight, the pessimism
of the artists is easy to understand. With many artists, hostility to business orientation
is also purely ideological – as stated earlier, artists typically represent a certain, often leftleaning, avant-garde in the society. Consequently, resignation from all commercialism,
even at the cost of one’s standard of living becomes indisputable and the innovators of
the creative economy cannot ‘convert’ such artists.
his study cannot answer all the questions on the role of the increasing commercialism and entertainmentism arisen earlier. Still, the research data of this study can conirm
one phenomenon: artists want to focus on their own work without thinking of commercial success or publicity. Only by focusing on the work itself, success and publicity
may possibly follow. In other words, the recipe for (commercial) success is not its direct
pursuit as such. hus we can only hope that the relative freedom and independence of
art could also produce some more general common good in the society, whatever the
indicators to measure it are.
RELATIONSHIP TO WORK AND (ARTISTIC) IDENTITY
Not all the artists interviewed for the purposes of this study fully share the artist’s identity.
his questions the deinition of the research object as already noted in the introduction
of this publication. Although not all interviewees felt they were mainly artists, being an
artist made up at least one element in the construction of their identities, not always
positive though. To most interviewees, though, artisthood seemed to be a self-evident
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and signiicant part of their identities. his is paralleled with the ield-of-art-related subidentity of some artists, such as being an actor or a composer, and one artist’s experience
of being a ‘folk artist’ can be placed under the umbrella of artisthood, too. Even though
the artist’s identity is a relatively clear identity category the artists’ identities are often
lexible and consist of many interrelated parts (see also Hall 1999). And, according to
the basic principles of the life course analysis, an individual has a number of overlapping, co-existing and parallel positions (e.g. Häkkinen 2012) throughout his life which
interact with the diferent identity constructions. In the interviews of this study, the
most fundamental positions and identities were based on work thus, for most of the
interviewed artists, on the experience of being an artist39.
Six of the interviewed artists had a more complex relationship to the artist identity
or it clearly was only one part of the identity which was, in addition, not perceived
particularly strong or very much of their own. To some interviewees, the identity of an
entrepreneur had become equally strong or even stronger than that of the artist, despite,
for example, a degree in arts. In the following quote these two identities are parallel and
unproblematically overlap, including a certain bohemianism, too:
I think I’m, I’m somehow really bohemian, very diferent from my parents, for example. But I never
had that rebellion, if you mean that if I had that kind of a counter-reaction to their [...] Maybe I’m
quite nicely somewhere in between. I’ve never thought about that, being an entrepreneur, that it
would somehow exclude, I mean that being an artist and being an entrepreneur, that they would
somehow be opposing concepts, or mutually exclusive.
Two of the interviewees deined themselves as “workers” in the ield of arts, not as artists.
hey saw that making art means work and making a living and underlined the meaning
of diligence and humbleness. It’s interesting that both of them compared their work to
that of the athletes. It is notable, too, that none of them had an art and culture home
background which partly explains their interpretations on artisthood. A comparable
deinition was that of one artist; an “artist of applied arts”. his artist felt that the works
of art are for other people to use, maybe to bring some joy, and the artist hadn’t embraced the idea of art as free creation. Furthermore, one interviewee deined herself as
an artisan and she disliked the idea of deining her works as art even though she wanted
to “tell stories” with them.
Although not all the interviewees embraced the artist identity without reservation
it was something against which they mirrored their identities and, in any case, their
identities included at least parts of it. It is notable, too, that the experiences of being a
‘worker’ in the ield of art, an applied art artist or an artisan can be seen as elements of the
professionalization development of artisthood. An idea of artisthood as occupation, as a
professional identity was brought up in many interviews. his does not mean abandoning
39 It’s clear that already the research seing had an impact on this and directed the interviewees to
tell about their lives as arists, in paricular (see also excursion on gender in chapter 2).
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the artist’s identity but it’s a sign of a broader change in society, signs of which have been
visible for decades now (see Lepistö 1991, 18–20; Löytönen 2004, 151–161; Houni
& Ansio 2013a). Being an artist is a job as anything else, artists require an appropriate
inancial compensation for it and it’s generally seen as work. However, artisthood also
has that ‘little something’ which is both positive and negative to the artists themselves.
he ambivalence of the following quote is a good example on this:
A: Well I don’t think that my work is any more important than anybody else’s work. Even if I see
art as important in itself, at the same time, I think it’s as important as any other profession. Well
of course work is meaningful to anyone, it’s often a big part of your identity. In very many ields.
I: But do you think that you can’t escape being an artist?
A: Yes [...] I can’t, really. [...] It’s not something that you give up at some point in your life, not
something that you retire from. In that sense it’s a big part of your [identity].
THE ROLE OF CHANCE
As seen in the previous chapters, chance always plays a role in people’s life courses (e.g.
Häkkinen 2012). In the world of art, where insecurity is taken for granted, chance may
play an important role as to who or what rises to the surface and stays there. his was
evident also in the research data of this study.
Well then I just did this lousy piece of paper with a copying machine and sold it there in the Helsinki Comics Festival… and well… hat was the irst one and then I had this self-publication in
2006 with which I contacted the Sammakko publishing house and they wanted to do a hardcover
on it, including some other things, too, and it turned out to be a well-measured book. hat was
my thesis work, then. So that was the big bang… and then just before it was published in February
it was named the domestic Comic of the Month in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper so that must have
been the… big step or something… or the biggest step forward… so people already knew about
it because they had read about it in the internet. And then when they realized that it had received
this recognition, well that was the really big thing. Ilta-Sanomat received more positive feedback on
that, more than they had ever received of any comics. And then also that self-publication… there
were so many unique and unforeseen things related to that, something that had never happened
to any comics before. hat book, my self-publication was also the fourth most sold book in the
Akateeminen bookstore… I don’t remember in which month… but anyway something like that…
I mean a self-publication that was one of their most sold books in one month was something that
had never happened before, to a comic strip. hat was pretty wild.
In this quotation, the artist reports on the quick start of the career, right after graduation.
It was “the biggest step” and “pretty wild” and the artist didn’t even quite understand what
happened. Of course this was not a pure coincidence and a lot of work had preceded this
turning point. Similar turning points were seen during the careers of almost all interviewees
(see also Clausen 1998). hese events are mostly logically set as part of the life course, as if
they would have been in the pipeline and just waited for the right moment. One important aspect here is an individual’s tendency to see the life as a logically advancing storyline
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where diferent turns play their own, important role (Hänninen 2000). Typically, chance
is seen as something that makes a diference in the details, projects, timings and success of
the artistic career. As noticed earlier, however, embarking on the artistic career is not seen
as a coincidence in a similar way but as following one’s vocation.
Not to mention what happens then when you’ve signed your contract or you’ve had [your work on
display]. I mean how you’re noticed, what kind of critics you get, I mean that you have some kind
of an audience to your works, it requires more good luck and happy coincidences and of course it
doesn’t mean that everything’s just pure chance but those elements are very much involved, anyway.
[...] I was just thinking about athletes, they have it all the time, well sport requires it by deinition,
I mean that they have really tough competition between them, it’s just not seen in the same way,
and then our competition is so diferent from that of sports, there’s actually so little what you can
do yourself. [...] And actually I’d love to have this situation that us artists [with a laugh] could just
go somewhere on a starting line and run and you could measure everything, not just have all these
diferent works of art which are impossible to be put in any ranking order. Or I could easily imagine
a world, a world of arts with no competition whatsoever but it’s just so utopian.
In this extract, some of the twists and stumbling stones of an artist’s career are discussed.
Happy coincidences are needed all the time in order to have one’s works on display and,
through that, achieve even some success. he interviewee compares artists to athletes – this
was actually quite frequent in the interviews, partly due to the fact that the interviewees
knew that athletes were interviewed within the same research project – and states that
measuring success is so much easier with athletes. It doesn’t mean that life in general was
any easier but at least their performance, whether it’s good or bad, can easily be compared.
he role of chance reminds of the relativity of success. he best don’t always make it
to the top and nobody’s success is eternal: chance can either dash you to the top or drag
you down, instantly. he role of chance also demonstrates how success is never purely
dependent on the abilities of an individual, contrary to what is commonly suggested in
contemporary talk40 (see also Nyytäjä 2007; Gladwell 2008).
EXCURSION: COMPARISON TO ATHLETES
Both athletes and artists are in the focus of this research project. he interviewees were
aware of this at the time of the interviews which seemed to ofer an interesting perspec40 Yu Hua (2012, 83) in his book China in Ten Words gives a hilarious, from the Finnish perspecive an
extreme example on the role of chance in the career of an author. Yu Hua started wriing ater the
Cultural Revoluion when there suddenly were more than 1000 new literature publicaions on the
market, within a few years. For some ime, there was more demand than supply of wriings unil
everything turned upside down: ”Looking back, I rejoice that I was able to catch the tail end of
that honeymoon period of ’80s. If I had started wriing couple of years later, I think it very unlikely
that an editor would have discovered me in those mountains of unsolicited submissions, and I’d
sill be there in that small-town hospital in the south, brandishing my forceps and extracing teeth
for eight hours a day.”
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tive to artists, in particular, and many of them actually compared their careers and life
courses to those of the athletes. First of all, many artists pointed out that measuring
performance, whether one is good or bad, is so much easier in sports. In arts, there are
no quantitative indicators on ofer, and acknowledgements and prizes are often won on
relatively arbitrary grounds. In other words, artists speculated on the possibility of having
a similar system for measuring the quality and superiority of arts but, at the same time,
it was concluded that it’s a good thing that art is free of easy judging.
Secondly, many artists felt relieved that their careers were not connected to physical performance and, consequently, age. An artist’s career can not only start later but
also continue till the normal retirement age and above. A career in sports was seen as
unscrupulous and demanding, age-related and, in general, as a risky choice – thus even
riskier than an artist’s career which is often perceived as insecure and challenging. he
following quote sums this setting up in an apt way:
Athletes are really tragic characters in this [the length of career] sense. [...] It’s unbelievable. Now
that I’m not that young anymore, I’ve started to follow sports in the newspapers and seen how
many people younger than I am inish their careers. Or maybe some of them are a bit older than
I am. What I mean that an athlete’s career is really short. An artist can at least hope that he can
continue a bit longer.
hirdly, in the artist’s career the top of the career is not so easily identiied as in sport
– at least all artists hope that the best is yet to come. his is related to what was said
above, that the peak of the career is not so well measurable as in sports, for example,
where success in major international competitions can easily be named as the top of the
career. In an artist’s career, the peak may well be reached towards the end of life – and,
in some cases, even after that.
Fourthly, both walks of life include competition but whereas competition is an end in
itself in sports, the approach to competition is more ambivalent in arts. Still, in both careers
the most important competition is against oneself, with self-development in mind. his
is one of the most easily located common features between artists and athletes and some
of the interviewed artists said that, in this sense, they have “the mentality of an athlete”.
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IV Micro data in sport:
dropout and
multicultural athletes
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
8 Dropout athletes
here is a lot of international and national research on the dropout and a widespread
concern in both Finland (e.g. Lämsä & Mäenpää 2004; Aira et al. 2013; Tiirikainen
& Konu 2013; Puronaho 2014) and elsewhere (e.g. Butcher et al. 2002; Wall & Côté
2007; Fraser-homas et al. 2008) about the decreasing amount of sport and exercise in
preadolescence. his phenomenon is problematic especially from the point of view of
national health but it’s also related to other pitfalls of sport and exercise of children and
youth such as increasing participation fees and the polarization of sport and exercise
(e.g. Tiirikainen & Konu 2013; Puronaho 2014).
One feature of the dropout or dropof phenomena (e.g. Aira et al. 2013) which
cannot be tackled with the help of the research data of this study is the general decrease
of sport and exercise among young people. In any case, it’s important to understand
the problematics behind the decrease of sport and exercise also from the point of view
of elite sports: decreasing physical activity among young people weakens the potential
‘resource base’ (OPM 2010a) of elite sports. Often the ‘sport paths’ designed on the
conditions of elite sports may actually drop some of the potential future elite athletes
of the journey. Andrew Smith and Ken Green (2005) who have studied the decreasing
physical activity of adolescents remind that the reasons for the decision to quit sport
cannot solely be traced in the framework of sport and exercise by, for example, thinking
about what went wrong in that speciic sport activity. It is more important to understand
the wider and more complex mutual relations in society. he same applies to dropping
out of elite sports – life courses must be analysed as a whole (Tiirikainen & Konu 2013).
PERSPECTIVE: A HISTORICAL NOTE TO THE DROPPING OUT DEBATE
A new perspective into the dropout debate may be opened up with the help of historical
studies. In their 2013 report, Mikko Tiirikainen and Anu Konu (2013) wrote about different factors inluencing the dropout decision (see also Lämsä 2002). hey summarise
diferent views into the dropping out phenomenon, including the individual perspective,
the sport system perspective and, for example, coaching practices (op. cit.). All these
perspectives are certainly important and explain the phenomenon but the whole question on dropping out could be formulated diferently. Instead of asking “why do young
people drop out?” we could also ask “why should young people continue?” Dropping
out of sport at approximately age 15 is not an exception to what used to be, as one
could easily think when talking about the dropout phenomenon but, on the contrary,
a very typical phenomenon in the historical context. Statistics can be found from the
early 1980’s onwards (Aaltonen 1993). hen, in the data on young people’s free time
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and everyday culture, the decrease in sport participation was clearly seen at about age
15 (op. cit.). Maybe we should, however, move even further back in time, to the 1920’s
and 1940’s to better understand the development of the phenomenon of dropping out
of sport in the context of the Finnish society.
In his dissertation, Rafael Helanko (1953) studied 1940’s boy gangs in Turku and
made observations which suggest seeing dropping out of sport as a wider phenomenon,
related to urban youth and as an age-related transition. he boy gangs studied by Helanko
(op. cit.) anticipated the organized sport club activities developed later although these
activities were organized by the boys themselves back in the 1940’s. Already in surveys
made in the 1920’s (Bruhn 1937) the secondary school boys had been observed to be
physically very active in the 10–14 age group. he most physically active years occurred
between 10 and 12 years of age. he amount of these so called ‘gymnast activities’ decreased clearly from age 15 onwards. Professor Karl Bruhn who wrote the study report
concluded that emphasizing physical activities so much was maybe due to Paavo Nurmi’s
coinciding success which made young boys momentarily very fascinated by sport activities.
he research data collected by Helanko (1953) in the 1940’s indicated that the amount
of physical activities at leisure had, on the contrary, increased so he concluded that Bruhn
(1937) put too much emphasis on the relationship between the timing of the study and
Nurmi’s success. Also in the boy gangs studied by Helanko (1953, 80–81), the peak in
the amount of physical activities was reached at age 10–12 and it decreased sharply from
age 15 onwards. Social team sports, soccer in particular, were popular among the 11–13
year olds in both Bruhn’s (1937) (10 000 secondary school students) and Helanko’s (1953,
83) data. he importance of team sports decreased with age as more individual free time
activities increased in importance. Aesthetic activities, arts and crafts as well as track and
ield gave way to social team sports in the boys’ lives for a few years in their late childhood
years but they gained in importance as leisure activities again at age 15–16 (op. cit., 80, 84).
he 50 years time leap from Helanko’s (1953) study to today does not bring very
much new compared to the observations of the 1920’s and 1940’s. In his 2002 article
Harrastusten jääminen (’Dropping out of activities’) Jari Lämsä (2002) writes that young
people’s sports club activities are at their most active level at age 10–12. According to
Lämsä (op. cit.), sport has become deliberate practice but yet the logic between age
and activity level is nearly identical to the observations made half a century earlier. he
studies of Bruhn (1937) and Helanko (1953), in particular, strongly signal that, in the
urban environment, social ball games are the most natural way of exercise and social
interaction between boys. Helanko (1953, 94) even adds that hanging around in groups
and the social ball games related to it are a universal phenomenon which can be seen
“in any time and in any place”.
Bruhn (1937), Helanko (1953) and Lämsä (2002) ofer a universally human, historical
perspective into examining the modern dropout phenomenon. It appears that the meaning
of social team sports and sport in general in the lives of young people – here especially
boys – decreases at age 15 and has done so throughout the last 100 years, hence dropping out seems to be the norm, not an exception (Bruhn 1937; Helanko 1953; Aaltonen
1993; Lämsä 2002; e.g. Lämsä & Mäenpää 2004; Huhta & Nipuli 2011; Aira et al.
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2013; Tiirikainen & Konu 2013; Puronaho 2014). It seems to be primarily connected
to young people’s individual and age-related transitions and socio-psychological factors
(see Lämsä 2002) related to group action, and further accelerated by the excluding acts
of the sport system (e.g. Tiirikainen & Konu 2013). In conclusion, there have been at
least partly erroneous conclusions on the dropout phenomenon in the public debate – as
if it was something new or exceptional.
his perspective suggests updating the research paradigm of the dropout phenomenon.
