Mitigating Factors
It’s Not about the Protest: Biased Reporting in the Sports Section
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adrianne Grubic
This study analyzed whether sports journalists are more or less biased when reporting on race as compared to the 1960s. Through textual analysis this paper examined whether sportswriters were more or less discriminatory in their reporting on the national anthem protest of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as compared to when track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos protested during the 1968 Summer Olympics. This study found some racial biases still remain, but are more subtle in general.
Factors Affecting the Development of Physical Education Teaching for University Students
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Aungkana Boonsem
Thailand has determined that physical education (PE) is an important subject for university students. The purpose of this research was to study the factors affecting the development of physical education instruction in university to achieve the intended purpose. The sample included 1,000 students, 558 male and 442 female students, selected using stratified random sampling method (Stratified Random Sampling) and were divided into groups based on sport types. The data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using frequency and percentage. The results showed that the factors that had the highest percentage for the overall development of teaching physical education in the personalities of Physical Education instructors (59.18%) and the measurement and evaluation had the lowest percentage (45.53%). Based on the gender, the personality factor was still the most important factor at a rate of 58.66% and 62.33% for male and female. However, the course content and curriculum were at a minimum percentage for male students (45.42%) while the teaching methods and activities were for female students (46.81%) because of the increased interest of male students in activities more than in the content, which corresponds to gender behavior. For sport, badminton, table tennis, dance, tennis and basketball, the personality factor was still the most important. Based on the above findings, there was a significant result on the personality of the Physical Education teacher. This was because of being a role model and motivating people to take part in student activities at university even though the students concentrated on learning in classroom.
Dressed for Success?: An Analysis of Girls' Sport Retail Options
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katie Lebel, Danica Vidotto
In November 2018, nine-year-old Riley Morrison wrote a letter to NBA superstar, Stephen Curry, after attempting to purchase a new pair of Under Armour Curry 5 basketball shoes for her upcoming basketball season and learning the shoe was not available in girls’ sizing. In a viral letter to Curry, she poignantly highlighted the inequity of the situation and encouraged Curry to remedy the problem, noting, “girls want to rock the Curry 5’s too.” Inspired by this incident, the purpose of this study was to offer an empirical examination of the sport retail options available to girls relative to their male counterparts. A content analysis of the websites maintained by top sport retailers and major sport apparel brands was conducted in order to examine the merchandise options available to girls and boys in sport. Results of the study illustrated severe gender inequities relative to the youth sport retail market. The majority of sport retailers did not differentiate between genders in their "youth" product lines, and “youth” sport products predominantly featured photos of young boys actively engaged in sport. Girls were almost exclusively treated as “other,” presented as “fans,” or ignored all together. The theoretical lens of enclothed cognition is applied to help interpret the findings and establish female youth as an undeserved market segment in the sport retail industry. Implications will focus on the impact this has on the broader issue of diversity and inclusion in sport.
Student-athletes at an Historically Black University: Examining the Relationship between Student Engagement on Campus and Career Situation Awareness
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gregory Rich, Kenneth Kungu, Ali Boolani
The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between student-athletes’ engagement experiences on campus and their career situation awareness at an historically Black university (HBU) in the Southeastern United States with NCAA Division I affiliation. Data were obtained from a sample (n = 118) of female (n= 45) and male (n = 73) student-athletes using measures from the revised versions of the Student-Athlete Experiences Inventory (SAEI) and the Student-Athlete Career Situation Inventory (SACSI). One-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation tests, and t-tests were employed to analyze gender, race, year classification, and sport played effects. Following data analysis, three key findings were identified. First, HBCUs are likely to provide socially enriching environments for minority student-athletes of both genders that promote career confidence; particularly for minority, female student-athletes. Second, in an HBCU context, White student-athletes may not be as academically involved in university life when compared to their minority counterparts. Third, the use of the library for academic purposes and engagement in socially enriching experiences may have diminishing effects on female student-athletes’ sports identities. Implications and future research recommendations are discussed. Related practical implications would be for Athletic Departments to increase opportunities for student-athletes to be engaged in socially enriching environments on campus that include other students and to encourage academic use of the library. To better validate and improve the generalizability of findings from this exploratory study, future research should conduct similar studies that employ data from multiple HBCUs.
