bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Sociology of North American Sociology of Sport: Disunity in Unity, 1965 to 1996
Authors: Ingham Alan G. , Donnelly Peter
Published: August 2016

As we pass the 30th anniversary of a recognized sociology of sport in North America, it is appropriate to develop a current sociological analysis of the subdiscipline. In the first part we examine the origins of the field and the development of the Wisconsin socialization paradigm and the social problems perspective. In the second part we explore the critical shift in the field, emerging from an engagement with C. Wright Mills, and the development of a political economy perspective. In the third part we review the turn to Antonio Gramsci and cultural studies, focusing particularly on the themes of gender and the body. We conclude by considering whether, given the current eclecticism, sociology of sport is still a legitimate description of our field.
Fasting and Feasting: Paradoxes of the Sport Ethic
Authors: Johns David
Published: August 2016

In this study the sociological and philosophical concept of the sport ethic has been utilized to explain the meaning of extreme and overconforming athlete behaviors which manifest themselves as athletic preparation. The study discloses, through the life history of a rhythmic gymnast, how the meanings and values of what it means to be an athlete were transmitted through the day-to-day discourse of athlete practice. By focusing on the dietary preoccupations of gymnasts involved in international competition, it was possible to demonstrate how modern sport preparation is not only distorted but also paradoxical, serving to push the body beyond its limits while insisting on its preservation.
Globalization of Sports Activities and Sport Perceptions among Adolescents from Berlin and Suburban New York
Authors: Rees C. Roger , Brettschneider Wolf-Deitrich , Brandl-Bredenbeck Hans Peter
Published: August 2016

While economic-oriented theories identify a “homogenized” or “Americanized,” unidirectional model of global sport, figurational theories conceptualize globalization as much more complicated, multifaceted, and interactional. However, the spread of “achievement” sport is seen as central in both approaches. This paper investigates the degree to which “achievement” criteria characterize the sporting behavior and sporting perceptions of adolescents in Berlin and suburban New York. We find evidence that adolescents from both samples accept competition and training as important components of their sport concepts, and examples of some of these components associated with gender differences transcending national boundaries. We also identify differences in the sport concepts of Berlin and suburban New York youth, both in the types of sports they play and in the meaning they attach to these activities. These differences lead us to question the ubiquity of “achievement” sport as a component of globalization, and hence, the efficacy of theories stressing “homogenization” and unidirectionality.
“Intellectuals” and “Jocks” in the Soccer Commentators’ Booth in Israel
Authors: Uriely Natan , Mehrez Abraham , Bar-Eli Michael , Mena Assaf
Published: August 2016

The current study examines two recent developments in the production of soccer coverage in the Israeli media: (a) the introduction of “intellectuals” and soccer “jocks” to the soccer commentators’ booth, and (b) the debate about soccer commentary that has followed this trend. These developments are delineated from the perspective of the commentators themselves through in-depth interviews and a systematic survey of their statements in the media. The interpretations offered of the commentators’ accounts are multidimensional and draw on theories of postmodernity, social relations of power, and professional systems. While the engagement of these paraprofessional journalists in soccer commentating is seen to exemplify postmodern processes of de-differentiation, the debate about soccer commentary is also seen to reflect on the commentators’ class and professional background.
Pathologizing Billy: Enabling and Constraining the Body of the Condemned
Authors: Halas Joannie , Hanson Lorelei L.
Published: August 2016

The following discussion and narrative are based on the past experiences of a white, middle class physical education teacher working with a Native Canadian student who was diagnosed as having severe emotional and behavior disorders. In presenting the evolving relationship of a teacher and her student as a form of “evocative representation” (Richardson, 2000), we attempt to locate examples of how young bodies are enabled and constrained through physical activity. In so doing, we also identify some of the tensions that accompany cross-cultural work with oppressed children and youth in schools as a means to illustrate how cycles of oppression are sustained through discourse and discursive practices.
A Conversation (Re)Analysis of Fraternal Bonding in the Locker Room
Authors: Jimerson Jason B.
Published: August 2016

This article reexamines the fifteen talk fragments in “Fraternal Bonding in the Locker Room: A Profeminist Analysis of Talk about Competition and Women” (Curry, 1991), an oft-cited article on locker room talk, which epitomizes how sociologists utilize talk. Curry employed a profeminist perspective to study behavior in the locker rooms of two college sport teams. Curry claimed no one challenged sexism and homophobia in either locker room. I counter this claim by reanalyzing his examples. I employ a conversation analytic perspective to study the utterances presented by Curry in support of his claims, and I find that nine fragments reveal some dissent in how listeners reacted to crass talk. The disparities are due to Curry’s selective rather than sequential analyses of utterances. For this reason, I argue that sports talk should be analyzed using conversation analysis.
The Discipline of Space in a Japanese Fitness Club
Authors: Spielvogel Laura Ginsberg
Published: August 2016

