Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Soccer, Space, And Community Integration: Being And Becoming Canadian In London, Ontario Through The World's Game, Marcelo Eduardo Herrera

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Abstract:

In this thesis I explore various forms of participation in organized soccer in London, Ontario – a mid-sized Canadian city with a diverse and growing immigrant community. My research took place between April 2015 and September 2015 and is based on focus group discussions, individual interviews, and casual conversations mainly, but not exclusively, with players and non-players, parents of players, and team or club administrators from London’s soccer community. My work’s primary objective is to provide an informed account of how and why soccer has and continues to be used by immigrant groups in London to integrate into Canadian …

Self Presentation Of Select Female Athletes On Instagram And Public Responses, Erin Ratelle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Social media sites vastly have changed the ways in which athletes can interact with their fans. Positioned within the area of feminist cultural studies, this thesis employs a mixed-methods approach to examine how 8 selected female athletes display their bodies on Instagram via posted photos; how the public responds to this content via photo comments; and how these interactive postings fit with wider socio-cultural and historical contexts of women’s bodies in sport and physical activity. Using Erving Goffman’s theory on self-presentation and Jurgen Habermas’ theory on the public sphere, I conceive Instagram as both stage and space for public deliberation. …

Character In Leadership: Perceptions Of Canadian Intercollegiate Athletics Administrators, William Z. Weese

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Despite the importance of administrative leadership in high performance sport, minimal attention has been given to the area of leader character by sport management researchers. The current study examined the prevalence, perceived importance, and value of leader character within Canadian interuniversity athletics programs. Leader character was quantitatively measured using the Leader Character Insight Assessment (LCIA) instrument (Crossan et al., 2013a). Differences between sex, position, and experience were also examined. Overall, Accountability and Integrity were the most prevalent leader character dimensions. Sex of administrators did not yield any significant differences between dimensions. Athletic Directors perceived Transcendence to be more important to …

Women In Leadership Within Professional Sport In Canada, Amanda B. Cosentino

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Many women enter graduate and undergraduate sport management degree programs to prepare for leadership positions in sport (Brassie, 1989). However, in professional sport in North America, the proportion of women advancing to senior roles is comparatively small. Previous research (Berry & Franks, 2010; Dreher, 2003; Lough & Grappendorf, 2007; Sartore & Cunningham, 2007) and a review of the company directories all confirm that a relatively small proportion of women hold senior leadership roles at either the league or team levels. In fact many teams do not have a single woman in a senior leadership role in spite of the fact …

Stronger, Leaner, Francophone: Physical Culture In The Nationalism Of Adrien Gagnon, Phillip Chipman

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The idea of nationalism within the Province of Quebec has been prominent throughout its history. As a notable subject, French Canadian nationalism has been studied in great detail, in relation to sport, politics, and art. However, the relationship between Francophone pride and physical culture has yet to be examined.

The purpose of this thesis was to reveal the presence of French Canadian nationalism within the realm of bodybuilding, more specifically, to study Adrien Gagnon’s physical culture magazine Santé et Développement Physique as a vehicle for nationalist thinking. Since Gagnon was publishing between 1946 and 1956, but was born in 1924, …

History Of Sioux Lookout Black Hawks Hockey Team, 1949-1951, Fatima Ba'abbad

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Existing literature on residential schools in Canada indicates that sports played an important role within that system and were a positive experience for Aboriginal students. However, these sporting experiences have not been analyzed from the students’ perspectives. This thesis aims to enrich our understanding of the role of sports within residential schools; the meanings former students attached to their experiences, and what sports mean to reconciliation initiatives using 1) narrative analysis of media representations of the Black Hawks team from Pelican Lake Indian Residential School during their 1951 hockey tour to Ottawa and Toronto, 2) a two-part interview process (photo …

Free Play: Removing Barriers To Athletic Self-Expression In Sport, Matthew R. Waddell

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The choice of what sport to play and the manner in which a person plays it has moral content and represents values that are personally meaningful to the individual athlete. However, due to the hegemonic influence of the concept of fair play, athletes do not have control over, or freedom of expression within, their chosen sports. This has additional and harmful ramifications for those currently excluded from communities of sport practice because the rules of sporting contests have very little flexibility to allow for participant directed change. A rights-based conception of sport encourages athletes to engage in ‘civil disobedience’ within …

Construal Levels In The Context Of Sport Imagery And Performance, Celina S. Kacperski

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The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate what role abstract and concrete construal levels play in sport imagery and how they impact sport performance outcomes. Another major purpose was to provide an introduction to a new mixed methods data analysis approach and to apply the developed methodology in the context of a qualitative study investigating construal levels in sport imagery. Three studies were conducted with these purposes in mind.

