George Minoso2024-12-16T15:26:58-06:00

International Study of Professional Development in Sports Coaching: Awareness of Neuromyths, Brain Knowledge, and Evidence-Based Practices

George Minoso2024-12-16T15:26:58-06:00January 17th, 2025|Research, Sport Training|

Authors: Kristen Betts¹ Cam Kiosoglous ² Tamara Galoyan ³ Fiona Murray ⁴ Julie Perrelli ⁵ Sara Steinman⁶ Mariette Fourie⁷ Ellana Black ⁸

International Study of Professional Development in Sports Coaching: Awareness of Neuromyths, Brain Knowledge, and Evidence-Based Practices

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Professional development is fundamental to coaching. It can expand a coach’s knowledge, skills, and practice by building upon fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and education. The purpose of this study was to (a) examine professional development attended by sports coaches, (b) compare awareness levels regarding neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices among sports coaches, and (c) identify interest levels in acquiring scientific knowledge about the brain. Methods: This study reports on the first phase of a two-year explanatory sequential mixed methods study focusing on sports coaches working in Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade schools, higher education, and sports-related organizations. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted, including Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to compare mean percentages of accurate responses between groups and factors associated with awareness. Results: While there were no statistically significant differences between the three groups of sports coaches or across demographics, the data revealed an opportunity to enhance professional development to increase levels of awareness of neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices. All three groups of sports coaches ranked onsite professional development as their preferred format followed by hybrid, online, and HyFlex. High levels of interest were found among all groups of sports coaches regarding scientific knowledge about the brain. Conclusions: Professional development provides a unique opportunity in sports coaching education to integrate research to increase awareness about the brain, learning, and evidence-based practices as well as debunk neuromyths and pseudoscientific ideas. Applications in Sports: This study contributes to sports education since it provides insightful research into professional development and identifies opportunities for enhanced awareness of neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices. Furthermore, it provides data on the types of strategies, practices, and concepts that participants are applying to their coaching, where they learned about them, and what they would like to learn more about.

Keywords: neuroscience, psychology, pseudoscientific beliefs, training

INTRODUCTION 

Professional development plays a pivotal role in coaching as it enhances a coach’s knowledge, skills, and effectiveness while supporting continued growth. Sports coaches, whether they work in Pre-Kindergarten to 12^th grade schools (PK-12 education), two or four-year higher education institutions (HEIs), or professionally in sports-related organizations, need to embrace professional development as a way to stay current and relevant in their respective domains. Coaching is a multifaceted discipline that can greatly benefit from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and education. By integrating research advancements on how humans learn, professional development can provide opportunities for sports coaches to expand their general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices related to learning. Attending workshops, seminars, and training programs can expose sports coaches to new theories, concepts, and strategies that can be integrated into their coaching practices. This expanded understanding enhances cognition, metacognition, and epistemic cognition so sports coaches can gain greater insight into their own strengths and areas for further development, allowing them to become more self-aware and effective in their coaching roles. 

Sports coaching is an emerging academic discipline, drawing from other disciplines, such as psychology, education, and the sports sciences (1). Within the literature, sports coaching is often described as complex (2-5). With increasing pressure for competitive success and an ongoing search for innovative approaches to improve athletic performance, there may be increased vulnerability to pseudoscientific ideas among coaches and sports-related organizations (6-7). Therefore, sports coach education programs must become more rigorous and evidence-based (8-9). It is important for sports coaching to increase levels of professionalization to develop a more complete body of knowledge that more accurately reflects current forms of evidence-based practices (7, 9).  

Research on neuromyths and pseudoscientific ideas in sports coaching has been limited in the past, but has recently gained more attention in the literature. The existing research highlights the need for increasing the awareness of neuromyths and pseudoscientific ideas, dispelling them, and emphasizing the importance of incorporating accurate, evidence-based neuroscience-based information into training and professional development programs. 

Neuromyths are commonly held misbeliefs that come from misunderstandings or misconceptions about the brain often associated with learning and education. Research and publications on neuromyths, education and the brain, and the learning sciences date back to the 1990s and early 2000s (10-12). Many studies have investigated the belief in neuromyths, particularly the impact on educators’ understanding of neuromyths within PK-12 education (13-16) and increasingly within higher education (17-18). However, fewer studies have focused on neuromyths within sports coaching.  

Pseudoscientific ideas are beliefs or practices that claim to be scientific but lack empirical evidence or theoretical support (6, 7). Bailey et al. (7) conducted a groundbreaking study on pseudoscientific ideas and neuromyths among British and Irish sports coaches. Their research revealed a high prevalence of neuromyth beliefs, similar to previous findings among PK-12 school teachers. The results of this study also indicated sports coaches’ willingness to improve their understanding of applied neuroscience. Balagué et al. (19) expanded on these findings and recommended further research involving more diverse samples and sub-populations of sports coaches, as well as qualitative data analysis to help ensure that sports coaching is grounded in accurate and evidence-based principles that support optimal athlete growth and performance. 

The role of a sports coach is multidimensional, demanding, complex, and rewarding (20-22). The broader purpose of formal sports coach education includes, but is not limited to, certifying, educating, and developing sports coaches (23). Within the field of coaching, understanding the human learning process is important since this can impact athletic performance (24-25). Therefore, being able to discern facts about the brain and learning from pseudoscientific ideas and neuromyths within coaching is critical. Building on Bailey et al. (7) there is need to better understand the awareness of neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices among sports coaches across diverse roles. The purpose of this survey study was to address this gap by examining professional development opportunities and practices in sports coaching education, as well as sports coaches’ levels of awareness of neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices among sports coaches. The study offers new insights into the knowledge and experiences of sports coaches and contributes to the broader understanding of the complex processes and conditions involved in training them to succeed in their professional roles. 

METHODS 

Participants  

This study employed a survey design to examine the types of professional development attended by sports coaches who worked in PK-12 education, two- and four-year HEIs, and sports-related organizations. This quantitative study was part of a broader explanatory sequential mixed methods study design that integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine the research questions more comprehensively (26).  

Specifically, the study sought to identify strategies, principles, and practices applied to support coaching as well as which strategies, principles, and practices sports coaches would like to learn more about. Furthermore, the study examined sports coaches’ awareness of neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices among sports coaches as well as explored potential differences among sports coaches working in PK-12 education, higher education, and sports-related organizations. Lastly, the study sought to identify sports coaches’ level of interest among sports coaches in scientific knowledge about the brain. The data collected from this quantitative study were used to design the questions for follow-up focus groups in the second phase of this mixed methods project that explored, which explored sports coaches’ experiences with professional development attended in 2022.The broader mixed methods research study was approved by Drexel University’s Institutional Review Board. Informed consent was required to participate in the study (IRB 2106008600). 

Instruments and Procedures 

This study included a quantitative Qualtrics survey with five sections: (a) General Statements about the Brain and Learning, (b) General Statements about Coaching, Learning, and Assessment, (c) Instructional Practices, (d) Professional Development, and (e) Demographics and Professional Background. This study used convenience and snowball sampling. The participants included individuals worldwide who were coaching in PK-12 education, higher education, and sports-related organizations. Survey data was collected between October 2021 and January 2022. Members of the research team sent emails to peers inviting them to complete the online Qualtrics survey and encouraging them to share the invitation with other peers working as sports coaches in PK-12 education, higher education, and sports-related organizations. Two reminder emails were sent out by research team members to their initial invited peers. At the end of the survey, participants also had the opportunity to further volunteer to participate in a focus group on professional development in sports coaching education.  

Statistical Analysis 

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, version 29) was used to analyze the data collected from the survey. Descriptive data included frequencies and cross-tabulations. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate differences in the mean scores among the three professional groups (PK-12 sports coaches, higher education sports coaches, and sports-related organization coaches). For the inferential statistics, a significance criterion of α =0.05 was used. In examining the internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .826 for the 27 neuromyths and general knowledge about the brain and learning items, and .784 for the 23 evidence-based practices items, indicating a high level of internal consistency. 

RESULTS 

A total of 107 individuals consented to participate in this study. Of the survey respondents, one-third were sports coaches who worked in PK-12 education (33.3%) while 42.4% worked in higher education, and 24.2% worked with sports-related organizations. Of the sports coaches who worked in higher education, 86% worked in four-year institutions and 14% worked in two-year institutions. Twenty-two percent of the sports coaches working in PK-12 education identified as teachers. Fourteen percent of the sports coaches working in higher education identified as teaching in undergraduate and graduate programs. Thirteen percent of the sports coaches were working with sports-related organizations as a consultant, an adjunct professor, head of a department, an instructor/volunteer, and with Special Olympics. 

Participants included head coaches (39.4%), assistant coaches (21.2%), athletic directors/coaches (19.2%), and coach educators/developers (8.1%). Twelve percent of the participants identified as both head coaches and assistant coaches. Approximately two-thirds of coach educators (64.3%) and athletic directors (65.2%) were full-time in their positions while less than half of the coaches (45.6%) and assistant coaches (36.2%) were full-time in their positions. One-quarter of the head coaches (25.0%) and coach educators/developers (25.0%) were part-time while 17.0% of assistant coaches and 13.0% of athletic directors were part-time. The highest percentage of volunteers were assistant coaches (46.8%) followed by head coaches (29.4%), athletic directors (21.7%), and coach educators/developers (10.7%).  