This article explores the ways in which the spatial layout of the Japanese fitness club reflects and organizes bodies according to cultural ideologies of leisure, gender, status, and hygiene. Based on qualitative research conducted at two fitness clubs in Japan. I examine how social relationships between men and women, clients and employees, and managers and staff are structured by the enclosure and exposure of space, the division of rooms, and the attention to cleanliness. I argue that the architecture of the fitness club is lied to power inequities that serve to regulate and manage bodies according to late capitalist ideals of efficiency, productivity, and hygiene. I emphasize that these ideals, however, often present certain contradictions when juxtaposed against longstanding cultural standards of effort, health, and beauty in Japan.
Moving beyond the Biomedical: The Use of Physical Activity to Negotiate Illness
Authors: Gillett James , Cain Roy , Pawluch Dorothy
Published: August 2016

Despite the growing interest in the therapeutic value of sport, limited attention has been devoted to understanding the meanings that individuals attribute to their use of physical activity as a complementary therapy. In our analysis, we draw on literature in the sociology of lay knowledge in order to better understand the use of physical activity as a health practice among people with HIV/AIDS. Our objective is to move beyond a biomedical focus, and explore the social, cultural, and political dimensions of using sport and physical activity to negotiate illness. The themes that emerge illustrate the diverse significance of physical activity as a complementary approach to health. Our analysis indicates that research in the sociology of sport can make an important contribution to understanding the therapeutics of physical activity and sport for people with health problems.
Investigating Interscholastic Equity on the Sports Page: A Content Analysis of High School Athletics Newspaper Articles
Authors: Pedersen Paul Mark
Published: August 2016

While research has documented the mass media’s biased coverage of sportswomen in most levels of athletic participation, no study has yet determined if under-representation and trivialization of females occur at the interscholastic level. This content analysis, in investigating the amount and type of newspaper coverage given to female and male high school athletics, sought to fill this void. Over a 1-year timeframe, 602 issues were randomly selected from 43 daily newspapers. This sample produced 1792 articles that fit the study’s codebook. The articles revealed that female athletics, even when compared to three independent standards (gender breakdowns of school enrollment, participation rates, and number of sports offered), was significantly under-represented in both number of articles and total column inches. Male athletics not only received significantly more written coverage, but its articles were also more likely to be better positioned and have photographic accompaniment than those about female athletics.
The Meaning of Amateurism
Authors: Sewart John J.
Published: August 2016

This paper defends the amateur ideal of athletics. It suggests that the hypocrisy which surrounds the amateur ideal is not due to a fault in the ideal itself, but is rather a symptom of commercial pressures upon sport. The defense of the amateur ideal does not necessarily involve a return to aristocratic privileges. The amateurist vision of “pure sport’ ’ provides a worthy ideal embodying the true meaning of sport as an end in itself. The paper shows the fate of amateurism in a market society to be one of betrayal of the utopian and emancipatory potential of sport.
Venus, Serena, and the Women’s Tennis Association: When and Where “Race” Enters
Authors: Douglas Delia D.
Published: August 2016

By 2002 Venus and Serena Williams were the top two women players on the women’s professional tennis tour. Nevertheless, despite their spectacular success, there has been a decidedly ambivalent tenor toward their accomplishments. Applying Raymond Williams’ concept of “structures of feeling,” this essay considers how dominant cultural meanings and values are taken up and expressed through the atmosphere produced at a sport event. Drawing on the insights offered by critical race scholarship and critical whiteness studies, the following discussion examines the character and significance of the atmosphere produced at two tournaments (Indian Wells, CA, in 2001 and the French Open in 2003) in order to understand how white racial subjectivities are conceived and communicated in daily life.
(Un)Disciplined Bodies: A Foucauldian Analysis of Women’s Rugby
Authors: Chase Laura Frances
Published: August 2016

Foucault’s notions of disciplinary processes, power, and docile bodies are used in this article to understand the complexity of the body and physicality in women’s rugby. Drawing on data from 30 interviews and field observations with 94 female rugby players, I investigate the multiple and complex ways in which the female rugby body is disciplined. These women resisted disciplinary processes of femininity but, at the same time, were willing participants in disciplinary processes of competitive sport. They and their bodies are shaped by multiple and competing discourses and disciplinary processes. The women in this study were drawn to rugby because of the physical nature of the game, became fully invested in competitive athletics, and resisted notions of ideal female bodies.
Anatomy of a Spectacle: Race, Gender, and Memory in the Kobe Bryant Rape Case
Authors: Markovitz Jonathan
Published: August 2016

