A holistic ecological approach to sport and study: The case of an athlete friendly university in Denmark

•This study is a part of the Erasmus + Sports project “Ecology of Dual Career”.•It applies the holistic ecological approach to the study of dual careers.•It introduces the dual career development environment (DCDE) and two working models.•Explores a Danish university DCDE by transforming working models to empirical models.•Stimulates readers to consider the role of environment in athletes’ dual careers.