Creating an Inclusive Environment for Varsity Athletes
Creators: name: Baldwin, Ella
name: MacDonald, Will
name: Lee, Stanley
name: Atkinson, Scott
name: Dornik, Jaime
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2024

description: Student-athletes are a unique population due to their intense commitments to both their academic and athletic endeavors. These commitments can lead to student-athletes feeling isolated and lonely (Joy et al., 2018; Slaten et al., 2020). Feelings of stress, loneliness, or isolation can hinder student-athletes from being able to produce their best results, both in their academic and athletic pursuits (Carter-Francique, 2018; Storey et al., 2010). Therefore, in order for student-athletes to be able to ‘bring their whole selves to sport’ they must feel that they belong within their school and athletic environment. This project aims to identify what UBC student-athletes need and want regarding community building and inclusivity. Using these needs and wants this study then provides recommendations to UBC Athletics about what initiatives or opportunities they could provide student-athletes to better foster a sense of inclusion and belonging. Through this project we hope to enhance the overall experience for athletes, promote well-being and set a standard for inclusivity in athletic communities across the country. Our methods involved circulating a survey that posed qualitative and quantitative questions to current student-athletes at UBC to gather insight into their perspectives on inclusivity and sense of community within UBC Athletics. The analyses of our data will focus on common themes expressed by athletes to inform our recommendations for fostering a more inclusive environment. The survey received 52 responses from student-athletes, coaches and trainers who came from various genders, ethnicities, and faculties of study at UBC. The main outcomes of this study were that participants emphasized the importance of personal relationships in promoting inclusivity and a strong sense of community, noted their satisfaction with inclusivity within their team environments, and also noted that there could be room for improvement at the departmental level. The survey's qualitative responses revealed that participants requested more social events hosted within the UBC athletics community to enhance interaction between teams. These events consisted mostly of competitions, opportunities for achievement recognition, and community-building initiatives. These findings align with existing literature that demonstrates the importance of networking for student-athletes and the positive impact that results from a sense of belonging within a team. Based on these outcomes we have provided the following recommendations to increase inclusivity and build a stronger sense of community in UBC varsity athletics. Our first recommendation is to organize “try another sports day” and more competitive gatherings. Our second recommendation is to create bi-weekly trivia nights at Koerner’s Pub. Our third is to provide a jumpstart program for first-year or transfer students. Our final recommendation is to highlight the diversity and backgrounds of excelling players in the UBC varsity community on social media and online platforms. One of our main limitations was the limited amount of time that we had to acquire survey responses. While we were able to collect 52 total responses, we fell short of our goal of 100 responses. Additionally, reliance on online surveys may have resulted in rushed or incomplete answers, particularly in written responses. Future research could conduct in-person interviews which may lead to deeper engagement with student-athletes and more thoughtful responses. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”