Participants represented 18 countries across five continents including North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. The majority of participants (58.3%) self-identified as male with 40.8% self-identifying as female, and 1% as non-binary. At the time of the survey, most of the participants were between the ages of 25 to 34 years old (23.9%), 35 to 44 years old (27.2%), and 45 to 54 years old (21.7%). Over half of the participants had earned a master’s degree (45.1%) or doctoral/first professional degree (10.7%), including PhD (3.9%), EdD (2.9%), and Juris Doctorate (3.9%). Table 1 includes a breakdown of participant demographics.  

Table 1 

Demographics 

	Frequency	Valid Percent
Primary Role
Head Coach	39	39.4
Assistant Coach	21	21.2
Coach Educator	8	8.1
Athletic Director/Coach	19	19.2
Head Coach & Assistant Coach	12	12.1
Total	99	100
Institution Level
PK-12 Education	33	33.3
Higher Education	42	42.4
Sports-Related Organizations	24	24.2
Total	99	100
Institutional Type
Public	44	44.0
Private	38	38.0
For-Profit	1	1.0
Other	17	17.0
Total	100	100
Gender
Male	60	58.3
Female	42	40.8
Non-Binary	1	1.0
Total	103	100
Age at Time of Survey
18 to 24 years	7	7.6
25 to 34 years	22	23.9
35 to 44 years	25	27.2
45 to 54 years	20	21.7
55 to 64 years	15	16.3
65 years or older	3	3.3
Total	92	100
Highest Degree of Completion
Associate’s Degree	3	2.9
Bachelor’s Degree	19	18.6
Completed some postgraduate	12	11.8
Master’s Degree	46	45.1
PhD — Doctor of Philosophy	4	3.9
EdD — Doctor of Education	3	2.9
JD — Juris Doctor	4	3.9
Other	11	10.8
Total	102	100
Years Since Completing  Highest Degree
Less than 1 year	8	11.3
1-4 years	20	28.2
5-9 years	9	12.7
10-14 years	11	15.5
15+ years	23	32.4
Total	71	100

Sports coaches attended different types of professional development during the pandemic. Participants were asked to identify the type(s) and number of professional development offerings related to coaching that they completed between March 1, 2020 and October 1, 2021. Across all three groups of sports coaches, the types of professional development attended most often included workshops and webinars followed by certificate programs (completion, non-credit bearing) and certificate programs (credit, degree bearing). Just over one-quarter of the participants attended 1-2 workshops, 1-2 webinars, 5+ webinars, and 1-2 certificate programs (completion, non-credit bearing). Table 2 provides a breakdown of the type of professional development attended.  

Table 2 

Types of Professional Development Related to Coaching  

	Valid Percent  Enrolled in 1- 2	Valid Percent  Enrolled in 3-4	Valid Percent  Enrolled in 5+	Valid Percent  Did not enroll
Workshops	27	10	16	47
Webinars	31	14	27	28
Certificate Program (institutional credit; undergraduate; graduate; post-baccalaureate, post-master’s)	18	7	9	66
Certificate Program (completion, attendance, no institutional credit)	25	7	10	58
MOOC	13	7	11	70

 When asked to rank their preferred format for professional development, participants across all three groups ranked onsite: PK-12 sports coaches (M = 1.80), higher education sports coaches (M = 1.81), and sports-related organization coaches (M = 1.95). Table 3 provides a breakdown of the preferred format for attending professional development by modality. 

Table 3 

Ranked Level of Preference in Modalities for Attending Professional Development 

Participant Group	Modality	Mean	Standard Deviation
PK-12 Sports Coaches	Onsite  Hybrid  Online HyFlex	1.80 2.60 2.72 2.88	1.000 0.866 1.275 1.054
Higher Education Sports Coaches	Onsite  Hybrid  HyFlex Online	1.81 2.58 2.69 2.92	1.059 0.987 0.970 1.197
Sports-Related Organization  Coaches	Onsite  Hybrid  Online HyFlex	1.95 2.42 2.63 3.00	1.079 0.961 1.212 1.054

Participants were asked to identify from a list of 23 strategies, principles, or practices from the learning sciences which ones they were currently using or previously had used as part of their coaching practice to support learning. Table 4 provides an overview of the strategies, principles, or practices identified by the participants. The five strategies, principles, and practices used most by participants included Promoting Growth Mindset (78%), Active Learning (74%), Modeling (74%), Experiential Learning (73%), and Mindfulness (70%).  It should be noted that 83% of participants indicated they were currently or had been coaching to athletes’ learning styles, and 18% of participants were currently or had been coaching to right and left brain characteristics to support learning.  

Table 4 

Currently Use or Previously Used: Strategies, Principles, and Practices to Support Learning  

	Valid Percent Currently Use or Have Used
Promoting Growth Mindset	78
Active Learning	74
Modeling	74
Experiential Learning	73
Mindfulness	70
Spaced Practice	66
Differentiated Instruction	65
Multisensory Learning	61
Elaboration	58
Low Stakes Evaluations	57
Social Emotional Learning	55
Retrieval Practice	49
Culturally Responsive Practices	44
Scaffolding	41
Metacognition	39
Creativity and Innovation Integration	38
Backward Design	32
Interleaved Practice	32
Cognitive Load Theory	29
Epistemic Cognition	19
Coaching to Athletes’ Learning Styles	83
Massed Practice	54
Coaching to Right and Left Brain Characteristics	18

Participants were asked to identify when and where they had learned about the 23 strategies, principles, or practices. Table 5 provides an overview of the responses and indicates that participants learned about many of the strategies, principles, or practices during their undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as in professional development offered during the pandemic and through colleagues, online/internet, and books. 

Table 5 

Learned about Strategies, Principles, and Practices to Support Learning  

	Percent  During my high school education	Percent  During my undergraduate education	Percent  During my graduate education	Percent  PD prior March 1, 2020	Percent  PD between March 1,2020 and October 1, 2020	Percent  Colleagues	Percent  Online / Internet (e.g., content, blogs, podcasts, etc.)	Percent  Books	Percent  Articles	Percent  Unsure	Percent  N/A
Active Learning	11	21	24	3	10	12	15	15	10	3	3
Backward Design	4	5	12	9	5	7	7	7	5	8	8
Coaching	10	26	24	30	17	22	22	16	16	3	4
Cognitive Load Theory	4	9	8	7	4	4	7	7	6	7	12
Creativity and Innovation Integration	4	14	11	9	8	8	10	9	8	8	11
Culturally Responsive Practices	7	14	15	16	13	13	12	9	8	6	8
Differentiated Instruction	8	14	20	30	11	19	15	16	15	5	4
Elaboration	10	14	21	22	8	9	12	12	9	7	7
Epistemic Cognition	4	7	8	8	4	4	3	4	3	8	13
Experiential Learning	11	22	22	22	11	14	18	14	15	6	4
Interleaved Practice	4	9	13	11	8	8	10	6	4	8	8
Low Stakes Evaluations	8	12	14	17	10	8	14	13	10	7	5
Metacognition	6	12	17	13	6	13	14	12	11	8	6
Mindfulness	6	19	19	24	16	20	28	18	17	5	4
Modeling	11	24	23	25	9	14	11	10	11	5	3
Multisensory Learning	8	16	19	19	9	10	12	10	9	4	4
Promoting Growth Mindset	9	21	24	30	22	20	26	23	16	3	3
Retrieval Practice	17	16	14	15	6	15	16	12	12	8	8
Scaffolding	6	14	12	13	10	8	8	5	5	8	7
Social Emotional Learning	7	15	21	21	15	16	16	17	13	6	5
Spaced Practice	11	15	20	22	7	15	14	11	14	7	2
Massed Practice	15	16	17	19	8	12	11	9	9	7	4
Coaching to athletes’ Learning Styles	5	17	39	38	17	30	24	15	24	3	2
Coaching to Right and Left Brain Characteristics	5	8	9	13	2	4	5	6	5	6	10

Lastly, sports coaches were asked which of 23 practices, strategies, and principles they would like to learn more about to support learning. Below is the list of the top 10 practices, strategies, and principles selected by the participants. Approximately one-third of all participants indicated they wanted to learn more about epistemic cognition, cognitive load theory, and interleaved practice. Around one-quarter of all participants wanted to learn more about metacognition, retrieval practice, backward design, creativity and innovation, scaffolding, elaboration, low stakes evaluations.  

1. Epistemic Cognition (34.6%) 

2. Cognitive Load Theory (30.8%) 

3. Interleaved Practice (29.9%) 

4. Metacognition (28.0%) 

5. Retrieval Practice (28.0%) 

6. Backward Design (27.1%) 

7. Creativity and Innovation Integration (26.2%) 

8. Scaffolding (26.2%) 

9. Elaboration (23.4%) 

10. Low Stakes Evaluations (23.4%) 

Cross-tabulations were used to report on the percentage of accurate responses related to neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices broken down by the coaching roles (PreK-12 education, higher education, and sports-related organizations). Tables 6-8 provide the results of the cross-tabulation analysis and the answer key for each statement.  