The first study describes a mixed methods analysis of spontaneous sport imagery. 12 elite athletes participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences with imagery before and during competitive events. Thematic …

The Acrobatic Body In Ancient Greek Society, Jonathan R. Vickers

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In this thesis I collate the textual, artistic, and material evidence for acrobatics in sport and spectacle in Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greece, and analyze gymnastic performances with regard to their respective socio-cultural contexts. I develop the theoretical perspective that all body movement is socially qualified in order to demonstrate how the extreme manipulations of an acrobatic body carry particular social meaning: in sport, the male acrobatic body approaches superhumanism, and in spectacle the female acrobatic body approaches subhumanism. I argue, on the one hand, that men’s tumbling took place at the early Panathenaia festival in Athens, both in martial …

Building Canadian National Identity Within The State And Through Ice Hockey: A Political Analysis Of The Donation Of The Stanley Cup, 1888-1893, Jordan Goldstein

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The Stanley Cup elicits strong emotions related to Canadian national identity despite its association as a professional ice hockey trophy. This strong link between the Cup and Canadian national identity emerged in its creation and donation. Lord Stanley, in addition to his love of ice hockey, donated the Cup partly as a political action. The cup stood as a physical symbol to unite the disparate Canadian population around a new national sport. Given Lord Stanley’s position as Governor General (1888-1893) this donation carried political authority. The purpose of this study is to investigate the donation of the Stanley Cup as …

Physical Culture As Citizenship Education At Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, 1926-1970, Braden Paora Te Hiwi

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Pelican Lake Indian residential school, also known as Sioux Lookout Indian residential school, was an Anglican run institution that was a part of the Canadian residential school system; the school operated from 1926 to 1970. It is well established in the literature that the Department of Indian Affairs intended to evangelize, assimilate, and civilize its students, but the function of citizenship in the residential schools is less well known. The focus of this study was to examine physical culture activities, specifically sport, exercise, and recreation as a form of training for citizenship. In particular, I centered this research on the …

Power And Legacies: An Examination Of The Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games, Kaitlyn Lindensmith

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The concept of legacy has become a potent mechanism for justifying expenditures on large scale sporting events, and is reflected in the policy process. The intention of this research was to examine the embedded power relations within the process of legacy plan development for the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games and how the decision-making processes address community needs. Drawing upon Rütten and Gelius’ (2011) Multi-level Interdependence of Structure and Agency model, a combination of interviews and document analyses were used to examine a cross-section of the parasport system in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area from the policy to community …

Bulky But Still Beautiful: Representations Of Healthy Femininity In The Crossfit Narrative, Cheryl Madliger

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Positioned in the area of feminist cultural studies, this thesis examines representations of femininity, fitness, and health in four key publications related to the fitness programs offered by the CrossFit™ Corporation. A critical discourse-analytical methodology is used to deconstruct notions of fit femininity in the CrossFit narrative. I argue that themes on femininity reflect contemporary healthist ideologies that promote concerns for health as an individual, moral responsibility, and normalize entrenched notions of the female body as a project to be managed. Drawing on the language of feminine empowerment, the CrossFit narrative constructs the ideal female body as one with increased …

"There Are No Rules! Except These 108." The Multidirectional Flow Of Influence Between Sportication, Subculture, And Violence On The History Of Mixed Martial Arts, Jared V. Walters

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The sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), found in 1993, has a very tenuous history. Three influencing factors, sport-related violence, the sportization process, and subculture, have interacted directly with events and individuals through the sport’s history, resulting in these three multi-directional sources of influences having the greatest effect on the direction and development of the sport. MMA, initially promoted as a violent spectacle, became the target of political attacks. Such unprecedented levels and presentation of sporting violence had never before been seen. In reaction, the sportization process of MMA began and the subculture of the sport started to develop as …

Muscular Christian Edmonton: The Story Of The Edmonton Young Men's Christian Association 1898-1920, Courtney Hope Van Waas

