ISSN: 1543-9518|Vol. 24

About U.S. Sports Academy

The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research, and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare our men and women for careers in the profession of sports using modern technologies and traditional teaching methodologies.

Athletic Training in Popular Sports Films: More than khakis, a polo, and a roll of tape?

Authors: Dr. Lindsey H. Schroeder, Dr. Alana N. Seaman

Corresponding Author:
Lindsey H. Schroeder Ed.D., LAT, ATC, CES
601 S. College Rd.
Wilmington NC, 28403-5956
schroederl@uncw.edu
910-962-7188

Dr. Lindsey Schroeder is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the Athletic Training Program. She is a licensed and certified athletic trainer and is also an alumnus of the United States Sports Academy. Dr. Alana Seaman, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the Recreation, Sport Leadership & Tourism Management Program.

Athletic Training in Popular Sports Films: More than khakis, a polo, and a roll of tape?

ABSTRACT
Athletic trainers are vital to sport in the United States. These licensed, highly qualified, multi-skilled healthcare professionals provide essential medical care, emergency response, and advocacy for athletes in a myriad of sport settings. Their services are crucial to athlete health. However, all bachelor level athletic training programs in the United States will be replaced with a master’s curriculum by 2022, and in turn, the field will be forced to compete for students with other health care professions requiring the same prerequisites and level of training. Evidence suggests that a majority of athletic training students are drawn to the field because of its links to sports, yet public misconceptions about and a lack of respect for the field have been identified as factors keeping potential students from pursuing the profession. Given that film and television are widely recognized as powerful influencers of popular conceptions about professions, and as a result, career choice, particularly within other healthcare fields, a thorough understanding of how athletic trainers and the field of athletic training are depicted across these popular mediums is essential in working towards correcting misconceptions about the field and revealing how future professionals may be recruited into newly developed master’s degree programs. In order to provide a clear picture of how the profession is portrayed in on screen, a content analysis approach was employed in the examination of 20 of the most popular sport-themed films of the last 60 years. While a number of themes emerged, overall findings suggest that athletic trainers and the profession of athletic training were narrowly depicted on screen in turn perpetuating misconceptions, and inaccurate and outdated stereotypes about the profession, and minimizing the importance of athletic trainers in a sport setting.
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2018-08-27T11:18:58-05:00September 6th, 2018|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off on Athletic Training in Popular Sports Films: More than khakis, a polo, and a roll of tape?
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The influence of gender on perceptions of coaches’ relationships with their athletes: A novel video-based methodology

Authors: Paula Murray(a), Rhiannon Lord(b), & Ross Lorimer(b)
(a) Loughborough College, UK
(b) Abertay University, UK

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Ross Lorimer
Abertay University
Dundee, UK, DD1 1RG
Ross.Lorimer@Abertay.ac.uk
+44 (0)1382 308426

The influence of gender on perceptions of coaches’ relationships with their athletes: A novel video-based methodology

ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of coach and athlete gender on perceptions of a coach through the use of a novel video-based method. Forty-one participants (16 males, 25 females, Mage=32.76 SD= ± 11.57) watched four videos depicting a coach and an athlete having a conversation about the athlete’s de-selection from a squad. Each video featuring different gender combinations of the coach and athlete. Participants rated the coach on perceived relationship quality and perceived empathy. Analysis showed a main effect for coach gender with female coaches being rated higher than male coaches for relationship quality and empathy, and a main effect for athlete gender with all coaches perceived as displaying a greater level of affective empathy when paired with a female athlete. Coaches need to be aware that their actions may be interpreted differently based on their gender and that of the athletes they are working with. This could potentially impact on coach effectiveness and the outcomes of their behaviours.
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2018-08-08T09:08:54-05:00August 30th, 2018|Research, Sports Coaching|Comments Off on The influence of gender on perceptions of coaches’ relationships with their athletes: A novel video-based methodology
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Fitness and Health Center Evaluation by Resigned Female Members

Authors: Dr. George F. Zarotis

Corresponding Author:
Dr. George F. Zarotis
Von-Andreae-Str. 1
51427 Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
E-Mail: drgzarotis@t-online.de, E-Mail: zarotisg@rhodes.aegean.gr

Dr. George F. Zarotis studied sports science at the German Sport University Cologne, prevention and rehabilitation through sport at the Ruhr-University Bochum (Master Degree) and sports economics and sports management at the Open University Hagen; Doctorate in the subjects of leisure science and rehabilitation at the German Sport University Cologne (PhD), Lecturer at the Institute for European Sports Development and Leisure Research of the German Sport University Cologne and at the University of Applied Sciences for Applied Management in Unna; since 2004 lecturer at the Faculty for Human Sciences of the Aegean University in Rhodes/Greece.

Fitness and Health Center Evaluation by Resigned Female Members

ABSTRACT
In the evaluations and statistical analyses presented here we examine the question to what extent are the evaluations of a fitness studio, by females dropping out from their contract, age-dependent. In other words: do studio evaluations – that probably have played a role in the quitting decision – have a different basis in older women in relation to younger women? According to the life stages, do other needs and therefore other preferences regarding the studio conditions play a role here?