This article argues that coverage of the Kobe Bryant rape case illuminated bitter divisions in American society, because the allegations against Bryant brought forth tensions involving conceptions of Black masculinity, White femininity, and the role of sport and celebrity in public life. The divisions laid bare by the Bryant case involve long histories of discursive contests waged by social movements and state actors over the meanings of categories of race and gender. I argue that these struggles have influenced public understandings of history; that contemporary understandings of race, gender, and crime are very much indebted to rhetorical battles fought long ago; and that invocations of collective memory can help to determine how various audiences make sense of public dramas unfolding in the mass media.
Performance Discourses and Old Age: What Does It Mean to Be an Older Athlete?
Authors: Dionigi Rylee , O’Flynn Gabrielle
Published: August 2016

Physical performance discourses are concerned with improving fitness and competing to win or achieve a personal best. Older people are commonly not recognized as acceptable or normal subjects of performance discourses because they are traditionally positioned as weak and less able. Yet the number of older people participating in physically demanding competitive sports is increasing. The purpose of this paper is to use a poststructural framework to explore how Masters athletes use performance discourses to define their participation. Interviews and observations were conducted with 138 participants (ages 55–94) of the 8th Australian Masters Games. The findings indicate that performance discourses work both as a medium for redefining what it means to be an older athlete and for re-inscribing normalized constructs of the acceptable older athlete.
Big Girls Don’t Cry: Fitness, Fatness, and the Production of Feminist Knowledge
Authors: Scott-Dixon Krista
Published: August 2016

Feminists have produced a number of important critiques of the way in which fat and fit are understood. While fitness provides opportunities for women’s personal and political empowerment, in practice, because fitness is so frequently viewed as a cosmetic project and connected to achieving thinness, such opportunities have generally failed to materialize despite rapid increases in women’s sports and exercise participation. I examine the experiences of larger female athletes in strength and power-based sports to examine how they negotiate their identities as athletes and women, and how they navigate “fitness” and “fatness.”
Producing Allblacks.com: Cultural Intermediaries and the Policing of Electronic Spaces of Sporting Consumption
Authors: Scherer Jay , Jackson Steven J.
Published: August 2016

Despite the rapid growth in new media technologies and interest from both sport organizations and corporations in interacting with premium consumers, very little research examines the cultural production and regulation of electronic sporting spaces of consumption. Drawing from interviews with the New Zealand Rugby Union’s (NZRU) cultural intermediaries, this article presents an investigation of the production of allblacks.com, the virtual home of the New Zealand All Blacks and the official website of the game’s governing body. Specifically, we employ a cultural-economic theoretical framework to illuminate the institutionalized codes of production and work routines of the rugby union’s cultural intermediaries who police and regulate what appears on the website to unashamedly promote an elective affinity that includes corporate sponsors, media organizations, players, and the NZRU.
Spectacle, Distance, and Threat: Attendance and Integration of Major League Baseball, 1930–1961
Authors: Breckenridge R. Saylor , Goldsmith Pat Rubio
Published: August 2016

We examine the effect of the visibility of African American, Latino, and Jewish baseball players on attendance at Major League Baseball games between 1930 and 1961. We invoke the sociological concepts of “social distance,” “spectacle,” and “group threat” and incorporate data focusing on the era of integration to expand on previous research in this arena. Notably, African American and Latino player visibility—but not that of other groups—is revealed to increase attendance at games. This effect weakens for losing teams and in cities with relatively larger minority populations. The findings suggest a synthesis of theories is possible.
White College Students’ Explanations of White (and Black) Athletic Performance: A Qualitative Investigation of White College Students
Authors: Harrison C. Keith , Lawrence Suzanne Malia , Bukstein Scott J.
Published: August 2016

While the sport sociology community has had a long-running conversation about the relationship between athletes’ success and race, there are few empirical investigations of individuals’ attitudes regarding the connection of race and athletic performance. This study on White college students’ explanations of White (and African American) athleticism attempts to push this discussion of race and sport. Using a qualitative, open-ended question we elicited explanations from White college students about athletic performance. Findings revealed that White students explained White athleticism through discussions of African American athleticism. In addition, White student participants avoided biological explanations regarding White athletes’ success.
The Gap Between Knowing and Doing: How Canadians Understand Physical Activity as a Health Risk Management Strategy
Authors: Dallaire Christine , Lemyre Louise , Krewski Daniel , Gibbs Laura Beth
Published: August 2016

In Canada, as in other neo-liberal states, a physically active lifestyle is discursively constructed as a moral activity, whereas a sedentary lifestyle is criticized as a failure to take charge of one’s health (Bercovitz, 2000; Lupton, 1997). This study aims to understand how Canadian men and women articulate the discursive connections between physical activity and health risks and how those connections are reflected in their reported behaviors. Analysis shows that some of the 37 men and 36 women interviewed not only “talk the talk” regarding physical activity, they also claim to lead an active lifestyle. However, “active” participants were disciplined into frequent physical activity not simply by the discursive effects of the fitness mantra promising better health, but because they enjoyed it. Conversely, the not-active-enough participants were unwilling to fully comply with the requirements of the fitness discourses because they found no pleasure in “exercise.” Despite adopting physical activity as a key strategy to manage their health risks, interviews revealed that the latter group were not docile bodies (Foucault, 1995).
Oh Henry!: Physical Cultural Studies’ Critical Pedagogical Imperative
Authors: King-White Ryan
Published: August 2016

