Facing Challenges
Aarhus University
Running for Kudos: Implications of Strava Use in Emerging Adult Runners View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hayley Russell, Emma Nelson, Charlie Potts
Since its introduction in 2009, the social media fitness app Strava has recruited 50 million athletes who have uploaded 19 billion activities. Through Strava, runners can share runs and engage with other runners in both competitive and supportive ways. Despite the enormous popularity of this app, particularly among emerging adults, little is known about the implications of its use. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the perceived psychosocial implications of Strava use among emerging adult runners. The central research question was: how does Strava influence perceived motivation and wellbeing in emerging adult recreational runners? To answer this question we employed a qualitative descriptive methodology by conducting semi-structured interviews, followed by thematic analysis to explore themes in the data. We recruited 15 emerging adult runners who had been using Strava for at least 6 months. Participants were asked to provide detailed responses related to the nature of their Strava use, the nature of their peer interactions, and their perception on how Strava influences their motivation for running, as well as their overall wellbeing. Better understanding the broader implications of Strava among emerging adult runners could allow professionals in sport and exercise psychology, coaching, and fitness to better utilize this tool for its motivational potential while, at the same time, assessing possible harms, such as promoting social comparison or obligatory motives for exercise.
Racism and Culture: A Case Study of Barriers Faced by Local Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Female Grassroots Soccer Players View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Donna L Woodhouse
This study focuses on barriers to the participation of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) females in soccer in an area in the north of England. Interviews with women demonstrate how participants had to contend not only with racism from external sources but also pressure to conform to cultural norms held by themselves, their families, and communities. Critical Race Theory (CRT) and habitus were used to explore how playing soccer challenged the cultural, social, and religious identity of participants, as well as confronting male power and practices within the game. The sport expects BAME female players to subsume their cultural identity in order to play, therefore participants called for recognition of the need to support aspects of cultural identity, such as femininity and modesty. Linked to this, they recommended greater and earlier education around BAME issues for those involved in the game, including within schools, and also more use of social media to educate a wider audience. FA campaigns targeting families, people by age range and religious groups were also suggested. To reduce drop-out rates of those who do take up the sport, the provision of a supportive social environment to boost feelings of inclusivity was reported as important.
The Boateng Brothers and the Contested Nature of Germanness: Soccer and Discourses on Race, Class, and National Identity View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Matthias Kaelberer
This paper analyzes German socio-political discourses on race, class, and national identity by studying the public perceptions of the two Afro-German soccer players Jérôme and Kevin-Prince Boateng. Jérôme and Kevin-Prince Boateng are half-brothers born to a Ghanaian father and two different German mothers. Both Boatengs are German citizens, and both played for German junior national teams – from U17 to U21. Jérôme Boateng ultimately ended up as a star player on the German senior national team, with the 2014 World Cup victory as a major career highlight. Kevin-Prince Boateng, on the other hand, was dismissed from the German U21 national team in 2009 and subsequently chose to play for Ghana’s senior national team. Analyzing the public discourses on these two players illustrates the intersections of race, class, and national identity in German society. The media frequently represented the two brothers as personal opposites. Kevin-Prince Boateng grew up in a poor, working-class district of Berlin, while Jérôme Boateng spent his youth in a middle-class neighborhood of the same city. Until late into his career at Bayern Munich, public discourses constructed Jérôme Boateng as the cool and disciplined guy, the stereotypical “good” German, while Kevin-Prince Boateng was “othered” and presented as the undisciplined ghetto-kid. And while both half-brothers have the same skin color, Jérôme Boateng often performed Whiteness, while Kevin-Prince Boateng is associated with Blackness.
