Ilvis Ābeļkalns

• Professor (Associate) at University of Latvia

A significant portion of the population experiences a rapid decline in physical activity levels during their youth. Sedentary habits are becoming increasingly prevalent, a trend that begins as early as school age. To address this issue, the authors of the study, within the framework of the project "Sustainability Trends of Physical Activities and L...

Purpose: Speed is a crucial physical characteristic where each lower-limb ankle plantar-flexor (PF) muscle needs to generate significant force; however, there is limited evidence about the relationship between single-limb isometric, and reactive strength forms, and linear sprint. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the maximal uni...

The aim of the study is to study and analyze the effectiveness of the 3×3 players’ left-hand (non-dominant hand) outplay and to test its effectiveness. Research methods – pedagogical observation, experiment and survey methods. This study used a pedagogical observation and experiment to see how special exercises for the left (non-dominant) hand impr...

From the information of organisations EUSA (2020), EAS (2022) and FISU (2022) documents, it is indicated that dual careers have been one of the priorities at the EU level in the last decade. Today's complex conditions in the world and in Latvia require paying more attention to Dual career support for student-athletes. Mentor support centres are bei...

Aims: The “Establishment of a Dual Career Mentor Centre in Latvia” project, which was carried out within International University Sports Federation (FISU) framework, aimed to research the opportunity for creating a dual career mentoring centre for higher education institutions (HEIs), taking into account feedback received from student-athletes. It...

Introduction This paper examines the convergence of the opinions of European higher education institution (HEI) experts on possible implementation of dual career policies and provision areas at university level. Methods An online 32-item questionnaire encompassing 26 dual career aspects collected the opinion of European HEI experts as the last pha...

Previous studies have found that student-athletes (S-As) have difficulties in achieving dual career (DC) success. However, no studies have analysed the opinion of the S-As on the functioning of DC with a qualitative methodology. The aim of the present work was to collect the opinions of elite university S-As in relation to DC policy adopted by thei...

The article outlines the problem of traumatism, which is analyzed from the viewpoint of the socio-medical aspect. The peculiarities of the impact of traumatism on the professional sports career were revealed through the analysis of the elite athletes’ biographies (n = 296 respondents). The research was carried out applying the qualitative research...

This study aimed to investigate the student-athletes' capability to face the academic, sport, and social challenges during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown and to disclose novel aspects of dual careers. A 32-item online survey encompassing demographic characteristics, sport and university engagement, support and dual-career benefits...

To inform on the objectives and progression of the AMiD, EMPATIA, DONA, Ed Media, More Than Gold, Starting 11 and SOS ERASMUS+ Sport Collaborative Partnerships in which EAS cooperates with sport bodies and educational institutions to envisage novel solutions for the development of opportunities in education and sport paths of athletes. Dual career...

The European Commission has made notable efforts in recent years to serve those students who, within the European Higher Education Area, combine their studies with performance sport (student-athletes). In this sense, various projects have been developed that seek to meet the needs of this group, following the recommendations established by the Euro...

One of the European Union’s (EU) priorities in sports is the holistic development of athletes through combining high-performance sports with higher education. Within the ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership “More than Gold” (MTG, 603346-EPP-1-2018-1-LV-SPO-SCP), the aim of the empirical research was to clarify and analyse the opinions of high-pe...

The revised European consensus defined sarcopenia as a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder that is associated with an increased likelihood of adverse outcomes including falls, fractures, physical disability and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia and analyse the influence of diet, physical...

This article aims to give an overview of students – top athlete experience, how to combine studies at university with a sports career. For the data, the acquisition was used as an individual, written survey with mixed-type questions by form. Applicants of the survey were students who are in the national team or master players. The data from the sur...

The study explores factors that motivate high-performance athletes to manage their dual career while studying in secondary school. The dual career experience of Latvian youth is obtained. The paper analyses the results from young high-performance athletes’ questionnaire, focusing on the support young athletes receive and would need to receive in th...

The aim of this article is to give an overview on possibilities for students – top athletes to combine their career in respective sports field with studies in different Latvian higher education establishments. Authors of the article analyse scientific literature and the opinions expressed in the individual interviews of the heads of higher educatio...

The Objective of the study Analysis and Use of Physical Characteristic Tests in the Training Process for Football Players of Different Ages is to develop the physical characteristic profile of Football School (FS) “Metta” football players based on the data analysis of the applied study, and to assess the practical application towards the improvemen...

This article discusses the viewpoints of graduates of the program Health and sports teacher (Sports teacher – since 2011) in University of Latvia, Faculty of Pedagogy, Psychology and Art, on the particular study program, focusing on the importance of the educational environment. Parallel to the studies, students have the opportunity to develop thei...

This article aims to provide an overview of high performance athletes - students dual-career support opportunities in the European Union, in order to create dual career support system in Latvia. The paper provides an explanation of terms, and analyzes the UK, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and other countries' experience in the dual career. In the proce...