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.

Recognizing Esports as a Sport

Authors: Daniel Kane, Brandon D. Spradley

Affiliations: United States Sports Academy

Corresponding Author:
Daniel Kane
Danielskane@gmail.com
917-545-9179

Daniel Kane is a doctoral student at the United States Sports Academy pursuing his degree in sports management.

ABSTRACT
The commentary is a theoretical framework that builds on the concept that eSports should be considered a sport. The first part of the paper analyzes the definition of a sport and determines that competitive video games should apply to the meaning. The second part of the paper discusses how eSports should be recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In addition, the application of Title IX is applied to have eSports listed as an emerging sport for women.

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2023-05-26T16:09:34-05:00May 11th, 2017|Commentary, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Recognizing Esports as a Sport
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Spiritual Experiences: Understanding Their Subjective Nature in Peak Performance

Authors: Lynda Flower

Corresponding Author:
Lynda Flower, MA
The University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia
lynda.flower1@uqconnect.edu.au
+ 61 481 735 994

Lynda Flower is an Honorary Research Fellow (Studies in Religion), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

ABSTRACT
Over the past thirty years, sport and spirituality has grown into a major international research discipline. Of particular interest has been the reported spiritual experiences of athletes during peak performance. With many athletes interpreting peak episodes such as the ‘runners high’ as having not only physiological but also spiritual aspects it is becoming increasingly important that these altered states of consciousness are clearly understood.

While current best practice peak performance coaching acknowledges the importance of physical and mental enhancements such as injury prevention, nutrition, communication, goal setting, and athlete development the spiritual component is often overlooked. In order to provide greater understanding and a context for coaching, this paper will review the origins and historical development of spiritual transcendent states in the West from medieval times, the early 1900s, the postmodern and New Age era, and present day occurrences in sport.

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2017-04-03T11:35:03-05:00May 4th, 2017|Sports Coaching|Comments Off on Spiritual Experiences: Understanding Their Subjective Nature in Peak Performance
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Physical, Affective and Psychological determinants of Athlete Burnout

Authors: Frode Moen, Kenneth Myhre, Christian A. Klöckner, Kristin Gausen and Øyvind Sandbakk.

Corresponding Author:
Frode Moen
E-mail address: frmoe@online.no, Tel. : +47 932 487 50
Postal address: Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

Frode Moen is currently the head manager of the Olympic Athlete program in central Norway, where he also has a position as a coach / mental trainer for elite athletes and coaches. He also is an associate professor at the Department of Education and lifelong learning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He previously has worked as a teacher in high school where sport was his major subject, and he has been a coach for the national team in Nordic combined in Norway for several years. Frode received his Ph. D. in coaching and performance psychology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research focuses mainly on coaching in business, coaching in sport, communication, performance psychology and relationship issues.

ABSTRACT
This article examined how training load, illness and injuries, perceived performance, affect and worry predict athlete burnout in sport. A sample of 358 Norwegian junior elite athletes from a variety of sports with cross country skiing (28 %), soccer (22 %) and biathlon (13 %) being those most frequently reported participated in the investigation. The results show that the theoretical model in this study explains 57% of the variance in athlete burnout, and the direct effects on athlete burnout are mainly derived from the variables positive affect, worry and negative affect. In addition, our model also shows that performance, illness/injuries and worry indirectly affect athlete burnout through the mediating variables in the model. The results are discussed in regard of applied implications and possible future research.

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2017-03-15T11:20:17-05:00April 27th, 2017|Research, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Physical, Affective and Psychological determinants of Athlete Burnout
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The Examination of Research-Related Anxiety of Students Taking Master and Doctorate Degree in the Field of Physical Education and Sports

Authors: Ender SENEL (1), Mevlut YILDIZ (1), Mehmet ULAs (2), Hasan SAHAN
(1) Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Turkey.
(2) Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, School of Physical Education and Sport, Turkey.
(3) Akdeniz University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Turkey.

Corresponding Author:
Ender SENEL
Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences
Kotekli/Mugla, 48000
endersenel@gmail.com
002522111951

(1) 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.

The Examination of Research-Related Anxiety of Students Taking Master and Doctorate Degree in the Field of Physical Education and Sports

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine research-related anxiety of students taking master and doctorate degree in the field of physical education and sports. 204 master and doctorate students in the field of physical education and sports participated in the study. 49% of participants were female and 51% were male. While 51.5% of the students were carrying on master program, 48.5% were taking doctorate. Anxiety Related to Research Scale, developed by Buyukozturk (1997) was used to collect data. Independent t-test, pearson correlation and one-way ANOVA in SPSS was used to analyze collected data. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to find out if the scale was fit to use in this sample. Statistically significant difference was found between female and male students, graduate programs, master and doctorate students in terms of research-related anxiety. Consequently, it can be said that research-related anxiety levels of students taking master and doctorate degrees in the field of physical education and sport were not too high. It is required that students graduated from faculties of sport sciences and schools of physical education and sport that educate teachers, coaches, managers and recreation specialist should have scientific contribution on physical education and sport. Accordingly, precautions should be taken to reduce research-related anxiety of physical education and sport students.

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2017-03-15T10:20:18-05:00April 20th, 2017|Commentary, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on The Examination of Research-Related Anxiety of Students Taking Master and Doctorate Degree in the Field of Physical Education and Sports
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Tennis Anyone? A Content Analysis of the Written and Pictorial Coverage of Tennis Magazine

Authors:
Tywan G. Martin, University of Miami
Sanghak Lee, Korea Aerospace University
Erin L. McNary, Indiana University
Daniel Totani, University of Miami

Corresponding author:
Tywan G. Martin, Ph.D.
Department of Kinesiology & Sport Sciences
P.O. Box 248065
Coral Gables, FL 33124
Phone: (305) 284-1168
E-mail: t.martin@miami.edu

Tennis Anyone? A Content Analysis of the Written and Pictorial Coverage of Tennis Magazine
 
ABSTRACT
This investigation measured the coverage given to female and male athletes in a single sport focused print publication Tennis magazine from 2007 to 2012. The examined timeframe was selected based on the updated Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rules that required both female and male athletes to compete at many of the same high profile events during the professional tennis season. Given the restructured rules, the perceived femininity associated with female tennis players, and the media coverage female athletes in individual sports tended to generate, it was important to determine the amount of media attention female professional tennis players received on the pages of a tennis magazine. The study’s results revealed that female tennis players did receive some prominent coverage and their total amount of coverage was similar to the percentage of female readers of the magazine. However, enthusiasm over the progress should be tempered as female competitors’ total exposure was less than their male counterparts and more coverage was garnered to female athletes in poses not related to tennis.

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2017-03-15T08:52:34-05:00April 13th, 2017|Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Tennis Anyone? A Content Analysis of the Written and Pictorial Coverage of Tennis Magazine
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