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From its initial conception as the EYMI in 1898 to its emergence as the Edmonton YMCA through 1920, the institution always had a distinct purpose. The absence of a Muscular Christian agenda in the EYMI, coupled with a purposive refocusing of programming within the YMCA towards what was directed towards the public interest, religion within this institution waned following World War I. Newspapers and executive minute notes demonstrate the EYMI focus on producing the next generation of respectable businessmen. The Edmonton YMCA attempted to fulfill the task of ‘saving’ young men by distracting them from social vices. As a result …

University Athlete Transition: Making The Jump From Sport To Life, Natascha Wesch

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The general purpose of this dissertation was to examine how perfectionism might influence career planning through its relationship with career decision making self-efficacy, career goal setting, and career outcome expectations in Canadian university student-athletes. Specifically, this dissertation addressed two main research questions: Does perfectionism enhance or inhibit career planning in university student-athletes; and is this in turn influenced by the relationship between perfectionism (strivings and concerns) and the social cognitive variables of the SCCT (i.e., career decision making self-efficacy, career goal setting, and career outcome expectations)?

In order to validate and test the measurement models of perfectionism, decision-making self-efficacy, career …

Beyond The Sports Page: Baseball, The Cuban Revolution, And Rochester, New York Newspapers, 1954-1960, Evan K. Nagel

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In the 1950s, the Caribbean island of Cuba underwent a series of emphatic and revolutionary changes, culminating in Fidel Castro's regime coming to power in early 1959. A year later, relations between the Cuban government and their American counterpart had deteriorated rapidly to the point of rhetoric, economic sanctions, and covert military actions. Yet, both nations laid claim to the same national pastime: the sport of baseball. Since the 1860s, America's game of choice had been played passionately by Cubans, helping facilitate their social assimilation into the U.S. economic sphere. There was arguably a cultural sporting bridge between the two …

A Philosophical Analysis Of Ethics Education In The Canadian National Coaching Certification Program For Rowing, Mark M. Williams

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This dissertation applies a conception of rationality from the philosophy of science to the coaching education context. The purpose of this dissertation is to present an account of how the exercise of judgment by coaches facing ethical dilemmas can be rational. The discussion in this dissertation begins with a traditional account of rationality that has long been a staple of moral philosophy. Next, the influence of this model in the current Canadian rowing coach education program are highlighted, as are its limitations in providing a complete account of rational ethical-decision making in the coaching context. After establishing these limitations, an …

Mental Toughness Training Intervention For Collegiate Track And Field Athletes, Amanda A. Truelove

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Mental toughness has been recognized as a key component necessary for optimal athletic achievement. The use of mental toughness training programs has been found to help athletes develop specific psychological skills associated with mental toughness, such as goal setting, positive self-talk, mental imagery, and relaxation. By developing these skills, athletes are better able to control levels of competition anxiety, increase levels of self-confidence, and ultimately, improve performance results. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a specifically designed mental toughness training program for varsity level track and field athletes. Participants included 4 varsity track and …

International Student-Athletes In Canadian Interuniversity Sport (Cis): Motivations And Experiences, Daniel L. Grbac

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the landscape of international student-athletes participating in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) with respect to number, sport, and gender breakdown, and to determine the motivations of these athletes for migrating to a Canadian academic institution as well as their experiences. Of the over 10,000 CIS student-athletes, approximately 5% are international student-athletes. In addition, the sports with the highest number of international student-athletes were soccer and basketball for males, and basketball and soccer for females. Semi-structured interviews with 16 international student-athletes from the four regional associations determined that the majority of participants were motivated …

I Am America: The Chicago Defender On Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, And Civil Rights, 1934-1975, Nevada Cooke

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This study examines the effect that the careers of Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali had on civil rights and race relations in the United States between 1934 and 1975 from the perspective of the black community, as interpreted through a qualitative analysis of the content provided by the Chicago Defender’s editorial posture and its black readership. Primary source material was divided into four categories – general news, general editorials, sports editorials, and reader contribution – and analyzed for each boxer’s career. The results of this primary source analysis were significant in that they contradict many current beliefs. The findings indicate …

The Nature Of Conflict In Sport: Development And Validation Of The Group Conflict Questionnaire, Kyle F. Paradis

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The purpose of the present dissertation was to develop a questionnaire to assess intra-group conflict in sport teams. To this end, the current dissertation consisted of three phases which followed a logical progression that is typical in the questionnaire development process. A total of (N = 752) participants took part in the three phases (Phase 1: N = 10; Phase 2: N = 437; Phase 3: N = 305).