Viewing dropping out as ‘dropping’ or ‘dropping oneself ’ out of the sport system makes
young people look abnormal and their acts as ‘wrong’ which blurs the whole perspective, from the agency point of view. In this way, the sport system is seen as if it had an
inbuilt power to attract the 15+ athletes regardless of which the young person drops out.
However, this is not the case and has not been in the past 100 years. All recent studies
on the dropout phenomenon (e.g. Lämsä 2002; Lämsä & Mäenpää 2004; Huhta &
Nipuli 2011; Aira et al. 2013; Tiirikainen & Konu 2013; Puronaho 2014) indicate that
the sport system has rather speeded up the excluding push factor hence a more justiied
question to study this phenomenon could be ‘why and how young people should, despite the typical age-related transition, continue deliberate practice in the system which
actively tries to push the amateur athletes out from it?’ Jari Lämsä (2002, 85) sums up
the relationship between the modern sport system and the dropping out of sport of
young athletes in an insightful way: “We can, however, suggest that purely on the basis
of the logic of the elite sports, the dropout phenomenon is an integral part of elite and
competitive sports. he system is created for winners. Less excellent athletes outside the
top 10 are needed to spur the elite but there’s no other role for them.”
DROPPING OUT ON THE VERGE OF MASTERY
In addition to the dropout phenomenon in adolescence, the phenomenon has also been
studied in the context of elite sports. he research objects have been young talents (e.g.
Enoksen 2011; Moesch et al. 2012) who have dropped out just before reaching the top
and also the phenomenon of ‘retirement’ from elite sports (e.g. Drahota & Eitzen 1998;
Torregrosa et al. 2004; Lally 2007; Price et al. 2010). In the analysis of this chapter, retirement is discussed as well but the main attention is directed to those promising young
athletes who, for one reason or another, have dropped out of sport just on the verge of
mastery. hese athletes have not only changed discipline (cf. Butcher et al. 2002) but
discontinued the goal-oriented sport practice altogether.
According to international research, factors increasing the probability of dropping out
include early specialization, one-sided practice, pressure from parents and coaches and
little time to other activities (e.g. Butcher et al. 2002; Fraser-homas et al. 2005; Wall &
Côté 2007; Fraser-homas et al. 2008; Enoksen 2011; Moesch et al. 2012; Rottensteiner
et al. 2013). Simply not having fun anymore is one of the main reasons for dropping
out, as observed in a number of studies (Butcher et al. 2002; Wall & Côté 2007). In
this chapter, the results of earlier studies are compared to the research data of this study
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and its analysis. In particular, the qualitative reasons for dropping out are discussed as
the size of the data does not allow any quantitative comparison of our research data to
international data sets (cf. Enoksen 2011).
he reasons for dropout are often multiple: individual reasons, the athlete’s active
decisions or surrounding factors beyond his or her control. As deined in the irst publication of this research project (Piispa 2013c, 33–34), the athletes who had discontinued
their careers and were interviewed for the purposes of this study were either ”those who
didn’t have enough to reach the top” or athletes ”who chose to quit”. heir ”elite sport
careers didn’t ever really start or they clearly quit sport practice before reaching mastery,
sometimes surprisingly”.
here are 18 dropouts in the research data who have inished their careers. he
starting point of the analysis is the personal experience, as told by the athlete himself.
For example, the athlete in the following extract sees himself as a dropout. he reasons
become evident, too: he could never concentrate that much in sport, to feel that he would
have reached mastery. Elsewhere in the interview he compared himself to some of the
successful athletes in his sport and told that he feels he’s not on the same level with them.
I’ve been thinking that I must it into that dropout category. I’ve noticed that I’m quite good [...]
But there’s still something missing, I have not had this long, uninterrupted period to focus on
[sport]. To see what I’m able to reach, that is.
Of the athletes who had dropped out, six are women and twelve are men. Six athletes
have a multicultural background. he life stories of multicultural athletes and the reasons
why they have inished their careers open up an interesting and previously unexplored
additional dimension (see, however, Huhta 2013) which is also discussed in chapter 9.
Twelve of the dropouts represented team sports, four traditional individual sports and
two lifestyle sports. When collecting data, we deliberately chose ten athletes in one
sport, soccer. With this decision we aimed at improved comparison possibilities and a
kind of micro data within a more comprehensive data. he analysis is not restricted to
soccer players only, however, as also athletes in other sports shared similar experiences
and insights into the reasons behind inishing their sport careers.
Many of the interviewed dropouts had continued in their sport at the recreational
level after the actual career. As elite sport is the framework of this study, such ‘cooling
of’ is deined as inishing the career, an interpretation shared by the interviewees. Some
of them stated that even though they still practised sport, they have inished their careers
because they don’t compete or do their sport in a goal-oriented way anymore, or in
their own words, ‘they don’t take it seriously anymore’. We shall emphasize that none of
them stopped because of an external factor, such as the practice institution, would have
‘eliminated’ them at some point of their careers (cf. Huijgen et al. 2014).
Reasons for dropping out were already reviewed within the irst publication of this
research project (Piispa 2013c). Now the interviews of these athletes are analysed in more
detail and clear categorizations of the life course factors leading to discontinuation of
career are made. In this way, we try to understand the discontinuation decisions from the
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point of view of the life course of an individual, the structures of sport and, above all, as
transitions and turning points connected to athlete’s life outside the world of sports. he
life course analysis is a very good tool for analysing the reasons for discontinuation and
it also contributes to the comparison between the dropouts and the actual elite athletes.
his study has already illustrated what it takes to be an elite athlete: diferent capitals,
natural talent, personal motivation and so on. It is also important to make sacriices and to
put the sports career and athletes rationality irst. An elite athlete is ready for a disciplined
and challenging lifestyle even though it often means abandoning or postponing many
things involved in the normal life course. Kalevi Heinilä (1998, 150), for instance, states
that the athlete’s career coincides with that phase of life when young people typically
aim for “proper education, occupational career, getting married, family life, recreational
and other”. Elite sports are a risky investment in many ways: an athlete’s career is short
and vulnerable to injuries, and often studies and other similar projects sufer. As Timo
Metsä-Tokila (2001, 44) writes: ”the worst case scenario may be that the young person
concentrates on sport and neglects school but, after a while, also inishes his sports career”.
hus striving to be an elite athlete requires exceptional character and willingness to take
risks. his is emphasized in chapter 5 where the transitions and choices of an elite athlete
were discussed and where it was concluded that a career in elite sports requires stability
and symmetry (see also Gould & Diefenbach 2002). Athletes are willing to sacriice
many other things in their lives to reach the top. hey have ‘an abnormal rationality’
(Piispa 2013c ) which can also be described by the concept of experience rationality of
Gerhard Schulze (1992). his means that the experiences produced by sport are valued
higher than the ‘stable and secure’ rewards of the normal life course.
Naturally, taking risks in striving to the top in sports also means the possibility to
fail. An unfortunate coincidence – an injury, for example – may anytime put an end to
the dreams of becoming an elite athlete (see also Enoksen 2011). We can conclude that
when they quit, the athletes move towards a more normal life course – some of them
willingly, some of them not. he important transitions and turning points in life and
understanding their nature are, among the other main principles of the life course (Elder
& Giele 2009; Häkkinen 2012) analysis, the key factors in trying to map the reasons
for dropout in sports. An elite athlete tries to avoid such disturbances in life that could
interrupt his career. At the same time, he has to invest in his own development and compete against others. External conditions have to be in place in order to be able to focus
on maintaining the internal symmetry and, thus, continuous development. As in the
world and in people’s lives in general, this symmetry is always under threat. Symmetric
structures to ight chaos are, at their best, temporary. his applies to the career of an elite
athlete as the symmetry can collapse anytime due to external but also internal factors.
DROPPING OUT AS A TRANSITION OF THE LIFE COURSE
he reasons behind the dropout have been analysed in one of the articles of the irst
publication of this research project (Piispa 2013c, 34–39). he reasons listed in the
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article serve as a good starting point. Often a single athlete has multiple reasons of the
following: junior success, disappointments in sport, burnout, injuries, life diiculties,
other paths and money. Other studies have made similar categorizations on the reasons
for discontinuation (e.g. Rottensteiner et al. 2013).
Junior success often meant that the hunger for success had partly been satisied when
entering the adult level. We have to bear in mind, however, that each athlete deines
his or her individual success goals. To some of them, success in junior competitions is
‘just the beginning’ whereas to others it might be a suicient experience after which the
athlete concludes that he has had enough of goal-oriented sports. On the other hand,
success in junior years may create an illusion that reaching the top is easy. Consequently,
investments in practice and development decrease and other athletes may overperform
such athletes when entering adult leagues.
Opposite experiences in junior leagues are the internal disappointments in sports.
Such experiences may involve diiculties with coaches or team mates. Some also reported
that they were left alone in problem situations. Similar conclusions have been made as
to the general reasons for discontinuing deliberate practice. In 2002, Jari Lämsä (2002)
wrote that 40 per cent of the 14–15 year old ice hockey players stated poor coaching
as one of the reasons for stopping sport. However, the researcher adds that there might
be other reasons too, such as poor team spirit, bullying and other conlicts which are
personiied to the coach. It’s also important to understand the contradicting values and
ways of working between, on one hand, the traditional sport system and, on the other
hand, the children of the quickly changing modern society. In traditional sports, the
models and role expectations created by adults can be very rigid whereas, in the midst
of the rapid change in society, youth, their mindsets and approaches to diferent ideas
are in constant change. (Op. cit.)
Burnout that came up in the research data occurred as a result of too strong a physical
and mental burden in junior years and was closely related to the one-sided nature of sport
too early. As many as 11 of the dropouts reported on having practised only one sport
whereas elite athletes in general had usually practised at least two, many of them many
more, sports. Four of the dropouts reported on having had two sports and only three
had three or more sports. (E.g. Wall & Côté 2007.) Athletes don’t necessarily remember
to report on every sport they’ve played, and many of them may have thought that the
question was only related to those sports done in deliberate practice. Consequently, the
actual number of practised sports is probably larger than what the research results suggest. Still, the fewer number of practised sports of the dropout athletes is marked. he
median of the number of sports practised was 1 and the average 1.7 which is a remarkable
diference to those who actually reached the top.
For this part, the athletes who had inished their careers and were interviewed for
the purposes of this study correspond remarkably well the picture drawn in previous
international research (Wall & Côté 2007; Côté et al. 2007), as to the consequences of
monotonous practice and too early specialization. Of the 15 elite level soccer players,
12 had practised at least one additional sport whereas the corresponding number was
3/10 of the dropout soccer players and as low as 0/6 of the male soccer players of those.
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However, it’s not always about the development of skills or physical development but
often also about psychological factors such as fatigue. In addition, monotonous practice may expose the athlete to strain-related injuries (e.g. Malina 2010; Huxley 2014).
Next quote sums this up in an expressive way. he interviewed elite soccer player, not a
dropout, tells how the diversity of soccer may be an illusion. He’s ”got so much” from
other sports and, therefore, life is ”not only soccer”:
I’m very grateful that we did so many diferent things when I was little. hat there’s been so much
variation. If somebody asked me for advice, I’d tell to do many diferent sports when you’re little,
that’s the irst thing that comes to mind. Let’s think about soccer; you would think that it’s versatile
enough. Well, yes, in a way. But I’ve got so much from track and ield. And only to maintain your
mental balance, you need to do other things too. I’m thinking of those talented people who only
have soccer and nothing else. When soccer sucks, they collapse. I’ve seen those examples, from very
close. One minor injury, and that’s it. hen you get so gloomy that there’s no return. You have no
joy in life anymore. Your whole life is of when something disastrous happens.
Injuries obviously are one of the main reasons for dropout but, on the other hand, with
some elite level athletes injuries at a suitable point of career had ofered a welcomed break
from sport in the middle of those busy youth years. Taking into account that injuries
inevitably belong to sports, their impact on the decision to quit is not straightforward. It’s
important to analyse how athletes recover from injuries. If, for example, the young athlete
feels that he or she is left alone during rehabilitation (see also Yle, Finnish Broadcasting
Company/Ranta 20.5.2014) or that the extra burden of the injury does not encourage
him to rehabilitate himself back to the, by deinition, uncertain career, goal-oriented
sports may be easily abandoned (see also Wall & Côté 2007; Enoksen 2011).
Diiculties in life stand for non-sport events that have an adverse efect on sports.
One of them is, for example, parents’ divorce that takes the focus out of sport. Also ‘other
paths’ are a non-sport factor, mainly meaning other features and temptations in young
people’s lives. Money matters too, by this we mean the low income levels and economic
uncertainty in sports (see also Kärmeniemi et al. 2013).
In addition to the reasons listed above, it is notable that only 6 out of the 18 dropouts
had inherited an intergenerational sport relationship at home. Of those who had reached
the top, 45/78 had inherited this relationship from their parents. he relative diference
is not signiicant and with a research data of this size, we cannot draw any far-reaching
conclusions on this. However, the diference is there and an intergenerational sport relationship may support the athlete in diicult phases and in discontinuation thoughts, and
ofer both material and mental resources in the struggles of sport. Comparison is made
easier by looking into the soccer players in the data: out of the ten dropouts ive (2/6 of
men) had inherited an intergenerational sport relationship whereas the corresponding
igure at the elite level was 12/15. here were no signiicant diferences between the
dropouts and the elite athletes as to the age of onset of sport and exercise in general, the
main sport or the number of sporty siblings. he intergenerational sport relationship
was particularly weak with the multicultural athletes who had inished their sport career:
only 1/6 came from a family with strong intergenerational sport relationship. Some of
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them mentioned also separately that they didn’t have any model or family encouragement to a career in sports.
When comparing the dropouts’ careers to the transitions of the elite athletes discussed
earlier we can conclude that diferences are usually seen from early on. Most have left
or have been made to leave other sports except the main sport unnecessarily early. heir
development phase at approximately age 12–18 has often been characterized by haste
and narrow margins to other things in life. here hasn’t been enough room for sampling.
hey have made it beyond the crossroads of the development phase but the transition
to the top has never fully taken place. Some of them dropped or dropped themselves
out of the elite level shortly after they had reached it. hus something went wrong and,
as sport is an expressly cumulative activity, the dropping out can often be traced much
further back to adolescence instead of its actual timing.
In the following subchapters the diferentiation presented earlier is brought to a
new level and connected to the framework of the life course analysis (see Piispa 2013c).
he previously listed reasons for inishing sport which often have a combined impact
on dropping out decision are not separate from the individual’s life in general. On the
contrary, the decision to drop out is made, on one hand, on the basis of the personal
choices of an individual and, on the other hand, on the basis of outside events and developments beyond his or her control. hus, the process of dropout can be divided into
three diferent types: deliberate (5 athletes), abrupt (6) and slow (7).
Deliberate dropout
he deliberately dropped out had already thought about inishing their careers for quite
some time and they decided to abandon their careers in sports in order to be able to invest
in other things in life, especially studying. We can conclude that with the deliberately
dropped out, other options in life took over the discipline needed in sport (see also Wall
& Côté 2007; Rottensteiner et al. 2013). hey opted for a lifestyle with more freedom and
less risks. he model of a normal life course in the surrounding society – or some other
competing model (e.g. Häkkinen 2012; see also Piispa & Salasuo 2014) – took over the
challenging lifestyle of an athlete involving sacriices and risk-taking. (See also Piispa 2013b.)
All the deliberately dropped out told that they never really had that motivation
needed to reach mastery (see also Moesch et al. 2012). he interviewees formulated
this in diferent ways: one said that he never really embraced the identity of an athlete
and the other one that he didn’t have that ”full spark” needed in sports. A recreational
ethos was emphasized in this category of dropouts: they loved their sport but when it
was time to do something else, abandoning sport was not problematic. In the following
quote the interviewee says that he had thought about dropping out for years and, at the
same time, developed a desire to do ”something new in life”. he decision to drop out
was well justiied and its timing felt natural. Still, it’s worth noting that at irst he only
decided to ”take a year of” which later turned out to be permanent.
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It was a natural moment to take that decision. My contract came to an end. And everyone knew, not
only me but the whole club management, that now I’m somehow going to decide. At least it was
very clear to me. From my secondary school years on I had thought about dropping out, whether I
wanted to do this anymore. [...] So at that point it was nothing new, I knew that I was going to stop.
But then I didn’t want to say that now I stop. It was more like I wanted something new in my life.
hat’s why I took a year of.
When analyzing the reasons why the deliberately dropped out actually quitted (Piispa
2013c, 34–39), the importance of sampling other life paths is emphasized. Christoph
Rottensteiner et al. (2013) have presented similar results when they studied young team
sport athletes’ reasons for dropping out: the most frequent reason was ”I had something
else to do” (71%). Economic insecurity and junior success were closely connected to
this reason. In the following quote a young athlete in individual sports reports on the
inancial diiculties despite success, how the athlete has to take other jobs. If the resources
were better, the willpower for hard training would be found.
It requires so much. I just don’t have all that willpower for training and competitions. If I could get
money from somewhere, if I had good sponsors and money to my food and rent, it would be diferent.
But as I have to work and everything, it just becomes too much. I’m not a robot.