As shown in Tables 6 and 7, when it comes to neuromyths and general knowledge about the brain and learning, the percentage of accurate responses varied greatly depending on the statement. For example, a high percentage of accurate responses by all the three groups were observed for certain statements related to the general knowledge about the brain and learning (Table 7) such as Individuals use their brains 24 hours a day (91% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 86% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 88% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches), The brain shuts down during sleep (91% of PK-12 and Higher Education Sports Coaches, 83% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches), and Chronic stress can change brain structure (94% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 88% for Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 92% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches). In contrast, a lower percentage of accurate responses were seen across the three roles for several neuromyths such as Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning styles (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic) (12% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 2% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 13% of Sports-Related Organization Sports Coaches), Listening to classical music increases reasoning ability (12% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 19% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 4% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches), and A common sign of dyslexia is seeing letters backwards (15% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 7% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 8% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches). 

Table 6 

Neuromyths 

Statement	% Accurate Responses by Role			Answer Key
	PK-12 Sports Coaches	Higher Education Sports Coaches	Sports-Related Organization Coaches
Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning styles (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic)	12	2	13	Incorrect
Listening to classical music increases reasoning ability	12	19	4	Incorrect
A common sign of dyslexia is seeing letters backwards	15	7	8	Incorrect
Some individuals are “left- brained” and some are “right-brained,” and this helps explain differences in learning	39	24	21	Incorrect
Humans use 10% of their brain	42	43	25	Incorrect
It is best for children to learn their native language before a second language is learned	42	50	17	Incorrect
There are critical periods in human development after which certain skills can no longer be learned	70	67	63	Incorrect
Learning problems associated with developmental differences in brain function cannot be improved by education	70	79	71	Incorrect

Table 7 

General Knowledge about the Brain and Learning 

Statement	% Accurate Responses by Role			Answer Key
	PK-12 Sports Coaches	Higher Education Sports Coaches	Sports-Related Organization Coaches
The brain is a muscle	27	36	33	Incorrect
Learning is due to the addition of new cells to the brain	42	41	29	Incorrect
When a brain region is damaged, other parts of the brain can sometimes take up its function	52	57	63	Correct
Extended practice of some mental processes can change the shape and structure of some parts of the brain	64	69	71	Correct
The left and right hemispheres of the brain work together	64	71	91	Correct
Normal brain development involves the birth and death of brain cells	70	50	54	Correct
The brain acts as a filter to help individuals focus their attention	70	55	67	Correct
Production of new neuronal connections in the brain continues over the lifespan	79	64	83	Correct
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize and rewire itself over the lifespan	79	67	79	Correct
Learning physically changes the brain	79	76	67	Correct
Brain development has finished by the time children reach puberty	79	83	63	Incorrect
Learning occurs when there are changes to the connections between brain cells	88	62	71	Correct
Individual learners show preferences for the mode in which they receive information (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic)	88	76	96	Correct
Human brains are relatively as unique as fingerprints	88	81	75	Correct
Individuals use their brains 24 hours a day	91	86	88	Correct
The brain shuts down during sleep	91	91	83	Incorrect
Information is stored in networks of cells distributed throughout the brain	94	76	71	Correct
Intelligence is fixed at birth	94	81	75	Incorrect
Chronic stress can change brain structure	94	88	92	Correct

Similar to neuromyths and general knowledge about the brain and learning, the percentage of accurate responses varied greatly across different statements when it comes to the participants’ knowledge of evidence-based practices (Table 8). For instance, a high percentage of accurate responses by all the three groups were observed for statements such as Maintaining a positive sports environment helps to promote learning (100% of PK-12 and Sports-Related Organization Sports Coaches, 95% of Higher Education Sports Coaches), Emotions can affect human cognitive processes, including attention, learning and memory, reasoning, and problem solving  (100% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 98% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 96% for Sports-Related Organization Coaches), and Repeated practice and rehearsal of learned material or a skill help to consolidate it in long-term memory (100% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 91% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 96% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches). In contrast, a lower percentage of accurate responses were observed for several statements including Differentiated instruction is individualized instruction (39% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 17% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 33% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches) and Critical thinking requires epistemic cognition (30% of PK-12 Sports Coaches, 31% of Higher Education Sports Coaches, and 38% of Sports-Related Organization Coaches). 

Table 8 

Evidenced-Based Practices 

Statement	% Accurate Responses by Role			Answer Key
	PK-12 Sports Coaches	Higher Education Sports Coaches	Sports-Related Organization Coaches
Critical thinking requires epistemic cognition	30	31	38	Correct
With respect to memory, massed instruction is superior to spaced instruction	36	55	46	Incorrect
Differentiated instruction is individualized instruction	39	17	33	Incorrect
Experts and novices approach solving problems in essentially the same way	42	69	71	Incorrect
Human memory works much like a digital recording device or video camera in that it accurately records the events individuals have experienced	52	50	42	Incorrect
Frequent, low stakes assessments do not enhance learning	58	57	67	Incorrect
Spaced practice is remembered better than massed practice of the same information	58	60	67	Correct
Multitasking increases productivity	58	62	67	Incorrect
Left-handed individuals are more creative than right-handed individuals	61	52	42	Incorrect
The human brain seeks and often quickly detects novelty	64	64	67	Correct
Focused attention is essential for learning new information	64	79	75	Correct
Metacognition plays a role in learning	73	55	75	Correct
Athletic assessment, in general, tends to detract from learning	73	71	54	Incorrect
Rereading course materials is the best strategy for learning	79	52	33	Incorrect
One is either born creative or not; creativity cannot be taught	82	71	79	Incorrect
Stress can impair the ability of the brain to encode and recall memories	91	100	83	Correct
Sleep has a vital role in memory consolidation	97	98	92	Correct
Meaningful feedback accelerates learning	97	98	96	Correct
Repeated practice and rehearsal of learned material or a skill help to consolidate it in long-term memory	100	91	96	Correct
The mind connects new information to prior knowledge	100	88	100	Correct
Explaining the purpose of a learning activity helps engage students in that activity	100	93	96	Correct
Emotions can affect human cognitive processes, including attention, learning and memory, reasoning, and problem-solving	100	98	96	Correct
Maintaining a positive sports environment helps to promote learning	100	95	100	Correct

The 27 statements for neuromyths and general knowledge about the brain and learning across groups were examined using one-way ANOVA. The analysis revealed no statistically significant differences across levels of institution (F = 1.53, df = 2, p  > .05). There were also no statistically significant differences found when examining sports coaches by primary role (F= .41, df = 4, p > .05). The related mean percentages across groups is shown in Figures 1 and  2. Additionally, there were no statistically significant differences found between awareness of neuromyths and general information about the brain and learning and institution type (public, private, for-profit), institution level, highest degree earned, time from highest degree earned, age, and gender. 

The 23 statements for evidence-based practices were examined using one-way ANOVA to compare the mean percentage of accurate responses across levels of institution. There were no statistically significant differences found across levels of institution (F= .22, df = 2, p > .05). Similarly to neuromyths and general knowledge about the brain and learning, no significant differences were found when examining sports coaches by primary role (F = 1.53, df = 4, p > .05). The related mean percentage scores are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Additionally, there were no statistically significant differences found between awareness of evidence-based practices and general information about the brain and institutional type (public, private, for-profit), institutional level, highest degree earned, time from highest degree earned, age, and gender. 

Figure 1 

Coaching Groups: Mean Percentage of Accurate Responses for Neuromyths and General Knowledge about the Brain and Learning, and Evidence-Based Practices 

Figure 2 

Coaching Roles: Mean Percentage of Accurate Responses for Neuromyths and General Knowledge about the Brain and Learning, and Evidence-Based Practices 

Participants were asked if they found scientific knowledge about the brain and its influence on learning valuable for their coaching and professional development. Additionally, participants were asked about their interest in learning more about the brain and its influence on learning. Table 9 reveals that participants perceived a high value and interest in scientific knowledge about the brain. The majority of participants agreed or strongly agreed that scientific knowledge about the brain was valuable for their coaching (96%) and professional development (97%). Comparably, 97% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that they were interested in learning more about scientific knowledge about the brain and its influence on learning. 

Table 9 

Statements about Value of and Interest in Scientific Knowledge about the Brain 

	Valid Percent Strongly Disagree/Disagree	Valid Percent Strongly   Agree/Agree
I find scientific knowledge about the brain and its influence on learning valuable for my coaching	4	96
I find scientific knowledge about the brain and its influence on learning valuable for my professional development	3	97
I am interested in learning more about the brain and its influence on learning	3	97

Discussion 

The purpose of this study was to examine professional development in sports coaching education and levels of awareness of neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices among sports coaches. A wide variety of professional development opportunities are offered for many professionals, including sports coaches, at all levels, to engage in a different approach to professional development, especially through online platforms.  

Professional development underwent a transition during 2020 and 2021 with most offerings transitioning to online platforms due to the pandemic. This shift not only ensured the continuity of learning but also eliminated barriers such as travel time and costs, enabling wider participation and access for individuals seeking to enhance their professional skills (26). Many different options were offered to sports coaches, to explore various subjects ranging from sports-specific content to a focus on general performance improvement. While the professional development experience of sports coaches was explored more attention is required to better understand the learning that took place for sports coaches during this time (27-28). Investigating these experiences is crucial to better understand the learning processes and outcomes that occurred during the unique aspects of the pandemic period. Gaining deeper insights into the effectiveness of online professional development can identify areas for improvement and best practices that enhance coach learning, ultimately leading to better athlete support and performance. This knowledge can also inform future professional development programs, ensuring they meet the evolving needs and challenges of sports coaches in an ever-changing sports landscape. 

