The project aims at reconstructing (sports) biographies of competitive athletes with flight histories. Due to the topicality of the so-called "refugee crisis", such a project is interesting in order to pursue the following research questions: How do competitive athletes with a history of flight themselves interpret the influence of flight on their lives and their sport? How has flight promoted or hindered their access to sports (clubs)? How do they continue to play sports despite dramatic experiences and drastic life changes? How do young competitive athletes with a history of flight imagine their lives and what role does (competitive) sport play in this? What development can be observed over time? These research questions will be investigated through ethnography (including narrative interviews and participant observation) and different theoretical approaches in order to develop a deep and differentiated view of this current social phenomenon.

A sub-project that has already been carried out focuses on reconstructing the (sports) biographies of former members of the Syrian national youth water polo team. In the meantime, data have already been collected at three measurement points (in 2016, 2017 and 2018). An additional measurement time point was cancelled due to the pandemic. Five former members of the Syrian youth national team (led by the former coach) participated in a water polo tournament in Sweden (Norrköping) in July 2016 and 2017. In fact, it was (in 2016) the first appearance of the Syrian national water polo team after a four-year forced hiatus, as the intensification of the civil war in Syria disbanded the team and many of the members had to flee to different European countries. The water polo event was used to conduct in-depth qualitative analyses (participant observation and guided interviews) in a compact manner. At the first measurement point, the question of the influence of flight on (competitive) sports careers was particularly scrutinized. Because the above-mentioned competitive athletes were living in different European countries at the time (1 in Germany, 3 in Sweden, 1 in Holland), the opportunity was given to question the subjective life and sport experiences as a refugee in different European countries. The second survey also took a look at the development of the refugee athletes and their sports careers, showing that only one of the five Syrian players who competed in Sweden found their way to professional water polo in Europe. Three still play the sport regularly, but at a low level. One of the players has dropped out of the sport completely. For one of the players and for the former coach of the national team, the drastic life changes gave the reason to approach water polo again, after they had withdrawn from the sport (already before the war). Nevertheless, it becomes clear that the athletes find their way back to the sport only with difficulty, especially in "small" sports. Systematic sports promotion is lacking. Unfortunately, initiatives such as this association usually only come about through the personal commitment of individuals. The third survey is intended to show how long-term and sustainable the results of the first two measurement points are, or how sports careers have developed further. In addition to longitudinal research on the case of the "refugee Syrian water polo players," the project will also collect data on (sports) biographies of athletes with a refugee background in other sports disciplines.

Publications: Michelini, E. (2020). Coping with Sport Ambitions after Forced Migration: Strategies of Refugee Athletes. European Journal for Sport and Society. doi:10.1080/16138171.2020.1792114 Michelini, E. (2018). War, migration, resettlement and sport socialization of young athletes: the case of Syrian elite water polo. European Journal for Sport and Society, 15(1), 5-21. doi:10.1080/16138171.2018.1440949 Press reports in German: www.sport.tu-dortmund.de/sport/index.php www.svwestfalen.de/index.php/wasserball/aktuelles/193-wiedersehen-in-schweden www.tu-dortmund.de/uni/Uni/aktuelles/meldungen/2016-08/16-08-01_wasserball/index.html Press reports in Swedish: www.hd.se/2016-07-12/med-syrisk-forstarkning-gjorde-vattenpolarna-succ www.svtplay.se/klipp/9501550/jag-hoppas-jag-gor-nagot-for-sverige www.svtplay.se/klipp/9420246/vattenpolo-ar-mitt-liv www.svt.se/sport/artikel/vattenpolo-2/ www.svt.se/nyhetsklipp/lokalt/skane/article6964621.svt