Some deliberate droppers reported that the inancial insecurity of sports had an impact
on their decisions to stop. he desire to educate oneself to a ”real occupation” with a
reasonable income was often stronger than the desire to become an elite athlete. he
Danes Mette Christensen and Jan Sørensen (2009) found out in their study that the
pressures from both soccer and school cause stress and even mental problems among
the young soccer players. Hence it often came to choosing between school and soccer
(see also Enoksen 2011).
here is some hesitation in the following quote, too, but not as regards the decision
to quit sport but rather to the choice of sport itself. An individual sport could have been
inancially more secure and would maybe have ofered more personal freedom compared
to team sports:
I just had this feeling that I’ve had enough. Of course it was a diicult decision. But I haven’t really
regretted it. So I think it was the right thing to do. he only thing I do regret is that I clearly would
have had talent to any sport, really. It’s annoying that I didn’t choose that [individual sport] then. It
would have been more lexible, too, no training every day at 4:30 with the team as I could have chosen
myself when to train, not with the whole team.
As the quotation illustrates, the athlete was happy with the decision. In general, the deliberately dropped out didn’t regret their decisions. All of them continued doing sports
in some way. Some of them reported on having sometimes missed the excitement of
competitions but none of them had any second thoughts on aiming at the top again.
he decision was particularly easy for the following ex-team sports athlete as his identity
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was not solely built on sport. Sport had been more a personal choice and therefore ”easy
to let go” when the athlete so decided.
I’ve never really identiied myself as an athlete so that must be the reason why sport always was just
my own thing, something that I chose. I’ve always had a feeling that it’s been under my control. And
then, as it hasn’t had any strong impact on my identity… well it has, of course, but not in a way that
I would have built my whole identity on that sport… so it was easy to let go at that point when it felt
right, when I felt that I don’t get so much out of it anymore, not as much as I wanted.
he stories of the deliberately dropped out correspond to the results of other international
studies: when the athletes are empowered to take their own decisions, they become less
painful and the transition to life after sport becomes smoother (e.g. Alfermann et al. 2004;
Erpić et al. 2004; Price et al. 2010). Another conclusion in previous international research
(i.a. Price et al. 2010; Alfermann et al. 2004; Lally 2007) is that when sport is not the
central building block of the athlete’s identity it’s easier to quit. Also empowerment in
one’s choices and the social capitals (see also Tierney 2013) behind them are important.
Although the deliberately dropped out had had time to relect on their decision
for a longer time, the inal decision was not necessarily easy. Especially other people’s
reactions were a source of concern. In the following quote a team sports athlete who
had thought about quitting on her own for two years reports on how she started telling
others by irst ”sensing” the reactions of her mother. When her mother approved, she
had the courage to tell others, too.
So that’s how it began, I irst listened to my mum’s reactions, I told her that it was not fun anymore. Well,
she had noticed that this was the way it was, and she approved. Maybe that’s where I got the courage…
I mean that I decided to test the idea with others, too, that maybe it’s not the end of the world if I quit.
Elsewhere in her interview, the athlete of this quote tells that many people near her asked
her to continue. Discontinuing her career was not easy and the decision was, in the end,
left ‘pending’ for some time. Many of her acquaintances kept asking about her possible
return for a long time after her decision. Actually all the deliberate dropouts reported on
similar experiences. For them, being an athlete was not the strongest part of their identities and inishing goal-oriented sports felt like a natural choice to them although not all
the people around them necessarily understood it in the same way. Some of them chose
the strategy of talking about a possible return long after their decision even though they
knew very well that this was hardly going to be the case. In this way, they could avoid
unpleasant situations and maybe also keep the psychologically important window open.
Abrupt dropout
Whereas the deliberately dropped out had thought about discontinuation for a long time
and started to change the direction of their life courses well in advance, those who dropped
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out abruptly had a very diferent situation. For them, unfortunate coincidences in either
sports or outside it made the promising career in sports stop without prior warning.
As Antti Häkkinen (2012, 384) writes: ”An individual may actively try to time certain
key events but sometimes it’s more about being passively thrown into that situation in
a certain point of one’s life course.” Elsewhere he (op. cit., 382) continues by stressing
the meaning of agency which is strongly connected to an individual’s life course: ”We
have to bear in mind that the principle of agency does not automatically include the
idea that actions were somehow very conscious and rational. [...] Chance plays its role,
too.” As said, an elite athlete’s career is a multidimensional and well-balanced equation
requiring stable conditions and symmetry (e.g. Henriksen et al. 2010). hus, unfortunate coincidences or simply wrong timing of the turning points in life may take this
symmetry out of balance and make discontinuation of the aspiring career look the best
option to the athlete.
In the next passage, the interviewed athlete describes how diicult life events, such
as the end of a long-term relationship, coincide and therefore had a signiicant impact
on the athlete’s mind, to the detriment of his career in sports. he situation was ”sensitive” and the interviewee didn’t feel ”normal”. Dropout occurred abruptly without any
relection – he just didn’t appear in training anymore.
I broke up with my long-term girlfriend and of course it had an impact, these are diicult things…
And there were so many other things, too… well, I was not in burnout but quite close to it, really. I
just couldn’t take it anymore. For example when I went to my last training sessions with [the name
of the team] I just had too much of everything. So after one good training session I just called my
coach to tell him that I come back in January. hat was before Christmas and I never went back.
his illustrates the sensitivity of that situation, normally I’m not like that. I usually think more
long-term. hese are situations where your mental well-being is very important, too. Even though
the other things don’t have that much to do with playing that sport, I guess. Well, there were all
those diicult other things towards the end.
here were several negative turns and unfortunate coincidences in this athlete’s life in a
fairly short period of time. Such turns and coincidences were typically very diverse among
those who dropped out abruptly: one athlete’s long-term team broke up and he couldn’t
ind a suitable new club, another athlete sufered from wrongful medical treatment. One
athlete in individual sports had very diferent ideas on training compared to his training
mates which ended up in personal conlicts and discontinuation of that sport. hree
athletes had non-sport life diiculties that coincided with diiculties in sport. hese
included parents’ divorce at the same time when the athlete had some troubles with a
new coach (see also Pensgaard & Roberts 2002). When comparing these observations
to the categorisation (Piispa 2013c, 34–39) made before, the most frequent reasons to
quit among the abruptly dropped out included internal disappointments in sport, junior
success, injuries and life diiculties.
he impact of junior success to the discontinuation decision was twofold, and not
only with the abruptly dropped out. Junior success may have had satisied the hunger
for success but, on the other hand, a successful junior athlete may have had it easier in
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junior level. he following quote illustrates the latter setting. A team sport athlete tells
how junior success ”made him a bit arrogant”. At the same time he forgot that his team
mates needed to try even harder because they were not yet seen as potential future talents.
He had the illusion that reaching the top was easy. Later he encountered problems not
only in sports but also outside it and just couldn’t overcome them. Junior success had
actually been detrimental to this athlete’s capabilities to handle diiculties in sport and
in life in general.
I was always the only one in my age group who was selected to national teams and was chosen as
the player of the year and so on [...] So of course it made me a bit arrogant and that was one of the
reasons why I didn’t have that training… well, I should have understood that it was nothing yet
[with a sneer]. [...] Now when I see back and try to analyse it, there was this illusion when I was
praised and there was all this hype so I thought that I can just move on for forever and I forgot
that I had my team mates there with me who were not that praised and they were actually working
very hard, too, to have those same results. And I was just like, well, this is it, I’ve done my part.
his quotation reminds us of how junior success does not yet make a promising athlete
to an elite athlete. Paul Ford and Mark Williams (2012) studied 15-year-old ’elite soccer players’ and concluded that these young players had adhered very early to soccer in
terms of deliberate play and deliberate practice – thus not to ball games in general but
to soccer in particular. We might ask, however, whether these 15-year-old elite players
actually reached the top in adult leagues. In addition, we may ask whether we can talk
about elite players among the 15-year-olds. On the other hand, Ford and Williams (op.
cit.) themselves remind that they only studied typical development paths in England
which doesn’t yet prove that this average were ideal: ”It may be that the pathway followed
by professional players in England is not optimal for developing expert performance in
soccer player” (op. cit., 352). In any case, this interview quotation proves that junior
success does not guarantee reaching the top in the adults’ leagues (see also Anderson &
Miller 2011; Güllich 2014b; Ostojic et al. 2014).
Five of those athletes who had dropped out in an abrupt way had at least some
second thoughts, regrets and even bitterness after the decision. An unfortunate turning
point is something you cannot prepare for. On the other hand, three of those abruptly
dropped out said that they probably didn’t have enough motivation to reach the top.
One athlete told that he was probably not “rude enough”. To some extent, these athletes
lacked the experience rationality which is typical to elite athletes. Otherwise they could
have overcome those diiculties that now led to inishing their careers.
All the abruptly dropped out had found other interesting things in life after their
career in sports so regret and bitterness were not the topmost feelings anymore. hey had
gone back to a more or less normal life course. he transition period, however, was not
painless to all of them. Being an athlete had been such a central element of their identities
and ofered a substantial meaning of life that the discontinuation of career had, in some
way or another, left four athletes with nothing. Previous studies have produced similar
results. For example Louis Harrison et al. (2014) suggest that Afro-American athletes
in particular may rely so strongly on sport in their identities that if the elite level is not
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reached, for some reason or another, the lack of optional identities leaves them with
nothing in life. In the following quote an interviewee tells how there’s still this ”void”
in his life as he can’t get similar ”kicks and euphoria” in studies as in sport at its best:
Of course it felt empty. And somehow this feeling is still there even though it was so important
to me to get into that school and had my degree done… After my sports career I just didn’t have
any strong feelings in my life, no kicks or euphoria from anywhere. Well then when I got into that
school and got that project, and I did very well, well that was something similar to the feelings you
get in sport [...] But still, there’s an empty place in my life after sport. here’s this physical efort
through which you do it so it also gives you so much more than just doing something mental. If
I do well in that project or in that exam, ine, but the feeling of physical euphoria out in the ield,
that’s something I miss in my life now.
Even though an elite athlete’s career excludes other paths in life, its end may provoke a
situation in which there’s a feeling of something important being missing in life. It’s dificult to ind new content in life to ill that vacuum and to build a new view of the world
to replace the old, strong identity (see also Heikkala & Vuolle 1990, 92). Still, dropping
out ones career in sports, even abruptly, was not only a negative experience to any of the
interviewees. In the following quote the interviewee whose career was abruptly inished
by wrongful medical treatment tells that he was also able to ind positive sides in this
unexpected change. Life was suddenly ”nice and easy” and he could just go ishing in
summer, for example. here are always ”two sides in everything”, even in an unfortunate
discontinuation of the sports career.
And then there’s the other side, when you suddenly have that easy life when you don’t have to practise
irst thing in the morning and nobody tells you to run, well, you get used to it very quickly. hat I
just don’t have to go and I don’t have my games on weekends. In summer I suddenly realized that
my friends started asking me to go ishing with them or something, and I could just say yes, I can
come, I have nothing special. here are always two sides in everything.
Among the abruptly dropped out, there was great variation as to whether they had second thoughts with the discontinuation or not. Some of them still relect whether they
could return whereas others have clearly moved on. In the following quote an athlete
who very quickly decided not to do sport anymore tells that he has no second thoughts
even though ”sometimes it annoys me”. he most important thing in sport had been
making new friends and as a whole, sport gave him more than took away from him.
Well it was great in that sense that I made many new friends and some of them are still my friends,
after all these years. hey are really good guys and I wouldn’t have met them without sports. If I
hadn’t played soccer what would I have done. his is what I appreciate and I have no regrets that
I never made it to the top, I really don’t regret that I played soccer. Of course I could have had
chances to move forward and sometimes I it annoys me when I think of that. But still, sport has
given me more than it has taken from me, so no regrets.
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Unexpected turns may break the symmetry of the sport career and lead to general life
instability. he best guarantees for an athlete to reach the top are favourable, stable and
symmetric conditions throughout the life course – chances are by deinition unexpected
and therefore can either lift the athlete to the top or drop him down from there.
Slow dropout
he slowly dropped out shared a lot with the abruptly dropped out. hey also experienced some unfortunate turns which made the sport career turn downwards. Still, they
persistently tried to continue and turn their careers to a new rise until they were forced
to admit to themselves that it’s better to stop. Four of the slowly dropped out had the
rationality of an elite athlete but it became under too much strain while their careers
were going down for too long a time. hree of them said that they didn’t, after all, have
that competitive instinct required in elite sports, instead, they were “too kind”.
hus also unfortunate turns and chance played a role in these careers of ‘slow downhill’. One of the athletes had an unfortunate change of coach, the other one lost a parent
which took away the focus from sport, the third one didn’t ind a suitable club and the
fourth one felt that there was not enough appreciation towards her sport and her career
in it even from the closest family members. hese turns alone were not enough for taking that decision but they contributed to the decreasing motivation and the frustrating
downturn of their career development. When comparing these observations to the categorizations (Piispa 2013c, 34–39) made earlier, the most frequent reasons for this group
to discontinue their careers in sport included, in particular, internal disappointments in
sport and diiculties in life.
Also the inancial challenges in sport became so frustrating to some of the athletes that
they decided to abandon goal-oriented sport. In the following quote the athlete explains
that doing sport for free was “not what I wanted”. he situation could have changed if
the athlete would have been paid “for something I like” in the form of a professional
contract, for instance.
But you don’t get paid. I was supposed to tour around for free. And if you need to tour around the
whole summer in all these second-rate events, well, that was clearly not what I wanted. [...] If I had
received a normal salary for that then it would have been interesting. hen I would have thought
that why do I have this [other] job if you can do something you enjoy and then even get paid for it.
Despite their diiculties, those who dropped out slowly typically tried to hang onto
their career. In the following quote the interviewee, an athlete in traditional individual
sport explains how her diiculties began when her coach changed. he former long-term
coach needed to go elsewhere and training with new coaches didn’t work out anymore.
Her development “got worse and worse”, and then, after nearly four years of continuous
problems, she decided to quit. “he coach matters”, as Pensgaard and Roberts (2002)
remind.
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hen I went on to look for a new coach, and none of them worked. No good chemistries, the basic
training, its structure and everything, even though we tried to hold on to the old support functions
but training is really the key, it has to work. And then at that stage, I mean you’re an adult and you
try to change your coach, try to ind somebody you feel at ease with, it just didn’t work. I just didn’t
have that trust that everything would work. So gradually everything got just worse and worse and
worse. My own development, in the end. [...] [But] we did try, always tried to build on something.
And then I needed to change twice [my coach].
he slowly dropped out developed a very critical attitude to sport after their careers. Some
of them felt they had been left alone when their careers didn’t advance anymore. Many of
them reported on having taken distance to elite sports, in particular after their decision,
but also to their own sport in general. Of all dropouts, this group felt that the logic of
elite sports is particularly ruthless. his is interesting against the background that many
of them had previously identiied themselves very strongly as elite athletes and nothing
else (see also Lämsä 2002). On the other hand, all those who had dropped out slowly
had tried to reach the top until the end. Some of them actually did and stayed there for
a short while but in the end all gradually left sports. For them, the world of elite sports
was very well known and they learned, in the hard way, that investing in sport is a risky
investment which can leave you with nothing if everything goes wrong (see also Ball
1976). In the following quote a former team sport athlete tells how he really didn’t tell
anybody that he had quit and somehow hanged around sports because he simply didn’t
know what else to do. In the end, when he had clearly stopped he took some distance
to his sport and, for example, started to watch it on television only years later. However,
he had no longing anymore to being an athlete himself.
I didn’t tell anybody at any point that it’s inished now. Sometimes somebody asked me and I told
him that that’s it, for my matches, it’s time do other things. It took some time to take that decision. I never really knew what to do [next] so maybe that’s the reason why I stayed so long in that
sport, in the irst place. [...] I had been training every day, even twice a day, ever since I was ive. I
can’t say that I’m happy that I got rid of it but I do have this feeling now that I couldn’t care less to
watch those matches, even on television, nowhere really. I took my distance to that sport. Maybe
that was the reason why I’ve now started to follow it again and it feels good. But I never felt that
I’d like to run to that pitch anymore.
When analysed with the life course analysis, some of the slowly dropped out had dificulties to ind a new direction in their life courses. For them, replacing a dominant
experience rationality with another was not easy (see also Price et al. 2010). his is a
clear diference to other athletes who had inished their careers. As already said in the
irst publication of this research project (Piispa 2013c ), most of the dropouts stated
that, among other reasons, one of their main reasons to stop was that they didn’t have
that little ‘something’ that elite sports require. However, some slowly dropped out difer
from others in this respect: their sport agency was very strong and hence their move to
everyday life outside sports was more diicult. his transition can be diicult to anyone
and therefore requires a more careful analysis. he interviews of the ‘retired’ athletes and
those who have considered discontinuation provide a helpful tool here.
