Digital Commons Network^™

Tumble Tots: Outcomes Of A Gymnastics Program For Children With Disabilities, Cayla Leichtenberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the benefits, children with disabilities do not participate in recreational activities as often as typically developing peers. The purpose of the program was to: 1) describe the benefit of a gymnastics program on a child’s development, and 2) identify the impact of a staff training program. Engagement in the proposed program aimed to ultimately contribute to a child’s involvement in recreational activities, health and quality of life (QOL). All participants in the gymnastics program demonstrated a positive change in motor and communication skills. Pre-test data from the staff training program indicated that none of the gymnastics staff members were …

The Psychology Of Performance In Elite Youth Soccer Players, Matthew Best

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study is a holistic assessment of psychological mindsets, which are one’s attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions, in elite youth male soccer players between the ages of 13 and 18 and the exploration of the relationships between these mindsets and performance outcomes. The mindsets that were assessed were expectancy, growth mindset, value, goals, belongingness, grit, and self-regulation, and the performance outcomes were minutes played, goals scored, and goals allowed. The mindsets were selected through a review of research in education and sport. I conducted Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient analyses to assess the validity and reliability of the …

The Fight Before The Fight: Weight-Cutting In Mixed Martial Arts, Michael T. Desantis

Capstones

For professional mixed martial artists, fighting may not even be the most dangerous aspect of the job. Many of these athletes consider weight-cutting to be a fight itself, one that could have deadly consequences. Fighters, coaches, doctors, nutritionists and other experts discuss the state of weight-cutting in MMA, why it's done, how it's dangerous, and the potential solutions to making it safer.

https://medium.com/@michaeltdesantis24/the-fight-before-the-fight-weight-cutting-in-mixed-martial-arts-6a920ad5e37b

Biased, Janessa M. Andiorio Ms.

Capstones

BIASED is a journalistic podcast focused on intertwining journalistic reporting with opinion to explore the bad behaviors and entitled attitudes that comes with athletic status and how it develops. By talking with coaches, current and former athletes and sport sociology exports this project explores how athletes view themselves as well as how society enables certain sport culture.

https://jandiorio194.wixsite.com/biased

Recruiting Process: The Decision Is Now, Joshua Michels

Sport Management Undergraduate

The college athletic recruiting process is one cluttered with many different factors. Studies have analyzed institutional and social factors impacting a prospective student-athletes’ recruitment process. However, little research has explored recruiting from an athlete’s perspective on how they make their college decision. This study aimed to investigate the most influential factors in a Division III student-athlete’s college decision based on the college recruiting process. The purpose of conducting this research is to highlight and identify the factors that student athletes consider in regards to their recruiting process, and the school they later choose to attend and continue their athletic careers. …

Exploring Sport Related Sexual Assault On Twitter, Riley O'Brien

Sport Management Undergraduate

Sport related sexual assault has been prevalent in society. For the victims, there are limited avenues to cope with the issues they have faced in the aftermath of sexual assault. At collegiate sport organizations, there seems to be a disconnect between what is right and wrong, especially regarding sexual assault. This study navigates the rough waters of sexual assault and provides institutions with information regarding social media once there is a sexual assault case. Using Twitter, this study will search to find variables that are beneficial to victims and sport institutions alike that will help their story reach the maximum …

True North Strong Canada 150: Canadian Identity And Its Contribution To Doping Free Sport, Helena A. Hlas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis, a reflective piece inspired by “Canada 150” events, explores the psychosocial and sociocultural factors surrounding the ongoing evolution of the clean sport movement in Canada. A literature review recounts the critical events in the history of doping, viz. the Ben Johnson scandal, which resulted in a call to overhaul sport culture and realign it with fair play values. Theories in sports philosophy and psychology provide a further understanding of the meaning of sport, and psychosocial factors that are inextricably linked to doping behavior, respectively. The autoethnographic method provides insight into current Canadian values to compare with those in …

1968-2018: 50 Years Of Athlete Activism In America, Randall Norman

Honors Projects

The purpose of this project is to explore the history of athlete activism in America, as well as understand similarities and differences of race, gender, and time period as it pertains to athletes speaking out about social or political causes.