Over the past 30 years Physical Cultural Studies (PCS) (Andrews, 2008) has grown in the United States. This form of radical inquiry has been heavily influenced by the British Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies. PCS research has focused on the various ways the corporeal has been a/effected by, and, indeed, (re)informs the contemporary socioeconomic context. However, while theoretical rigor has long been the norm in American PCS, I argue that the critical (public) pedagogy that radically contextual Cultural Studies has always called for has been a little slower in developing. As such, I will demonstrate how Henry Giroux’s influence in, on, and for critical pedagogy has more recently become and should be an essential component of PCS—particularly in our classrooms. As such, I will provide examples outlining how critical pedagogy informs my classroom practices to begin the dialogue about what constitutes good pedagogical work.
Sporting Spinal Cord Injuries, Social Relations, and Rehabilitation Narratives: An Ethnographic Creative Non-Fiction of Becoming Disabled Through Sport
Authors: Smith Brett
Published: August 2016

Working at the intersection of sociology and psychology, the purpose of this paper was to examine people’s experiences during rehabilitation of being and having an impaired body as a result of suffering a spinal cord injury (SCI) while playing sport. Interview data with men (n = 20) and observational data were collected. All data were analyzed using narrative analyses. To communicate findings in a way that can incorporate the complexity of results and reach wide audiences, the genre of ethnographic creative nonfiction was used. The ethnographic creative nonfiction extends research into issues related to disability, rehabilitation and sporting injury by 1) producing original empirical knowledge, 2) generating a theoretical account of human thought, affect and action as emerging not inside the individual but within social relations and the narratives that circulate between actors, and 3) capturing the impact of this research.
“I Am Not a Cow”: Challenging Narratives of Empowerment in Teen Girls Sports Fiction
Authors: Whiteside Erin , Hardin Marie , DeCarvalho Lauren J. , Carillo Nadia Martinez , Smith Alexandra Nutter
Published: August 2016

This research examines two popular teen girls sports fiction series, called “Pretty Tough” and “Dairy Queen.” The books are heavily premised on the idea of empowerment, and are written in ways that invite the reader to see each protagonist’s choices as agentic and even subversive. Our analysis points to the ways the discourse of empowerment obscures how girls are invited to adopt ideology toward sports that undermines their ability to experience sports on their own terms.
Thinking, Feeling, Acting: The Case of a Semi-Professional Soccer Coach
Authors: Nelson Lee , Potrac Paul , Gilbourne David , Allanson Ashley , Gale Laura , Marshall Phil
Published: August 2016

This paper aimed to shed light on the emotional nature of practice in coaching. In particular, this article was designed to explore the relationship between emotion, cognition, and behavior in the coaching context, through a narrative exploration of Zach’s (a pseudonym) experiences as the head coach of a semiprofessional soccer team. Data for this study were collected through a series of in-depth semistructured interviews that were transcribed verbatim and subject to inductive analysis. Two embracing categories were identified in the interview data. The first demonstrated how Zach frequently concealed his true emotions and enacted others in an attempt to achieve his desired ends. The second highlighted how Zach’s past experiences as a player had influenced how he wished to portray himself to his squad, and, importantly, helped him to sympathize with the thoughts and feelings of his players. Here, Lazarus and Folkman’s (1986) cognitive appraisal theory, Denzin’s (1984) writings on understanding emotions, and Hochschild’s (1983) work on emotional labor were used to offer one suggested, but not conclusive, reading of the emotional aspects of Zach’s practice.
The Relationship between Children’s Legitimacy Judgments and Their Moral Reasoning, Aggression Tendencies, and Sport Involvement
Authors: Bredemeier Brenda Jo , Weiss Maureen R. , Shields David L. , Cooper Bruce A.B.
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) the relationship between children’s judgments regarding the legitimacy of potentially injurious sport acts for adults and for children, (b) the relationships between children’s legitimacy judgments and their moral reasoning, aggression tendencies, and sport involvement, and (c) the relative ability of the latter three variables to predict legitimacy judgments. Analyses were based on 78 girls and boys in grades 4 through 7 who participated in a moral interview, completed aggression ten dency and sport involvement questionnaires, and evaluated the legitimacy of potentially injurious sport acts depicted in a series of slides. Analyses revealed that children accepted more acts as legitimate for adults than for children. Boys’ legitimacy judgments were significantly related to their moral reasoning, aggression tendencies, and involvement in high-contact sports, but girls’ legitimacy judgments were correlated only with their life aggression tendencies. Children’s aggression tendencies were found to be the best predictors of their legitimacy judgments.
A Cross-National Study of Socialization into Physical Activity in Corporate Settings: The Case of Japan and Canada
Authors: Yamaguchi Yasuo
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this study was to account for the process of socialization into physical activity among employees of large corporations. A conceptual frame-work that integrated a variety of variables within four dimensions was used: (a) an antecedent dimension, (b) a cultural dimension, (c) an attitudinal dimension, and (d) a situational dimension. Information was provided by 371 employees of two large corporations in Japan and 262 employees of two large corporations in Canada. The findings indicated that the degree of exercise involvement was greatly influenced by the situational dimension only, while sport involvement was strongly influenced by the antecedent, cultural, and situational dimensions. Such significant others as the peer group and instructors or coordinators were particularly important socializing agents for involvement in the major activities in each country (i.e., sport in Japan and exercise in Canada). In general, the hypothesized model accounted for an average 38% of the variance in explaining socialization into physical activity in corporate settings, though several cross-national differences were observed.
Effects of a Transition Program on Student Athletes’ Academic Success: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Weber Larry , Sherman Thomas M. , Tegano Carmen
Published: August 2016