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RETIRED ATHLETES AND THOSE THINKING OF DISCONTINUATION
here are three athletes in the research data who had inished a long and successful career
already before the interview. hey had retired from the athlete’s career, moved from an
athlete’s life course to a normal life course, inasmuch as such transition is possible. (See
also Wylleman et al. 2004; Torregrosa et al. 2004; Erpić et al. 2004; Jodai & Nogawa
2012; Moesch et al. 2012.) hey were interviewed as elite athletes and the interviews
focused on mainly the same themes as those of the other elite athletes. All of them
reported on the phases before and after the retirement, and on the reasons behind the
retirement decision.
To all retired athletes, the last years in sports had been a period of developing relection
and self-understanding, a kind of transition phase away from the world of elite sports.
Jo Drahota and Stanley Eitzen (1998) suggest that the retirement decision is preceded
by a phase of relection after which a period of thinking of other options follows. In the
end, the decision is made. In this way, discontinuing one’s career in sports becomes a
natural event. It is by its nature and its timing exactly as the athlete had planned it (e.g.
Wylleman et al. 1993; Alfermann et al. 2004; Torregrosa et al. 2004). It can be deined
as ideal – the ideality becomes particularly clear when a comparison to the stories of the
abrupt dropouts is made. However, as illustrated by the following quote, inishing one’s
long career is never entirely free of problems. At home, “the roles changed” and the athlete
needed to look for another job. he physical strains of elite athleticism were felt in the
need of continuing sports in one way or another. he quotation also reveals how this ex
team sport athlete didn’t just want “to do it on my own”, even on the recreational level.
My wife started working and our roles changed. And there we are, still, but things are going in a
good direction. [...] But of course my body has sufered a lot over the years and you can’t just run
down a factory like that, you have to keep yourself it. I’ve discovered the joy of running, I’ve started
training for marathons, we have a nice group of runners here. In a way it’s doing something in a
team even though I do it on my own.
he most diicult thing was to move from an athlete’s life, deined by experience rationality, to a normal life course, to the ‘daily grind’. In some ways retirement even appears
more diicult than deliberately inishing your career, when we compared the retired to
those who dropped out deliberately. It’s easier to go through a big life change when you
are in your 20’s compared to being in your 30’s. Some German studies suggest that elite
athletes, on average, do very well after their sport career (Conzelmann & Nagel 2003) and
are, on average, better educated than their peers (op. cit.; Brettschneider 1999). However,
these studies have been made more than ten years ago so the results don’t necessarily apply to the quickly changing world of elite sports anymore. Also researchers Conzelmann
and Nagel (2003, 260) remind on this; the athletes they studied were successful in the
Olympic games between the years 1960 and 1992. he results of this research project
suggest that the optimistic results of the previous studies may be outdated even though
the interviewed athletes reported on not having encountered any major problems.
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An athlete who has inished his career is always a kind of ‘ex’, i.e. he is remembered
for his athletic results even after his career in sports. Embracing the role of an ‘ex’ is not
always easy (see also Drahota & Eitzen 1998). he previous experiences at the top often
make settling in in the new role more diicult, now that the athlete is not ‘in the centre
of attention’ anymore (Price et al. 2010). ‘Ordinary life’ feels mundane compared to
victories and successes of the athlete’s life. his is recognizable also in some sad stories
of the Finnish sport legends. Juha Kankkunen (rally driver; Yle, Finnish Broadcasting
Company/Ranta 15.11.2014), for example, has said he illed the emptiness after his career
by alcohol and the money earned in rally driving “didn’t cheer up at all”. Also the tragic
story of Mika Myllylä (cross-country skier) is familiar to many Finns (see also Piispa
2011; Piispa 2013a). he post-career longing is neatly summed up in the following quote:
hat moment of victory when you hear the audience cheering behind your back... and then you
raise your hands. I’m going to miss that feeling. hat was the reason to do sports, that fantastic
feeling of victory.
Also some other active elite athletes were thinking about possibly quitting, at the time
of the interview. Most of them did actually stop soon after, at least for the time being.
Some of them are clearly retired: they were interviewed towards the ends of their careers
when the retirement was already looming on the horizon. hey seemed to be on good
terms with the decision – the long and successful career had given a lot and now it was
time to do something else.
A few of the younger interviewees inished their careers after the interviews. hey
could now be deined as dropouts but the theme was not brought up in the interviews,
at least not with all of them. hey were all athletes in minor individual sports, from the
national perspective. All of them had been successful on the national level and reasonably
successful on international level, too. Still, they couldn’t invest in full-time training due
to lack of funding. his was the main reason for the diminishing motivation to two out
of these three athletes. hus, a normal life course with, for example, studying seemed a
more interesting and meaningful option. In addition, all of them concluded that investing in elite sports at own cost would have been possible but it would have required too
many sacriices. Hence it was not surprising that they inished their careers during the
three years following the research interviews.
TO FINISH WITH AND AFTER THE FINISHING LINE
Even though the dropouts were categorized into three groups we could see, across the
division lines that one of the inishing reasons rose above others: many of them just
“didn’t have that motivation you need” (see also Enoksen 2011; Moesch et al. 2012).
“You have to go for it 100 per cent,” as the young soccer player interviewed by Mette
Christensen and Jan Sørensen (2009, 126) put it. hus we can suggest that the relationship to sport of those who had dropped out was closer to the recreational ethos instead
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of the vocational ethos or the ethos of hard work (see Salasuo, Piispa & Huhta 2015,
278–291). One can reach the top also with the recreational ethos but it may not be
enough if one encounters insurmountable diiculties or sacriices during the career. In
the following extract a former team sport athlete tells how he got far with his talent but
how he was lacking that “will or rage” of an elite athlete. Elsewhere in the interview he
adds that he thought studying was as interesting as sport and, on the other hand, if his
sport had been better paid, he could have stayed.
I’m always telling this, that I don’t have that will of an elite athlete. Ok, I had talent. But I didn’t
have that strong will to play that game. I enjoyed it a lot but that was it. I just didn’t have that rage.
Had I had it, it would have been diferent. I’ve been so fortunate in life, maybe I was not born
with a silver spoon in my mouth but still, I’ve been fortunate. It would have been diferent if I
had had more troubles in life. [...] I was still training very hard but it was not like I was dreaming
of matches or anything. Of course it was an important part of my life. But I was just so good so I
didn’t think too much about it.
Interesting in this extract is that favourable misfortunes could have made the athlete
to try more, according to him, and through that he could have achieved that will you
need in elite sports. his remark underlines the subtleness of the equation to become an
elite athlete: some athletes’ careers are stopped by misfortune, some athletes never even
have to try harder. Other important factors behind the discontinuation decision include
inancial insecurity and an overall lack of resources. Such problems may be avoided but
the career can also inish because sport is simply not “fun” anymore – as the following
quote illustrates:
You always do the same things, diferent week, diferent opponent but when you’ve been there for
a while, the opponents become the same too [...] he only pay of would be money even though
it might sound weird. I started to play sports because I liked it, it was fun. But then it wasn’t fun
anymore, it became a kind of performance and more professional. [...] Personally, I didn’t ind it
interesting anymore.
he quote emphasizes how the equation of elite sports is diferent to every athlete. One
may not be interested in earning money if sport has become a routine instead of being
fun whereas another one inishes because there is no money, not even in sight.
As has become evident above, the dropouts were also thinking about life after sport.
With a few exceptions, they insisted on being happy with their choices. Some of them
of course had some second thoughts but, for the most part, they enjoyed the tranquillity and comfort of normal life. he only factors that aroused some nostalgia were the
‘kicks’ ofered by elite sports, the feeling of euphoria and the joy of victory. However,
their appeal was not so important as to attract the dropouts back to the disciplined life
required by elite sports.
At the end of the chapter we should point out that dropping out of elite sports is
a very natural thing. In the logic of elite sports, there is not room for everybody at the
top. Certainly fewer athletes were forced to inish their careers if there were better fund212
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ing opportunities in the team ball games on the national elite level, for example. Still,
of those who aim for the top, the majority are or will be ‘left behind’ (see also Lämsä
2002). If, for example, the dropout athletes who were interviewed for the purposes of
this study, would have made it to the top and established their position there it could
have meant that some other athletes would have been forced to quit their careers at the
elite level. In the wider perspective, dropouts will always be there. A coach, for example,
can only support an athlete who is considering inishing his or her career by building
up a supportive training spirit (see also Rottensteiner & Konttinen 2014). From the
point of view of elite sports, the dropouts are ‘losses’ but from the perspective of an individual, it’s more important to remember that inishing one’s career may be a diicult
transition in which an athlete could be supported better. his also applies to ‘retired’
athletes who have a long elite level career behind them. (See also Stephan et al. 2003a;
2003b; Torregrosa et al. 2004.)
From the society’s point of view, a much more important thing than the dropping
out of potential elite athletes just before they reach the top is the decreasing physical
activity levels of adolescents, especially at age 12–15. he results of this development
afect not only the state of national health but also the size of the pool of potential
athletes for elite sports. However, solutions to these questions must be searched outside
the scope of this study, in other studies and writings (Butcher et al. 2002; Lämsä &
Mäenpää 2004; Puronaho 2014). Research can contribute to changing this development.
Partly to minimize the number of dropouts researchers have tried to sketch such career
models (e.g. Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman & Reints 2010) in which, with good timing of
transitions and development phases, we could guarantee the symmetric progress of the
athletes’ careers. By using high quality evidence-based research and by designing models
based on it we could avoid unnecessary dropouts, burnouts and overload. Too much
physical pressure on a young athlete is not good for anyone, not to the sport, nor the
team or the athlete himself or herself. If the groundwork is not well done, the career in
elite sports will not be materialized.
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9 On multicultural athletes
Of the athletes interviewed for this study, 20/96 had a multicultural background. hese
interviews have been analysed among the others, as part of Finnish elite sports. heir life
courses as athletes are mainly built on similar elements as those of other athletes. Still,
there are certain special characteristics related to multiculturalism including diferent
cultural adherences, resources, struggles, meanings and experiences.
It is clear that even though multiculturalism is a certain integrative factor behind
the 20 multicultural athletes, its multiple features also create diferences between these
athletes. In any case, the speciicity due to multicultural background is more distinctive
in some principles of the life course than in others. he most important of these include
social networks such as home, family, sibling relations and the cultural norms at home.
Identity issues are paramount from the agency point of view. Also racism is related to
this historical time and place, the 21st century Finland and Finnish sports.
In this chapter we take a look into those key points in the athletes’ life courses where
multiculturalism adds a meaningful layer. he life story interview method enables the
identiication of such choices, motives and turns where the multicultural background
has inluenced the lives of the athletes or added special experiences or accents to it. he
same thematic was already discussed in the interim report of this research project (Huhta
2013) but, other than that, there is no research on this subject in Finland. In this chapter,
the special features of multiculturalism are more carefully mirrored to the elite athletes’
data as a whole, and analysed in the research framework of the life course analysis (Elder
& Giele 2009; Häkkinen 2012). Even though the reading approach was diferent from
that of the interim report experiences on, for example, racism still seemed very central
from the point of view of understanding the life courses of multicultural athletes. hese
unspoken problems of Finnish sport will have a signiicant impact on how multicultural
young athletes can become Finnish elite athletes in the future (see also Huhta 2013).
In this study, multiculturalism refers to very diferent family backgrounds. A shared
experience to all multicultural athletes in the research data is the actualization of their life
courses under the inluence of more than one culture (see also Harinen 2005, 9). his
may be materialized in many ways. In this study, those athletes who were either born
outside Finland or who had at least one parent born outside Finland were deined as
multicultural. Of the interviewed multicultural athletes, 5/20 were born and raised during
their early childhood outside Finland, thus, they were immigrants by deinition. At the
time of immigration, the youngest of them were three years old and the oldest was nine.
Each of them has inished the Finnish comprehensive school so they are socialized into
the Finnish culture already at a young age. here are two second generation immigrants,
born in immigrant families in Finland, in the research data. Most multicultural athletes
(11) had a Finnish mother and an immigrant father. he remaining two multicultural
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athletes were adopted to Finnish families from abroad.
he geographical backgrounds of the multicultural athletes were very diverse. Two
of them had family roots in Western Europe, four in Eastern Europe, nine in Africa,
two in South America and three in Asia. here were no athletes in the research data who
would have moved to Finland because of sport. Such dimension in the research data
would have required a diferent research layout (i.a. Maguire & Stead 1996; Agergaard
2008; Evans & Stead 2012) and was therefore excluded from the scope of this study.
Of the interviewed multicultural athletes, ive were women and 15 were men. heir
average age at the time of the interviews was 24 years, a bit lower than that of the entire
research material, 25.5 years. he youngest interviewed athlete was 15 and the oldest
36. Six of them were less than 20 years old, ten were between 20 and 30 and four of
them were older than 30. hey had nine diferent main sports: soccer, American football,
basketball, hurdles, boxing, loorball, parkour, street dance and ice hockey. he athletes
were in very diferent phases of their careers. Roughly one fourth were just starting their
careers in sports whereas eight of them had already inished. Two of them had a long
career in elite sports behind them and could therefore be classiied as ‘retired’ whereas six
of them had inished their careers for other reasons and were thus classiied as dropouts.
he multicultural athletes were interviewed by using the same methods as with all the
other athletes. he only exceptions were the additional questions by the interviewer41 on
topics related to multiculturalism. Most key features related to multiculturalism emerged
spontaneously when the athletes told their sport-related life stories. However, the speciic
questions were seemingly useful. With them, issues related to racism, the relationship of
the interviewee to his or her ethnic background and to Finnishness as well as the pros
and cons of an ethnic background could be elaborated more, amongst other things (see
interview questions, appendix 3).
here is no prior research on multicultural elite athletes in Finland. However, the
diferent phases, turns, obstacles and resources of the careers of multicultural elite athletes share many similarities with sport and exercise experiences of other multicultural
Finns. In the success stories of elite athletes we can read about overcoming the hurdles,
and about exceptional cases, which are the other side of the challenges experienced by
multicultural recreational athletes. Despite their success, multicultural elite athletes
come from the same pool of recreational athletes as any athletes and, similarly, most of
them remain in that group. Still, the possibilities of multicultural children and youth
to participate in sport and exercise is an important theme from the point of view of
elite sports because they are an important part of that group where the potential elite
athletes actually come from. At this point we should note that in many team sports, in
particular, the share of multicultural athletes in the elite squads is currently much higher
than their share of the population as a whole. For example in soccer, many key players
in the national team have a multicultural family background42.
41 Most oten Helena Huhta.
42 htp://palloliito.i/maajoukkueet/miehet/pelaajat (referred 5.2.2015.)
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Previous Finnish studies on the physical activity of immigrants are closest to the
topic of this chapter. he irst ones of them were inalized at the end of the 1990’s43. he
focus has mainly been on the exercise habits of immigrants and multicultural Finns, the
amount and modes of sport and exercise and the diferent obstacles in them. In addition,
there is some research on the integrative and adherent impacts of sport and exercise,
from the point of view of the surrounding society. Most research on sport and exercise
of multicultural Finns has been conducted in two large-scale projects; Multicultural
youth, leisure and participation in civic activities started in 2004 and coordinated by the
Youth Research Network and he importance of sport and exercise in the acculturation
of immigrants, started in 2009 in the Faculty of Education in the University of Turku.
In the Turku study, one observation has been that immigrants are less physically active than native Finns (Lehtosaari 2010, 89). Also 15–19 year old immigrants seem to
participate less in physical activities than their native Finn peers (Zacheus et al. 2012,
120). Reasons include poor language knowledge and the cost of activities (Honkasalo et
al. 2007; Zacheus & Hakala 2010). In addition, the idea of participating in instructed,
paid sport activities might be unfamiliar to immigrant parents (e.g. Kim 2009; Zacheus
2011). Lastly, the gender diferences in sport participation are the opposite from native
Finns (Zacheus et al. 2011, 12), in other words, immigrant men are clearly more physically active than immigrant women.
Sport clubs are without doubt the most popular forms of civic action among the
immigrants hence they play an important role in the integration into the Finnish society
(Harinen 2005). A very topical question is why the athleticism of multicultural youth has
not been studied before and why this elite athlete resource has not been identiied and
acknowledged in the reports and recommendations for action in the ield of sports (cf.
OPM 2010a; HuMu 2012). In recent years, this topic has risen to the centre of attention
in international sport research (e.g. Schinke et al. 2013; Horowitz & McDaniel 2014).
All the same, sport participation of immigrant and native Finns shares many similarities. As an example, sports favoured by immigrants are similar to those favoured by native
Finns. (Myrén 1999; Zacheus et al. 2012.) he diferences include less interest in traditional
winter sports and the pronounced popularity of soccer (Zacheus et al. 2012, 149–151).
Similarly, motives for sport participation – including sociability, meeting friends and staying in good physical condition – are very identical between immigrant and native Finns
(Myrén 1999, 114). Social networks are particularly important as, with immigration,
old social networks are broken or at least their maintenance becomes more diicult. he
disappearance of old networks and the aspiration to create new ones may be seen in family practices during several generations as we could hear in the life stories of multicultural
athletes. Changing the signiicant others (Berger & Luckmann 1994 [1966], 39–44) in
one’s life is a challenging process from the point of view of self-perception and identity.
