Phases in the Cultural Transition Process of Icelandic Professional Handball Players Moved to Denmark

Sammanfattning: The number of athletic migrants has increased over the last 20 years. In the past, transitions have been difficult for transnational and migrant athletes. The objective of this study was to explore professional cultural transition experiences of Icelandic handball players who moved to Denmark in terms of demands, resources, barriers, and coping strategies throughout three phases of the transition process. The study used a qualitative approach centred on postpositivism. Eight active professional handball players were interviewed about their cultural transition experiences on moving to Denmark, and the data was then analysed using a thematic analysis. The focus was to identify themes in the data within each category and phase of the transition. In the findings, we present an empirical model of the cultural transition of Icelandic professional handball players. The model provides a description of the players' transition experiences (i.e., perceived demands, resources, barriers, coping strategies, and outcomes) within each of the three cultural transition phases (pre-transition, acute cultural adaptation, and sociocultural adaptation). The empirical model can be useful for sport psychology practitioners working with handball players and sporting national governing bodies (NGB). The results can also be implemented by handball clubs in Iceland and in coaching education.