Does early admission for scholarship athletes increase their chances of academic success? The findings from this 2-year study suggest that student athletes with low admission qualifications who participated in a summer transition program achieved higher grade point averages, more secure athletic and academic eligibility, and greater potential to graduate than similar student athletes not participating in the transition program.
Kaleidoscope and Prism: The Study of Social Change in Play, Sport, and Leisure
Authors: Allison Maria T.
Published: August 2016

This paper explores the process of social change and problems that arise in the study of such change in play, sport, and leisure domains. After outlining major theoretical perspectives utilized to describe and explain the nature of change in society, the paper describes several myths, including myths of trauma, unidirectionality, deviance, and semantic illusion (Lauer, 1973), which have inhibited the study of change. Drawing from examples in play, sport, and leisure domains, the author suggests ways in which the study of change can be better integrated into our research consciousness.
The Education of College Student-Athletes
Authors: Brede Richard M. , Camp Henry J.
Published: August 2016

Educational performances of various types of male student-athletes participating in football and basketball at an NCAA Division I school are compared for each enrollment period during one academic year. These comparisons indicate three basic patterns of educational performance, patterns that involve the differential use among these student-athlete types of extra semesters as well as letter grade and credit hour changes in order to meet eligibility requirements. Meeting eligibility requirements is a year-round struggle for one fourth of the student-athletes studied. We conclude with some suggestions for additional research on student-athlete education.
Ideology, the Media, and Australian Sport
Authors: McKay Jim , Rowe David
Published: August 2016

In this paper the ideological relationships between the media and Australian sport are examined from a critical perspective. After outlining the contributions of political economy, structuralism, and cultural studies to the critical paradigm, we argue that the Australian media have two main ideological effects. First, they legitimate masculine hegemony, capitalist rationality, consensus, and militaristic nationalism. Second, they marginalize, trivialize, and fragment alternative ideologies of sport. We conclude by suggesting some worthwhile topics for future research and by affirming that politicizing media representations of sport is an important part of the counter-hegemonic struggle in patriarchal capitalist societies.
Stacking in College Basketball: A Neglected Analysis
Authors: Leonard Wilbert M.
Published: August 2016

The relationship between race and position for college basketball players was investigated using a sample of 644 student-athletes at 47 NCAA affiliates. Seven different operationalizations of position, the dependent variable, produced bivariate associations that were negligible and not statistically significant. The introduction of five control variables (NCAA division, playing and scholarship status, sex, and year in school) failed to alter the bivariate outcomes. The present data indicate that stacking in college basketball has declined, particularly at the center position, but continues to exist at forward and guard slots.
Salaries and Race in Professional Baseball: Discrimination 10 Years Later
Authors: Christiano Kevin J.
Published: August 2016

A series of multiple regression analyses using the most recent publicly available data on the salaries of veteran hitters in major league baseball uncovers little evidence of economic discrimination by race. Comparisons of unstandardized regression coefficients for player variables, by race and position, reveal a number of instances of inequality. However, these inequalities do not occur consistently with respect to the same type of performance, nor do they always place blacks at a disadvantage. Furthermore, blacks who do not enjoy the market power granted to players by the advent of free agency are not uniformly victimized by discrimination in salaries. Instead, the newest evidence suggests that signs of salary discrimination that were found in data on hitters from the 1977 season are not manifest 10 years later.
Playing to Win or Playing to Play?
Authors: Knoppers Annelies , Zuidema Marvin , Meyer Barbara Bedker
Published: August 2016