In the new social interaction, old interpretation resources are of limited use (see op. cit.,
43 The interim report of this research project has more on this literature (Huhta 2013), although in
Finnish.
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41–42). Partly for this reason, for example soccer is known as ‘an international language’
as its rules, roles and norms are universal and shared. In this framework, people can meet
each other as equals even though their social interpretation repertoires were very diverse.
However, reaching that ‘common language’ requires an equal access to that sport which is
not self-evident anymore, in the age of customership thinking in sport.
In addition to obstacles of sports, the integrative impacts of sport have been studied.
At the administrative level, the integrative importance of sport has been acknowledged
(e.g. Zacheus & Hakala 2010) but there is still relatively little evidence-based knowledge
available and the results are partly contradictory (Walseth 2006, 447; Zacheus 2010).
he integrative impacts of sport and exercise, in helping in settling in in the new society
are not challenged as such but many researchers are calling for a clariication as to what
kind of actions promote integration and what is speciically meant by integration. Sport
and exercise are seen as leisure activities in which cultural modes, language or talk have
relatively little meaning and, therefore, immigrants’ participation in them is thought
to be easier than in other ields of life. (See Myrén 1999.) his became evident also in
some elite athlete interviews.
FAMILY CAPITALS AND THE BIG TRANSITION
Relocation to a new country or even to a new continent is a dramatic transition in the
life course (Giele & Elder 1998) which in many ways changes those social networks
and structures around which the life of an individual or a family has been based until
then. After the immigration the whole life, including future plans, must be redirected
to correspond the conditions, demands and opportunities of the new environment.
Most of the interviewed multicultural athletes of this study experienced this transition
in an intergenerational way through older family members. Seven athletes, including
two athletes who were adopted to Finnish families, were born and raised for some time
outside Finland. Due to young age at immigration, the cultural transition was experienced through the experiences and the integration process of the older family members.
he divergence of cultural background and diferent appearance from the native Finns
meant it was a personal experience to these athletes as well. he importance of family
is, on one hand, a shared but in many ways also a distinguishing factor between the
immigrant and the native elite athletes.
Family plays a signiicant role in the careers of both native and multicultural athletes.
Diferent capitals, values and practices are transmitted from one generation to another
at the family table (Häkkinen et al. 2013), including elements for building an identity
and a certain ‘model of good life’ (Häkkinen 2016). Family capitals have been discussed
in the previous chapters of this study, referring to the transmission of, in particular,
social and cultural capitals from one generation to another (Häkkinen et al. 2013). In
multicultural families, family capitals include also values and attitudes towards the new
home country, diferent means of adjusting and ways to maintain the ethnic background
at the ‘family table’.
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It is evident that in multicultural families the values, attitudes and practices of the
family table are deined somewhat diferently than what they are in other families. his
applies also to socialization into sports and to the intergenerational sport relationship,
and its active and passive transmission (see also Koski 2004) (see chapter 1). In addition,
the parents’ economic, social and knowledge resources as regards supporting their children’s activities are obviously seen in the intergenerational interaction (see also Dubrow
& Adams 2012).
In multicultural families, the asynchronous adaptation into the new home country
may afect the life of a child in many ways (e.g. Alitolppa-Niitamo 2010; Berry 2006).
he question of parents’ integration is irrelevant only in adoptive families. Eleven athletes
had immigrant fathers. In these families, the Finnish roots of the mother guaranteed
adherence to the Finnish culture and local social networks. Other important integration
problems in addition to employment diiculties were not brought up in the interviews.
Asynchronous acculturation had been seen in many of these athletes’ lives but it had
not caused any signiicant conlicts between the parents and the children, nor afected
the career choices of the children of immigrant families.
Some of the parents tried to make their children’s lives easier by raising them “in the
Finnish way”. With one athlete, the parents’ wish to raise and adjust their child to the
Finnish culture inluenced their choice of the irst sport. he athlete’s father actually chose
ice hockey because he understood that the sport was important to Finns. Also two other
multicultural athletes had played ice hockey during their careers because they felt that they
could be more Finnish by playing that sport. Ice hockey is a very Finnish sport choice
and, due to its marginal international position, the multicultural athletes see it as a typical
feature of true Finnishness. Ethnic background played a role in the sport choices of many
multicultural athletes, in one way or another. Multiculturalism and its relections have a
strong impact especially in the initiation phase of the athletes (see chapter 5).
Intergenerationality and encouragement to sports
In chapter 1, the intergenerational transmission of the sport relationship in the entire
research data was discussed. Many observations are similar, regardless of whether we are
talking about multicultural or native Finn athletes. In this chapter we aim at bringing
up some special themes and diferences related to multiculturalism. We also review the
role of siblings – which is of particular importance because, beside parents, the attitudes
and adaptation to the new environment of siblings matters too.
Approximately half of the multicultural athletes had been taken to their irst instructed sport activities and encouraged into them by their parents (see also Fagerlund
& Maijala 2011, 41). he athletes had started deliberate practice at age 7 on average
which corresponds the average age of the entire research data. he oldest beginner was
12 years old whereas others started at age 6–8.
Nearly all multicultural athletes had at least one parent who practised or had practised
some sport and more than half had at least one parent who had practised goal-oriented
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sport at some level. In the latter families, nine athletes reported that the sport relationship
of their parents had been very strong, i.e. they were insiders (see Koski 2004, 191) of
sport, and sport had been very much present in the everyday life of the family. A certain
ethos of athleticism had been transmitted to the children via the family’s interests, values
and choices. On the basis of the deinitions made earlier, these families can be deined
as families with an intergenerational sport relationship. he relationship had been transmitted not only through the parents’ activities but also through the silent transmission
of values. In the other extremity, some of the parents’ physical activity relationship could
be deined ‘tourist’ or ‘stranger whereas the rest of the families had a ‘regular’ physical
activity relationship (op. cit.). Relatively fewer multicultural families (9/20) had an
intergenerational sport relationship compared to native Finn families (42/76).
he model of being an elite athlete, transmitted by parents, is important from the
point of view of career in elite sports. he importance of this model can be seen also in
connection with the multicultural athletes as exactly those athletes with a strong, intergenerational sport relationship perceive athleticism as a nearly self-evident professional
ambition. he transmission mechanisms of the intergenerational sport relationship were
very similar between the two groups of families. One of the athletes had acquired many
diferent resources thanks to his multiculturalism; both his maternal Finnish and paternal
foreign families were very athletic. hese resources included not only knowledge capitals
from both cultures but also sports culture and role models.
Maybe I’ve also seen diferent approaches to sport because I changed my coach under way. And I
realized what works and what doesn’t, and so on. And then of course I had these examples, the role
models from my mother’s side, and I know what they’ve done.
In the multicultural families with an intergenerational sport relationship, one father
worked as his child’s coach and another one as his child’s team’s caretaker. In one family,
the mother was the trainer of her child. In three families, the relocation of the young
athlete to another city or abroad had been facilitated by one family member accompanying the athlete. he athletes appreciated their families’ multiple investments, sometimes
even sacriices, in sport. he most typical situation, however, was a kind of conducive
atmosphere where there was no coercion but, instead, a willingness to provide ‘as good
a life as possible’ (Häkkinen 2016) to the child. his is obvious in the following extract
where family support and pressurelessness proved to be very good to the child’s development in sport.
Well, they took me to sport activities and to the choir and so on so they really thought these activities were important and they always supported them, in general. hey didn’t have any strong
ambitions that I should succeed in something but they just wanted to support my activities. And
I must really say that my family, and I mean in a wider sense, has supported me a lot. And it’s not
only been related to sport but support in general which I think was so important. And because it
was not related to sport only, I think it made sport easier to me, that I was not pushed to anything.
I never had this feeling that somebody was pushing me to sport.
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here were exceptions, however. hree of the interviewed athletes reported that their
parents’ encouragement went ‘over he top’ and was tyrannical at times. his was not
really observed in the interviews of native Finns. It can be that in multicultural families
the families’– typically fathers’ – worry about their children’s getting along when being
‘diferent’ from others culminated in unreasonable demands. Children were pushed to
proit from something which was not necessarily available in their country of origin. In
the end, pressure turned out to be temporary and with age, parents stayed more in the
background. In addition, parental pressure did not lead to quitting sport although too
much pressure is a very common reason behind discontinuation of a career in sport (see
also Fraser-homas et al. 2008; also chapter 8).
he living environment has an impact on what parents of multicultural families think
is useful action to promote the socialization and acculturation of their children, as well as
their social acceptance (i.a. Bhalla & Weiss 2010). Such intergenerational ethos was to be
read in the research data, especially as regards sports (see also Fredricks & Eccles 2005). In
some families, sport was seen as a means to facilitate social acceptance of children in the
new living environment. his applied especially to initiation and the following sampling
phase. hese families had concluded that sport in itself facilitates adaptation and acceptance.
With one athlete, this could be seen, for example, in the choice of sports. Parents at this
family table encouraged their children to choose a sport which they thought was appreciated
in Finland. his choice can be seen as being based more on a desire of social acceptance
than of socioeconomic rise. his is natural because an athlete’s career in Finland, with the
exception of a few sports, generates more immaterial than material capital.
As elsewhere in the research data, playing sports and exercising together with the family
was considered important by the multicultural athletes (see also Myllyniemi 2012, 54).
Parents’ interest in sports was transmitted to most interviewees in their childhood through
family sport activities and backyard games. Sometimes these activities remained as an
important part of the athletes’ leisure at a later age, beside competitive sports.
he impact of the sport relationship of parents (Koski 2004, 191) to children was
deepened also by siblings, particularly older siblings. hree athletes named the example
of siblings as the main inspiring factor for starting to play sports. For many athletes,
playing with siblings and their example on practicing sport in a sport club was one of
the inspiring factors of many. Altogether ten interviewees had a sibling or siblings who
were involved in competitive sports. he value of siblings was also seen in family support
to the athlete. he family ‘pulling together’ was even more common than with athletic,
native Finn families. Instead of enviousness, siblings ofered their support to the successful
family member. his is beautifully seen in the following extract:
[My family members] have never said that they don’t care or that they don’t want to listen. hey’ve
always talked about it with me, always wanted to see the matches. For example, when I was playing
[in foreign clubs] they always tried to come and visit me. My big brother moved with me there
[abroad] now that I was there. I felt lonely and then I said that I’ll give you some money for living,
come here. hen he did and we were there together. [...] hese are big things not many brothers
would do it, even for their own brother.
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he interviewee felt that the family was interested in his career, tried to come and watch
the matches, ofered psychological support and supported his career building abroad.
he quotation also demonstrates that the mental support, in showing interest and taking
care, has been important to the athlete. We could often interpret, in the interviews of
the multicultural athletes, that when the family was somehow ‘on an alien ground’ the
mutual connection between family members was more pronounced. For example, there
was some sibling rivalry – as with native Finns – but also strong protection. As could be
read in the quote above, a lot had been done “for the brother”.
hus parents of multicultural athletes typically had a positive and encouraging attitude to the sport activities and to a potential career in elite sports of their children. As
with native Finns, the parents often stated that in order to be able to play sports, school
work has to be taken seriously (see also Honkasalo et al. 2007, 22). Despite the positive
attitude, roughly in one family out of four, the parents didn’t concretely support the
sport activities of their children. One athlete pointed out that the immigrant parents
are not necessarily aware of the possibilities of organized sports activities in Finland and
therefore “are not able’” to participate in their children’s activities on the practical level.
he same phenomenon has been noted in studies on immigrants’ sport and exercise
activities (Honkasalo et al. 2007, 22; Kim 2009, 169; Alitolppa-Niitamo 2010, 59;
Fagerlund & Maijala 2011, 49). As one athlete put it, the idea that “now I take my child
to play sports somewhere” might be unfamiliar to immigrant parents.
Although the intensity of the families’ participation was varied, the family was, in one
way or another, the very framework that made the sport career possible. he enabling
role of the family was particularly important in childhood. With increasing age and
independence, the ways and often also the intensity of family participation changed; the
athletes began to use public transport to go to practice and parents didn’t follow matches
and training so actively anymore. As in the research data of this study in general, with
increased age, the signiicant others (Berger & Luckmann 1994 [1966], 149–150) were
often found outside the family circle and the athlete’s own agency began to strengthen.
Economic challenges
In chapter 5 we discussed how rising costs are becoming more problematic to many
young athletes and may be a barrier for deliberate practice. Also in studies on immigrants’
participation in sport and exercise costs have been deined as one of the major obstacles
to sport participation (Honkasalo et al. 2007; Fagerlund & Maijala 2011; Zacheus 2011,
12). Some immigrants are not accustomed to the idea that leisure activities are subject
to a charge (Zacheus et al. 2011, 12) and some families simply cannot aford paying the
relatively expensive club fees and competition licences (Honkasalo et al. 2007, 23). At
least 12 families of the interviewed multicultural athletes had had diiculties to pay the
costs of sport participation at some point of the sport career.
Approximately half of the parents of multicultural athletes (10/19, no information on
one parent) worked in lower income jobs as a nurse, construction worker, family carer,
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cleaner or factory worker. At least in four families, relocation to Finland had meant a
decrease in the relative socioeconomic position as parents, or one of them, could not work
in their previous occupations. his is very common among immigrants (Sutela 2005, 88;
Forsander 2002). In many athletes’ families, the parents’ divorce (8), the death of one
of the parents (4) or severe disability (2) had further weakened the inancial standing of
the family. In addition, during the early 1990’s depression, some immigrant parents had
been temporarily unemployed. In three families, one or both parents were entrepreneurs.
In both lower income jobs families and in the entrepreneur families nearly all (12/13,
with the exception of one uncertain case) had had at least occasional diiculties in paying
their children’s sport activities.
he importance of sports in many multicultural families can be seen in saving
elsewhere in challenging economic times and with high sport activity costs to make
sure that children can participate in sport. With some athletes, the family’s economic
status had restricted the number of sports played or the choice of sports. he athletes
in the research data had started their sport activities between the early 1980’s and early
2000’s. After this, the costs have risen signiicantly and, in some sports, even multiplied
(Puronaho 2014, 52). According to the 2012 Youth Barometer, the family economic
status is connected to the participation in competitive sports of Finnish children and
youth. In families with a high economic status, 20 per cent of children were involved in
competitive sports, whereas in families with a lower economic status the percentage was
six. (Myllyniemi 2012, 54.) From the point of view of elite sports, the rise of costs can
be seen in decreasing multiple sport participation which may have both physical and
mental negative consequences (see also Baker 2003; Güllich & Emrich 2006; Fraserhomas et al. 2005; Wall & Côté 2007; Côté et al. 2007, 197–198).
he native Finn elite athletes in the research data mainly come from middle class backgrounds. For them, the problem of rising costs of sport activities was barely brought up in
the interviews. However, the problem is well known from other contexts (e.g. Puronaho
2014) on the level of the population as a whole. Seven of the multicultural athletes in
the research data participated in instructed training only in his or her main sport and
sure enough, four of them were dropouts. One of the reasons were the economically
narrower resources of the multicultural families. Only ive of the multicultural athletes
can be deined to come from middle class families, based on their parents’ occupations
as experts, teachers or doctors. hese children didn’t have to think about the cost of their
sport activities or the costs of the possible sports career. A legitimate question is, what
would have happened to the majority of the multicultural athletes of this study if they
had started their sport activities in recent years, after 2010, when then costs of sport
activities have risen signiicantly in a short time.
SOCIAL NETWORKS OUTSIDE THE FAMILY
As a consequence of immigration, the social networks of individuals or entire families
become weaker or break of altogether. Relationships to family members, colleagues and
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friends may remain but they are not in the same way physically present in the everyday
life in the new country of residence, and the possibilities they ofer cannot be used in
the same way. Building up new networks takes time and therefore immigrant families,
in particular those recently immigrated, usually have very thin social and emotional
support networks (e.g. Alitolppa-Niitamo 2010).
Approximately half of the interviewed multicultural athletes had Finnish family
networks and other support networks because the other parent was a Finn (11/20).
In addition, those two athletes who had been adopted to Finnish families enjoyed the
local networks of the two Finnish parents. On the other hand, certain turns in the life
course may disturb the social networks. hese include, as mentioned above, the parents’
divorce or the death or severe disability of the other parent. In such situations, networks
outside the family often play an important role. More than half of the athletes told about
an important person outside the family that had major impact on the athlete’s career.
In some cases, this person was part of the family networks but more often an outsider
whose path coincidentally crossed the athlete’s path and who, in one way or another,
started to look after the athlete.
Most often this person outside the family who gave important support to the athlete
was his or her coach who had developed a special and close relationship to the athlete.
