The general secretary of sport, Anna Caula, and the general manager of Johan Cruyff Institute, Mariël Koerhuis, sign the renewal of the agreement to make sport management training accessible for elite athletes of the CAR de Sant Cugat
Johan Cruyff Institute and the CAR de Sant Cugat have renewed their collaboration agreement through which elite athletes from the high performance center can benefit from scholarships and special conditions that allow them to combine their sports career with academic training in sport management and prepare for their transition to the labor market once they retire.
The CAR’s general secretary of sport, Anna Caula, who also serves as president of the board of directors, and the general manager of Johan Cruyff Institute, Mariël Koerhuis, signed the new contract that extends, for four more years, a close collaboration between the two organizations that began in 2013. Also present at the event were the director of the CAR, Ramón Terrassa, and three of the athletes who have studied the Master in Marketing and Sport Management (Blended) with a scholarship from Johan Cruyff Institute this year: the long-distance athlete Artur Bossy, the field hockey player Miki Delàs, and the table tennis player Galia Dvorak.
Anna Caula and Mariël Koerhuis signed the renewal of the agreement accompanied by the scholarship holders for the 2021-22 academic year: Artur Bossy, Galia Dvorak and Miki Delàs.
Providing all the means for the comprehensive training of athletes is a mission shared by both institutions. “The renewal of the agreement with Johan Cruyff Institute for four more years means moving forward, offering our elite athletes the possibility of this dual training, a training that they already receive through sport because it provides them with tools to open up to the future that awaits them around the corner, and quality academic training so they can continue working in what they love, which is the world of sport,” said Anna Caula.
Ramon Terrassa explained that “for the CAR, the dual career is a fundamental element, part of the most important services we provide to athletes, following our policy and that of the whole sports area of the Generalitat [Catalan regional government]. We understand that the athlete must be at the center of attention for all CAR professionals, coaches, physical trainers, medical services, etc., and also for the training professionals who will make possible their studies during their professional sports career. CAR‘s statutes state that one of the center’s missions is to provide quality and comprehensive services for the life of elite athletes. We cannot do this without the help of organizations that can contribute more value, so having an alliance with Johan Cruyff Institute is part of this statutory purpose of the CAR and renewing this agreement was very important.”
For Mariël Koerhuis, it was “a pleasure to return to the CAR to renew our commitment to continue working together in the training of elite athletes”. The general manager of Johan Cruyff Institute highlighted the suitability of studies that are 100% specialized in the world of sport and the way in which this knowledge is transferred to professional athletes. “Elite athletes must be understood; their passion is sport and supporting them in their academic training requires a personalized accompaniment, seeing the training as if they were on the playing field, giving them more flexibility, and understanding that for them to be motivated that training must be all about sport. This has a lot to do with our methodology, which is very sport focused, how we design the study plans and how comfortable they are with their classmates, who can be elite or non-elite athletes, or professionals in the industry, but they all have in common their passion for sport.”
For Artur Bossy, Galia Dvorak and Miki Delàs, the master‘s experience could not have been more positive. “It has been a great opportunity for me,” said the long-distance runner, who has a law degree and a master’s degree in advocacy. “Receiving this scholarship from Johan Cruyff Institute through the CAR has allowed me to complement my studies and, above all, to delve into all the most relevant aspects of the sports industry.” For Galia, “it has been a very interesting and enriching experience because, after so many years in the world of sport in which you have seen many things that you do not know how they work, being able to see from the inside how they are planned and organized has been very interesting.”
Miki Delàs agrees that “we are fortunate for the scholarship we have received to see this world from another perspective. As athletes, we are used to focusing on our sport, but behind it there is much more—everything related to management and marketing, in which we can say that we are now specialists.”
