Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring The Underrepresentation Of Women Coaches In Canadian University Sport, Hayley Finn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Currently, there are disproportionally few women who hold coaching positions within Canadian university sport. To investigate the gender gap, this dissertation explores the institutional practices that inform women coaches’ working realities. Applying Smith’s (1987) institutional ethnography as a mode of inquiry directed the exploration towards the everyday practices and processes that inform experience, to better understand current barriers and supports in place. In this study, particular attention is given to social relations, which Smith (2005) calls the relations of ruling that coordinate activities and experiences of individuals within organizations. Institutional ethnography aims to explicate these relations of ruling by exploring …

“One Of The Most Elaborate Doping Ploys In Sports History”: The Impact Of The 2016 Russian Doping Scandal On Anti-Doping, Wada And Athletes’ Rights, Mikael J. Gonsalves

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation analyzes the impacts of the 2016 Russian doping scandal from a philosophical and historical perspective. This dissertation’s second chapter, the article entitled (1) “The Brave New World of Athletes’ Rights: A Canadian Perspective on Significant Shifts for the World Anti- Doping Agency” in time for the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 20 th anniversary, puts into words the new investigative reality of contemporary anti-doping. It explains a new attitude of anti-doping authorities in response to the ‘game-changing’ Russian manipulation of samples, what has been described as “one of the most elaborate doping ploys in sports history” 1 (Icarus, 2016) …

Recognizing Parasport Impacts: Ripples, Waves, And Echoes, Adam J. Purdy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Major Games such as the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto (TO2015) generate the potential to bring awareness to sport participation opportunities for people with impairment (Chalip et al, 2017). In the post-games era, it is important to examine the ways in which sport program managers recognize the outcomes of games-related leveraging initiatives. Teleconference interviews were conducted with twelve program managers in the Greater Toronto Area. The study followed an interpretive descriptive methodology and employed a theoretical construct of recognition as a novel approach to assess the legacy and social impacts of hosting parasport games. A form of thematic analysis …

Indigenous Coaches And The National Aboriginal Hockey Championships, Dallas Gerald Hauck

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC), an annual hockey tournament held in Canada where Indigenous youth compete in provincial/territorial teams. Research focused especially on the insights that coaches, organizers, and other tournament officials can provide into this tournament that aims to both highlight the skills of Indigenous players and also to provide cultural activities and enhance pride. Drawing on interviews at the NAHC at the 2019 tournament in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, this thesis aims to understand the impact the tournament has on those involved, as well as outside influences that constrain and impact the event. The major …

Psychological Predictors Of Injury In Collegiate Cheerleaders, Alexander Marchand

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

According to the revised stress-injury model (Williams & Andersen, 1998), greater life stress predicts greater vulnerability to athletic injury, with this relationship being strongest among athletes exhibiting competitive anxiety, less social support, and non-adaptive coping skills. This study tested the validity of this model among collegiate cheerleaders, an injury-prone athlete group. Ninety-two collegiate cheerleaders recorded instances of injury over 12 weeks. Measures of life stress, competitive anxiety, coping style, social support, and previous injury were obtained. Heightened negative life stress did not coincide with greater injury. A positive stress-injury relationship was observed among cheerleaders reporting high avoidance coping. A negative …

The Impact Of Partners In Doubles Racquet Sports And Interpersonal Emotional Regulation, Sarah J. Deck

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The overall purpose of this dissertation was to understand the impact that partner play has in doubles racquet sports (tennis, badminton and squash) on emotions, coping and emotional regulation. Study 1 laid the groundwork to understanding the impact (positive or negative) that the different types of partner play (playing well, playing normal, or playing poorly) has in these dyads. Participants (N=103) were randomized into one of three scenarios (written vignettes) designed to manipulate partners play and asked to fill out a questionnaire packet based on the scenario read. Findings of Study 1 showed that there was a difference in the …

Narratives Of Canadian Identity At The Ultimate Fighting Championship, Jared V. Walters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the use of representations and symbols of Canadian identity within the event coverage produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship Corporation, in the context of its two key events, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Fight Night, produced in Canada. To establish the historical context in which the sport developed in Canada, a narrative historiography of the political and legal struggles that led to the legalization and increasing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts, and the UFCC’s version of the sport, in particular. This first major part of the dissertation is contained in Study 1. The …

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 …

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. …

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

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

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 …

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

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

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 …

Examining The Relationships Between Imagery, Sport Motivation, And Athletic Identity In Curling, Nicole Westlund

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Imagery use, motivation, and athletic identity all have been investigated in sport; however, a study examining the relationships among these three constructs has yet to be conducted. The participants (N = 213) were club and competitive curlers (M_age = 49.0; SD = 15.39). Results showed that athletic identity was significantly correlated with all five imagery functions and six behavioural regulations (p < .01) except for external regulation and amotivation. Multiple regression analyses predicting imagery use from both the behavioural regulations and athletic identity were conducted for each imagery function in club and competitive curlers. Athletic identity, identified regulation, and integrated regulation emerged as significant predictors of imagery use (p < .05). These findings suggest that there is a link between imagery use, motivation, and athletic identity. Researchers and sport psychologists can use these findings to develop more effective psychological skills training programs to improve the performance of curlers.

Development Of A Cohesion Inventory For Children's Sport Teams, Luc J. Martin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to develop an inventory designed to measure cohesion in children’s (ages 9-12) sport teams. To this end, three studies were conducted. In Study 1, children became active agents in the process of test construction. More specifically, children (N = 167) participated in focus groups and completed open-ended questionnaires in order to provide information on their perceptions of cohesion as well as motives for participating, continuing, and ceasing involvement on sport teams. Study 2 involved the use of the information obtained from Study 1 to develop potential items for the questionnaire. In addition, the …