title: Why do youth step out of sport and into court? A narrative-based exploration

authors: Clarke, Gloria Hinemoa

subjects: youth

abstract: Motivated by my son’s incarceration months after he stopped playing sport this thesis attempts to answer the questions that plagued me as I began dealing with lawyers, courts, and prison visits: If sport is all that it is supposed to be why is my son sitting in a prison cell?  Had his fourteen years of playing sport been for nothing?  Why hadn’t sport honoured its promise to protect my son from such a reality?    

Consequently, this thesis explores ‘Why youth step out of sport and into court?’  My objective is to provide parents and those interested in youth issues with new research that confirms, supplements, and/or challenges what is arguably ‘known’ about youth sports attrition and deviancy.  However, rather than produce a traditional academic text I offer a polyvocal interpretive narrative text, where my own voice (as mother and academic) has been interwoven with the lived experiences and voices of five young men who had also ‘stepped out of sport and into court’ as well as the voices of published theorists and researchers who have broadened my understanding of the issues.  As a result this thesis honours the lived experiences of the research participants as relayed to me during three semi-structured interviews, and is hopefully engaging enough to encourage you/the reader to think about the issues and to discuss them with others.  

The study highlights the complexities of sport and deviance, in that we live in a world of multiple realities.  For instance, while many of the research participants had had similar experiences they had also come from different social, cultural and historical locations.  Three of the participants had had two parents, two had had two parents living in different locations, and one had been raised by extended family.  Three were raised in environments where gang ideology and drug use were normalised, while the other two had experienced environments to the contrary.  One had been arrested on only two occasions, while the others had been arrested anywhere between five and thirty times before their nineteenth birthday, with charges ranging from painting on public property through to burglary and extreme violence.  Their common experiences included their participation in rugby and/or rugby league; they had participated in sport and crime at the same time; they had been coached by intimidating people, and they had ‘stepped out of sport’ between thirteen and eighteen years old.  

The first take home message is that parents need to be diligent for the duration of their child’s sporting career and to be aware that whilst sports can do great things for young people, sport may also dampen a child’s sensitivity to fear and normalise and reinforce deviant beliefs, attitudes, justifications and orientations.  The second take home message is that it is time for us to consider other forms of sport and physical activity and to give youth the power to define what sport means to them.  Furthermore, if we agree that things need to change, this study recommends that attrition and deviance research be made more accessible and that the interested parties work together rather than independently.

text: Why do youth step out of sport and into court? A narrative-based exploration Motivated by my son’s incarceration months after he stopped playing sport this thesis attempts to answer the questions that plagued me as I began dealing with lawyers, courts, and prison visits: If sport is all that it is supposed to be why is my son sitting in a prison cell?  Had his fourteen years of playing sport been for nothing?  Why hadn’t sport honoured its promise to protect my son from such a reality?    

Consequently, this thesis explores ‘Why youth step out of sport and into court?’  My objective is to provide parents and those interested in youth issues with new research that confirms, supplements, and/or challenges what is arguably ‘known’ about youth sports attrition and deviancy.  However, rather than produce a traditional academic text I offer a polyvocal interpretive narrative text, where my own voice (as mother and academic) has been interwoven with the lived experiences and voices of five young men who had also ‘stepped out of sport and into court’ as well as the voices of published theorists and researchers who have broadened my understanding of the issues.  As a result this thesis honours the lived experiences of the research participants as relayed to me during three semi-structured interviews, and is hopefully engaging enough to encourage you/the reader to think about the issues and to discuss them with others.  

The study highlights the complexities of sport and deviance, in that we live in a world of multiple realities.  For instance, while many of the research participants had had similar experiences they had also come from different social, cultural and historical locations.  Three of the participants had had two parents, two had had two parents living in different locations, and one had been raised by extended family.  Three were raised in environments where gang ideology and drug use were normalised, while the other two had experienced environments to the contrary.  One had been arrested on only two occasions, while the others had been arrested anywhere between five and thirty times before their nineteenth birthday, with charges ranging from painting on public property through to burglary and extreme violence.  Their common experiences included their participation in rugby and/or rugby league; they had participated in sport and crime at the same time; they had been coached by intimidating people, and they had ‘stepped out of sport’ between thirteen and eighteen years old.  