Wellness And Prevention Program Sustainability Design For Clark University Athletics Department, Emily Corbett

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The purpose of this work is to design a wellness based prevention program that is tailored to fit the campus community within Clark University, Worcester, MA, called the Peer Athletes Advocating for Wellness (PAAW) initiative. This paper first presents the current research on wellness related issues within a college campus, specifically surrounding sexual violence. It then outlines the current sexual violence prevention programming that takes place yearly for incoming first year students at Clark University, as well as a one-time initiative during which student athletes participated in the sexual violence prevention programming. There is a review of the current most …

Irish Whips And German Suplexes: Professional Wrestling And The American Immigrant And Minority Experience, Colin Rush Walker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Trends within sports and popular entertainment have long been regarded as great indicators of larger transitions in the social, political, and economic landscape of the United States. Repeatedly mined and often used for context, sports have become intrinsically linked to the broader discussions of people, their beliefs, ideals, and actions occurring in the historiography of American culture. However, one sport has regularly been passed over in these examinations. I argue that the modern day entertainment monolith of professional wrestling serves as one of the most important indicators of socioeconomic change in the history of the U.S., and that it plays …

The Impact Of Coaches' Character On Youth Basketball Players, Natasha Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

If utilized effectively, recreation and sports can serve as major tools for developing youth, improving the educational environment, and increasing the number of productive adults that are healthier physically and mentally to positively impact society. Most research targeting recreation and sports developing youth has the perspective primarily of parents and youth. Evaluating the character strengths of coaches and youth athletes who actively participate in team basketball is vital.

An exploration of the value of basketball and character strengths of (n = 64) youth athletes, between the ages of 12 to 16 years, and the impact of their involvement with coaches …

Analysis Of Student-Athletes And Summer Internship Experiences In The Construction Management Department, Amanda Rose Sandoval

Construction Management

Summer internships are a valuable way for implementing practical knowledge in the construction industry. Students can apply what they have learned during the school year and visualize the reality of how construction is managed. This project will research what student-athletes typically invest their time in over summer and the construction company’s connection to the student-athlete department. The analysis will identify if there is a need to propose a program that can improve the relationship between the construction management and student-athlete departments. Two surveys were conducted to collect information about student-athletes summer activity history and their perspective of internship experience, as …

Exploring The Capabilities Approach In A Sport For Development And Peace Setting., Jeffrey F. Levine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) has become a popular approach to development. However, critical scholars remain skeptical of SDP’s effectiveness. Utilizing a holistic approach that includes local voices may help a program’s effectiveness. Scholars are searching for a framework flexible enough to accommodate the varied nature of programs. One theoretical approach is the Capabilities Approach, which evaluates well-being based on what people can do and be. This case study explored the Capabilities Approach in an SDP setting. Youth Odyssey, a non-profit organization that works with at-risk youth through adventure programming, was the case. This case study explored what role …

Factors That Contribute To The Process Of Reporting Concussion Symptoms Experienced By Canadian Football League Players, Daryl W. H. Stephenson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Concussions continue to be at the forefront of research today and are still an ongoing problem for athletes across sporting domains. Further investigation is warranted to achieve a greater understanding of concussions. Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation was to explore research related to sports-related concussions, how concussions affect athletes and those surrounding the athletes at all levels of sport, with a particular focus on Canadian Football League players and the underreporting of concussions. This dissertation also reviews qualitative research methodologies, and how they are applied within concussion research. Research Questions: a) What is my own personal relationship with …

Cultural Practices And Social Formations In A Reforming Society: The Transnational Fandom Of European Football In China, Yuan Gong

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the Chinese fandom of European male football and its relation to the formation of the Chinese urban middle class. I use online and offline ethnography, critical discourse analysis and textual analysis to examine the socio-cultural roots, technological conditions, and political implications of Chinese fans’ transmedia practices. My findings are twofold. First, I argue for the articulation between the European football fan identity and the subject of urban middle class emerging from the post-Maoist social restructuring. This articulation is reflected from these fans’ active reading of the European football text and their access to European football as conditioned …

Why Education Matters: Political Participation And Interpretive Experiences At High School, Samuel V. Stoddard

Doctoral Dissertations

Political scientists have long recognized educational attainment as a strong predictor of voter turnout, but the mechanisms through which educational experiences lead voters to the polls remain under-explored. This research begins the process of opening the proverbial black box of education to understand the specific types of scholastic experiences that encourage voting. Grounded in previous findings by scholars of policy feedback and political socialization, I use a mix of qualitative and quantitative data analyses to reveal that nonacademic high school experiences can have powerful and lasting interpretive effects. Results show that participants in performance and service-based extracurricular activities are commonly …