A total of 164 women, who had terminated their contract with a fitness studio, were questioned. The survey was conducted as a telephone inquiry about their actual decision. Overall, it is found that only a few of the reasons offered in the survey are also indicated in significant frequency as important for the quitting decision. On the whole, the various aspects of the studio offer and its surroundings were largely rated as “good”, the mean values range around the value 2. The respondents particularly expressed their appreciation for the trainers (friendliness, helpfulness, competence), followed by opening hours, trial training and first impression. The membership costs and individual aspects such as spaciousness, music and ventilation are evaluated more critically, if not really badly. As regards the respondents’ age, there are only minor evaluation differences among the age categories.

These small differences in age have, depending on the item evaluated, very different directions. The correlations between age and studio evaluation are usually weak up to practically non-existent and in most cases also clearly not significant. Weak but distinguished from chance effects appear in the characteristics endurance training offer and parking facilities.
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2018-07-23T09:29:39-05:00August 23rd, 2018|Commentary, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off on Fitness and Health Center Evaluation by Resigned Female Members
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Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in Sport: The Roles of Personality Traits and Moral Identity

Authors: Mevlüt YILDIZ (1), Ender ŞENEL (1), İbrahim YILDIRAN (2)
(1) Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Turkey.
(3) Gazi University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Turkey.

Corresponding Author:
Ender SENEL
Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences
Kotekli/Mugla, 48000
endersenel@gmail.com
00902522111951

(1) Dr. Ender SENEL is a research assistant in Physical Education and Sport Teacher Education Department at the Mugla Sitki Kocman University, studying teaching and learning approaches in physical education and sport.

Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in Sport: The Roles of Personality Traits and Moral Identity

ABSTRACT
This study aimed to examine the roles of personality traits and moral identity in displaying prosocial and antisocial behaviors by athletes actively participating in contact team and individual sports. In this study, two different models were hypothesized. In the first model, it was proposed that the positive effect of extraversion on prosocial and antisocial behaviors enhance with the moderator role of internalization of moral identity; in the second model, it was proposed that the adverse effect of psychoticism on prosocial and antisocial behaviors decrease with the mediator role of internalization of moral identity. There were 296 athletes recruited from various branches. Data were collected by using Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in Sport Scale, developed by Kavussanu and Broadley (29), adapted to Turkish by Sezen-Balçıkanlı (45), Moral Identity Scale, developed by Aquino and Reed (3), adapted Turkish by Yılmaz and Yılmaz (57), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, developed by Francis et al. (19), adapted to Turkish by Karancı, Dirik and Yorulmaz (26). Models were analyzed in Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) program by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internalization of moral identity was correlated with prosocial teammate positively, antisocial teammate, and opponent negatively. A positive correlation was found between extraversion and prosocial teammate and opponent, a negative correlation was found between extraversion and antisocial teammate. It can also be stated that extravert athletes exhibit more prosocial behaviors, however with the role of internalization of moral identity, the positive effect of extraversion on prosocial behaviors increases, the adverse effect of it on antisocial behaviors decreases. It is possible to conclude that extravert athletes will display more prosocial and less antisocial behaviors with the acquisition of internalization of moral identity. The support that athletes are taught to adopt internalization can lead to enhance prosocial behaviors and decrease antisocial behaviors.
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2018-07-31T14:48:48-05:00August 21st, 2018|Commentary, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in Sport: The Roles of Personality Traits and Moral Identity
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Competitive Balance in NCAA “Power Conferences:” The Case of Men’s and Women’s Basketball

Authors: Martin M. Perline, Jeffrey S. Noble, G. Clayton Stoldt; Wichita State University

Corresponding Author:
Jeff Noble, Ed.D
Department of Sport Management
Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260-0127
jeffrey.noble@wichita.edu
(316)978-5442

Competitive Balance in the NCAA “Power Conferences:” The Case of Men’s and Women’s Basketball

ABSTRACT
The uncertainty of outcome hypothesis as well as past research has suggested that unless there is competitive balance among teams fans lose interest and revenue declines. It follows that the greater the sources of revenue the more likely one would find competitive balance. Using the standard deviation, as well as the range of winning percentages, the authors of this study compared over a seven year period the competitive balance of the NCAA “Power 5” conferences’ men’s basketball teams, a high revenue sport, to the competitive balance of the NCAA “Power 5” conferences’ women’s basketball teams, a lower revenue sport. The results of this study indicated considerably more competitive balance among the men’s teams than among the women’s teams, thus supporting the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis, as well as past research on the topic. The fact that women’s basketball is a lower source of athletic revenue when compared to men’s basketball suggests competitive balance in that sport has historically been a lower priority than in the highest level sports. This becomes an important issue as efforts are continually being made to enhance intercollegiate women’s sports.
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2018-07-12T16:13:54-05:00August 16th, 2018|Sports Management|Comments Off on Competitive Balance in NCAA “Power Conferences:” The Case of Men’s and Women’s Basketball
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