The first take home message is that parents need to be diligent for the duration of their child’s sporting career and to be aware that whilst sports can do great things for young people, sport may also dampen a child’s sensitivity to fear and normalise and reinforce deviant beliefs, attitudes, justifications and orientations.  The second take home message is that it is time for us to consider other forms of sport and physical activity and to give youth the power to define what sport means to them.  Furthermore, if we agree that things need to change, this study recommends that attrition and deviance research be made more accessible and that the interested parties work together rather than independently.

year: 2012

title: Estimating Teviot River compensation flow to offset evaporation loss from Lake Onslow pumped storage

authors: Bardsley, W. Earl

subjects: lake evaporation

abstract: Lake Onslow in New Zealand’s Central Otago region is under consideration for a major expansion to become the upper reservoir of a significant pumped storage scheme with 5 TWh energy storage capacity. The increased evaporation loss would likely lead to a requirement for compensation input of new water to the lake to maintain its mean outflow to the Teviot River. A simple expression is obtained that gives an upper bound of 1.5 m3s-1 for compensation flow if the lake is expanded to 60 km2. The compensation water could be derived from the pumping operation at the expense of some energy loss. Alternatively, water input without energy loss might be achieved by diverting some flow into Lake Onslow from the nearby Taieri River.

text: Estimating Teviot River compensation flow to offset evaporation loss from Lake Onslow pumped storage Lake Onslow in New Zealand’s Central Otago region is under consideration for a major expansion to become the upper reservoir of a significant pumped storage scheme with 5 TWh energy storage capacity. The increased evaporation loss would likely lead to a requirement for compensation input of new water to the lake to maintain its mean outflow to the Teviot River. A simple expression is obtained that gives an upper bound of 1.5 m3s-1 for compensation flow if the lake is expanded to 60 km2. The compensation water could be derived from the pumping operation at the expense of some energy loss. Alternatively, water input without energy loss might be achieved by diverting some flow into Lake Onslow from the nearby Taieri River.

year: 2022

title: An examination of genres and text-types in written Māori discourse: Analysis and pedagogic implications

authors: Houia-Roberts, Ngaere

abstract: The overall aim of this research project is to determine what genres and text-types are most commonly required of students at upper secondary and tertiary levels in Māori-medium educational settings (Chapter 4), and to further determine, in relation to the analysis of authentic texts written by educated users of the language who have a high level of proficiency, how such genres and text-types are typically structured (Chapters 5 and 6). It is intended that this information should provide teachers and students with a solid foundation for the development of the skills required to create written texts in Māori that are structured in ways that are as close as possible to authentic discourses written by educated and highly proficient users of the language (Chapter 7). The thesis begins by providing some background to the research and outlining the primary aims, research questions and research methods (Chapter 1). This is followed by a critical review of some general landmark publications in the area of genre and text-type (Chapter 2).More pedagogically-centred, process-oriented approaches to genre and text-type are then critically reviewed in the context of the design of the model which underpins the analyses conducted in the following chapters.

text: An examination of genres and text-types in written Māori discourse: Analysis and pedagogic implications The overall aim of this research project is to determine what genres and text-types are most commonly required of students at upper secondary and tertiary levels in Māori-medium educational settings (Chapter 4), and to further determine, in relation to the analysis of authentic texts written by educated users of the language who have a high level of proficiency, how such genres and text-types are typically structured (Chapters 5 and 6). It is intended that this information should provide teachers and students with a solid foundation for the development of the skills required to create written texts in Māori that are structured in ways that are as close as possible to authentic discourses written by educated and highly proficient users of the language (Chapter 7). The thesis begins by providing some background to the research and outlining the primary aims, research questions and research methods (Chapter 1). This is followed by a critical review of some general landmark publications in the area of genre and text-type (Chapter 2).More pedagogically-centred, process-oriented approaches to genre and text-type are then critically reviewed in the context of the design of the model which underpins the analyses conducted in the following chapters.

year: 2004