Making It Pay To Be A Fan: The Political Economy Of Digital Sports Fandom And The Sports Media Industry, Andrew Mckinney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a series of case studies and sociological examinations of the role that the sports media industry and mediated sport fandom plays in the political economy of the Internet. The Internet has structurally changed the way that sport fans access sport and accelerated the processes through which the capitalist actors in the sports media industry have been able to subsume them. The three case studies examined in this dissertation are examples of how digital media technologies have both helped fans become more active producers and consumers of sports and made the sports media industry an integral and vanguard …

Investigating Equity : An Evaluation Of The Relationship Of The Ncaa’S Apr Metric On Similarly Resourced Historically Black And Predominantly White Ncaa Division-I Colleges And Universities, Ryan J.R. Westman

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In 2003, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) launched the Academic Performance Program (APP) as a means of measuring institutional accountability of academic outcomes for Division I member institutions. One of the two metrics used to define academic effectiveness is the Academic Progress Rate (APR) metric, immediately drew considerable criticism for its penalty structure, which disproportionately impacted colleges and universities with lesser resources. As time progressed, these penalties almost exclusively were distributed among the poorest institutions in Division I, which is heavily represented by the nation’s most prominent Historically Black Colleges and Universities. These penalty trends begged the question of …

Examining Eudaimonic Well-Being In Sport, Despina Kouali

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to examine eudaimonic well-being in sport. This dissertation was divided into three studies. Study 1 was designed to develop a sport-specific eudaimonic well-being measurement tool (EWBSS; Eudaimonic Well-Being in Sport Scale) and included three phases. During Phase 1, 19 items were created by two investigators and five of these items were selected by five experts to represent eudaimonic well-being in sport. Phase 2 assessed the factorial validity and reliability of the EWBSS on a large sample (N = 400) with competitive level athletes from various individual and team sports with results demonstrating …

Laterality In The Power Five And Group Of Five Conferences In Women's College Softball, Jon C. Nachtigal

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Females in sport are under-represented in data and analysis when compared to their male counterparts. This disparity also applies to women’s softball in comparison to men’s baseball. To help fill this gap, this study evaluated the extent and impact of laterality in women’s college softball’s Power Five and Group of Five conferences from 2015-2017.

This study focused on the extent of a left-sided lateral preference in women’s college softball, possible interactions between throwing hand and batting preference, to what extent the platoon effect exists in the sport, and the extent of positional bias in the sport. As one of the …

The Role Of The Canada Games In Canadian Sport: Canadian Celebration And Political Tool, Kerri Bodin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigates the Canada Games and their role in the Canadian sport landscape. More broadly, this project aims to uncover the role of sport events as institutions within the field. I used an exploratory case study methodology of the Canada Games to achieve this purpose. I collected documents (i.e. policies, archival documents, reports) and completed nine semi-structured interviews with sport administrators to use as data for this research. I used neo-institutionalism and practice theory as bases for interpretation. The results from my research indicate that there are challenges in achieving the strategic objectives of the Canada Games within the …

Participatory Action Research Examining The Role Of Physical Activity In Mentoring For Resilience, Francesca Gable

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examined the use of physical activity-based mentorship programs to positively influence student mental health and resilience in post-secondary institutions. The process of relationship building was observed through regularly implemented physical activity interactions over time. The purpose was to determine the ability of a physical activity-based mentorship relationship to positively influence student resilience. A participatory action research methodology was used to engage with a population of ninety undergraduate Kinesiology students (30 mentors:60 protégés) over an eight-month period. Sixty interviews and thirteen focus groups were conducted, and fifteen-hundred pages of journal reflections were consulted to further understand the relationship building …

Coaching Styles And The Basic Psychological Need Fulfillment Of College Athletes, Kelsey Louise Byrd

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent a coach’s coaching style is associated with the athlete’s basic psychological needs fulfillment of autonomy, competence and relatedness. A survey was distributed to 204 varsity student-athletes at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo representing 13 teams. The data were used to determine the impact of coaching style on the athlete’s fulfillment of autonomy, competence and relatedness. An authoritative head coaching style was found to have a positive impact on an athlete’s fulfillment of autonomy, competence and relatedness. A similar result was found for assistant coaches. Overall, these findings can help …

Capacity For Change: Critical Factors In The Organizational Implementation Of Gender Equity In Sport Initiatives, Swarali H. Patil

