To investigate if athletes’ attitudes toward athletic trainers and sport psychology consultants differ considering nature of athletic ability beliefs and previous experiences with these professionals; collegiate student-athletes (n = 114 male, n = 81 female, M age = 19.77, SD = 1.43) completed the Conceptions of the Nature of Athletic Ability Questionnaire-2 (Biddle, Wang, Chatzisarantis, & Spray, 2003), Attitudes Toward Athletic Trainers-Form (modified from the Attitudes toward Physiotherapist-Form; Arvinen-Barrow, Clement, & Bayes, 2012), and the Sport Psychology Attitudes Revised-Form (Martin, Kellman, Lavallee, & Page, 2002). Multiple analyses of variance revealed small statistically significant mean differences in attitudes considering ability beliefs, previous athletic training, and sport psychology experiences. Athletes with previous athletic training experience were less confident in their athletic trainer than those without such experience. In contrast, athletes with previous sport psychology experience were more confident in their consultant than those without such experiences. Results suggest athletes’ attitudes towards helping professionals may be partially influenced by subjective norms and expectations about the nature of such relationships.
In today’s highly competitive sports business market, sports organizations have shifted their marketing strategy from a traditional exchange to a relationship paradigm. The relationship quality between sports fans and sport organizations contains many emotional constructs, and thus studies of emotion are increasingly relevant the sports marketing field. While most studies of emotional processing use self-report measures, the objectivity and validity of these metrics are limited by social expectations and demand effects. Psychophysiological measures of emotional processing offer significant potential benefits in the study of sports marketing relationships, including (1) quantitative data through direct measure; (2) The validation and clarification existing in self report data; and (3) tracking of emotional changes in real time. The utility of psychophysiological measures in the study of team sports identification and other relevant paradigms are outlined, and improvements in sports consumer research are discussed.
Women who are collegiate cheerleaders have strict appearance requirements which likely contributes to them having a higher prevalence of body image (BI) dissatisfaction and eating disorders (ED) risk than the general population. Men who are collegiate cheerleaders also have appearance requirements and may be at-risk; however, there is a gap in the literature regarding this specific population. Additionally, underclassmen cheerleaders may feel pressure to conform to the upperclassmen standards. Many collegiate cheerleaders do not have the same access to medical resources as athletes competing within the NCAA membership, leaving them vulnerable to undetected pathogenic eating behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine BI dissatisfaction and ED risk in collegiate cheerleaders. Ninety-seven cheerleaders from 12 Division I universities completed the online survey. Risk of ED was demonstrated in 50% of women and 34% of men. Men and women were equally likely to experience body dissatisfaction (p=.407). Regarding the specific behaviors that identify someone as at-risk for an ED, there were few differences between men and women or underclassmen and upperclassmen. Therefore, it appears the unhealthy behaviors cheerleaders engage in are the same for everyone. Men and women cheerleaders both present a risk for ED above the general population. Men should no longer be ignored when examining these health behaviors.
Does Socioeconomic Status Limit an Equivalency Sport Coach’s Ability to Recruit Student-Athletes? The purpose of this exploratory, quantitative study was to determine whether NCAA Division I coaches in equivalency sports, where scholarships are divided among athletes, consider a potential recruit’s socioeconomic status prior to and during the recruiting process. A survey was sent to all NCAA Division I soccer, track & field, baseball, and softball head coaches. Surveys were returned at a rate of 24.6 percent. The data sets were analyzed through mean comparisons and ANOVA analyses. The results of this study indicated that socioeconomic status is a factor in the recruiting process. Additionally, the data revealed that involvement in club sport activity is a primary recruiting tool that can restrict potential recruits from lower socioeconomic households. Collegiate coaches and administrators, as well as high school coaches, can utilize the findings to help learn more about other funding opportunities, including those related to academic standing and community service. Keywords: college athletics, recruiting, equivalency sports, socioeconomic status
Many count statistics are used to measure the productivity of hitters in Major League Baseball, such as the number of home runs and the number of runs batted in a season. However, comparing the talent of individual players across time is difficult as rules and technologies change. In this paper, we propose applying a practice commonly utilized in the finance literature when comparing the performance of individual stocks and other assets, namely, we “benchmark” the productivity of each player’s performance relative to their cohort. Applying our benchmarking strategy to annual Major League Baseball data from 1871-2010, we find that Babe Ruth is the greatest hitter of all time.
