Bodies as bearers of value: the transmission of jock culture via the ‘Twelve Commandments’

This article explores a number of insights generated from a three-year ethnographic study of one university setting in England in which a ‘jock culture’ is seen to dominate a student campus. Drawing on core concepts from Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of culture, it illustrates the unique function of the body in sustaining jock culture through the hierarchical ordering of bodies in institutional space. First, the development of this culture over time and the key dispositions that come to embody it are outlined. Next, the authors identify and illustrate the enactment of what they call the ‘Twelve Commandments’. These operate as a series of structured and structuring practices to condition the bodies of group members by appropriating an idealized and internalized jock habitus that is not gender neutral. Rather, it can be seen as a practical and symbolic manifestation of a dominant, heterosexual, masculine orientation to the world. The authors suggest that in spite of seemingly significant processes of accommodation over the years, the ‘illusio’ of this jock culture remains substantially intact and maintained through a combination of the following: (a) symbolic violence and (b) a systematic embodied complicity on the part of many of the actors who have something to gain by avoiding active subordination to, and exclusion from, the dominant group.     

Framing bodies of knowledge within the ‘acoustics’ of the school: exploring pedagogical transition through newly qualified Physical Education teacher experiences

This article explores the sociological dynamics of pedagogic transition that occur with the passage of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) of Physical Education (PE) into their first posts. It draws its empirical illustration from life history and ethnographic data collected in 2006, from two first-post NQT status PE teachers with contrasting experiences, Pete and Jayne (pseudonyms). In approaching this task, we utilise the influential theoretical frameworks forwarded by Basil Bernstein and Pierre Bourdieu in a collaborative rather than an oppositional manner. More specifically, by viewing Bernstein's discursive codes and code modalities as embedded in the body through the use of Bourdieu's habitus, we explore the metaphors of resonance and dissonance felt in relation to the ‘school acoustic’ that occurred through the interplay of strong and weak framing for these individuals. In the two contrasting cases presented, Pete experienced explicit support through strong framing of performance codes and as a consequence found an explicit resonance between these and his own habitus. He quickly negotiated his identity and began reproducing existing pedagogy and discourses. In the second case, Jayne experienced implicit support through the weak framing of valued discursive codes. Consequently, she was forced to draw on her habitus in uncertain ways and oriented towards perfection codes and innovative practices. However, gradually she found her habitus to be dissonant with the perfection code modalities dominating the acoustics of the school and subsequently left the institution. The article reflects on the potential for furthering a principled collaboration of Bernstein and Bourdieu's concepts in the manner undertaken here. It concludes by highlighting the possible uses of such a perspective for helping NQTs entering PE and for schools accepting these teachers.     

Gender integration of a core content area teacher/athletic coach in the rural southeastern United States

Research on the occupational socialization of teachers and coaches has largely centered on physical education teachers and rarely on teachers from core content areas (i.e. English, foreign language, mathematics, science and social studies) who also coach athletics. The primary purpose of this single-case study was to explore the socialization of a first-year, core content area teacher/athletic coach at a small high school in the rural southeastern United States. Various qualitative techniques were utilized during data collection, while data analysis consisted of a system of open, axial and selective coding. Four themes emerged and were viewed through the lens of teacher identity. Themes include gender and opportunity; interactions within the school culture; teaching and coaching expectations; and interrole conflict and complementarity. Findings from this study hope to shed light on the need for further research on core content area teacher-coaches, while adding to the existing literature on females in the coaching profession and the roles of academics and athletics in rural areas.     

Comparison of split double and triple twists in pair figure skating

In this study, we compared the kinematic variables of the split triple twist with those of the split double twist to help coaches and scientists understand these landmark pair skating skills. High-speed video was taken during the pair short and free programmes at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and the 2003 International Skating Union Grand Prix Finals. Three-dimensional analyses of 14 split double twists and 15 split triple twists from eleven pairs were completed. In spite of considerable variability in the performance variables among the pairs, the main difference between the split double twists and split triple twists was an increase in rotational rate. While eight of the eleven pairs relied primarily on an increased rotational rate to complete the split triple twist, three pairs employed a combined strategy of increased rotational rate and increased flight time due predominantly to delayed or lower catches. These results were similar to observations of jumps in singles skating for which the extra rotation is typically due to an increase in rotational velocity; increases in flight time come primarily from delayed landings as opposed to additional height during flight. Combining an increase in flight time and rotational rate may be a good strategy for completing the split triple twist in pair skating.     

Assessment of Differing Definitions of Accelerometer Nonwear Time

Abstract

Twelve college and high school varsity male swimmers swam 200 yd. for time once a day for 16 days following the ingestion of a large meal (673 g). Each subject performed under rotating experimental conditions, which involved a post-meal rest interval of ½ hr., 1 hr., 2 hr., or no eating for at least 3 hr. before swimming. A nonsignificant F of .53 was obtained when the data were subjected to a single-factor with repeated measures analysis of variance.

It was concluded that swimming performance time was not affected by the time interval between eating and swimming. No stomach cramps were reported; most cases of stomach nausea occurred in the ½-hr. interval group, and scattered minor physical disturbances occurred under the other conditions.     

From F = ma to Flying Squirrels: Curricular Change in an Introductory Physics Course

We present outcomes from curricular changes made to an introductory calculus-based physics course whose audience is primarily life sciences majors, the majority of whom plan to pursue postbaccalaureate studies in medical and scientific fields. During the 2011–2012 academic year, we implemented a Physics of the Life Sciences curriculum centered on a draft textbook that takes a novel approach to teaching physics to life sciences majors. In addition, substantial revisions were made to the homework and hands-on components of the course to emphasize the relationship between physics and the life sciences and to help the students learn to apply physical intuition to life sciences–oriented problems. Student learning and attitudinal outcomes were assessed both quantitatively, using standard physics education research instruments, and qualitatively, using student surveys and a series of postsemester interviews. Students experienced high conceptual learning gains, comparable to other active learning–based physics courses. Qualitatively, a substantial fraction of interviewed students reported an increased interest in physics relative to the beginning of the semester. Furthermore, more than half of students self-reported that they could now relate physics topics to their majors and future careers, with interviewed subjects demonstrating a high level of ability to come up with examples of how physics affects living organisms and how it helped them to better understand content presented in courses in their major.