Similar to research conducted by Bailey et al. (7), this study found a relatively high prevalence of neuromyths. While many sports coaches provided accurate responses to certain statements about the brain and evidence-based practices, overall, there remains a significant number of sports coaches who lack knowledge in those areas. The issue might stem from the lack of opportunities for sports coaches to participate in professional development programs focused on human learning and evidence-based pedagogical practices that can enhance coaching practices. This study is significant since it helps to identify opportunities for sports leaders and program developers to find ways to increase awareness regarding neuromyths, general knowledge about the brain and learning, and evidence-based practices among sports coaches in professional development programs. Addressing neuromyths and pseudoscientific ideas through professional development reduces the risk of misinformation or unsubstantiated practices being integrated into coaching and negatively impacting athletes’ performance or epistemological beliefs. 

A key finding from this study is that, regardless of levels of engagement in professional development and awareness levels, sports coaches expressed high levels of interest in acquiring more knowledge about the brain and specific knowledge about evidence-based practices. Sports coaches acknowledged the importance of knowledge of the brain to positively impact their own effectiveness and the connection that this has to their athlete’s performance.  

Another key finding is sports coaches’ interest in diverse strategies, principles, and practices that support learning. Between one-quarter to one-third of the participants indicated they wanted to learn more about epistemic cognition, cognitive load theory, interleaved practice, metacognition, and retrieval practice as the top five selected strategies, principles, and practices. These are all critical topics related to the human learning process, the construction of knowledge, and the formation of memory. Professional development that integrates research grounded in the learning sciences can assist in debunking neuromyths and dispel pseudoscientific ideas, such as the idea that humans use 10% of their brain, that individuals are left- or right-brained, or that human memory works like a digital recording devise or video camera. Understanding neuroplasticity and the brain’s ability to change through experience and practice can be transformational to coaching. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of key topics like cognitive load theory and epistemic cognition can provide critical insight into understanding evidence-based practices such as why focused attention is essential for learning new information and why spaced practice is remembered better than massed practice of the same information.  

Sports coaches work very closely with athletes. What sports coaches share through their instruction, feedback, and encouragement directly impacts athletes’ learning, performance, and development. By imparting knowledge grounded in the learning sciences, sports coaches can enhance athletes’ acquisition and retention of complex skills. Through integrating evidence-based practices such as metacognition, retrieval practice, and interleaving, and by explaining how the brain continues to change through neuroplasticity, sports coaches can enhance athletic performance, well-being, and resilience in their athletes. Therefore, further research is required to develop a deeper understanding of sports coaches’ perceptions of the brain and learning as they relate to the complex nature of the coaching process (7, 19, 23). 

This study has several limitations. The first limitation is that the study utilized convenience and snowball sampling. Each member of the research team invited participants to be a part of the study based on their connections which may cause potential bias. The non-random nature of this recruitment method may result in a sample that is not entirely representative of the broader population and may limit the generalizability of the findings to a wider population. The second limitation is that the survey was internationally distributed. The unequal sample sizes representing different countries may introduce potential bias which may impact the generalizability of the collected data beyond the studied sample. The third limitation is a low response rate. Within one week of sending out the survey, educational institutions shut for a second time due to the pandemic. This sudden shift may have impacted the availability of participants to complete the survey. Another consideration is the limited nature of the demographic information collected and the type of analysis that could be conducted across different demographic groups. For instance, knowing the number of years participants served in their current roles and their tenure or non-tenure status would allow for additional analysis to examine the impact of the years of experience and the type and frequency of professional development on sports coaches’ knowledge, experiences, and preferences. For example, the responses from sports coaches with limited experience and exposure to professional development might have skewed the data, highlighting another potential limitation. 

Conclusions 

Findings from this study both support and build upon research by Bailey et al. (7) that examined the prevalence of neuromyths and pseudoscientific ideas in sports coaches in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Reporting similar levels of awareness of neuromyths as Bailey and colleagues (7) this study further examined knowledge about the brain and learning, as well as the use of evidence-based practices of sports coaches working within PK-12, higher education, and sports-related organizations. Future research can continue to expand on valuable insights that contribute to the development of more effective, evidence-based sport coaching practices, ultimately enhancing athlete performance and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the sports community. 

Sports coaches reported interest in scientific knowledge about the brain and its influence on learning, further supporting previous research. Exploring opportunities for collaboration between neuroscience, education, and sports coaching experts can facilitate the development of innovative, evidence-based coaching strategies that incorporate the latest research on brain science and learning. Finally, this study examined the engagement of sports coaches in professional development, identifying a preference for onsite professional development opportunities over hybrid, online, and HyFlex modalities as well as the practices, strategies, and principles they were most interested in learning about. These findings suggest both a need and an interest in addressing topics related to the brain and learning and the use of evidence-based practices through sports coach education, in order to better prepare sports coaches to recognize neuromyths and pseudoscientific ideas. Professional development opportunities may provide a variety of accessible formats to address this need. 

Applications in Sports 

Professional development is fundamental to sports coaching. It provides a unique opportunity to integrate evidence-based practices from research related to neuroscience, psychology, and education to the coaching profession, as well as to debunk scientific ideas. According to Waring (25), “The ability to conceptualize the coaching process in terms of brain functions may enhance coaching skills and practice and may also be an additional coaching competency” (p. 68). By acquiring scientific knowledge about the brain and learning, sports coaches may find more efficient ways to plan and implement practice sessions and may also find more effective ways to communicate with their athletes (19). Furthermore, sports coaches may be more readily able to apply strategies, practices, and concepts to support learning and transfer of learning. Engaging in professional development related to neuroscience, psychology, and education will not only inform sports knowledge, but also inform sports pedagogy

REFERENCES

George Minoso2024-12-16T15:54:44-06:00

Breaking Up Is Not-So-Hard to Do: Image Repair in Conference Realignment

George Minoso2024-12-16T15:54:44-06:00January 3rd, 2025|Contemporary Sports Issues, General|

Authors: John McGuire PhD.¹ Ali Forbes PhD.²

¹Oklahoma State University, Stillwater Oklahoma USA. ²University of Texas -Austin, Austin, Texas USA.

Corresponding Author:
John McGuire PhD.
206 Paul Miller, OSU
Stillwater OK 74078
[email protected]

John McGuire, PhD, is a Professor and Welch-Bridgewater Chair for Sports Media at Oklahoma State University. Dr. McGuire Is the author of Sportscasting in the Digital Age: More than the Game as well as co-editor for The ESPN Effect and ESPN and the Changing Sports Media Landscape.

Dr. Ali Forbes is a professor of practice in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Forbes has a bachelor’s degree from Brock University, an honors degree in communication from the University of Ottawa, a post-graduate diploma in sports journalism from Loyalist College, a master’s degree in sport and fitness management from Troy University, and a doctorate in journalism and mass communication from Arizona State University. Her professional background is in live broadcasting for sports

Breaking Up Is Not-So-Hard to Do: Image Repair in Conference Realignment

Realignment in college athletics in the United States has been a common theme of the 2000s, in nearly all conferences at all levels of competition. But there has never been a time like the early 21st century, where the financial stakes of realignment and sense of prestige for these institutions have ever been higher.

Some of the most shocking conference moves have occurred in the 2020s. In 2022, UCLA and USC announced their intentions to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten conference starting in 2024. A year before in 2021, Texas and Oklahoma, the two football powerhouses in the Big 12, announced plans to leave for the Southeastern Conference no later than 2025 (they are actually making the move in 2024). In all of these cases, the schools that are leaving and the conferences losing teams, the need exists for image repair. This study employed Benoit’s Image Repair Theory (IRT) to show how the departing schools justified their decisions and the how the conferences tried to restore their images going forward. An analyses of statements to the media found that the departing schools and the commissioners of leagues that lost members depended on a combination of (a) Evading Responsibility; (b) Reducing Offensiveness; and (c) Corrective Action. The study also found neither the departing schools nor conference commissioners engaged in Mortification (i.e., seeking forgiveness for offensive actions) in such image repair.

Keywords: Sports media, television, athletic directors, NIL (name, image, likeness).

Breaking Up Is Not-So-Hard to Do: Image Repair in Conference Realignment

There is a long history of realignment when it comes to collegiate athletic conference membership in the United States. Individual colleges have come and gone from different conferences since people started keeping track of such things in the 1930s. Some conferences may have dropped a sport like football (e.g., The Big East) or even go entirely out of existence (e.g., the Southwest Conference in the 1990s) because of this constant maneuvering (1). But there’s never a been a time like the early 21st century where the financial stakes of realignment and sense of prestige for these institutions have ever been higher.