The Webb Scale (1969) has been used in much of the research focusing on the professionalization of attitudes via sport. The results of such studies seemed to indicate that the extent to which winning was valued varied by age, gender, and type of sport involvement. However, these findings may in part have been a function of the noncontextual nature of the Webb Scale. In addition, the use of ranking methodology may have forced game orientation into an artificial bipolar continuum bounded by play orientation on one end and professional orientation at the other end. In the current study, the results of the administration of the Webb Scale and the Game Orientation Scale (Knoppers, Schuiteman, & Love, 1986) to 312 youngsters were compared across gender and degree of athletic experience. The Game Orientation Scale uses descriptions of two different sport scenarios and 5-point Likert scales to assess game orientation. The results revealed that game orientation was multidimensional, that the Webb Scale’s validity was questionable, and that professionalization was more a function of measurement and of the type of setting than of a generalized inherent attitude.
On the Conceptualization and Measurement of Attitudes Toward Play: The Webb Scale and the GOS
Authors: Greer Donald L. , Lacy Michael G.
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and comment upon recent developments in the measurement and conceptualization of attitudes toward play, or “game orientation.” Recent scholarly work has become critical of the traditional measurement instrument, the Webb Scale, focusing primarily on the issues of situational ambiguity and unidimensional artificiality. These critiques are analyzed in comparison with the conceptual and measurement approach offered by an alternative instrument, the Game Orientation Scale. It is concluded that the case in favor of the GOS and its Likert format is not as strong as it first appears. Until further research is conducted, the two competing approaches should be treated as of comparable methodological quality. Substantive and methodological recommendations for future research are offered.
Whose Knowledge Counts? The Production of Knowledge and Issues of Application in the Sociology of Sport
Authors: Ingham Alan G. , Donnelly Peter
Published: August 2016

This essay was prompted by and is a response to Yiannakis’ (1989) article in which he called for a more applied orientation on the part of sociologists of sport. In our response, we argue that Yiannakis’ position is flawed because he fails to explore the oftentimes political overdetermination of academic process and the links between the marketplace of physical culture and the prestige hierarchies that exist within the university—How do the two connect? We present a practical alternative to Yiannakis’ programmatic call for an applied sociology of sport.
The Underground Economy of College Football
Authors: Sack Allen L.
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which college athletes violate NCAA rules regarding amateurism. A second purpose was to look for patterns of relationships in the data that might yield theoretical insights as to the causes of this type of deviance. Surveys were mailed to a population of 3,500 active and retired National Football League players. About one in three, or 1,182 players, returned the survey. It was found that under-the-table payments were fairly common in major football conferences and that such payments have increased considerably in “Sunbelt schools” over the past couple of decades. Black athletes, regardless of the income of their families of origin, were somewhat more likely than whites to have accepted illegal benefits and to see nothing wrong with violating NCAA rules. Black athletes were also far more likely than whites to have been offered illegal benefits by agents. These findings were examined in light of labeling theory.
“A Revolution in Motion”: Advertising and the Politics of Nostalgia
Authors: Howell Jeremy
Published: August 2016

As part of their “Revolution in Motion” advertising campaign in 1987, Nike introduced the controversial television commericial that featured, as a sound track, the 1968 Beatles song Revolution. Located within a contemporary framework of time and place, emotion and message, politics and consumption, and capitalism and pleasure, the commercial can be articulated to a critical debate that has increasingly come to determine our political and affective lives. This paper focuses on the nature of this debate as it has emerged over the last decade and addresses, among other things, the legacy of the 1960s, the rise of the fitness movement, the insertion of the Baby Boom generation into the marketplace, the definition of American quality of life, and the rise of the political New Right.
Weight Concerns, Weight Control Techniques, and Eating Disorders among Adolescent Competitive Swimmers: The Effect of Gender
Authors: Taub Diane E. , Benson Rose Ann
Published: August 2016

Since most research on eating disorders among athletes has focused on college-age samples, the present investigation examines the adolescent competitive swimmer. Three areas related to weight and eating habits were explored: general concerns about weight, use of weight control techniques, and tendencies toward anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and associated behavioral/personal characteristics. Previous research has found females to be at greater risk than males, thus gender comparisons were undertaken. Questionnaires were completed by 85 adolescent competitive swimmers attending a nationally known summer swim camp at a large midwestern university. Consistent with the cultural norm of thinness for women, young female swimmers desired weight loss more than their male counterparts did. In terms of actual pathogenic weight control techniques or eating disorder tendencies, however, few significant gender differences were found. Neither male nor female adolescent swimmers were particularly susceptible to eating disorders or pathogenic weight control techniques.
General Sports Magazines and “Cap’n Bob”: The Rise and Fall of sportsweek
Authors: Horne John
Published: August 2016

