Poster Session (Asynchronous - Online Only)
The Relationship between Allocated Funds and College Student Return on Investment at Public NCAA Division I Institutions View Digital Media
Poster Session James Allen
American colleges are spending more money to provide competitive athletic programs (Huml et al., 2019). The vast majority of collegiate athletic departments operate at a deficit and thus rely heavily on institutional support. (Lipford & Slice, 2018; Osborne et al., 2020). This institutional support is commonly referred to as allocated funds (NCAA, 2020). One example of these allocated funds are student fees, which are becoming a progressively larger component of athletic department funding. The typical American college student graduates with tens-of-thousands of dollars in student loan debt (Payscale, 2019). College Return on Investment (ROI) rankings should be considered while making decisions regarding college enrollment (Payscale, 2019). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between allocated funds and college ROI. The researcher utilized data provided to the public via USA Today’s 2018 NCAA Athletic Department Revenue Database and college ROI data (Payscale, 2019). Pearson’s Correlation was utilized to measure the relationship between percentage allocated and college ROI. The researcher identified a significant relationship between allocated funds and college ROI; r (228) = -.29, p < .01. There was a negative, inverse relationship. This offers great insight for prospective college students, their families, as well as administrators at public NCAA Division I institutions. Results revealed that colleges relying more heavily on students to subsidize athletic programs are often providing those students with weak ROI. The researcher recommends that colleges offering weak ROI spend less money on their athletic endeavors in order to avoid exploiting their students.
Featured A Study on International Student Athletes' Acculturation and Motivation
Poster Session Wenyi Chang
Globalization has significantly altered the sporting field. It provides more resources and encourages student athletes to expand their opportunities beyond national borders. This study explores the experience of international student athletes, analyzes and reflects on the motivations, advantages, and challenges of overseas experience, and also investigate the impact of cultural differences. The in-depth interviews were conducted with three Taiwanese international student-athletes who attended the varsity at an NCAA Division I university. The research findings revealed that motivations identified by student athletes to attend a US university include experiencing a higher intensity, broadening their horizons, and learning more skills for their sports. The overseas experience is also regarded as an opportunity to develop their athletic career abroad in the future. However, being in a country with an unfamiliar culture and using a different language both bring a huge challenge for study and sports training. There are also some potential cultural differences in coaching styles, lifestyle, academic performance, and the way of communication between the US and Taiwan. To cite an instance, student athletes have to pay more attention to their studies in order to reach the grade standard for attending the competition. Even so, these high-pressure contexts help student-athletes develop higher self-discipline and mental toughness as well as improve their language proficiency. Suggestions are conducted by realizing the realities of the international student athletes experience. The knowledge revealed by this research can help better inform student athletes before making critical decisions relating to their future in both education and sport.
Featured Over the Rainbow: Investigating College Football Visiting Team Performance in the Hawaiian-Aleutian Time Zone View Digital Media
Poster Session Sean Pradhan, Gregory Costedoat
The University of Hawaii is the only school in the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) that is located in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone, which is 3 hours behind the Pacific Standard Time (PST) Zone during Daylight Time and 2 hours behind during Standard Time. Based on previous research examining the effects of westward travel on team performance, this time difference has the potential to have an adverse impact on visiting teams that are scheduled to play in Hawaii. Specifically, visiting teams playing a night game in Hawaii may partially succumb to feelings of sleep pressure and/or the misalignment of their circadian rhythm. These disruptions have been found to increase errors, reduce the ability to maintain attention, and impair decision making in various contexts beyond sports (e.g., medicine, aviation, construction). Given this unique situation, our study examines how visiting teams are impacted by playing games in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone. The current study utilizes performance data for visiting teams following the University of Hawaii’s move to the Mountain West Conference from the period of 2012 to 2019. Data from the 2020 and 2021 seasons will be excluded due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We predict that visiting teams playing night games in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone show performance reductions as it relates to points scored, points allowed, and actual game outcomes.
A Female Athlete’s Model for Autonomy through Connection View Digital Media
Poster Session Heidi Muller
I vividly remember being asked the unexpected question as a pre-teen: “Do you want to be a boy.” I was used to being “buzzed” into the boy’s bathroom when wearing my Little League cap in Kmart and having to explain that I needed the other bathroom, but still, my experience of the question was confusion, for why would someone ask me if I wanted to be something I am not? This question is just part of the range of experiences that for some athletes, including me, make up the web of impact that either supports or impinges on my autonomy—on my ability to be the person making the decisions of import in my athletic life. As a communication theorist and discourse analyst employing PERPLE methodology, this paper presents a practically theoretical model (initially explored in other writing and deeply rooted in talk around my own lived experience) as one guide for how I, and potentially others, can “do” being the best athlete one can be. The model centers on positivity and includes 1) the parallel tracks of engaged training and creative engagement 2) empowered decision-making, 3) me-in-team identity, and 4) sports as strategic art. In addition to the core of positivity, central to the model is the realization that being an athlete is accomplished through connection. Suggestions are provided for employing this model to facilitate athletes in embracing the reality of connection in sports as a means to find voice, agency, and autonomy on the never-ending, ever-present, can-do level.
Robin's Story - from Dropping Out of School to a Career in Tennis View Digital Media
Poster Session Nadina Ayer
This illustrative case study is a story of 66-year-old Robin from a small hockey town and their tennis coaching experience. The study focuses on understanding a person’s participation in the coaching practice and the sports industry. Multiple sources of information including personal interviews, observations, students’ and co-workers’ perspectives offer a comprehensive picture of Robin’s changing involvement with the sport over time. The story suggests evolving views on interests, constraints, difficult situations, and advocating for others. Robin’s story reveals a journey through various stages of involvement such as starting, continuing, quitting, and returning to the profession. It also highlights the importance of flexibility and adaptation of numerous roles, from coach, director, marketer to manager.
Gender and Racial Disparities in Pennsylvania High School Sport Participation: Why Sport Participation Rates are Not Equal View Digital Media
Poster Session Liz Wang, Claire Boczkowski
This study focuses on high school sport participation based on gender and race. There has been an increase in enrollment of minority students in high school and an increase in female participation in sports in the US. Our objective is to investigate whether these changes affected gender and racial gaps in high school sport participation. We analyzed data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Based on Act 82, public schools must submit an “Interscholastic Athletic Opportunities Disclosure Form” annually. We used data from 21 predominately white high schools. Among these schools, 18 of them have significant racial differences. The average for white athlete participation is 50% while the average for non-white groups is only 30%. In addition, 13 of these schools have significant gender differences for sport participation. The average male participation in sports is 50% while the average female participation is 41%. These findings raised an important question for high school sports: why do non-white athletes participate less than their white counterparts? And why do female athletes have lower participation rates? It’s critical to understand what factors impact youth athlete decisions to participate in sports. This research has demonstrated the use of open records as a fundamental resource to assess racial and gender equality in high school. Although this study is limited to a small group of schools, we are continuing to expand our sample size. Our analysis offers educators insight about gender and racial disparities in sport participation which is fundamental to establish inclusion in youth sports.