Phase 1 was a qualitative investigation of athletes’ (N = 10) perceptions of the nature of conflict in sport. This phase was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the conflict …

The Vancouver Asahi Baseball Team And Cultural Acceptance 1920-1941, Christopher M. Pellerin

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This thesis analyzed how the Vancouver Asahis, through excellence in baseball, gained acceptance within the newspaper media and community from 1920 to 1941. An examination of Vancouver’s history and culture determined the importance of baseball to the city, especially upon Bob Brown’s, Vancouver’s greatest builder of the game, immigration. A history of the Asahis was also examined to help frame baseball’s importance to the Japanese and why they wished to engage in this specific sport. Through a content analysis within the Vancouver Sun and Daily Province newspapers, this thesis examined how the Asahis were represented in each of the two …

An Autoethnographical Tapestry Of Feminist Reflection On My Journey Of A Fitness Model Physique, Stephanie A. Paplinskie

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Weight training and fitness competitions are increasingly popular activities for many women seeking an aesthetically fit body. This thesis entails a critical reflection of the various factors surrounding my personal decision to partake in body sculpting, examining how these factors parallel the experience of other women in the fitness industry. Using a feminist theoretical framework and autoethnography, a history of feminist theory is incorporated to demonstrate some of the various perspectives surrounding women bodies. Two challenges for women are discussed in this paper: i) the fear of fat, and how it is connected to a woman’s initial decision to attend …

'Massa Day Done:' Cricket As A Catalyst For West Indian Independence: 1950-1962, Jonathan A. Newman

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This thesis examined the manner in which West Indies cricket became a catalyzing force for West Indians in moving towards political independence from Britain during the period 1950-1962. West Indians took a game that was used as a means of social control during the colonial era, and refashioned that game into a political weapon to exact sporting and especially political revenge on their colonial masters. Analyses (CDA, narrative analysis, examination of calypsos and cartoons) of the historic cricket tour to England in 1950, the decolonization movement, and the appointment of Frank Worrell as the first black captain of the team, …

The Role Of Probe-Trial Distractors In The Production/Removal Of The Spatial Negative Priming Effect, Peter D. Haworth

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In spatial negative priming (SNP) tasks, trials are presented in pairs; first the ‘prime’, and then the ‘probe’. Target and/or distractor events appear on both trials and probe target reaction time is significantly lengthened when it arises at a former distractor-occupied location (ignored-repetition [IR] trial), relative to when it appears at a new location (control [CO] trial). This latency inequality, which is not inevitable, defines the SNP effect. Here, we examined the influence of prime and probe trial distractor identity similarity on restoring the SNP effect when its prevention was successfully motivated by the use of a .25 (distractor present)/.75 …

Sport Event Volunteer Role Perceptions At The 2012 Ontario Summer Games, Kristen A. Rogalsky

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The study tested a theoretical model of role perceptions of major sport event volunteers, and specifically correlates of role ambiguity. The sample consisted of 328 volunteers involved with the 2012 Ontario Summer Games. Participants completed an on-line questionnaire post-Games that included measures of role ambiguity, effort, performance, role satisfaction, role difficulty, training, supervision, overall satisfaction with the Games and future volunteer intentions. Findings provide support for a multidimensional model of role ambiguity, consisting of performance outcomes ambiguity and means-ends/scope ambiguity in this context. A final model indicated that supervision was critical to both dimensions of ambiguity, although they differentially predicted …

Olympism, Ethics And The Rio 2016 Olympic Games Preparations: An Ethical Analysis, Dana Poeta

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Olympism is the underlying philosophy of the modern Olympic Games. It provides the ethical foundation of the Olympic Movement. This thesis defends the maintenance of human rights as essential for the achievement of Olympism. The problem investigated and evaluated in this thesis is the preparation for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. A critical analysis and account of the ethical demeanor in regard to the actualization of Olympism is provided. By comparing relevant current issues with past Olympic Games, the recurring problems in achieving Olympism are identified. The conclusion emphasizing the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) responsibility for ensuring that Olympism, …