This paper directs attention to a sector of the press that is largely ignored by academic media research: weekly and monthly sports magazines. The birth and death of the British general sports magazine, Sportsweek, is considered as a case study from which some critical observations can be made about research into sport and the mass media on both sides of the Atlantic. The magazine industry as a whole is little discussed in mainstream media studies, even though magazines are highly significant in terms of the reproduction and sustenance of what has been called consumer culture (Featherstone, 1983, 1987; Winship, 1983). For this reason, and because most media sport research tends to focus on the textual rather than on production and appropriation, this paper outlines the economic forces shaping the consumer magazine sector in Britain and provides a comparative account of the sports magazine and press industry in the USA, Europe, and the UK. The case study of Sportsweek is considered in terms of its implications for understanding sport and leisure culture in contemporary British society.
Conceptualizing Attitudes Toward Play: The Game Orientation Scale and the Context Modified Webb Scale
Authors: Lacy Michael G. , Greer Donald L.
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this investigation was to advance recent discussion about the relative merits of two alternative instruments involved in the assessment of game orientation. Fourth- and fifth-grade students (N=471) responded to a questionnaire containing both the Game Orientation Scale (GOS) and an adapted version of the original Webb Scale referred to as the “Context Modified Webb Scale” (CMW). CMW and GOS scores were then compared with scores reported in previous studies using each instrument, and the relationship between GOS and CMW scores was investigated using a series of Kendall correlation coefficients. CMW scores behaved consistently with previous results, but a significant gender difference emerged, which had not been seen previously in the GOS. Despite the differences in the way the two instruments approach the specification of play context, and despite the fact that one measures relative values while the other measures absolute values, small but conceptually sensible correlations between the two instruments were found consistently.
The Coach / Parent / Athlete Relationship
Authors: Hellstedt Jon C.
Published: August 2016

Coaches often have difficulty working with the parents of their athletes. Communication problems, conflict, and sometimes power struggles over who has control over the child’s training occasionally develop. Based on an integration of sport psychology and family systems theory, a model for understanding the coach / parent / athlete triangle is developed. Three types of parents are described: overinvolved, underinvolved, and moderately involved, as well as goals and strategies for working with each type of parent.
Single-Subject Designs for Evaluation of Sport Psychology Interventions
Authors: Bryan Anne J.
Published: August 2016

The case is made for using single-subject designs in evaluating psychological interventions for sport skills acquisition and performance enhancement. Advantages of single-subject designs are discussed, along with examples and considerations in the use of the A-B-A-B and multiple-baseline designs.
The Sport Psychology Consultant Evaluation Form
Authors: Partington John , Orlick Terry
Published: August 2016

An evaluation inventory was developed to help sport psychology consultants assess and improve the field services they provide. Consultant characteristics included in the inventory were based on extensive interviews with Olympic athletes and coaches. The inventory was administered to 104 Canadian Olympic athletes who assessed 26 sport psychology consultants. Data from this survey were used to determine the validity and reliability of the Sport Psychology Consultant Evaluation Form (CEF). Practical suggestions are provided for enhancing the quality of sport psychology consultation services through the use of the CEF.
Gender and the Evaluation of Sport Psychology Consultants
Authors: Petrie Trent A. , Cogan Karen D. , Van Raalte Judy L. , Brewer Britton W.
Published: August 2016

An investigation was conducted to examine the possibility of gender bias in the evaluation of sport psychology consultants. AAASP members were sent a packet that included a description of a football player who wanted to work with a sport psychology consultant to improve his consistency, a vita of a fictitious sport psychology consultant, and a rating questionnaire. The packets differed only in regard to the gender of the fictitious sport psychology consultant, which served as the independent variable, with half the sample being assigned to the male condition and the other half to the female condition. Participants (N = 293) evaluated the sport psychology consultant on several dimensions and indicated how strongly they would recommend the consultant to the football player. Results indicated that participants generally evaluated the fictitious sport psychology consultant similarly, regardless of gender. Indeed, the only gender differences that emerged were that the female sport psychology consultant was rated higher than the male consultant on attractiveness, trustworthiness, and general “good counselor” dimensions. Even though evidence of bias against women did not emerge in this study, the importance of promoting an atmosphere of inclusion for both male and female sport psychologists still exists.
Supervision in the Education and Training of Sport Psychology Service Providers
Authors: Andersen Mark B. , Williams-Rice Brian T.
Published: August 2016

Supervision plays a central role in the training of sport psychologists, but little discussion of what constitutes adequate supervision of trainees and practitioners is available in the applied sport psychology literature. Broader issues of supervision, such as the training of students to become supervisors, metasupervision, and career-long collegial supervision are rarely discussed. This paper will present models of general supervision processes from training the neophyte to collegial supervision, derived primarily from clinical and counseling psychology. Included are supervising the delivery of performance-enhancement services, identifying trainee and client needs, helping the student understand transference and countertransference phenomena, and suggestions for examining the relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee. Suggestions for improving supervision include course work and/or practica in supervision processes for applied sport psychology graduate programs along with continuing education workshops at sport psychology conferences.
The Relationship between Perceived Coaching Behaviors and Team Cohesion among Baseball and Softball Players
Authors: Gardner Douglas E. , Shields David L. Light , Bredemeier Brenda Jo Light , Bostrom Alan
Published: August 2016