The 2020s has especially seen seismic changes. In 2022, the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) bolted the Pac-12 conference for membership in the Big Ten conference starting in 2024, even with the closest existing Big Ten member (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) a mere 1,500 miles away. In leaving the Pac-12, the schools would cast aside an athletic history that dated back to the original “Conference of Champions” in the 1930s. Before that, in 2021, the Texas Longhorns (UT) and Oklahoma Sooners (OU) announced plans to leave the Big 12 and join the Southeastern Conference (SEC) no later than the start of the 2025 football season, if not sooner. Even smaller Division One conferences (American, Sun Belt) have experienced realignment in the 2020s.

The obvious driver in all these moves is money associated with a school’s affiliation with football conferences with television appeal. The SEC and Big Ten are perceived as having the most valuable programs, which create dream games for television viewers each season (e.g., Ohio-State-Michigan, Alabama-LSU). As the conferences add more powerhouses, the bigger the expected audience share, meaning the value of media rights soar in the process. Starting in 2026, every SEC school is likely to receive nearly $100 million each from new media deals with the ESPN/ABC networks. The Big Ten also agreed to contracts with FOX, NBC, and CBS starting in 2023 generating more than $1.1 billion annually, meaning the financial cut for each league school could reach $80-to-90 million in the deal’s first year (2).

In this realignment chaos, higher education institutions that are either abandoning one conference for another or the conference being left in the lurch are engaged in various aspects of image repair. For a departing school like Oklahoma leaving the Big 12, image repair is necessary to justify why such a decision was made. For the remaining conference members, image repair is necessary for defending the conference’s athletic reputation and offering its fans reasons to be optimistic about the future. Using Benoit’s Image Repair Theory (IRT), this research will examine the rhetorical strategies employed in USC and UCLA’s departure from the Pac-12 as well as UT’s and OU’s departure from the Big 12. It will also examine how the Pac-12 and Big 12 commissioners engaged in image repair (3).

Literature Review

Studies of Conference Realignment  

There is a growing body of work examining conference realignment in major collegiate sports, particularly in the 21^st century. Such studies have ranged from investigating the competitive impact resulting from such realignment (4), fan views’ regarding the loss of long-standing rivalries (5), and how realignment was impacting fans’ desire to follow their team for road games (6). Watkins examined one of the earliest mass departures from one athletic conference and the reasons behind it. In examining the departure of 13 schools from the Southern Conference to create the SEC in 1932, Watkins found the move was driven by multiple factors, including (a) relaxed eligibility rules; (b) allowing scholarships for some players; and (c) allowing schools to broadcast their own games on radio (7). In the 21^st century, Tribou determined multiple primary factors driving conference realignment, including (a) increasing media exposure; (b) generating greater revenue; and (c) using such affiliation to as a stepping stone to compete for national titles (8).  

While there is a belief that jumping from one conference to another provides tangible financial windfalls for the athletic programs on the move, Hoffer and Pincin found such windfalls were short-lived (9). The researchers analyzed revenues and expenditures of schools moving and found that in cases where more media revenue was earned through realignment between 2006 and 2011, these schools also ended up with increasing costs almost equal to that of its new revenues. The researchers’ findings argued against claims that a school’s move to another conference will mean less pressure for seeking donor support for athletics.  

In the 2020s, another factor that has emerged influencing desired conference affiliations is helping secure NIL (name, image, likeness) money to its athletes. These NIL rights for players, adopted by the NCAA in 2021, meant the prestige of a conference like the SEC can positively influence the value of a student’s NIL deal versus being in a less prestigious conference (e.g., The Big West) (10).  Lifschitz et. al (11) and Kramer II (12) have argued that beyond additional revenue, the perceived status associated with moving to a stronger conference means greater national exposure for the institution. Past research has demonstrated that the desire for status among educational institutions is as important to these organizations as success in athletic competition (13). Administrators want to be associated with prestigious conferences that promote high academic standards and research that can help an institution’s ranking among its peers (14). Lifschitz et. al described that, over time, “college and universities have created elaborate formal systems for determining which schools will compete at football with each other” (15, p. 208). The researchers hypothesized that, as a result, conference realignment goes beyond competition on the field, but gaining academic prestige associated with its new league. Researchers examined data sets contrasting conference affiliation, winning percentage in past football seasons, as well as institutional academic performance and other organizational traits. The findings supported Lifschitz et. al’s hypothesis that schools within a particular conference had generally similar academic traits, suggesting realignment is more than establishing athletic associations.         Kramer II (16) employed a case study approach with three different institutions (never identified in the study) to better understand the reasoning behind their choice for conference realignment. Kramer’s findings suggested common discourse was used by all three institutions regarding its decision to change conferences. That included (a) greater financial benefit for athletics; (b) increasing institutional prestige and visibility; and (c) benefitting from that prestige and visibility, thereby increasing the institution’s financial support.   

This literature review suggests there are multiple factors behind an institution’s  

desire to realign conferences that goes beyond touchdown passes and blocked shots. While improving the quality of competition athletically and obtaining the financial wherewithal to support that college’s or university’s athletic endeavors. However, such moves are also seen as a positive statement about the institution, one that administrators hope will benefit the institution’s overall academic image. Kramer II’s research in particular supports the idea that statements attempting to justify such decisions are meant to deal with stakeholders unhappy with ending long-time rivalries and traditions (17). This study will focus in particular upon the rhetorical efforts in these situations where (a) institutions justify the decision to change conferences and (b) the responses from commissioners losing teams to another conference.   

Image Repair Theory

There are often times when organizations or individuals are pressed to justify certain  

actions or decisions. For sports organizations, this involves addressing its fan base. But in cases of higher education institutions where the decision is made to drop affiliation with one conference for another, there is a broader audience to address. That audience includes university alumni and other stakeholders, including the student-athletes themselves.  

Elements of Image Repair Theory

The primary purpose of the rhetor is to restore or protect the image of the rhetor (18). Benoit’s IRT has been applied widely to analyze image repair attempts, typically with individuals, but also examining organizations (19) (20 (21). 

Benoit developed his theory of image repair based on the assumption that such utterances are goal-oriented, seeking rehabilitation of the communicator’s image or reputation. Researchers use the theory to: (a) establish the communicator’s goals; (b) identify methods of image repair; and (c) evaluate how effective the communicator was in the effort (22).  

Use of Image Repair by Sports Organizations

Benoit’s typology has been gaining in application to sports organizations. Fortunato analyzed Duke University’s lacrosse scandal where three players were alleged to have sexually assaulted a female dancer hired for a party that several team members attended. He argued the university employed mortification, bolstering (of the university), and corrective action to deal with the crisis (23). Benoit examined the so-called “Bountygate” scandal that engulfed the NFL’s New Orleans Saints in 2012, when members of the Saints’ coaching staff offered cash incentives for knocking opposing players out of games. Benoit’s examination found the head coach and general manager (a) expressed mortification at the behavior; and (b) promised corrective action while also utilizing denial of allegation against them. Benoit’s evaluation was these efforts went lacking because of the seriousness of the offense (24). Armfield et al. examined the controversy that engulfed the New England Patriots after the American Football Conference championship game and resulting “Deflategate” scandal. Head Coach Bill Belichick held multiple briefings with the media, where such sessions were filled with questions about the alleged cheating (i.e., using deflated footballs in a bad weather playoff game, allowing quarterback Tom Brady to have a better grip). At first, Coach Belichick’s statements while the scandal was unfolding involved simple denial and pledging corrective action. As questions mounted, Coach Belichick shifted to rhetorical strategies of evading responsibility and defeasibility (25). 

While existing IRT literature tends to focus on the individual athlete like a Mark McGwire in baseball., organizations in team sports are more and more becoming embroiled in controversies such as fair play, both on and off the field. In the case of conference realignment, both the universities leaving and the conferences being left behind would benefit from repairing their image with some portion of the sports world.  

Methodology

For schools engaging in conference realignment, image repair becomes important in helping stake out justifications for abandoning long-time partnerships. In the case of USC and UCLA, these relationships dated back nearly a century with some other conference schools like Stanford and California. For the University of Oklahoma, its football rivalry with in-state rival Oklahoma State University, referred to as “Bedlam,” dated back to the 1910s, about the time Oklahoma actually became a U.S. state.  At the same time, the two conferences losing members that were among college football’s elite created the potential loss of prestige and the ability to command big money for upcoming media rights negotiations.  As a result, these conference commissioners found it necessary to engage in their own image repair on behalf of its members. The primary research question for this study is identifying the different strategies employed by the different entities involved. 

First, the researchers examined four of the initial statements given by USC, UCLA and by the Pac-12 commissioner (July-August 2022). In each of these circumstances, the parties involved had control over the message (written and spoken) being delivered about the impact of realignment decisions. Second, the researchers examine statements given by Oklahoma University president Joseph Harroz, University of Texas-Austin president Jay Hartzell, and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby. While Harroz read a statement in a controlled setting in July of 2021, Hartzell and Bowlsby presented their statements before a special Texas legislative committee in August 2021, created to examine what impact UT’s departure would have on fellow state schools like Texas Tech. As a result, each man’s testimony took on a  “he said, he said” battle, creating different conditions, and as a result, different IRT strategies. 