To some athletes, coaches played the role of ‘facilitators’ to instructed sport activities
(see also Junkkala & Lallukka 2012, 27–29). he role of the coach is of particular
importance in the initiation phase when the child is, for the irst time, getting used to
instructed training. In the following quote the coach’s important role in the facilitation
of the transition is emphasized, in particular against the background that the interviewee
was the irst multicultural child in the team:
A: Everybody’s parents were there and they immediately started talking to my dad and my coach
and I are still quite close [...] Not that we keep contact on a daily basis but he has somehow raised
me and knows my background. Sometimes I see him [...]. I remember when he showed me around
and took me to the team.
I: He welcomed you?
A: Yes, very well actually. It was a good day. [...][he name of the coach] was my irst coach ever.
He taught me all the basic things and was so close to me back then. He was very protective towards
me, and he was… a good friend if I could say so.
Coaches ofered their support and guidance also in the turbulent teen years. his can
also be interpreted in a way that the more serious and goal-oriented sport practice in the
development phase (see also Wall & Côté 2007) introduced discipline and structure to
the everyday life of the athlete. he normative, and in many parts determinative, sport
system which requires discipline and symmetric control of the life course of the athlete
can also be a safe haven to some young athletes. A few multicultural athletes who were
raised in single parent families told that sport in general and the control of the coach
curbed their adolescent restlessness in that phase. Some coaches have not only ‘cooperated in educational sense’ with the multicultural parents but also contributed to sport
participation and travel costs. In addition to coaches, outside support had been received
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from relatives, family acquaintances and parents of the team mates.
he facilities available for sport practice in childhood were also important enabling
factors from the point of view of the career in sports. All multicultural athletes had
grown up in cities, many of them in big cities. his is a major diference from the native
Finn athletes: especially those born in the end of 1970’s and early 1980’s often had rural
backgrounds. Multicultural athletes actively used free or afordable places for sport practice ofered by cities or municipalities, many of them in all phases of their careers. First
experiences of sport and exercise of most athletes had been collected near home, in the
nearby sand pitches, sport parks, indoor sport halls or basketball courts. he importance
of nearby sport facilities was particularly emphasized with those immigrant families that
wished their children to spend their free time near home. Many multicultural athletes
had continued playing backyard games up until the time of the interviews. In addition,
two elite athletes in the research data had practised throughout their careers mainly in
the half-free facilities ofered by the city. Hence, it can be said that the Finnish public
sport facility building projects, mainly completed before the childhood and youth of
the interviewed athletes, has had a very positive impact promoting athleticism and equal
opportunities.
AGENCY OF A MULTICULTURAL ATHLETE
Multicultural athletes have gone through the same normative transitions as other athletes
(see chapter 9). here is no need to do a separate analysis in this respect. heir athlete
agency is also very similarly deined as that of other athletes. However, there are some
diferences in the research data that can be traced to the multicultural background. On
one hand, a multicultural background may have been beneicial in sport and, on the
other hand, sport may have helped in other life situations which can be challenging to a
multicultural athlete yet unknown to native Finns. At best, multiculturalism and sport
can thus be mutually beneicial.
Multicultural athletes reported on similar beneits of sport as everybody else, including
the possibility of making new friends and developing important social skills. hese may be
particularly beneicial to a young person who faces the sometimes contradictory everyday
life between two cultures, and who is deined diferent due to his or her appearance. For
immigrant children, who typically have thinner social networks, sport can be good in
making new friends and facilitating language learning. In addition, sport had kept some of
the athletes away from “doing stupid things”. In chapter 5 we read how athletes thought
about their choice between being an athlete and, on the other hand, enjoying the same
freedom as their peers. Abstinence from alcohol and party culture was a choice through
which to invest in sport. he interviewed athletes with a Muslim background told that
it was easy to abstain from alcohol use because sport only supported the substance-free
behaviour learned at home and deined by religion.
In sport, also the physical ideals turn out to be somewhat diferent from those of
the surrounding society. International role models create a diverse catalogue of athletes
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that multicultural athletes can easily identify themselves with. For example, a diferent
skin colour may be seen more ‘normal’ in sport ields than outside them. hus there are
several reasons why sport can be seen as a good choice for many of the multicultural
athletes in the research data, at least in their childhood and teen years.
he athletes’ choices include that of selecting a particular sport. Some of the interviewed athletes reported on having chosen ice hockey because they wanted to do well
in a particularly Finnish sport. With the words of one athlete, ice hockey is “as Finnish
as anything can be”. Most interviewed athletes told that their physical ‘foreignness’ had
contributed to their success in sports: some of them concluded they had a favourable
genetic ethnicity from the perspective of their particular sport. Some of them had experienced that being “foreign” is seen as some kind of a mental resource. his can be read
in the following quote:
I clearly see it as an advantage that I feel like, that Finns… I mean maybe they’re a bit more aware
that this guy is a foreigner so he must be a good player. [...] hat he must be very conident and so on.
Some of the interviewed athletes relected that certain diiculties may have cultivated
some of their characteristics and therefore prepared them for a career in elite sports. A
few athletes stated that while encountering exclusion on ethnic grounds one just has to
be “twice as good”. To some of them, this was connected to a desire to show others that
you can succeed in sports or in life in general even though you’re “diferent” – especially
if they had encountered racism.
In conclusion, as for agency and transitions, the experiences of multicultural athletes
were mainly very similar to those of the other interviewed athletes. he interviewed had
in many cases turned their multiculturalism to their beneit but, on the other hand,
some structural and cultural factors may also hindered their progress in sport. One of
them is racism.
RACISM ENCOUNTERED BY MULTICULTURAL ATHLETES
he racism experiences of multicultural athletes were thoroughly discussed in the interim
report of this research project (Huhta 2013). However, the topic is too important to be
omitted here but a shorter analysis is justiied at this point.
Eight of the interviewed multicultural athletes had started school in Finland in the
1980’s, ten in the 1990’s and ive in the new millennium. For most athletes, participation
in deliberate sport practice in sport clubs began at approximately the school starting
age. During these decades, the amount of non-Finnish speaking residents in Finland
has increased more than tenfold (Statistics of Finland 2014). Most of the athletes were
children when large-scale immigration began in Finland but the number of foreign
born residents was still very limited, especially in smaller municipalities. Immigrants are
concentrated in the biggest cities of the country which can be seen also in the research
data of this study. All interviewed multicultural athletes had spent their childhood in
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urban environments. Still, many of them were the irst foreign born children in their
sport activity groups. hus these athletes could not lean on peer support which would
have facilitated their adaptation as regards culture, language and prejudices during their
initiation phase in sport (see Schinke et al. 2013). Especially their immigrant parents
arrived to a very homogeneous country. he attitudes of Finns towards immigration have
become more positive from the 1980’s onwards (Jaakkola 2005) – though this might
have changed rapidly due the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe.
Sport activities in general are seen as tolerance promoting activities as they are considered to generate experiences of belonging and inclusion (Myrén 1999; 2003; OPM
2010b, 7). However, several studies indicate that, at the same time, sport and exercise
are arenas where various types of exclusion and racism take place (Elling & Knoppers
2005; Walseth 2006; Honkasalo et al. 2007; Hylton 2010; Zacheus et al. 2012, 215).
Racism can be deined, along the lines of Anna Rastas (2005, 77), as a negatively charged
social segregation where individual’s ethnic origin, whether biological or cultural, is used
as a tool for racism. he interviewees were not given any speciic deinition of racism.
he athletes seemed to deine as racism only those acts that were clearly based on racist
attitudes. In everyday situations however, proving such attitudes may be diicult or
nearly impossible (e.g. Essed 1991, 50; Honkasalo et al. 2007, 37). In the interviews, the
athletes were often critical towards their own interpretations which can partly be due to
fear that their racism experiences are seen as exaggerated or even products of imagination.
he interviewees’ experiences of racism varied a lot. Nine of them reported on having
personally experienced racism in sport. So called positive preconceptions are not included
in these experiences. Racism experiences were more common with dark skinned athletes
compared to athletes with a European background. Age did not seem to be a dividing
factor in racism experiences. Both younger and older athletes had experienced racism or
been saved from it. It is notable, however, that athletes had experienced more racism when
they were younger and when they played sports in lower league levels (see also FRA 2010,
37). Racism was rare at the top level of sport. All racism experiences occurred in team
sports and more men than women had experienced racism (see also Peucker 2009, 9).
One female athlete with racism experiences relects the situation as follows:
I think there’s a big diference between a dark skinned man and a dark skinned woman. Because
I think guys end up in ights more often. I’ve never been in any trouble because of that or as a
consequence of it. But, really, many of my friends have, at some point of their lives, ended up in
these “you fucking nigger” ights.
Nearly all interviewed athletes reported on having experienced racism outside sports, in
school or in free time, and encountered it there more than in sports. Racism experienced
in sports was often related to the behaviour of opponents, spectators or coaches. Most
racism was encountered in matches played away from home. A few interviewees reported
on racism in their own teams but such problems were typically considered minor. In all
cases, the interviewees were not sure whether it was exactly racism but were still thinking
about its possibility. One team athlete explains how he used to joke with his team mates:
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We had this joke back then that all foreigners are on the bench, what a coincidence. I mean somebody might think that [the coach] is a racist.
When telling about their racism experiences the athletes also described ways of explaining
it to themselves. By doing so, they tried to overcome racism as jealousy or as a historical
relic, and tried to rise above it by explaining it away as fear or redneckness or, at some
point in their lives, even justifying it. In a few cases, racism was considered teasing, as
part of the game (see also Long & McNamee 2004, 414–415). Explanations – laughing to racism, its belittling or even its understanding – are ways to handle racism and
cope with it. Important persons who helped in coping with racist encounters included
parents, siblings, team mates, coaches and parents of team mates; i.e. persons who had
a signiicant inluence in the athlete’s career anyway. Still, for example coaches had in
many athletes’ youth had a passive attitude in racist situations and in their handling.
Not all athletes had encountered racism during their sport careers and some of them
had been saved from it in their main sport. Many of them believed the lack of racism was
due to the multicultural nature of sport which does not support racist attitudes (see also
Harinen 2005, 65). Such multicultural, and therefore, to some extent ‘racism immune’
sports were considered to be dance sports, American football, boxing and basketball. It is
understandable that in sports where international top players and role models are other
than white skinned Westerners, racism seems awkward. Beside their racist encounters
the interviewees reported on many situations in which their multiculturalism had raised
positive preconceptions. In a typical situation, the athlete’s ethnic background had been
interpreted as exceptionally favourable physical or mental characteristics. In this way, the
interviewees could turn their multiculturalism to an asset, a certain intergenerational,
physical capital. his is not totally harmless either as also positive preconceptions and
stereotypes may lead to an adoption of a narrower identity (e.g. Harrison et al. 2011) and
cement individuals and groups to predeined roles (Feber 2007; also Rastas 2007, 118).
EXCURSION: NATIONAL FEELING AND REPRESENTING FINLAND
All multicultural athletes had relected and worked on their ethnic identity. hese experiences were very personal and unique. Some of them had reached a satisfying balance in
their identity relections whereas others were still actively doing it. Ethnic identity had
an impact in the choice of sports and created an interesting relationship as to whether to
represent and cheer for Finland in sport. When following sports on television, the favourite athletes may have come from Finland and from the father’s homeland, for example.
As stated before, sport may have ofered a channel to integrate into Finland and even
‘redeem Finnishness’. Representing Finland in its national team is, against this background,
a special experience and a psychological turning point. It’s a way to give something back
to the country, as the interviewee concludes in the following quote:
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It was so funny, I remember when we were singing the Finnish national anthem, two dark skinned
boys, all the others were Finns. But I felt so proud of myself. If you asked me, if I was selected
to the men’s national team and I should choose, I would choose Finland. It was really cool and I
was proud of it, that I could represent Finland. [...] I wouldn’t even have to think twice. I’d know
immediately which one to represent. Finland. I’ve got everything for my life here.
In this extract the athlete states that he would, without any doubt, choose Finland if he
was asked. Not everybody shared the same opinion but none of the athletes would have
chosen just any other country. On the other hand, some of the multicultural athletes
speculated whether they could somehow represent two countries, in an equal way. In
the competitive institutions of sport this is, however, not possible at the moment. he
national team representation of multicultural athletes may also provoke other controversial situations:
he national team is something else, if you represent Finland in the national team nobody can take
it away from you. Being in the team is an oicial recognition. And I believe it’s an important thing
to many athletes that you’ve shown that you’re one of the best and then, you can represent Finland.
And then of course many may have contradictory feelings. Because if you win you somehow feel
that you’re winning for Finland but then again you don’t want to represent those people who have,
in one way or another, let you understand that you’re not as valuable as they are.
Against this background, it’s interesting to relect on how native Finn athletes feel when
they represent Finland. In the interviews they were asked what it means to them to
represent Finland, their own team and also themselves, and how these representations
relate to each other. When it comes to representing Finland, the most common feeling
of native Finns is crystallized in its traditional and classic form in this quote:
Well it’s just an awesome feeling, I’ve experienced it once that you’re standing there on the highest
step of the podium, you hear the national anthem and the Finnish lag is taken up there, to the
highest pole. It’s just so cool.
However, in this national ethos, there were some cracks here and there. First of all, in
some sports where there is no proper national team action due to lack of resources, the
athletes mainly felt they represented just themselves. If the sport system does not support
certain sports and their athletes, the feeling of representing the nation is not created in
the same way. One of the athletes commented this situation as follows:
In most competitions I’ve been, I’ve felt that I represent only myself. [...] As we don’t have any
funding for national team activities in this sport there’s no burning feeling that “now I’m gonna
get to the national team”.
Nevertheless, also in more traditional sports which are highly appreciated on the national
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dividual sports said they represent more themselves than Finland in competitions and,
for example, the medals received are “irstly to myself, secondly to Finland”. A strong
national feeling is maybe not that relevant anymore, in the age of individualisation and
internationalisation of the sports culture (see also Kokkonen 2008).
I: Do you have these feelings of national pride when you’re abroad that “now I’m ighting for Finland”?
A: Well, not really. I do it mainly for myself. [...] Maybe that’s how it’s been all the time, I’ve done
it for myself and especially now I’ve started to think more about myself as an individual who plays
sport and also that I’m having my own path and career.
In some sports, and in lifestyle sports in particular, athletes feel that they are more ‘global
citizens’ than ‘Finns’. In some lifestyle sports, the lacking national team competition
institutions also have an impact. On the contrary, team sport athletes had more uniform
answers to the questions on representing the country. For example, a uniform match kit
and listening to national anthem maintain the idea and the ‘special feeling’ of national
representation. Representing the country in its national team is also an undeniable
milestone which somehow requires the athlete to have a special attitude towards the
matches and motivates him. Most team sport athletes stated that they would represent
Finland even without any compensation, and that they enjoy national team matches
more than club team matches. he diminishing loyalty to sport clubs, a clear tendency
in team sports, is seen in the fact that national team representation is generally regarded
as more important than representing the club team.
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Conclusions
In this study, the life courses of Finnish elite athletes and successful young artists have
been analysed and reviewed in parallel. he life course analysis (i.a. Elder & Giele 2009)
has been the most important methodological tool in both parts of the study and it has
also contributed to the structure of the study. Whereas the analytical chapters are separate entities, there are occasional comparisons between them and it’s very likely that the
reader has done some intuitive comparison throughout the reading journey, too. To sum
up, it’s sensible to go through the central observations of the study and compare the life
courses of athletes and artists.
An athlete’s or an artist’s family is the primary institution of socialization. he parents of
more than half of the interviewed athletes were former elite or competitive athletes themselves, i.e. insiders of sport (Koski 2004; see also Unruh 1979). Athleticism was passed on
to younger generations in many ways at the ‘family table’ (Häkkinen et al. 2013), either
by active guidance or by merely showing example. When siblings were taken into account
we noticed that only about a quarter of the athletes had grown up in families where they
were the only ones engaged in competitive sports. In addition, sport and exercise played a
key role in the parenting practices of many families – sport and exercise were regarded as
good and recommendable activities for children (see also Kay 2009).
he transmitting mechanisms of artisthood were only slightly diferent from those
of the athletes. Many artists’ parents had been at least amateur artists or insiders of art
but, even more often, they shared a middle class, culturally inclined background. Hence
art was an integral part of these families’ parenting practices and an important element
in the ‘model of good life’ (Häkkinen 2016; see also Allardt 1976). Being an artist was
passed on in a social way, through various everyday practices, discussions, value choices
and example.
hus in family practices, the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission were very
similar among the athletes and the artists. he role of friends and acquaintances as well
as other social networks outside the family was somewhat diferent. Whilst the athletes
typically spent their time in sporty circles of friends, the artists had often found their
peer groups only later in life. Mid-teen years, the early planning of the future career,
including the choice of upper secondary school are important elements here. In those
years, it also became evident how much more ‘hurried’ the career of an athlete is, compared to that of an artist. When a young athlete decides, in mid-adolescence, to invest
in the athletic career and aim for the top, his or her margins of choice become much
narrower (see also Gould et al. 2002).
his typically leads to a very unusual or exceptional life, in many ways, of the young
aspiring athlete. Sport becomes an agent and an institution that greatly steers the athlete’s
life and its target setting whereas other life paths become secondary or marginalized. he
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development of an artist is the opposite. Although being an artist and the educational
choices related to it undeniably build a strong identity, an artist is typically open to the
world instead of excluding himself from it. At the same time, the various ways of developing as an artist open up new perspectives and widen the horizon which obviously
may lead to insecurity, too. Contrary to being an athlete, being an artist is a profession,
a career path and professional life that can last a lifetime. Being an athlete is a relatively
short period of life after which the athlete has to look for something else in life.
