Parallel Sessions - Online Lightning Talks: Room 1
NFL Player Activity off and on the Field: Arbitration Options
Virtual Lightning Talk Maris Stella Swift, Ryan Nink
Social media, television, and news organizations have made the on and off-the-field actions of professional athletes more visible than ever before. This is true in the National Football League (NFL) whether the players are involved in criminal activities off-the-field or actions of protestation on the field. These activities are a daily item in the news over the past year and it appears that America’s voracious appetite for information about the NFL is not going to end any time soon. This paper will address the following in regard to the NFL: first, it will explain the basics of the NFL. Second, it will explain the important sections of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that govern the relationship between the team owners and the players association; and third, the paper will provide reasons that support the authors’ assertion that perhaps all contractual disputes between the two parties should be resolved through arbitration. The NFL will be compared to the Canadian Football League (CFL) which has an arbitration process in place and is the closest professional substitute.
The History of Women's Soccer in Brazil
Virtual Lightning Talk Talita Machado Vieira, José Sterza Justo, Sonia Regina Vargas Mansano
This paper aims to present and to discuss some historical aspects of women's soccer in Brazil. It was developed on Foucault's principals of research, especially his genealogical phase. There were two main terms that were used to inform this investigation: provenance (Herkunft) and emergency (Entestehung); according to Foucault's ideas, based on his study of Nietzsche's work, both terms show the intent of the genealogical research better than the word origin (Ursprung). So the genealogy is, in the first place, a kind of research that pursuits the provenance and the emergency of the events instead of their origin. These assumptions helped in the analysis and the comprehension of the current situation of women's soccer in Brazil through a historical look until the forties, in the 20th century, when the notion of “feminine nature” erupted in the legal text of the first Brazilian sports legislation claiming the supposed incompatibility of women to the soccer practice. This notion was understood, not as the origin of the feminine exclusion of soccer, but as a construction from different knowledge fields and political interests that involve several aspects related to its provenance and its emergency in the Brazilian society. It is important to mention that this kind of idea still remains and it interferes in the life of many Brazilian girls and women whose enjoy playing soccer or decide to seek it as a career, showing that history is not a line of progressive development.
Science and Technology in Representation of Human Movement: From Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Virtual Lightning Talk Brian Caster
Whether attempting to solve the latest hot-topic question in sport, striving to gain an advantage over a competitive opponent, or seeking to improve upon a performance in the aesthetic realm, we have been applying technological innovation to the understanding of human movement for as long as science and technology have been part of the human endeavor. Furthermore, as the distinction society makes between the thinking, reasoning, feeling human being and our online and technological counterparts becomes increasingly blurred, it is important to revisit the historical progression of our capability to describe human movement. In this paper, both historical and contemporary examples of scientific and technological advancement applied to human movement will presented. In certain instances, from cave drawings to cinema film to smartphone features, it can be argued that technological innovation has come about precisely due to the search for an innovative way of representing the human body in motion. In critically examining our desire to employ increasingly sophisticated means to break movement down for analysis, limitations to such approaches can be better recognized, and potential negative interactions between the science and technology of human movement and the very movement forms we wish to facilitate may be avoided.
Convergence of Sport and Ceremony: Influencing Cultural and National Image at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and PyeongChang
Virtual Lightning Talk Pauline Howes
The intersection of sport with cultural and national identities takes center stage during the opening ceremonies of each Olympic Games. Host countries use this Olympic platform to communicate messages intended to influence society’s perception of their culture and shape a positive national image. This study compares and analyzes the effectiveness of communication strategies and techniques implemented for the opening ceremonies of Olympic Winter Games held in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, and in PyeongChang, South Korea, in 2018. Theoretical foundations of ritual communication and message framing provide a basis for this research. Content analysis examining the multimedia ceremonies and subsequent international media coverage provides insights on how the impact of this international sporting event extends beyond the competitive arena. Issues such as Russia’s controversial involvement in Crimea and its anti-gay laws along with the complexity of South Korea’s thawing relations with North Korea factor into the opening ceremonies of the respective Olympic Games. By focusing on the Winter Games in Sochi and PyeongChang, this paper adds to the body of existing studies on opening ceremonies, which typically view Olympic Summer Games. Though the Winter Games are smaller in scale, involving fewer countries and fewer athletes competing in fewer sports, they are, nevertheless, used by organizers as communication platforms. Examining the Sochi and PyeongChang opening ceremonies in context with the political and social dynamics of the time contributes to understanding the multifaceted role of sport and global sporting events in society.