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

National sport organizations (NSOs) address gender equity in their respective sports via programs designed for women. This study examined the organizational capacity of three NSOs to implement gender equity initiatives through programs that target increasing the engagement of women in sport as athletes, certified coaches, and officials. Hall et al.’s (2003) multidimensional framework of human resources, finances, relationships/network, infrastructure/process, and planning/development capacity was used. External factors that impact the capacity dimensions were also considered. Semi-structured telephone interviews (n = 15) were conducted with board members and staff of the NSOs. The findings highlight the key capacity strengths and challenges …

The Relationship Between The Dark Tetrad Using The Hexaco Personality Models In Relationship To Mental Toughness In College Athletes, Michael K. Ryerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dark Triad has been examined before in previous literature many different times. The Dark Tetrad is recently new to the field and does not have the same amount of literature as the Triad. The Dark Triad and Tetrad have been examined with the Big Five Personality model numerous times and have been negatively correlated in the previous research. However, most of the research examined did not use Honesty-Humility that the HEXACO Personality Model has incorporated into the Big Five Personality model. The topic of mental toughness has been researched numerous times since its acceptance as a personality trait. The difficulty …

Examination Of Mental Health And Family Relationship In Collegiate Athletes, Julia Hussey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Athletes at the collegiate level frequently experience unique stressors that cause them to be at risk for a number of mental health difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and substance use. Current research in the field suggests that athletes are not as likely as their non-athlete peers to seek out psychological services for mental health difficulties. Social supports have been shown to impact athletes’ mental health and sport performance. Specifically, family relationships appear to have an influence on athletes’ level of stress and motivation, with positive family relationships showing decreases in athletes’ worry as well as faster recovery following injury. Surprisingly, there …

Gender Differences Associated With The Evolution Of Attributes Sought In Sports Apparel, Jami Adler

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Since the turn of the century, many things have changed around the world, with a focus on the athletic apparel and fashion industries. Using Fowler’s (1999) research regarding the attributes sought in sports apparel, this study serves as a replication to determine how attributes sought in sports apparel have evolved. Online surveying through Qualtrics was utilized for data collection. The research explored the trend of Athleisure and the rising demand for versatile clothing. The role of gender and its associated differences significantly influenced the attributes sought in sports apparel. In addition, this study explored three additional attributes that consumers evaluate …

The Relationship Between Stryd Power And Running Economy In Well-Trained Distance Runners 2018, Casey Austin

Master's Theses

A novel running wearable called the Stryd Summit footpod attaches to a runner’s right or left shoe and measures running power output. The developers of the product purport that the footpod’s power and form power measures may correlate with metabolic data gathered in a lab. PURPOSE: Explore the relationship between power output and running economy at threshold pace. METHODS: Seventeen well-trained distance runners, 9 males and 8 females, completed a running protocol at threshold pace. Participants ran two discontinuous four-minute stages: one with their self-selected cadence (SS), and one with cadence lowered by 10% (LC). Metabolic data, power, and form …

Effects Of Competition Variables And Prior Attempts On Approach Run Velocity During A Pole Vaulter's Final Clearance 2018, Nathaniel S. Ashton

Master's Theses

Approach run velocity of a vaulter is strongly correlated to the highest height a vaulter clears in pole vault competition and the number of attempts taken throughout a competition influences pole vault strategy. Since approach run velocity greatly affects the crossbar height cleared and number of attempts affects time spent in the competition, perhaps a better approach to determine optimal competition strategy is to first identify how competition variables influence approach run velocity. The purpose of this study was to determine if the approach run velocity during a pole vaulter’s last clearance can be predicted by: (1) the number of …

A Qualitative Case Study Examination Of Athlete Ally Using Social Movement Theory., Samuel H. Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following study answered the call for more social movement related studies in sport (Davis-Delano & Crosset, 2008) and lessened the paucity of literature on athlete activism. The purpose of this study was to examine a sport specific social movement organization, Athlete Ally, using Social Movement Theory. Social Movement Theory is guided by three tenets: Resource Mobilization Theory (Edwards & McCarthy, 2004), Political Process Theory (Kriesi, 2004), and Cultural Theory/Frame Analysis (Williams, 2004). Each of these tenets was used to examine the resources exchanged between Athlete Ally and their athlete constituents, determine the strategies for engaging with various sport (i.e. …