An athlete’s short career is strongly determined by diferent normativities (Wylleman
& Reints 2010). Research helps us locate important transitions and life phases in sport.
heir development within the sport system should be based on research knowledge. In
this way, we could guarantee the sustainability of the growth processes of children and
youth. he foundations for both a sporty lifestyle and a possible career in elite sports are
laid in childhood. he average timing of the transitions of the interviewed athletes corresponded to the ideals deined in international research (e.g. Côté et al. 2007; Wylleman
& Reints 2010). One very important factor is to be involved in many diferent sport
and exercise activities in childhood, in a playful and fun way. he main sport was usually discovered through sampling and enjoyment, in turn, created a deep relationship
to that sport, something that carried the athlete all the way to the top. It is also notable
that practising sport became more serious only after the age of 12, on average. However,
there was considerable variation between diferent sports.
Normativity is clearly less important in the growing up and the development of
artists. Diferences between artists were big, in terms of the onset of their creative or
artistic activities and the timing of their artistic realization as well as their breakthrough
as professional artists. Compared to athletes, transitions are not so obvious in an artist’s
career. Some essential transitions are recognizable, however: education is a kind of a
cornerstone as the gatekeepers of art are standing by at the entry and exit doors of art
schools. Graduating from an art school and the time after that are decisive in deining
whether art becomes a profession or not.
Realization of being an artist is typically related to education or training in one way
or another, and it not only shows direction for future life planning but also opens up a
new horizon of possibilities in the artist’s life. his is clearly diferent from the realization
of athletes as with them, the realization rather excludes many other options and ties the
young athlete even stronger to the world of sports – despite the fact that the timing of the
realization is fairly similar in the two groups, around mid-teen years. Realization is the
starting point of the relationship to artistic work to become more vocational. Vocation
is not understood here in the sense of calling, as something supernatural or spiritual, but
as the relationship to work. Work becomes a passion and the artist hopes that he or she
can keep on doing it as long as possible (see also Røyseng et al. 2007).
Time and place, i.e. the Finnish society in the late 20th and early 21st centuries,
provides a framework for the growing up of both artists and athletes (see also Hoikkala
& Paju 2008). In sports, the inluence of neoliberalization – of both the sport policy
and the sport system – on the preconditions of sport and exercise is visible. he oldest
interviewed athletes had grown up in the spirit of a free multisport culture based on
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own initiative whereas the younger athletes had grown up into deliberate sport practice.
According to another categorization, those athletes born before 1985 grew up in the
last golden years of the civic action in sport and exercise (Ehrlich 2000, iv) whereas the
younger generations operate in a quickly commercialising sport and exercise culture,
deined by customerships and rising costs (e.g. Zacheus 2010). his is in close connection to urbanisation and the rise of new sports, especially lifestyle sports.
Whilst athletes and sport in general can be approached by the generational thematics
of sport (e.g. Zacheus 2008), artists are typically adhered via much wider generation
phenomena of their time. In Finland, artistic and creative work have become the mirrors
of working life ideals of the younger generations as the content value of work is seen as
more important than, for example, the monetary compensation of work (e.g. Tuohinen
2010). At the same time, multiple new values have appeared in the ield of art and, for
example, the relationship to commercialism is in constant change. he capital-centricness
of artistic professions, in terms of education and job opportunities in Helsinki, is an
additional feature, too. Diferent backgrounds and, for example, an ability to draw upon
one’s rural roots may, in fact, be a good way to distinguish oneself.
When talking about success in sport or art, we cannot omit the role of chance. An
aspiring athlete naturally tries to avoid unfortunate coincidences and maintain symmetry in life. In art, chance may play a signiicant role; who surfaces as well as when and
why, often depends on chance or coincidences. Artistic ields are insecure in many ways,
inancially or otherwise, and chance always plays a role in, for example, the continuation
of making one’s living as an artist.
he role of chance was also emphasized in the interviews of those athletes who had
dropped out. One unfortunate coincidence, an injury or something else, could stop a
promising career. On the other hand, many had dropped out of sports because they
wanted to do something else in life – in other words, the strongly normative nature of
sport did not appeal. Another underlined feature was the exceptional amount of discipline, ambition and rationality needed in sport. Without these qualities, reaching the
top becomes improbable. Discipline and commitment in the artist’s work were brought
up, too, as many interviewees stressed that what they do is ‘so crazy’ that you really have
to believe in it and work very hard for it if you want to succeed.
In addition to dropout athletes, multicultural athletes constituted their own ‘micro’
research data within the athlete interviews. heir life stories were diferent from those
of the native Finns. he role of the family was equally important in the stories of multicultural athletes but there was also pluralism in their family backgrounds. Whereas
some parents went as far as pushing their children to sports, others didn’t even know that
instructed sport activities exist. Racism was another important theme in the interviews
of these athletes. Most of the interviewed multicultural athletes, especially those with a
black skin, had experienced it. To most athletes, however, multiculturalism was seen as
an asset and it should be seen as such especially from the perspective of elite sports. he
theme clearly calls for some further research.
Some additional themes have been discussed in the two other publications of this
research project published in Finnish (Piispa & Salasuo 2014; Salasuo & Piispa & Huhta
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2000s finland.
2015) but were left out of this book for lack of space. As for the artists, the growth
stories of the 29 interviewed artists could be roughly divided into four type stories of
artistic growth. he most frequent was the normal story where the artist typically came
from a culturally inclined home and life had, in a relatively linear way, led to artisthood.
In the drifting stories, the family background was drawing upon culture as well but the
realization of one’s own artisthood had taken place much later, after a long search. In
the independent stories, the inluence of the family background was weaker whereas the
determinedness of the artist himself played a more signiicant role. In the chance stories,
the importance of family background was equally little but, instead of own agency,
chance and coincidences played an important role in embarking on an artistic career.
Similar type stories could not be established with the athletes. However, clear division
lines became visible during the analysis of the mastery phase in sport. he most signiicant
of those included the categorization into team sports, traditional individual sports and
lifestyle sports and the options they ofer for making a living, and the importance of
gender. One of the most central observations is that the elite is very narrow in basically
any sport and, behind that, there is a great number of ‘workers and achievers of sport’.
Only the ‘elite of the elite’ athletes can have really high income levels. Most athletes’
careers are inancially insecure and they are mostly just making the ends meet – from a
life course perspective, (elite) athleticism can be considered as a risk. he Finnish sport
grant system evens out the diferences to some extent but it mainly serves traditional
individual sports athletes in Olympic sports. It also evens out the existing big gender
diferences as a very limited share of professional athletes are women (Jarvie 2006,
307–312; Lämsä 2014).
Lifestyle sports (e.g. Wheaton 2004) and their athletes ofer another approach to
(elite) sports. Nearly all lifestyle sports athletes had other jobs beside sport and they were
happy with it. To them, sport is an essential element of their lifestyles but they also enjoy
other things in life. heir work was typically related to their sport which relieved pressure from sport and from succeeding in it – and guaranteed fun. Lifestyle sport athletes
constitute an interesting interface between the artists and the athletes. Similarly to artists,
the contents of their work and their ‘love of sport’ were important to them. heir careers
were also not so restricted by normative transitions and phases but were more liberal.
Also the meaning of aesthetic values is important in lifestyle sports.
In art, a certain narrowness of the elite could be observed, similar to sports, but it’s
more diicult to locate because the artists are part of the ‘normal’ working life. hus a
part-time artist can be seen as an artist similarly to a full-time colleague who lives on
grants, whereas in elite sports, the elite is easier to distinguish – though not always that
easy. In any case, many artists emphasized of how ‘convenient’ it is in sports, to be able
to measure and compare with objective indicators not only the performances but also
individual athletes. In art, ambivalence, changing judgements and a certain aesthetic
vagueness are always present.
In this world of artists’ insecurity, a central indicator of success is the ability to even
work as an artist, in the irst place. Important attributes include internal rewards, recognition and reasonableness. Aspiring for success in one’s own work is important, but “to
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make good art”, not aspiring for success as such – it follows if it follows (see also Bourdieu
1996). Secondly, an artist wants to be recognised for his or her own work – at least by
a reasonable pay with which to continue that work (see also Julkunen 2008). hirdly,
success is deined as something very reasonable: a peace of mind and the possibility to
do something that you love, i.e. to follow your vocation.
In elite sports, the goals are deined partly in the same way, partly very diferently.
hree diferent ethoses were recognized in the elite athletes’ interviews: a vocational ethos,
a work ethos and a recreational ethos. he irst one, combining enjoyment, the desire to
develop and the competitive instinct was the most common. In the work ethos, hard work
and success, instead of enjoyment, are relevant. he recreational ethos is the opposite;
sport and exercise are enjoyed as leisure activities contrary to competition but there’s
also a possibility of making a living as an athlete. (See also Carless & Douglas 2012.)
he research themes opened up two very diferent perspectives into the life courses
of today’s youth in two diferent walks of life. Mythic perceptions and status values are
connected to success and reputation in both of them (see e.g. Bloom 1985b; Ericsson
1996a). he original research idea was to analyse the ‘paths’ of success in sport and then
collect another research data on artists, for comparison. In the end, the research data on
artists gained in importance and became much more than just a comparison interface.
It became a study of its own, with its own research questions and paradigms. At the
same time, it was connected to very diferent research traditions compared to the study
on athletes – and also to much more established ones, at least in the Finnish context.
hus the study on artists became a study of its own and ofered even stronger comparison point than originally intended. Being a professional artist is in many ways unusual
and exceptional but still it’s a culmination of ideals of a number of generations. It is
very diferently connected to the working life of young people than being an athlete. As
a consequence, artists seem a very ‘normal’ group of their generation, at least compared
to elite athletes. he unusual nature of the career in elite sports was emphasized through
this mirroring interface and, at the same time, it underlined the signiicance of the artist
data as part of the research project. An athlete’s career which in many ways alienates the
young athlete from the normal society does not, however, take place in a vacuum – reality
is right outside the athlete’s everyday life, inluencing it in many ways. Research on artists
played an important role in deining this reality and afterwards it is legitimate to say that
the order of publication of these two studies was a good choice from the perspective of
the research project as a whole. he study on artists was conducted and published irst,
ofering a solid comparison point to the study on athletes and a perspective into the
realization of the life courses of two diferent sets of successful young people of similar
age. he inal result is, cliché as it may be, more than the sum of its parts.
Maybe the decisive diference between these two walks of life, at least when it comes
to success, is the strongly normative character of sports and the fact that it has to, in one
way or another, be started at a fairly young age. In this respect, from our research data only
classical music can be paralleled to sports – of other arts some types of dance such as ballet
may very well it in this category, too. Classical music, igure skating, ballet, gymnastics
etc. ofer interesting interfaces between sports and art which could very well be researched
234
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2000s finland.
and compared more. On average, becoming an artist is a much less disciplined and less
normative process where an individual’s development is slow and unsteady. With the
exception of the ‘early specialization arts’ listed above, initiation into arts can occur at any
time. For example, one can aspire to be a writer at basically any age. As Mikko Piispa wrote
(2013d, 152) in the interim report of the study: “being an artist doesn’t follow your body
clock because cultivating mind, thoughts and ideas takes time”. One of the fundamental
diferences between arts and sports is located exactly in the concept of time: time is always
against the athlete whereas, in arts, time is on the artist’s side.
here are certainly some clear similarities, too. hese include the importance of family
and the demands of determination and hard work. Many artists thought they have the
‘mind of an athlete’ in aspiring to continuous development and always competing against
themselves. Both groups share a vocational relationship to one’s own ield although the
contents of work are very diferent. Yet, these similarities do not ofer any focal points
for the deinition of a universal formula for success, quite the opposite. Instead, they
suggest that despite certain similarities diferent ields have their own development paths
and structures which are strongly linked to time and place. hey have to be analysed in
their own contexts which also requires the use of research traditions and the understanding of policy realities.
he two studies ofer starting points and ideas for future research and policies. First
of all, career research in sports (i.a. Stambulova & Ryba 2014), connected to sports and
athletes, ofers interesting ideas in this ield and the importance of locality emphasized
in it is an important dimension to be always kept in mind. his research project ofers
multiple directions for future research endeavours and hopefully, not only in Finland
but also elsewhere, its observations are applied in the best possible way. In addition,
this is not only restricted to the perspective of elite sports but, in a wider sense, to the
education of children and young people and to the themes related to national health
and recreational sports. Consequently, this study also ofers many ideas for applications
in diferent policy ields. At the end of the sport study, ten recommendations were put
forward (Salasuo, Piispa & Huhta 2015, 314–317). hey can be summarised as follows:
he sport system always has to be developed on the basis of research knowledge.
1) Broad access to instructed sport activities must be equally guaranteed to all interested
children and young people, regardless of parents’ income level.
2) Public authorities have to make sure that in public planning and construction all
citizens have access to sport and exercise in a way that these two can become a meaningful part of everyday life.
3) he special group of multicultural athletes must be taken into account in sport and
exercise, from lower levels to the top – this does not only proit elite sports but also
the society as a whole.
4) Diversity and deliberate play must be prioritized in sport and exercise of children
and youth until at least the age of 12.
5) he pyramid-like structure of the sport and exercise system where children and young
people specialize in diferent sports at an early age should be abandoned.
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mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
6) he selection process of potential elite athletes should be based on procedures of
selection and de-selection without aiming at the early identiication and development of athletes.
7) From the perspective of the career in elite sports, life outside sports and its transitions
and needs have to be better taken into account.
8) he whole system must be based on the principle of collective good, i.e. the societal,
educational and national health related good whereas success in elite sports should
only be seen as the byproduct of this good work.
9) he rights, freedoms and protection of children must always be taken into account
when organizing sport and exercise activities for children and young people.
hese recommendations – especially in their original, more elaborate form – ofer concrete ideas as to how to develop sport and exercise in Finland. In principle, they could
function as the basis of an ideological, national sport and exercise model (e.g. de Bosscher 2006; Huhta & Nipuli 2011), should such a model be built. Regardless whether
it is built or not, bringing up these perspectives is necessary because the organization
of sport and exercise has been on a very irrational and unstable basis due to the lack of
a shared national model and value choices. In other countries, these recommendations
may naturally be adapted to existing conditions and policies.
Even though a similar list of recommendations in art has not been made, this study
also ofers ideas to the needs of cultural policy. However, we have to note that cultural
policy in Finland has been more irmly based on research, very diferently from sports,
and therefore, the need for recommendations is smaller. In any case, the ‘recommendation setting’ in cultural policy was turned upside down in the end of the research
part on artists. he question could be – instead of society demanding ‘proit potential’
of art, as a producer of welfare services or economic growth, what society could learn
from arts and artists? In the neoliberal competition economy resources are scarce and,
therefore, we could learn from the artists a ‘humbler’ logic of success. Success does not
necessarily have to be the appreciation of top level performance and winning but also
just appreciation of good life, that you can achieve a reasonable standard of living and
content to your life by doing the work you love. Spreading such ethos in society and in
the working life in a broader sense could prepare us all for the existing and future age
of insecurity. At the same time, we could emphasize the values of education, culture,
creativity and imagination, which are diicult to ind in today’s money-oriented society,
but the importance of which is not likely to diminish in the future.
In addition to ofering ideas to the development of sports and culture and their policy
dimensions this research has ofered some food for thought for science, too. In sport
science, it ofers a new perspective and a cornerstone for further research whereas in
social scientiic art research it can be placed as part of the research tradition, ofering an
important reference research. In addition to these, the life course analysis used in both
studies has proved to be a good working tool for analysing autobiographic interviews.
his research approach has connected the research data to a wider societal and cultural
landscape without forgetting the importance of agency, choices and social networks, such
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
2000s finland.
as families, for individuals. At the same time, this common method has improved the
comparability of research data sets and placed them in a wider context. his method is
very appropriate also to further research endeavours or to the repetition of this research
setting in other countries and cultures.
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mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
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Appendix 1: interviewed athletes
Interviewed athletes with their main discipline and their most important accomplishments at the time of the interviews. Also mentioned whether they were interviewed as
elite athletes or dropouts, if they had multicultural background, and whether they were
classiied as representatives of traditional individual sports, team sports or lifestyle sports.
(F=Female; M=Male.)