Coding of Texts

Researchers coded each of the six texts separately and came to an agreement in identifying types of image repair strategies. Five major strategies are associated with Benoit’s IRT, including: (a) Denial; (b) Evading Responsibility; (c) Reducing Offensiveness; (d) Corrective Action; and (e) Mortification (26).  First, Denial is described as a communicator’s rejection of the claims being made. Second, Evading Responsibility is the communicator offering alternative explanations as to why something has happened. Examples of this include: (a) provocation; (b) defeasibility; (c) accident; or (d) good intentions. Third, Reducing Offensiveness suggests the communicator accepts some measure of responsibility, but offers reasons that would lessen the impact on their reputation. Examples of this strategy include: (a) bolstering the communicator’s image to lessen the impact of the harmful action; (b) minimization of the incident; (c) differentiation contrasting the specific act with more serious transgressions; (d) transcendence, in which the specific act is placed in a separate light; (e) attacking the accuser; and (f) offering some form of compensation for the perceived harm caused by the communicator’s actions. Fourth, Corrective Action can be described as the communicator promising steps to resolve the problem. Fifth, Mortification is where the communicator expresses disappointment in his or her own actions or thoughts and seeks forgiveness. A typical post-review step in such IRT studies involves judging whether the image repair was successful, typically through scientific polling results measuring changes in attitudes among the public (27). In this instance, no scientific polls could be found asking about the moves by the four schools involved. 

Analyses

There was one commonality with all of the texts examined: An absence of mortification as a repair strategy. The parties instead focused on (a) reducing offensiveness or (b) evading responsibility. For the universities changing conferences, the image repair dealt with abandoning long-time geographic rivals for the promise of more lucrative media revenue payouts. In the case of the Big-12 and Pac-12 commissioners, similar strategies sought to maintain their conferences’ reputations and reassuring remaining fan bases that there was a path forward. In the case where the Big 12 commissioner and University of Texas President appeared at the same event, the use of denial became an additional image repair device.  

2022: The Pac-12

UCLA.  The UCLA statement from Chancellor Gene Block and Athletic Director Martin Jarmond utilized strategies of defeasibility (Evading Responsibility) and bolstering, minimization, and compensation (Reducing Offensiveness) in discussing the university’s move to the Big Ten conference. The UCLA statement started with “For the past century, decisions about UCLA Athletics have always been guided by what is best for our student-athletes, first and foremost, and our fans.” In the same paragraph, the statement declared that “…seismic changes in collegiate athletics have made us evaluate how best to support our student-athletes as we move forward.” These sentences indicate the use of defeasibility, rhetorically placing UCLA’s student-athletes at the heart of the institution’s decision in changing conferences, without directly mentioning the huge financial payout that awaited from joining the Big Ten (28). Yet despite this stated concern for its student-athletes, UCLA’s athletic department statement also engaged in minimization (Reducing Offensiveness) regarding the added travel its student-athletes would be facing in the future: “…although this move increases travel distances for teams, the resources offered by Big Ten membership may allow for more efficient transportation options.” The UCLA statement made no mention of what travel “resources” could be employed for future games at Maryland or Rutgers on the east coast (29).  Another part of the UCLA statement addressed another the student-athlete equation: “Specifically, this move will enhance Name, Image and Likeness opportunities through greater exposure for our student-athletes and offer new partnerships with entities across the country” (30). Addressing the importance of NIL and the opportunities afforded student-athletes by a move to the Big Ten conference demonstrated the use of bolstering (Reducing Offensiveness).  It bolsters the university’s choice to abandon its remaining partners in the Pac-12 because of uncertainty (e.g., future media revenues).  

The statement further employed bolstering and compensation to soothe UCLA supporters angered at the loss of decades of Pac-12 conference traditions. Bolstering was used when the statement declared  UCLA’s goals “…to preserve our traditional regional rivalries,” while also noting the USC rivalry would continue into the new conference. The administrators also employed the strategy of compensation toward its fans, stating “…Big Ten membership equates to better television time slots for our road games, but the same number of home games either at the Rose Bowl, in Pauley Pavilion or other UCLA venues.” In both of these statements, UCLA seemingly promised to keep playing universities they had faced going back to the days of the Pac-10 and even the Pac-8, with many of those games in Los Angeles.   

USC.  Southern Cal President Carol Folt issued a written statement on June 30, 2022, the same day as UCLA’s announcement. Like her counterparts at their crosstown rival, Folt’s statement employed the image repair strategies of Evading Responsibility (defeasibility) and Reducing Offensiveness (bolstering, minimization) in offering a rationale for its decision. Holt said the change was something that was forced upon USC: “Our move to the Big Ten positions USC for long-term success and stability amidst the rapidly changing sports media and collegiate athletic landscapes.” Unlike UCLA’s statement, Holt used bolstering while noting the non-athletic aspects of the move: “We know the Big Ten shares our commitment to prioritizing student-athlete’s well-being and academic demands….” Much like the UCLA statement, President Holt sought to minimize the impact of increased travel for its student-athletes: “We are committed to devoting the necessary resources to ensure our student-athletes can continue to thrive in their coursework with minimal travel disruption.” Holt later clarified that meant working with the Big Ten on travel and scheduling plans before the move in 2024 (31). 

Holt joined her UCLA counterpart in bolstering USC’s intention to maintain at least some rivalries: “As we begin to plan for our move, please know we will do everything we can to preserve the wonderful traditions and rivalries we have built in the Pac-12 that our students, alumni and fans have enjoyed for decades.” That included maintaining its long-standing football series with Notre Dame (32).  

Pac-12 Commissioner.  The Pac-12 conference office issued a short and relatively positive statement the same day that UCLA and USC announced its move to the Big Ten. While expressing disappointment with the pending departure of two flagship institutions, the statement used bolstering and transcendence (forms of Reducing Offensiveness) to (a) highlight the conference’s long-standing excellence in men’s and women’s athletics; (b) future initiatives serving the remaining Pac-12 schools; and (c) indicating a search for new conference members sometime in the future. Although acknowledging USC and UCLA’s decision to leave the Pac-12, the conference statement contained no direct attacks against those programs (33).  

A few weeks later, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff addressed the UCLA-USC departures in greater detail during the start of the league’s football media day. Klavikoff utilized similar strategies as the conference’s original statement. Kliavkoff employed bolstering and transcendence (Reducing Offensiveness) to highlight the remaining assets the conference possessed, claiming the remaining national brands (e.g., Stanford) kept the conference in an enviable position, despite losing schools located in the nation’s number-two media market. Kliavkoff announced the conference would develop new events to attract media partners and advertisers (bolstering). Kliavkoff’s statement also employed transcendence when stating the Pac-12 was still stronger than other conferences like the Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference regarding television viewership. Future expansion was also highlighted as a way to grow even stronger, even though the Pac-12’s options were limited (e.g., Boise State) (34). 

2021: The Big-12 Conference  

Oklahoma.  After news broke in mid-July 2021 about Oklahoma and Texas wanting to move to the SEC, Oklahoma’s Board of Regents approved the move in a matter of weeks. OU President Joseph Harroz read a prepared statement at the Regents’ meeting explaining the University’s decision rather than just putting out a printed statement. For a portion of the state of Oklahoma, the primary sore spot about the move was OU’s abandoning its long-time rivalry with Oklahoma State. Harroz used a combination of strategies that involved both Evading Responsibility (e.g., good intentions and defeasibility) and Reducing Offensiveness (bolstering and minimization) to address the divide his institution created in the state. President Harroz explained that OU leaders had examined different alternatives: “We looked for solutions [to stay with OSU] but that simply is not what the market we’re pursuing allows.” Here we see Harroz expressing good intentions in trying to bring along Oklahoma State, but that the SEC members were not interested in the Stillwater institution. Later, Harroz was blunt about the SEC’s wished, as he stated that OU was “vying for a limited number of positions in the SEC.” Here we see Harroz engaging in defeasibility, noting that OU had to be concerned about its own future first, and that a choice had to be made between joining the SEC or remaining attached to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 and losing its opportunity to join a stronger football conference in a stronger financial position (35). President Harroz, in trying to reduce perceived offensiveness, used minimization, noting OU would continue playing OSU on a regular basis in men’s and women’s athletics as often as possible, including football. He also pledged support to continuing partnerships with Oklahoma State in academic and research efforts.  

One of the other arguments Harroz came back to several times in his statement was that OU athletics had to at least break even on its athletic finances, as no state funding went into supporting their sports programs: “…we’ve got to be in a structure where students…and state are not subsidizing athletics.” We classify this as bolstering, as President Harroz was touting the continuation of a long-held policy (36). He also used transcendence to place Oklahoma’s goals in a broader picture, saying first that the move was of “critical importance” to helping OU fulfill its strategic plans and then later noting that a move to the SEC would help fulfill an institutional goal of becoming affiliated with the American Association of Universities (AAU), a prestigious academic group. Harroz also utilizes compensation by stating the jump to the SEC “benefits the entire state of Oklahoma,” through new research and educational opportunities (37).  

Tete-a-tete in the Texas Legislature 

As noted above, the texts used by the researchers for statements by University of Texas-Austin President Jay Hartzell and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby resulted from testimony given before a special Texas legislative committee considering potential fallout from UT’s move to the SEC. The setting created an atmosphere where there was less control compared to UCLA or USC’s written statements. This was also a setting where both individuals felt like they had to speak to the other (although not directly), challenging previous statements.  

