All caught up in the kayfabe: understanding and appreciating pro-wrestling

ABSTRACT

Professional wrestling is a popular, global, performance phenomenon that is in many respects sport-like, but tends to be shunned by serious sports fans for its alleged ‘fakeness’. Yet its own fans often behave exactly like regular sports fans: getting caught up in the action, responding emotionally to the performances, and engaging in critical analysis of the competitive strategies and the turns of events. How does this alleged ‘fake sport’ engender such complex and deeply emotional appreciation? Here I provide an analysis of pro-wrestling that explains and emphasises its narrative, dramatic and fictional aspects, showing it to be a complex representational work that can be appreciated aesthetically and emotionally on a number of levels.     

Running for Freedom: The Politics of Long-Distance Running in Modern Fiction

This essay analyses the uses of running in contemporary fiction. It addresses the question of the literariness of running, and the ways in which literature enables us to articulate aspects of the sport such as its heroism or its relationship to the nation. It looks at a number of fictional texts, and focuses largely on two important works, ‘The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’, Sillitoe's celebrated novella of 1958, and Jean Echenoz's novel, Running, published 50 years later. This essay examines the quality of running defined in literature, then looks at its traditional function of celebration of heroes, before closing on the freedom associated with running in such works.     

Pupils in upper secondary school sports: choices based on what?

In the fields of both education and sport, the possession of capital and habitus influences an individual’s lifestyles and choices, which in turn affects the social selection within these fields. In this article, we will study the Swedish system of school sports as an overlap between the fields of education and sport, and thus viewed as a double dominated field. From a cultural sociological perspective, the purpose of this article is to analyse and explain how the organisational conditions and pupils’ social characteristics interact with upper secondary pupils’ choices of different school sports programmes in Sweden. Based on registry data on secondary school sports pupils, the results show that the supply of school sports requires specific forms of social dispositions that have an impact on which categories of pupils choose to participate. Among the students participating in school sports, there is a higher proportion of pupils who: are of Swedish origin (p?p?p?p?相似文献   

Prospective study of sport dropout: A motivational analysis as a function of age and gender

Abstract

Introduction: This paper aimed to analyse the predictive ability of a self-determination theory (SDT) based model describing competitive sport dropout, and variance as a function of age and gender. Variables included in the model were: psychological need satisfaction, self-determined motivation, perceived conflict between sport and study, intention to practise sport, and dropout.

Methods: A prospective study was performed over a period of 19 months. Variables considered as predictors of sport dropout were measured initially, and after 19 months persistence or dropout was assessed. The sample consisted of 857 athletes aged 11–19 (mean value 15.3; standard deviation = 1.77), 680 males and 177 females.

Results: Structural equation modelling illustrated support for an “alternative” model that incorporated a direct relationship between psychological need satisfaction and intention to practise sport. Analysis of invariance showed that the model was consistent as a function of age and gender, i.e. no differences were found in regression weights. MANOVA, however, revealed some group differences with respect to the dependent variables. Specifically, in terms of engagement, although assessed at the start of the study, those athletes who persisted at 19 months demonstrated greater need satisfaction, self-determined motivation and intention to practise sport than those who dropped out. Age related differences were also identified: with increased age self-determined motivation and intention to practise sport decreased, while there were no differences in need satisfaction or perceived conflict between sport and study. There were no differences related to gender.

Discussion: The results support previous studies that had used SDT to predict sport dropout, specifically those that had reported an inverse relationship between self-determined motivation and perceived conflict between activities. Further, it suggests that other variables (emotional) may play a specific role in predicting intention to continue engagement with sport.

Conclusion: The major contribution of the study is in validating a motivational model predicting sport dropout which incorporates perceived conflict and the direct effect of psychological need satisfaction on the intention to practise sport. The invariance of regression weights between age and gender groups suggests that the relationships proposed in the model are universal.     

Managing diversity and European policy: Towards a typology for sport pedagogy

Abstract

This article adds to the growing body of knowledge in sport pedagogy and focuses specifically upon the intersection of gender and disability. Its purpose is twofold, to create a typology for examining good practice in sport pedagogy that is reflective and inclusive and raises awareness of the diverse needs of all participants in physical activity ‘regardless’ of gender and ability for all children. We acknowledge that access to physical activity, education and sport are complex and multifaceted, however, the main purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of ‘diversity’ by focusing specifically upon the role of gender and ability. Through an examination of gender and disability policies in official European Union (EU) policy documents and commercial examples of policy-in-practice we propose a typology for diversity and diversity management. A close look at EU level is instructive because national policies of the member countries vary a lot with respect to diversity issues but should be in accordance in the main areas. Such a reading enables the building of a typology of recommendations for how such policy can be rendered in sport pedagogy practice. We suggest six significant, but related principles that include (1) mainstreaming; (2) teaching and coaching sensitive to difference; (3) empowerment; (4) inclusion; (5) adaptation; and (6) inner differentiation. This holistic typology seeks to ‘mainstream’ issues of gender and disability policy by providing a set of principles that can be applied to a range of teaching and coaching settings.     