Franchising Cricket: Moving Ahead from Being a Commonwealth Nations’ Sport to a Globalized Event
Virtual Lightning Talk Saunak Basu
For a better part of a century cricket has been strictly limited in its scope, played mainly by the commonwealth countries, i.e. the states which were used to be colonies of British Empire. Even today the International Cricket Council (I.C.C.) has only 10 full time member nations as compared to some popular sports like Soccer having a true global reach. However, recent years have seen a major shift in the popularity and branding of the game with the advent of franchise based cricket leagues all over the world. It primarily triggered with the inception of Indian Premier League transforming cricket into a prime-time entertainment product. Despite its meteoric rise cricket is yet to be fully consumed in major European and American markets. In this paper we explore how the growth of economy in major cricket playing nations, particularly India attaining the centre stage in cricketing world has geared to expanding the brand association and viewer base of the sport, reviving the lost popularity through advent of franchise based T-20 leagues, helping to transform cricket globally into a “consumable commodity” (Chattopadhyay, 2014). In this paper we present a detailed study of the social media activities and digital innovations related to franchise cricket leagues, to understand the major drivers in its popularity, growth and the gap to be filled to create a stable viewer base in major European and American countries. We discuss the implications of our findings in gearing strategic partnerships between major companies and franchise-based sporting leagues in broader terms.
Where Are All of the Women?: Exercise Science and Physiological Research Involving Female Participants
Virtual Lightning Talk Chelsea Litchfield, Tegan Hartmann
It is widely documented in most sports that historically, women have not had the same opportunities as men in relation to participation, coaching and leadership positions. However, there is less documentation on how gender is prioritised by researchers in research relating to exercise science, physiology and research participation. This paper will focus on the presence of women as research participants in exercise science and physiology based research in several high profile and highly ranked exercise and physiology journals worldwide. Specifically, this presentation investigates the gender and age of research participants in relation to the research focus, gender of the first author and the country of origin of the research. How current exercise science and physiology research engages the use of female participants is contextualised with the experiences of women in other facets of the sporting world.
Understanding PST for Specific Athletes: A Psychological Timetable
Virtual Lightning Talk Ciara V Castagno, Cameron Issel
When it comes to training the body, athletes are subjected to rigorous routines based on specificity, timing, volume, and intensity. This is all to bring out specific changes and adaptations so the athlete can perform at their peak. When it comes to psychological training for the athlete’s specific sport, why is it not the same? The line between elite and non-elite athlete has become smaller and smaller over the years and what has become a defining factor with elite athletes is their mental edge over the competition as well as dealing with the pressure. By applying specific psychological training during different points in time during an athlete’s career we can reach the next step in heightening performance. The following research will demonstrate the applications of certain psychological training principles at specific points within the training age of athletes and exhibit the effects of that placement.
Intermission’s Education Venture: An Innovative Career Transition and Identity Adaptation Model for Elite Athletes
Virtual Lightning Talk Mimi Nartey, Dan McKegney
Lower levels of career maturity (Brown & Hartley, 1998; Linnemeyer & Brown, 2010; Murphy et al., 1996) influence how athletes struggle to transition after their tenure in professional sports (Williams, 2010; Baillie & Danish, 1992; Bradley, 1976). Unsuccessful career transition can lead to financial trouble and negative psychological responses such as confusion, grief, feelings of failure, depression, and isolation (Blinde & Stratta, 1992; Falls & Wilson, 2013; Fuller, 2014; McKnight et al., 2009; Petitipas, Brewer, & Van Raalte, 2009; Taylor & Ogilvie, 1994). Some professional sports organizations have developed player programs to address retirement concerns but are lacking evidence-based theory to efficaciously support career transitions, and suicide rates for retired professional athletes continue to rise (Baum, 2005). Under-conceptualized programs can result in academic, financial, and personal frustration for the athlete-learner and maladaptive coping strategies. InterMission (IM) has proposed and developed a suite of online education programs, synthesized from the literature on sports psychology and adult education, that aim to consider “the whole athlete-learner” by offering psycho-emotional support during career transition and identity adaptation (Lally, 2006; Ungerleider, 1997). The objective of IM is to enhance the athlete-learner’s ability to think critically while developing core business skills and competencies. The IM model posits that professional athletes have already demonstrated exceptional intelligence and capacity for learning (Gardner, 1999); and prior athletic achievement should be foundational to her or his future integrative learning process (analogous to the treatment of business professionals in executive MBA programs) (Latham et. al, 2004).