Texas.  UT President Hartzell depended heavily on Evading Responsibility and Reducing Offensiveness in justifying his University’s decision to the legislature. Hartzell used defeasibility to point to a lack of control UT had over its circumstances, including the financial impact of the 2020 Covid pandemic: “While many agree that tectonic change is already underway, few will deny that the events of the last year have accelerated these disruptions and increased uncertainty over the future of college sports.” That same lack of control was the basis for Hartzell’s use of provocation: that the Big 12’s inability to guarantee a significant increase in its media rights deals forced Texas’s hand: “these trends and changes that are outside of our control led our leadership team to consider how best to protect and position our athletic programs….” Transcendence (a form of Reducing Offensiveness) was also used in regard to this argument, as Hartzell argued that “…SEC might be a home for the university, providing us with greater certainty and less risk.”  In this case, Hartzell seemingly suggested that in this era of conference realignment, the Big 12 itself was in a position to fall by the wayside as other conferences had in the past (37). Hartzell also made use of specific strategies (bolstering, minimization, and compensation) in trying to reduce the perceived offensiveness of leaving other Texas-schools behind. For example, Hartzell used bolstering in stating “Our friendships in the [Big 12] and their schools and their leaders are rich.” This utterance was meant to at least suggest that Texas, while not a member of the Big 12, would be open to continuing competition with their long-time conference foes. Hartzell employed minimization about the move by noting the football rivalry with Oklahoma would continue in the SEC (the teams play each October at Dallas’s Cotton Bowl during the Texas State Fair). And Hartzell noted that the move would result in what many football fans wanted: Resumption of the long-time rivalry with Texas A&M (38).  

Hartzell’s final form of image repair involved a simple denial of charges leveled against his institution regarding its behavior and treatment of its other Big 12 partners. Hartzell used simple denial when stating “We have honored all agreements. We have not violated any Big 12 bylaws [related to the announced move].” Hartzell also used minimization, noting Texas’s announcement gave the conference four seasons to prepare for what was to come (39). 

Big 12 Commissioner.  Unlike his counterpart in the Pac-12, Bob Bowlsby did not tout the future of his conference or the search for new conference members. Instead, Bowlsby told the Texas legislative committee that Texas and Oklahoma had acted in bad faith in dealing with the Big 12, even well before word leaked out in mid-July 2021 about the SEC move. Bowlsby ignored past events (i.e., the Big 12’s media partners refusing to start negotiations on a new deal), instead focusing on the actions of the two departing schools: “These two that are leaving…have done so without notification to us and no accounting for their reasons.” Bowlsby is attempting to use a form of Denial (shift blame) (40). Instead of acknowledging perceived issues the two schools cited with the future of the Big 12, Bowlsby attacked Texas and Oklahoma about the way they had acted, raising doubts about their continued commitment through the life of the current membership agreement: “One can understand our skepticism about the sincerity of their now stated intentions to play…through ’24-’25.” The limited nature of Bowlsby’s image repair and not addressing the remaining eight conference schools (including the Texas-based schools, the reason why the hearing was taking place) may have come off baffling not only to committee members, but to the programs Bowlsby claimed to represent (41).  

Conclusions

As noted above, one significant finding in this story is the lack of Mortification in any of the image repairs attempted by the schools moving conferences or league commissioners.

Unlike the situation that faced the New Orleans Saints (e.g. putting out cash bounties for injuring opposing players), neither USC, UCLA, OU, or Texas saw no need for expressing regret, as they believed they were forced into these decisions by the current environment in college athletics (42). The conference commissioners, meanwhile, did not wish to dig a deeper publicity hole for their leagues than what had already been created. The focus instead were on strategies of (a) Evading Responsibility; (b) Reducing Offensiveness; and (c) Corrective Action. Denial was only used when the Big 12 commissioner and UT President traded charges before the Texas Legislature. The researchers also found that only Kliavkoff made use of Corrective Action, the last of Benoit’s five major image repair strategies.

A second finding from the analyses is that all four academic institutions cited the financial stakes involved in their motives for seeking membership in new conferences. Historically, money has always been at the heart of collegiate athletic realignment, dating back to the creation of the SEC in the 1930s (43). Tribou’s research on conference realignment basically correlated with the utterances of the university leaders in the early 2020s: (a) a declaration for the need (and certainty) of more money for athletics, (b) increased media exposure in their new conferences and (c) creating the opportunities to stay competitive for athletic titles (44). In particular, the two conferences getting new members (UT and OU joining the SEC; UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten) had reached new media rights deals guaranteeing more revenue and extensive national media exposure for the respective athletic programs joining the two leagues.

A third finding from the analyses suggested only partial support for the idea that conference realignment was spurred on by an institution’s desire for greater prestige (academics as well as athletics) (45). Only the administrators representing USC and Oklahoma even touched briefly upon the academic benefits of joining a new conference. This especially applied to Oklahoma, where President Harroz noted the importance of his University joining the American Association of Universities as part of the SEC. It should also be noted that the USC and UCLA statements generally failed to deal with one of the major controversies involving the two Los Angeles-based schools moving to the Big Ten: the travel distance between the two west coast campuses and teams as far east as New Brunswick, New Jersey (Rutgers). It should be noted again USC and UCLA administrators tried to minimize concerns over student-athletes and travel, offering vague assurances that it would somehow be resolved in the future.

The fourth finding of this study was the notable lack of discussion by these institutions and commissioners about the elephant in the room: NIL (name, image, and likeness) for student- athletes and its impact on these decisions. Of all the texts examined, only administrators from UCLA addressed student financial compensation, who touted their Big Ten move as giving their student-athletes “a broader national media platform…to compete and showcase their talents.” This statement suggested that UCLA would become a popular destination for recruits because of the university being part of a conference that now went coast-to-coast. As Magnusen and Todd noted, offering athletes a “bigger stage” or “brighter lights,” will pay off in future recruiting (46). It is surprising, therefore, that NIL was not a bigger part of what other administrators from Texas and Oklahoma could tout as a positive as part of their SEC conference move. But NIL is certain to be a factor well into the future, not only for biggest athletic conferences, but so called “group of 5” conferences like the American (AAC) and the Mid-American (MAC) that face potentially losing some of their best athletes seeking that “bigger stage” as well.

CONCLUSION

The ultimate result of the major college realignment that began in 2021 was that one conference (the Big 12) found a way to survive and another (the Pac-12) faced extinction. Bob Bowlsby and the Big 12 got four new members in 2023 (Central Florida, Houston, Cincinnati, and BYU). Then new Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark reached a financial settlement allowing Texas and Oklahoma to leave for the SEC in 2024 while getting a new Big 12 television deal from FOX and ESPN running through 2031. But the Pac-12 fell apart on 1 September 2023, having failed to land a new media contract. Oregon and Washington announced that morning they were leaving for the Big Ten with USC and UCLA in 2024. Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah all announced moves to the Big-12 in 2024 later that day. Stanford and Cal-Berkeley agreed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference the next year. Like a high stakes game of “Musical Chairs,” Oregon State and Washington State were left standing in what amounted to the “Pac-2.”

There are likely future realignment earthquakes ahead for college and university athletic programs angling for even bigger shares of the financial pie generated by sports media. And these schools will likely use the same rhetorical devices to defend their actions.

REFERENCES 

George Minoso2024-12-03T15:53:49-06:00

The Globalization of Professional Basketball: Context and Competition Matters in the NBA, WNBA, and Olympics

George Minoso2024-12-03T15:53:49-06:00December 20th, 2024|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Olympics, Research, Sports Exercise Science|

Authors: Howard Bartee, Jr., Ed.D.¹

1School of Public and Allied Health, Division of Kinesiology and Physical Education, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Corresponding Author:
Howard Bartee, Jr., Ed.D.
Prairie View A & M University
700 University Drive
Prairie View, TX 77446
[email protected]
770-314-4415

Howard Bartee, Jr., Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor of Health and Kinesiology-Sport Management at Prairie View A & M University in Prairie View, TX.  His research interests include sports management and communication, sports analytics, and organizational behavior within the context of health and kinesiology. With nearly twenty-five years in higher education, Dr. Bartee has served in administrative capacities and previously taught sports management and sports administration courses at Houston Christian University in Houston, TX and Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. Dr. Bartee has further spearheaded initiatives related to sports career services, student advisement, and program and curriculum development. 

ABSTRACT
The role of professional basketball has evolved through the years given socio-historic and current perspectives involving the NBA, WNBA, and Olympics.  Such perspectives have shaped the context and competition for globalization and the subsequent impact and implications for the broader basketball industry.  

Key Words: athletic competition, sports history, international ambassadors

INTRODUCTION

Professional basketball for both men and women, as a globalized sport, has grown tremendously from the days of the peach basket on the basketball court to now being played in a virtual environment of NBA 2K video games.  Globalization refers to global, international merging of diverse national economic, socio-cultural, political, and technological forces into a single and coalesced society (14).  Internal and external forces have influenced the expansion of the game and which, in effect, draw attention to professional basketball leagues and the Olympics in understanding how they have impacted these outcomes. 