The Fictions of (English) Cricket: From Nation to Diaspora

This paper examines the fictional representations of cricket and argues that they contribute to a definition of the game. It examines the fictions of cricket, showing that they construct the game into a most distinct English fiction. Literary treatment of cricket must further be read in the context of the transformations of the game in the nineteenth century, with the rise of athleticism as an ideology, and its role in the training of the colonial administration. The argument then concentrates on the decolonzsation, and perhaps the ‘defictionalization’, of cricket through the writings of C. L. R. James and Ashis Nandy. Finally, it turns to recent fictional perceptions of cricket, in particular to Romesh Gunesekera's The Match as well as Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, and argues that they emphasize the diasporic nature of the game.     

经济学视野中的群众体育

从经济学的角度来解答和回应当下群众体育中的一些理论和实践问题:群众体育是公益还是私益?群众体育为什么热不起来?人民群众应该享有的基本体育服务是什么?多元化体育服务体系如何构建?以及什么是群众体育发展中的政府责任?     

Guangzhou 2010: Singapore at a Global Crossroads

This essay is an analysis of the reality of Singapore's Asian Games' aspirations and achievements and the responses to the challenges it faced in Guangzhou in 2010. How did ‘Team Singapore’ respond to the challenges that they met at what represented a crossroad in their sporting history at which they met the vehicle carrying China's sporting and soft power products. How did they react and were the effort, industry, hyperbole and not insignificant government financial outlay and policy initiatives worth it? The analysis constitutes a critique of articles relating to the Guangzhou Asian Games of 2010 that appeared in the three major English language newspapers in Singapore, The Straits Times, The Sunday Times and The New Paper before, during and after the Games. From the analysis, major themes emerged which characterised the environment of elite sport in Singapore and revealed that it is very much part of the nation's inimitable social, political and diplomatic schema; sport, as with all other socio-cultural institutions in Singapore, has not and does not evolve accidentally.     

Parental sport achievement and the development of athlete expertise

This study sought to examine how parental sport involvement and attainment were related to the eventual level of competitive sport attained by their children. Athletes (n?=?229) were divided into three skill level groups (elite: n?=?139; pre-elite: n?=?33; non-elite: n?=?57), based on the peak competition level achieved in their career, which were compared using chi-squares tests of independence and analyses of variance according to parents sport characteristics provided through the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire. Parental recreational and competitive sport participation was overrepresented among elite athletes, as were parents who reached an elite level of sport themselves. Results were found to differ according to parent sex, with athlete skill level significantly related to the sport participation and skill level of fathers, but not mothers. Results suggest parental sport experiences at different levels of competition influence the development of athletes, although these relationships are subject to many factors.     

Mary Garber's Coverage of Black Sports in the US Segregated South, 1944–1964

This paper addresses the gap in literature that ignores sport as practiced, managed or communicated by women by focusing on sportswriter Mary Garber, and the meanings engendered through her coverage of black high school and collegiate athletics in the Twin City Sentinel of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, during the mid-1940s through early 1960s. She received numerous prestigious awards during a career that spanned seven decades, but limited historical treatises examine this influential figure. Few scholars have attempted to understand the history of women in this male-dominated field or the sociocultural forces and obstacles that contextualise and hinder their contributions. It is a sad irony that Garber was atypical for her time, and remains so in the contemporary climate. Therefore, one major objective of this paper is to create a discourse through Garber's body of work that will help to eradicate the gender inequalities of women in sport media. In contrast with representations of women and racial minorities in mainstream sport media, this paper demonstrates that Garber addressed pertinent social concerns and supplemented dominant ideological content with more inclusive depictions of the population she covered by resisting white, masculine, heteronormative assumptions about which sports and athletes merit attention.1 ^1. I use ‘black’, ‘African-American’ and ‘white’ throughout the paper not to reinforce false notions of race as an innate biological trait, but to refer to the ways ‘race’ has been socially constructed with real, material effects.     

Between sport and tragedy: Hemingway's passion for bullfighting

ABSTRACT

‘It is a sport’ writes Hemingway on the subject of bullfights in public places, ‘a very wild and primitive sport and, mainly, a true sport of amateurs. I fear however that because of danger of death which it implies, it never has great success among the sporting-men of America and England’ (Death in the afternoon, Gallimard, 1938, p. 27). Hemingway was interested in sport since his young age: athletic, a follower of sports at Oak Park's High School, fascinated by horse racing and later an enthusiast for deep sea fishing, hunting, boxing etc, in other words what we would call today the ‘extreme sports’, he had a passion for bullfighting in Spain, which he tested, although unsuccessfully. In his papers for the Toronto Weekly Star, his novel The Sun also rises published in 1926, and especially in his essay Death in the afternoon, a true treaty of bullfighting, he undertakes a close study of the specific techniques of this very particular sport; yet what interests him most of all is its artistic value. Art or sport? Such is the key question that he poses throughout the pages of this work, which are actually a deep reflection on the origins of the sport and the finality of art; the relations between sport and art are quite complex and, according to him, have to be reconsidered, since writing for him is also linked to moral and physical effort, and is even a kind of ‘intimate bullfighting’.     