This study explored the relationship between the athletic identity and career maturity of women's basketball student-athletes. It specifically looked at the differences in athletic identity and career maturity based on the student-athlete's level of competition, race, year in school, socioeconomic status, and professional athletic career aspirations. A convenience sample of 209 women's basketball student-athletes from NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA institutions participated in the study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire along with the Career Maturity Inventory-Revised Attitude Scale and the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale. The findings suggest that within this sample of women's basketball student-athletes, stronger identification with the athletic role is associated with lower levels of career maturity. Results also indicated that NCAA Division I student-athletes had significantly higher levels of athletic identity and significantly lower levels of career maturity than Division II student-athletes. Likewise, women's basketball student-athletes that planned to pursue a professional basketball career (n = 76) displayed significantly higher levels of athletic identity and significantly lower levels of career maturity than those that did not (n = 133). As research suggests, less than 1% of women's basketball student-athletes will compete professionally (NCAA, 2017a). However, based on the findings of the current study, 36.4% (n = 76) of the women's basketball student-athletes sampled planned to pursue a professional basketball career upon graduating. The results of this study can assist individuals working with these student-athletes (e.g., coaches, counselors, professors) to intervene and ultimately assist women's basketball student-athletes with preparation for life after sports.
What do students perceive they are learning in the online setting? Using students open-ended comments on the Student Assessment of Instruction (SAI) instrument, researchers employed a case study approach to explore students’ perceptions of instruction in the online and face-to-face settings in an undergraduate sport management course at a regional comprehensive university in the North Carolina state system. Qualitative results indicated that online students highlighted that the types of assignments were interesting and the structure of the course was helpful toward understanding expectations. Face-to-face students highlighted learning, having enjoyed learning, and the knowledge and enthusiasm of the professor. Thematic results revealed that online students distinguished the administrative aspects of instruction; whereas, students in the face-to-face setting expressed themes centered on the conceptual or theoretical aspects of instruction. The themes identified in this case study offer guidance to educators who are interested in refining their online courses so as to stimulate students conceptual and theoretical learning.
Introduction: 4 Since the 1972 passage of Title IX legislation, gender equity within intercollegiate athletics has 5 remained a primary issue of importance (and some debate) among administrators, coaches, 6 athletes, their parents, and even spectators. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, thousands of 7 female intercollegiate athletic programs were added within U.S. colleges and universities in 8 order to comply with federal law and, in the spirit of the law, provide gender equity regarding 9 athletic opportunities for college women. From their origin, many of these athletic programs 10 chose to adopt Gender Specific Athletic Mascots (GSAM’s) such as Lady Techsters, Wild 11 Kittens, Duchesses, or Lady Vol’s (Fuller & Manning, 1987, p. 65).
Coaching salaries within intercollegiate athletics have increased tremendously over the past decade. This has led to continued and increased criticisms of current gender constructs within the NCAA and specifically the way in which coaches are compensated. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether gender was a significant predictor of compensation for basketball coaches of men's and women's programs at the Division I level, while also assessing a variety of revenue and productivity variables. Results indicated that gender was not a statistically significant predictor of compensation. Rather, a host of revenue-specific variables were found to be the primary drivers of compensation for both male and female coaches.
Whereas much of the research on competitive balance deals with the addition of one or more members to a conference and compares the competitive balance before and after the addition(s), the authors of this study investigated competitive balance in men’s basketball, using the extreme case of the breakup of the Big East Conference, which led to a reconstituted Big East Conference and the formation of the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Given that the reconstituted Big East Conference had basically chosen its members, whereas the AAC need to scramble around to replace its departing members, it was hypothesized that the reconstituted Big East Conference would have a more competitively balance conference than the newly formed AAC. Using the standard deviation, it was discovered that competition among men’s basketball teams displayed more competitive balance in the reconstituted Big East conference than in the AAC.
College athletics is a major business in the United States. Collegiate sports teams generate billions of dollars in revenues, but they also incur billions of dollars in costs, and for the vast majority of athletic teams, revenues do not cover costs. When athletic programs do not cover their costs, the institutional budget must fund these expenses. In this paper, we demonstrate that an institution’s athletic subsidy per student is dependent on the institution’s number of students. Further, we find that institutions where the athletic subsidy per student is high enroll a disproportionate share of students who are economically disadvantaged and less qualified academically.
Collegiate sports have become increasingly popular in recent years with college football seeing, arguably, the greatest rise in popularity. This has led to an increased number of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games, which now culminate in a college football playoff. Universities are constantly developing new and innovative ways to increase revenue. One potential solution receiving increased consideration is the option of selling beer throughout stadiums. Previous research has separately focused on aspects of beer consumption and factors that influence collegiate sport attendance, but not in the same study. Thus far, studies focusing specifically on the topic of how beer sales affect attendance have been lacking. The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not the sale of beer inside FBS collegiate stadiums affects attendance. Our results indicate there is a negative correlation between beer availability and attendance. No significant difference was found as to whether or not stadium location, on or off-campus, affects attendance figures.
Push-up and the bench- press are common exercises to develop upper-body strength and muscle endurance. The purpose of this study was to compare muscle endurance performance of matched load push-up and bench-press between men and women, where women perform modified push-up and men standard push-up. Thirty-two young healthy men and women (16 men and 16 women) participated in the study. Participants completed three tests, push-ups to failure, one repetition maximum (1RM) bench-press, and a bench-press test to failure performed with a load equivalent to percent body mass during the push-up. On average men performed 17.5 more repetitions than women in the bench-press test (men 25.3 (5.7), women 5.9 (4.2), p < 0.001). No difference ( p = 0.25) was found between women and men in the number of push-ups performed (men 32.8 (8.3), women 29.6 (7.1)). However, within subjects differences were observed between bench-press and push-up exercises, p < 0.001. 1RM bench-press load was greater in men, in absolute values, men lifted 77.7 kg more than women ( p < 0.001), and relative to body mass, men lifted 2.4 times more mass than women ( p < 0.001). These results suggest that bench-press and push-up muscle endurance exercises differ greatly in women but not in men, likely due to gender differences in upper-body strength. This is an important consideration for upper-body strength training prescriptions.