Anne Rikala
F
Canoeing
Anssi Koivuranta
Anssi Valtonen
M Nordic combined
M Bowling
Emilia Pikkarainen
F
Erik Eklund
M MTB-enduro
Elite athlete
Eva Wahlström
F
Boxing
Elite athlete
Jonathan Åstrand
Juho Kosiainen
M Track and ield/ Elite athlete
sprint
M Taekwondo
Elite athlete
Kenneth Sandvik
M Powerliting
Krista Lähteenmäki
Laura Lepistö
F
Nordic skiing
Elite athlete
F
Figure skaing
Elite athlete
Marcus Sandell
M Alpine skiing
Elite athlete
Mari Laukkanen
F
Biathlon
Elite athlete
Markus Puolakka
M Speed skaing
Elite athlete
Mai Hautamäki
M Ski jumping
Elite athlete
Mikko Ilonen
M Golf
Elite athlete
Minna Kauppi
F
Orienteering
Elite athlete
Minna
Nieminen
Pasi Ahjokivi
F
Rowing
Elite athlete
M Archery
Elite athlete
Pekka Koskela
M Speed skaing
Elite athlete
Petra Olli
F
Freestyle
wrestling
Elite athlete
Swimming
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
264
Olympian, muliple medalist in
internaional championships
Medalist in Olympics and World
championships
In naional junior team
Olympian, medalist in European
championships
Finnish champion
European champion in professionals, medalist in internaional
amateur championships
Paricipant in internaional
championships, Finnish champion
Paricipant in internaional
championships, Nordic champion
Muliple World champion
Medalist in Olympics and World
championships
Medalist in World and European
championships
Paricipant in Olympics and
internaional championships
Paricipant in Olympics and
internaional championships
Olympian
Medalist in Olympics and World
championships
Golf professional
Muliple medalist in internaional
championships, including World
Championship
Medalist in Olympics and World
and European championships
Muliple medalist in internaional
championships, including World
Championship
Medalist in World championships
Medalist in internaional junior
championships
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
Rami Hietaniemi
M Greco-Roman
wrestling
M Track and ield/
long jump
F Track and ield/
steeplechase
F Shooing sport
Elite athlete
M Gymnasics
Elite athlete
Tommi Pulli
M Speed skaing
Elite athlete
Tuula Tenkanen
F
Sailing
Elite athlete
Ville Lång
M Badminton
Elite athlete
Anna Westerlund
F
Soccer
Elite athlete
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Team sport
Annika Kukkonen
F
Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Emilia Nyström
F
Beach volley
Elite athlete
Team sport
Hanno Mötölä
M Basketball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Juha Lind
M Ice hockey
Elite athlete
Team sport
Jukka Lehtovaara
M Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Jukka Raitala
M Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Katri NoksoKoivisto
F
Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Kimmo Muurinen
M Basketball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Krisina Herbert
F
Elite athlete
Team sport
Leena Puranen
F
Synchronized
skaing
Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Linnea Tamminen
F
Elite athlete
Team sport
Maija Saari
F
Synchronized
skaing
Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Mai Oivanen
M Volleyball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Niklas Moisander
M Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Niko Hovinen
M Ice hockey
Elite athlete
Team sport
Roni Ollikainen
Sandra Eriksson
Satu MäkeläNummela
Tomi Tuuha
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
265
2000s finland.
Medalist in World and European
championships
Paricipant in internaional
championships, Finnish champion
Finnish champion, paricipant in
internaional championships
Olympic champion
European champion, paricipant
in internaional championships
Olympian, medalist in internaional junior championships
Olympian, medalist in World
championships
Olympian
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Medalist in internaional
championships
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
World champion
Naional level professional
league, played in naional team
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
World champion
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
World champion
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Played in professional leagues,
World champion
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
Olli Kunnari
M Volleyball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Oscar Hänninen
M Floorball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Riikka Lehtonen
F
Elite athlete
Team sport
Rolf Larsson
M Bandy
Elite athlete
Team sport
Salla Kyhälä
Sasu Salin
F Ringete
M Basketball
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Team sport
Team sport
Teemu Pukki
M Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Teemu Pulkkinen
M Ice hockey
Elite athlete
Team sport
Teemu Rannikko
M Basketball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Tero Tiitu
M Floorball
Elite athlete
Team sport
Tim Sparv
M Soccer
Elite athlete
Team sport
Anniina Tikka
F
Elite athlete
Lifestyle sport
Artu Pihlainen
Elite athlete
Lifestyle sport
Enni Rukajärvi
M Ice cross
downhill
F Snowboarding
Elite athlete
Lifestyle sport
Nikolai Alin
Peetu Piiroinen
M Skateboarding
M Snowboarding
Elite athlete
Elite athlete
Lifestyle sport
Lifestyle sport
Roosa Huhikorpi
F
Climbing
Elite athlete
Lifestyle sport
Seppo Paju
M Disc golf
Elite athlete
Lifestyle sport
Tuomas Kärki
Amin Asikainen
M Footbag
M Boxing
Nooralota Neziri
Anni Havukainen
Camilo Mieinen
Casper Pitzner
Efe Evwaraye
Fiii Aidoo
Lum Rexhepi
Volleyball
Breakdance
Elite athlete
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
F Track and ield/ Elite athlete,
hurdles
mulicultural
F Soccer
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
M Ice hockey
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
M Floorball
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
M American
Elite athlete,
football
mulicultural
M Basketball
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
M Soccer
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Lifestyle sport
Tradiional individual sport
Tradiional individual sport
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
266
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
World champion
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Played in professional leagues,
medalist in internaional
championships
World champion
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Played in professional leagues,
paricipant in internaional
tournaments
Played in professional leagues,
World champion
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Finnish champion, unoicial
World champion
World champion
Olympic medalist, World
champion
Finnish champion
Olympic medalist, World Cup
winner
Paricipant in internaional
tournaments, Nordic champion
European champion, World youth
champion
World champion
European champion in
professionals
Paricipant in internaional
championships, Finnish champion
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Played in professional leagues
Naional level, played in naional
team
Medalist in European championships, Finnish champion
Played in naional junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
Michaela Moua
F
Basketball
Nora Heroum
F
Soccer
Nosh A Lody
M Soccer
Orlando Taylor
M Basketball
Tomi Petrescu
M Soccer
Akim Bakhtaoui
M Locking dance
Elina Järvinen os.
Ketunen
Toni Berg
F
Figure skaing
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Elite athlete,
mulicultural
Dropout
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
Team sport
Lifestyle sport
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Naional level, part of naional
team
Finnish champion
Hanna Posa
Dropout
Team sport
Ida Sundsten
F
Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Jarkko Vähäsarja
M Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Johannes Westö
M Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Krisian
Kunnas
Nelli Back
M Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
F
Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Ronja Forslund
F
Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Werner Kaiila
M Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Ville Lehtonen
M Soccer
Dropout
Team sport
Kuui Huhikorpi
M Climbing
Dropout
Lifestyle sport
Alex Vassiliev
M Boxing
Michael Quarshie
Nanayaw Awuah
Addae
Ümit Menekse
M Basketball
Tung Bui
M Parkour
M Soccer
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Finnish champion
Olympian
Dropout
Manuela Bosco
Played in professional leagues,
played in naional team
Naional level, paricipant in
internaional tournaments
Naional level, played in naional
junior team
Played in naional junior team
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
M Downhill
mountain
biking
F Soccer
Dropout,
mulicultural
F Track and ield/ Dropout,
hurdles
mulicultural
M American
Dropout,
football
mulicultural
2000s finland.
Tradiional
individual sport
Tradiional
individual sport
Team sport
Dropout,
Team sport
mulicultural
Dropout,
Team sport
mulicultural
Lifestyle sport
Dropout,
mulicultural
267
Finnish champion
Finnish champion, Paricipant in
internaional championships
Played in professional leagues,
medalist in internaional
championships
Medalist in Finnish championships, played in naional team
Played in naional junior team
Pioneered parkour in Finland
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
Appendix 2: interviewed artists
In this appendix are all the artists interviewed for this research. Included is also the ield(s)
of art the interviewee primarily represented when he or she was asked to participate.
Nevertheless, majority of them work in multiple ields and in diferent roles, thus they
don’t necessarily identify themselves only to these ields. We encourage the readers to
look for further information on these artists and their accomplishments, as these are not
as easily distinguishable as in sports. (F=Female; M=Male.)
Jasmin Anoschkin
Laura Birn
Mikko Franck
Roope Gröndahl
Samuli Heimonen
Hannaleena Heiska
Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen
Juha Itkonen
Sanna Kantola
Anssi Kasitonni
Krista Kosonen
Jani Leinonen
Sami Makkonen
Tuomas Milonof
Rauha Mäkilä
Mazdak Nassir
Mimosa Pale
Milla Paloniemi
Ari Pelkonen
Aarni Pennanen
Ari Pulkkinen
Ville Ranta
Mika Rätö
Siina Saaristo
Paola Suhonen
Ville Tietäväinen
Katja Tukiainen
Anna Tuori
Paula Vesala
F
F
M
M
M
F
F
M
F
M
F
M
M
M
F
M
F
F
M
M
M
M
M
F
F
M
F
F
F
Visual arts
Theatre and movies
Classical music
Classical music
Visual arts
Visual arts
Literature
Literature
Design
Visual arts
Theatre and movies
Visual arts
Comics
Tv and movies
Visual arts
Documentary ilm
Visual arts
Comics
Visual arts
Classical music
Video game music
Comics
Popular music
Visual arts
Design
Comics
Visual arts
Visual arts
Popular music
268
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
Appendix 3: interview questions for athletes
(Appendix has been translated from Finnish to English by the authors)
(Speciic quesions for dropouts in italic)
Beginning quesion
- With your own words and as long as you wish, tell me your life story of athlete
Speciic themes/quesions
Parents
- Playing and exercising together
- How acively parents were/are involved?
- Mental, inancial and other support?
- Feelings of pressure?
- Parent as a coach?
- Parents as athletes themselves?
- How parents reacted on dropping out, did they have any role in it?
Siblings
- Did the do sports?
- Involved in same sports?
- Mutual support/compeiion?
Environments of growing up
- Physical acivity and places for it in the childhood and adolescence?
- Hobbies near home?
- Quality and quanity?
- How you got to your hobbies?
School
- Success?
- Role of teachers?
- School and athleic requirements, how did they coexist?
- Pressures of success and/or sport success?
- Sports related schools and their role?
- Studies alongside with athleic career, your success in them?
Friends
- What role did they have in your athleic lifestyle/hobbies?
- Do you have friends in sports and/or outside it?
- How has sports inluenced your relaionships?
Youth
- What kind of youth you’ve had/have?
- Have you been part of some speciic youth cultures?
- Did you have other than sports-related hobbies?
Human relaionships
- Has your work inluenced them?
- Relaionships and kids: have they been support/obstacle/etc.?
- ”Sports couples”?
- Has sports inluenced your family life/possibiliies to it?
269
2000s finland.
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
Coaches
- Relaionship between you and your coach(es)?
- Professionality/quality of your coach?
- Flexibility, communicaion, open talk on dropping out etc.?
- Control, authoritarity, lack of conidence etc.?
Costs of your hobbies and athleic career
- Who has paid?
- Has it been tough?
- Have economic problems made you think of quiing?
- Diferent sources of funding?
- Can you make your living with sports?
Physical acivity relaionship
- Idols, fandom?
- Watching sports on television, internet etc.?
Ideniicaion and development as an athlete
- When did you choose your main discipline?
- When did you quit other sports?
- When did you realize you might have a chance to succeed?
- Have you succeeded at early age? How did it inluence your later career?
- How much ime have you put in pracice? More than others?
- How have the transiions, e.g. moving to a diferent training group went?
- Psychological growth: goal-seing, evaluaing your performance, self-awareness, concentraion,
planning, long term plans, etc.?
- How has sport inluenced your character?
Moivaions
- Family demands, friends, geing recogniion, winning, pleasure, rebelling, something to get out
from home etc...
- How do you deine success and what does it mean to you?
- What does winning mean to you? Do you have compeiive mentality?
- You prefer to represent yourself, your country, club...?
- Have you had lack of moivaion? Why?
Regrets
- If you could choose now, would you try making it again?
- Have you had to give up on something else?
- Do you think you would’ve made it in other ields of sport/life?
- Injuries and their inluence?
- Dropping out: why?
- Lack of ime, studies, friends, work, other things...?
- Have you ever thought of quiing, why?
- What have been reasons of some of your peers that have dropped out?
Future plans
- Life ater sports?
- Educaion and work?
- How has dropping out inluenced your life and plans? Do you miss something, what have you
gained?
270
exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
Mulicultural athletes: speciic quesions (among with the aforemenioned)
Acculturaion, sports meaning in it
- What did sport mean in your childhood?
- Has your family background inluenced your sports hobbies?
- Was it easy to enter? Where did the iniiaive come from?
- Has sport had inluence on learning language, or vice versa?
- Has sport ofered other things, such as friends or other hobbies?
- Or further social capitals, or helped gain status in life in general?
- Other aspects of sport and acculturaion?
- Has your background beneited you in other ways, or denied you something?
Racism
- From other players, coaches, audience, organizaions etc.?
- More racism in the ields of sport or outside of them?
- How have other people around you reacted/helped you in cases of racism?
- Do you have any procedures in case of racism in your club/sport?
Idenity
- Ethnic idenity: are you more a Finn or something else?
- Naional feelings and represening Finland?
- Has somebody ever quesioned your right to represent Finland?
- Future plans? Staying in Finland, want to go somewhere else?
271
2000s finland.
mikko salasuo, mikko piispa
& helena huhta
Appendix 4: interview questions for artists
(Appendix has been translated from Finnish to English by the authors)
Beginning quesion
- With your own words and as long as you wish, tell me your life story of arist
Speciic themes/quesions
Parents
- Playing together, going to cultural events etc.
- Financial resources and supplying
- Parents working in ield of culture?
- Parent as a teacher?
- How acive have parents been in your hobbies?
- Emoional support, respect
- Pressure or other negaive feedback?
- How the parents have reacted if you’ve thought about quiing or changing hobbies?
Siblings
- In the same ields?
- Mutual support/compeiion?
Places for hobbies
- Near home?
- Quality and quanity
- How you got there?
Friends
- Were they interested in arts, did you have an arisic group of friends?
- Has your aristry inluenced friend-relaionships? Or vice versa?
- Inluence of girl-/boyfriends?
Youth
- What kind of youth you’ve had/have?
- Have you been part of some speciic youth cultures?
- Did your arisic hobbies restrict your possibiliies to paricipate in other things?
School
- Success?
- Role of the arts teachers (music, drawing etc.)
- Did arts inluence your ability to do school work?
- Art oriented schools or self-learning?
Teaching and learning
- Was it professional/serious, when?
- Freedoms and/or authoriies?
Idols and relaionship to arts/culture
- The role of idols?
- “Consuming” of arts besides your own career
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exceptional life courses. elite athletes and successful artists in
Costs of your hobbies
- Who paid?
- Ever had inancial problems?
- Have you ever doubted whether you can make it inancially?
Career
- When did you start/ind your own ield?
- Did you have to drop out other hobbies, at what age?
- At what age you decided to take on an arisic career? What or who inluenced it?
Success and moivaion
- How do you deine success?
- Is art calling/vocaion (kutsumus in Finnish)?
- Making arts as a compulsion?
- Family pressure?
- Respect and encouragement received?
- Compeiion?
- Pleasure?
- Rebelling?
- Lack of moivaion, reason for that?
Regrets
- If you could choose again now, would you choose your career/ield?
- Have you had to give up on something?
- Do you think you would have made it in some other ield?
- Have you ever thought about quiing?
- What are the reasons behind some of your peers quiing?
Human relaionships
- Has your work inluenced them?
- Relaionships and kids: have they been support/obstacle/etc.?
Developing as an arist
- When did you start to do your thing more goal-oriented?
- At what age you irst ime got arisic recogniion?
- When did you “know” you’d become a professional in your ield?
- Have you had some problems that have been diicult to conquer?
- You think you go on unil reirement or even beyond?
Psychological development
- Goal-seing and self-evaluaion
- Self-awareness, handling of pressures
- Planning ahead, own “training”
- How do you think your profession has inluenced you as a human being?
- How big part of your idenity aristry is?
- How does it feel like to fail?
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2000s finland.
The aim of this book is to understand those complex life course
mechanisms and processes that have led 78 athletes and 29 young
artists to success in 2000s Finland. Besides the successful athletes,
the researchers look into the dropout of 18 particularly promising
athletes. Furthermore, the research sheds light on the particular
challenges faced by athletes with a multicultural background.
The majority of the interviewed athletes and artists had been born
and raised in Finland; hence the study’s perspective is predominantly
domestic. Many of the athletes had continued their careers abroad
after having reached the top, yet the essential events of their life
courses are located in Finland. The vast international literature
on career research of athletes, used along with the research data
itself, complements the domestic perspective. As to the artists, the
researchers have mainly drawn upon domestic research knowledge.
In this study, the life courses of athletes and artists are reviewed
in parallel. Consequently, the reader enjoys a broad insight into
the growth and development of Finnish elite athletes in the late
20th and early 21st century Finland. The same applies to the
young successful artists, whose life phases are studied from
childhood until the present. This study is unique in the
international context, as the researchers were able to
reach an exceptionally large number of the best Finnish
athletes and artists of different fields.
ISBN 978-952-7175-03-3
ISSN 1799-9219
UDK: 316, 7.07, 796