Three team and organisational culture myths and their consequences for sport psychology research and practice

ABSTRACT

In this article, three prevailing myths about team and organisational culture – an increasingly popular topic in applied sport psychology research and practice – are identified, reviewed and challenged. These are; that culture is characterised only by what is shared, that culture is a variable and therefore something that a particular group has, and that culture change involves moving from the old culture to an entirely new one. We present a challenge to each myth through the introduction of alternative theoretical and empirical material and discuss the implications for sport psychology research and practice. The intent of this endeavour is to stimulate debate on how to best conceptualise and study culture. More broadly, we aim to encourage sport psychologists to consider team and organisational culture in new and/or varied ways, beyond current conceptualisations of consensus, clarity, integration and as a management tool to facilitate operational excellence and on-field athletic success.     

University intramural sport administrators' perceptions of gender modifications in intramural coed flag football

Coed sport environments can be paradoxical settings where pre-existing gender biases influence participants' enjoyment and success. Furthermore, gendered messages and stereotypes as well as low expectations for females within coed sports can create participation barriers by reducing feelings of confidence and performance. Within university intramural sport programs, administrators have a significant role in determining participation opportunities and experiences. From a critical perspective, this investigation examined administrators' perspectives about coed intramural flag football gender modifications. Specifically, four research questions guided this study: (1) How do intramural sport administrators view coed flag football gender modifications? (2) To what extent do intramural sport administrators perceive gender modifications to impact coed flag football environments? (3) What level of awareness do intramural sport administrators have about the gendered messages of coed flag football gender modifications? and (4) To what extent are intramural sport administrators willing to modify their perceptions of the rules in light of critical questioning? Qualitative interviews were used to obtain the perspectives of 12 intramural administrators from across the USA. Administrators reported that coed gender modifications impacted perceptions about female ability, often by sending messages of inequity. Moreover, administrators revealed that the modifications created competitive strategy that often diminished the integrity of the game and undermined perceptions of female ability. Findings also indicated that administrators were highly influenced by previously existing gender stereotypes, leading to an endorsement of the modifications. Endorsements were accompanied by questioning of the rules but reluctance to enact changes. These findings elucidate the importance of scrutinizing the existence and application of coed gender modifications. Furthermore, engaging flag football participant feedback on the specific attributes of the coed modifications is important to better understand the needs of female populations. Lastly, eliminating modifications may help diminish the gendered messages that currently exist within coed flag football.     

Towards a critical sport heritage: implications for sport tourism

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects upon the development and increased acceptance for heritage becoming a key component of sport tourism research. The original sport heritage typology, as posited by Ramshaw and Gammon [2005, More than just Nostalgia? Exploring the heritage/sport tourism nexus. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 10(4), 229–241], is re-examined through a more critical lens, revealing additional dimensions that help augment its key components. More specifically, it is argued that future studies should consider the more intangible features of sport heritage, as well as acknowledging the expanding global nature of sport and its impact upon fandom. Also, the case is made for research to explore the dissonance inherent in much of sports heritage, as well as determining where the power lies in allocating and championing current sport heritages. Lastly, the more general implications to the field of sport tourism are offered with particular regard to motivation, place, and consumption.     

A closer look at the FTEM framework. Response to “More of the same? Comment on ‘An integrated framework for the optimisation of sport and athlete development: A practitioner approach’”

Abstract

The Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery (FTEM) framework was designed through the lens of a world leading high-performance sport agency to assist sporting stakeholders operationalise and research their whole of sport development pathways (Gulbin, J. P., Croser, M. J., Morley, E. J., & Weissensteiner, J. R. (2013). An integrated framework for the optimisation of sport and athlete development: A practitioner approach. Journal of Sport Sciences, 31, 1319–1331). In response to the commentary by MacNamara and Collins (2013) (Journal of Sports Sciences, doi:10.1080/02640414.2013. 855805), it was possible to document many inaccurate, false and misleading statements based on inattentive reading of the original article. We reinforce that: FTEM is a holistic framework of sport and athlete development and not a surrogate for a talent identification ( TID) model; bio-psycho-social components of development are liberally embedded throughout the FTEM framework; and the combined research and applied insights of development practitioners provide strong ecological validity for the consideration of stakeholders looking to explore applied approaches to athlete pathway management.     

Sport development planning: The Sunny Golf Club

Sport development is about helping people from all backgrounds to start playing a sport, to stay in their chosen sport, and to succeed at it. Sport development planning is a process for achieving these goals. However, due to a lack of sport-specific planning tools, sport organisations have long borrowed and applied generic management principles, theories and models (such as situation analysis and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis). As sport management is an established field of study, generic management principles alone are insufficient and the need to develop sport-specific practices and theories is clear. This fictional case study, involving the sport development officer of a local golf club in Queensland, Australia, uses a sport development planning (SDP) process that blends traditional planning processes with sport-specific analyses of the attraction, retention/transition and nurturing (ARTN) of participants. The SDP process and its embedded ARTN processes form a theoretical framework which points students towards a three-way analysis of (a) sport development stakeholders, (b) sport development strategies, and (c) sport development pathways that drive the ARTN of participants. This case study challenges students to develop a plan for a sport organisation using a structured and empirically derived approach.