To prepare graduate students for their future careers and to help solve a variety of problems (e.g., societal, environmental, economic, practical, and theoretical), grant writing courses or seminars should be considered with respect to their required or elective curriculum. This work intends to provide an example of a previously taught course concerning the setting up and developing of a quality graduate-level grant writing class in Sport Management to provide necessary knowledge and experience for future scholars of the field. A multi-step approach and discussion of the grant writing process modeled after an actual grant writing course dedicated to Sport Management graduate students is presented to develop an appreciation for research, collaboration, and technical writing skills among prospective scholars. Finally, course evaluation components and a review of the course are included to make recommendations for future efforts.
This study examined academic advisors’ perceptions of student-athletes and factors influencing those perceptions. The importance of this research is because unfavorable perceptions of student athletes by academic advisors can lead to negative experiences for both groups. Findings indicated increasing both eligibility requirement knowledge and athletic department involvement can lead to positive athletic department perception, which can lead to positive perceptions of student-athletes. This would assist in creating a more desirable and productive advising environment for both groups.
Bilateral trade agreements may arise from and enhance shared cultural norms across countries. Greater cultural understanding or similarities may be revealed through a number of avenues. We investigate one particular avenue: the judging of gymnastic performances. Using execution and difficulty scores from the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships, we find that gymnasts realize a greater return in terms of execution score for each bump in difficulty when the home countries of the judge and the athlete share a bilateral trade agreement.
Time management is an important part of game strategy in the National Football League (NFL), especially in the second half of a game that could be decided by a field goal. This paper determines the in-game factors that contribute to an NFL offensive team’s total time taken to reach field goal range during the final six minutes of regulation in games that are within three points or less. Using data constructed from 2009-2011 NFL regular season games, we find that neither quarterback rating nor the number of All-Pro players affect the speed at a which a team reaches field goal range. However, counter to conventional wisdom, using an offensive timeout during the final drive of the game extends the time it takes to reach field goal range by 22 seconds. On the other hand, the mere availability of an offensive timeout decreases the time it takes to reach field goal range by 19 seconds. Both of these effects are found in games where the offense is behind by 1, 2, or 3 points, but not in tied games. These findings inform in-game coaching decisions for football head coaches.
The purpose of the current research was to use a qualitative-methodological approach to understand attraction to physical activity in a sample of collegiate females. Attraction to physical activity, or motivation, can be grounded in the self-determination theory (SDT). Based on these results, the secondary purpose was to examine the similarities and differences between collegiate female athletes and non-athletes regarding attraction to physical activity. Participants included eight female athletes and eight female non-athletes. The interviews revealed two overarching themes: attraction and aversion to physical activity, each with subthemes. Understanding motives to engage in physical activity can help program planners create tailored interventions to improve overall exercise adherence. Clinical and collegiate relevance and limitations are discussed as are future research and program implementation suggestions.
The gap in revenue production at most schools between the two “big-time college sports” and women’s basketball is vast. One of the biggest contributors to revenue for most sports is attendance, and while there has been some general research on attendance in college sports, there is little prior work examining women’s basketball specifically. The purpose of this study was to fill the dearth of research and to gather information on the factors that influence attendance at women’s intercollegiate basketball games. Division I marketing directors at 329 schools that sponsored Division I women’s basketball were included in the survey and 18 (35.87%) participated. The discussion section examines the qualitative survey answers in detail and provides recommendations to those involved in in the industry of marketing women’s college basketball.
Since the passage of the 1964 US Civil Rights Act, insensitive cultural imagery has received ever-increasing scrutiny and opposition, thus many US universities have reconsidered their usage of culturally insensitive athletic mascots (CIAM). A primary goal of this article was to present information on the adoption, evolution, opposition, and, in most cases, transition away from CIAM. Regarding the historic usage and evolution of specific CIAM’s, this article will provide a detailed examination of Chief Illiniwek (University of Illinois), Colonel Reb (University of Mississippi), and The Fighting Souix (University of North Dakota). Another goal was to explore the opinions of traditional-age college students in academic majors related to sport leadership. In order to explore this topic, a survey (N = 142) was conducted regarding sport science student reactions to graphic images of CIAM. This survey was conducted to examine the potential effect of Color Blind Racial Ideology (CBRI) regarding CIAM. These findings provide support to the theory that future sport leaders also tend to exhibit CBRI related to school-based athletic mascots where dominant ethnic group perspectives have been the traditional viewpoint.
