Sports Studies Commons^™

Does Transition Experience Improve Newcomer Performance? Evidence From The National Basketball Association, Joseph R. Radzevick

Management Faculty Publications

A substantial body of research has highlighted the effects of experience on individual performance in groups. However, the challenges individuals confront after moving between groups require the adoption of more finely grained categorizations of experience to understand how they will help or hinder performance in novel group environments. This article develops a distinct form of experience here termed transition experience to deal specifically with insights individuals accumulate as they shift membership between different groups and contrasts its impact with that of the frequently examined component of related task experience. Player movement data from the National Basketball Association is used to …

Rumination And Performance In Dynamic, Team Sport, Michael M. Roy, Daniel Memmert, Anastasia Frees, Joseph R. Radzevick, Jean Pretz, Benjamin Noël

Management Faculty Publications

People high in rumination are good at tasks that require persistence whereas people low in rumination is good at tasks that require flexibility. Here we examine real world implications of these differences in dynamic, team sport. In two studies, we found that professional male football (soccer) players from Germany and female field hockey players on the US national team were lower in rumination than were non-athletes. Further, low levels of rumination were associated with a longer career at a higher level in football players. Results indicate that athletes in dynamic, team sport might benefit from the flexibility associated with being …

Running Through Gender: Exploring The Effects Of Hegemonic Masculinity And Femininity On Gettysburg Cross Country Athletes, Olivia D. Powell

Student Publications

The general consensus regarding athletic participation is that it is beneficial to a person’s overall well being. The Women’s Sports Foundation states that girls and women who play sports have higher levels of confidence and self-esteem, lower levels of depression, a more positive body image, and experience higher states of psychological well-being than girls and women who do not play sports. In fact, girls who play sports are more likely to get better grades in school, and are more likely to graduate than girls who do not play sports.1 These statements are circulated as being universal truths. Despite many studies …

An Ernie Banks Season, Steven Gimbel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The dawn of the baseball season is an existential moment. For big market teams with owners willing to pay for marquee players, and general managers who build playoff-bound teams, it is a time of great anticipation.

It's also a time of hope, albeit dim, for those die-hard fans of teams who are off the playoff pace by double digits year in and year out. Their cautious optimism is one that illuminates the human condition. [excerpt]

World Cup Watching, Jack Ryan

English Faculty Publications

This essay describes Jack's experience dealing with World Cup fever in Bath, England, during the 2010 World Cup. It's Jack's outsider's perspective on the impact of world cup competition while he taught in the Advanced Studies in England Program.

The Gettysburg Economic Review, Volume 3, Spring 2009

Gettysburg Economic Review

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Contracts And The Principal-Agent Problem, Elizabeth A.R. Purcell

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper examines the principal-agent problem within professional sports. Imperfect information between managers and players, as well as the guaranteed income a long-term contract provides, are predicted to provide players with the incentive to alter effort over the length of a contract – especially during the first year of a long-term contract. Regression analysis indicates that players’ performance levels decline during the first year of a long-term contract, suggesting that the effects of the principal-agent problem may outweigh competing effects. The study does not, however, suggest that players increase performance in the final year of a contract.

2001 National Lacrosse Finalist Plaque, Devin J. Hewitt

Hidden in Plain Sight Projects

Amidst a dusty trophy case in Bream Athletic Center sits a small plaque. It has a gold lacrosse stick and simply states: “2001 National Lacrosse Finalist”. Most people would walk by and never even notice the plaque, and if they did they probably wouldn’t think twice about it. However, upon delving into the history of the plaque I found a story of intense on-and-off-the field rivalries, the emergence of a national power, players learning to come together to overcome adversity, the culmination of years of building, and eventual heartbreak. [excerpt]

Course Information:

• Course Title: HIST 300: Historical Method …

Eddie Plank Historical Marker, Garrett S. Gaydosh

Hidden in Plain Sight Projects

Eddie Plank (1875-1926)

Baseball great. One of the most dominant pitchers of the twentieth century. "Gettysburg Eddie" compiled a record of 326-194 in a 17-year career (1901-17), mostly with the Philadelphia Athletics. He won 20 games or more eight times and helped the A's win six pennants and three world championships. Plank was born [near this spot], attended Gettysburg Academy, and retired and died in Gettysburg. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1946.

Course Information:

• Course Title: HIST 300: Historical Method
• Academic Term: Spring 2006
• Course Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Birkner '72

Hidden in Plain Sight is a collection …

Intercollegiate Athletics At Gettysburg College, 1920-1975, Robert L. Bloom

College History Publications

Some historians suggest that despite markings on the calendar the Twentieth Century did not begin in America, culturally speaking, until after the 1917-1918 war. Until that time, they assert, Americans thought and behaved as they had in a prior and more innocent age. After 1918 Americans adopted the more frenetic life-style of what has become known as "the Roaring Twenties," the "Jazz Age," or the "Mad Decade," a period which ended with the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The era saw the emergence of such athletic titans as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Harold "Red" Grange, Bobby Jones, …

Intercollegiate Athletics At Gettysburg College, 1879-1919, Robert L. Bloom

College History Publications

In 1932, as a part of Gettysburg College's Centennial observance, Dr. Samuel G. Hefelbower '91, a quondam member of the faculty and from 1904 to 1910 President of the College, wrote and edited a largely filiopietistic volume entitled A History of Gettysburg College, 1832-1932. In this 446-page narrative. Dr. Hefelbower devoted considerable space to the development of extracurricular life on the campus. He allotted forty pages to the rise of Greek letter fraternities. eight pages to the Woman's League. and nine additional pages to such now-defunct student pursuits as the Bible Society, the Linnaean Society, and the Y.M.C.A. Honorary fraternities …