The relationship between perceived leadership behaviors and team cohesion in high school and junior college baseball and softball teams was researched. Study participants, 307 athletes representing 23 teams, responded to the perceived version of the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Correlational and multivariate analyses indicated significant relationships between perceived leader behaviors and team cohesion. Specifically, coaches who were perceived as high in training and instruction, democratic behavior, social support, and positive feedback, and low in autocratic behavior, had teams that were more cohesive. A MANOVA indicated there were significant differences between genders and athletes at the two school levels in their perceptions of coaching behaviors and team cohesion, though these demographic variables did not significantly moderate the leadership-cohesion relationship.
Pre- and Postcompetition Routines of Expert Coaches of Team Sports
Authors: Bloom Gordon A. , Durand-Bush Natalie , Salmela John H.
Published: August 2016

Little or no empirical research has examined the pre- and postcompetition routines of coaches. The purpose of this study was to address this oversight by conducting in-depth open-ended interviews with 21 expert coaches from four team sports. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and inductively analyzed following the procedures outlined by Côté and colleagues (1993, 1995). The results indicated that coaches had set routines for themselves and their players before and after a competition. Prior to the competition, coaches prepared and mentally rehearsed their game plan, engaged in physical activity to maintain a positive focus, held a team meeting, and occupied themselves during the warmup. Their words immediately before the game were used to stress key points. After the competition, coaches emphasized the importance of controlling their emotions and adopted different behaviors to appropriately deal with the team’s performance and outcome. A brief meeting was held to recapitulate the essential elements of the game and a detailed analysis was not presented until the next practice or meeting.
The Effects of Imagery-Manipulated Appraisal on Intensity and Direction of Competitive Anxiety
Authors: Hale Bruce D. , Whitehouse Adam
Published: August 2016

This study attempted to manipulate an athlete’s facilitative or debilitative appraisal (direction; Jones, 1995) of competitive anxiety through imagery-based interventions in order to study the effects on subsequent anxiety intensity (heart rate and CSAI-2) and direction (CSAI-2D; Jones & Swain, 1992). In a within-subjects’ design, 24 experienced soccer players were relaxed via progressive relaxation audiotape and then randomly underwent an imagery-based video- and audiotaped manipulation of their appraisal of taking a hypothetical gamewinning penalty kick under either a “pressure” or “challenge” appraisal emphasis. There was no significant effect for heart rate. A repeated measures MANOVA for CSAI-2 and CSAI-2D scores revealed that for both intensity and direction scores the challenge condition produced less cognitive anxiety, less somatic anxiety, and more self-confidence (all p < .001) than the pressure situation. This finding suggests that a challenge appraisal manipulation taught by applied sport psychologists might benefit athletes’ performance.
Applying Psychodynamic Concepts to Sport Psychology Practice
Authors: Strean William B. , Strean Herbert S.
Published: August 2016

Sport psychology practitioners use various theoretical perspectives to inform their work. The potential contribution of psychodynamic concepts to professional sport psychology practice is explored. The basics of psychodynamic theory as it relates to normal personality, maladaptive functioning, and therapeutic intervention are reviewed. Specific attention is addressed to free association, resistance, transference, and countertransference. Treatment procedures, such as confrontation, clarification, and interpretation, are presented. Suggestions for including psychodynamic principles within other frameworks are offered.
Applications of the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning Model for the Multimodal Treatment of Precompetitive Anxiety
Authors: Annesi James J.
Published: August 2016

Effects of a precompetitive anxiety regulation system, based upon tenets of the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model, multidimensional anxiety theory, and the specific-effects hypothesis, were tested. In Phase I, case studies (3 elite adolescent tennis players) were used to analyze the IZOF model within a multidimensional state anxiety framework. In Phase II, the effectiveness of a precompetitive anxiety regulation system, based upon IZOF and the specific-effects hypothesis, was tested for enhancing match performance. Essential elements of IZOF theory were supported. In Phase II, inzone/out-of-zone A-state assessment was used to guide athletes’ treatment selections. After training athletes in prematch psychological skills designed to regulate specific cognitive state anxiety, somatic state anxiety, and state selfconfidence dimensions, posttreatment performances yielded higher values (ps < .05) than pretreatment. The need to replicate findings through different sample types, sports, and expertise levels was emphasized. Concerns with intrusion into athletes’ precompetitive routines were discussed.