From a practical viewpoint, while the careers of LeBron James (NBA), Kevin Durant (NBA), Steph Curry (NBA), Tina Charles (WNBA) and Diana Taurasi (WNBA) may have reached a twilight stage, when considering their careers in totality, their contributions to professional basketball arena and the broader public of media and related markets informed globalization given their appeal across the world stage.  When considering the emerging careers of Jaylen Brown (NBA), Victor Wembanyama (NBA), Caitlin Clark (WNBA), A’ja Wilson (WNBA), and Angel Reese (WNBA) launch, their emerging careers offer a unique opportunity for the professional game of basketball within the United States to (re)define a model for how to expand globally within the current state of professional basketball and the role of the Olympics. 

Thus, using sociohistorical and current perspectives and demographical information, the following questions guide this exploration:  

1. What is the impact of the WNBA and NBA, post-1992 Olympics to the present, for the globalization of the game of basketball? 
2. What implications do the globalization of professional basketball hold for WNBA, NBA, and the broader Olympics?

These questions provide the context for understanding how the game of basketball and some marketing aspects has evolved given expanding technological aspects and the unique comparisons between the different eras of growth since 1904.(13) These questions show how competition within the NBA and WNBA contributes to overall globalization and marketing outcomes. (1). Using the implications of both context and competition, these questions offer a broader understanding of the impact of the globalization of basketball and how it informs the future state of the game, the players and related marketing components (9).

Context Matters for the NBA and WNBA and Olympics Demographics as Globalization Impacts

A View on the 1992 to the 2024 Olympics on Men’s Basketball for Globalization

Context matters for globalization of men’s basketball, particularly given how the 1992 Olympics for men brought forth a new playing field of competition.  The competition that became apparent was focused on the United States closing the gaps between amateurism, professionalism, and international competition. With the convergence of these three concepts came the entrance of NBA players into the Olympics Games as well as the first steps toward globalization.   According to Olympic history, “in 1992, for the first time, NBA players were allowed by FIBA to represent the USA and all other countries in national team competition” (7). At the time, the 1992 U.S. team was considered the greatest team ever assembled as they dominated the 1992 Olympic tournament, led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, on their way to winning the gold medal. Photo #1 features this team of NBA professional players competing on the international scene changed the game of basketball forever.  (2)

Photo Credit: Bill Bender The Sporting News) Inside the ‘Dream Team’: A complete roster & history of USA’s 1992 Olympic men’s basketball team | Sporting News

And so, from the 1992 Olympics to the 2024 Olympics, globalization of basketball has increased on various levels, both domestically and internationally.  The resulting impact of these changes has resulted in different responses from different nations. It is important to note that not all countries are excited to release their valuable athletic resources for the capitalistic society of the NBA in the United States, yet there are many countries that do support the globalization movement to a more diverse marketplace of professional basketball.  

To that end, when it comes to the global sports marketplace, professional basketball has grown as indicated by the countries represented. This has allowed new players and fans to enter the game. One of the most important entrances into the NBA was that of Yao Ming from China being drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2002 as the #1 pick and later a global ambassador for the 2008 Olympic Games.  During these years, following the Beijing Olympics until 2012, basketball competition highlighted the effect of how global inclusion started affecting the outcome of games as the European league players were competing more closely with NBA players.  The progression of basketball globalization moved to whole new levels not only based upon player competition in the Olympic Games, but also, based upon player entrance into the professional ranks of the NBA.  Over the last sixteen years, the team has won gold in 2012, 2016, 2021 (during the pandemic years, following postponement in 2020), and most recently, in 2024.  With the influx of new players, fans, and corporate sponsors, especially since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics until the 2024 France Olympics, consideration of different aspects of this globalization are provided. 

As a result, what is of interest to note for the NBA teams is that the countries now performing well on the Olympic stage are also sending players to the NBA through the draft.  The impact of this new wave of draftees is not only influencing the Olympics, but it is also influencing the draft classes, as history shows us.  For example, the NBA and the Olympic Games have both seen shifts in roster makeups and globalization efforts over the last 32 years, since the 1992 Dream Team played in Barcelona, Spain. In the following Figure 1, there is a state-by-state visualization of the birthplace of U.S. born NBA and ABA Players. Figure 1 is as follows:

From countries abroad to the United States, a basketball “rite of passage” is being seen in the total number of draft picks being selected between U.S. Born NBA and ABA Players in comparison to those non-U.S. Born basketball players. Figure 1 shows the top 5 states are as follows:  California (443), New York (440), Illinois (302), Pennsylvania (250), and Texas (211).

As a result, Figure 1 provides the foundation for understanding how opportunities could be provided through the NBA draft on a worldwide scale, particularly given the relationships or networks that can be established within each of these countries.  These contacts help to create a context for toward globalizing efforts. And while these networks or relationships do not guarantee NBA stardom or a roster spot, they do provide a glimmer of hope and expanded area for recruitment.  This hope extends for not only the individual players, but for their countries, communities, families, and friend, which, in effect, is an upside trend of a new global basketball marketplace is emerging.   Table 1 particularly identifies the birthplace of non-US born NBA and ABA Players.  Table 1 indicates the following:

I

Table 1, according to (16), shows most of the non-US born NBA and ABA players are born in the top three (3) countries of Canada (n=54, France (n=38), and Germany (n=27). Table 1 also shows the gap existing between the birthplaces of those coming from larger countries compared to those coming from smaller countries.  What can be surmised from Table 1 is that while the competition gap has gotten smaller, the challenge to enhance greater roster structures has become increasingly important.  Owners, general managers, and coaches are feeling the need to scout not only the colleges of America, but they must also scout the high schools and the international leagues of the world.  The increased attention on these different talent pools is not only affecting NBA business locally, but it is also affecting NBA business globally.  Particularly within this structure, global scouting is being shown through current NBA rosters.  The NBA is experiencing expanded growth internationally. Table 2 particularly identifies the countries of those players from the different countries.  Table 2 is as follows:

Table 2, according to (11), shows that the majority of the players come from the country of Canada with the next highest number of players coming from the country of France.  A number of countries have only one player that comes from there.  Table 2 identifies the frequency in which foreign players (N=125) were on opening day NBA rosters during the 20232024 season.  The table reveals that 20.8% of the players were from Canada, while 79.2% of the players were from 39 other countries. In effect, it can be surmised that over a period of one season, Canada had more players on 2023-2024 Opening Day NBA rosters as compared to the other 39 countries represented on the 2023-2024 rosters.  Table 3 shows the nationalities of the

NBA All Star players.  Table 3 is as follows:      

Table 3, according to (11), identifies the frequency in which foreign players (N=7) were on the NBA All-Star rosters during the 2023-2024 season.  The table reveals that 27% of the player appearances were from seven countries, while 73% of the player appearances were from the United States during this same period. As a result of these findings, it can be assumed that over a period of the most recent NBA All-Star Game, players with a primary United States nationality had more All-Star game appearance in the 2023-2024 season as compared to the other7 foreign countries and 7 foreign players represented during this same period inclusive of the Eastern and Western Conferences. Context matters.

A View on the 1976 Olympics on Women’s Basketball for Globalization

Context matters, too, with regards to women’s basketball.  Starting in 1976 at the Olympics and continuing in 2024, there has been tremendous growth in the sport of women’s basketball.  During these past forty-eight years, the United States has led the world in the number of gold medals received during Women’s Basketball Olympics competition.  With this level of dominance, the United States and women’s basketball players have evolved since winning a silver medal in 1976.  Their first year of competition included players Luisa Harris, Nancy Lieberman, Ann Meyers, Cindy Brogdon, Susan Rojcewicz, Nancy Dunkle, Charlotte Lewis, Gail Marquis, Patricia Roberts, Mary Anne O’Connor, Patricia Head and Juliene Simpson and Photo #2 features this Women’s Basketball Olympic Team. (5)

Photo Credit: Bill Bender The Sporting News) Inside the ‘Dream Team’: A complete roster & history of USA’s 1992 Olympic men’s basketball team | Sporting News

These players were coached by Cal State Fullerton Head Coach Billie Moore and assisted by Stephen F. Austin Head Coach Sue Gunter in the first year of Olympics competition to their current eight Olympics gold medal winning streak in 2024. Photo #3 highlights the women’s basketball team winning in 2024. (6) 

Photo Credit: Mark J. Terrill/AP (2024 USA Women’s Basketball Team) US women win eighth straight Olympic basketball gold medal – CSMonitor.com

Table 4 highlights the 2024 Olympics Team comprised of players from across the country and is shown as follows: 

Source: Kyle Irving (The Sporting News) USA women’s Olympic basketball roster: A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart headline 2024 U.S. team for Paris | Sporting News

Table 4 shows that the majority of the women’s basketball players came from the Las Vegas Aces.  Only one player came from the Connecticut Sun and the Seattle Sun.  Table 5 highlights the coaching staff for this Olympic Team and is shown as follows:

Table 5 shows a diversity of coaches that was inclusive of both university and professional areas.  This integrated approach certainly allowed for a broadened perspective on coaching to be enacted.  Notwithstanding, with the passage of Title IX in 1972 and the growth of women’s basketball in the United States between 1972 and the bicentennial year of our nation’s founding in 1976, a team was able to be fielded for the Montreal Olympic games in Canada.  Though the team from the Soviet Union would win the gold medal in 1976, there was stiff competition as the United States finished with the silver medal and the team from Bulgaria would win the bronze.  Consequently, the evolution of women in basketball emerged in various ways within the country and beyond.  Context matters.

Competition Matters for NBA and WNBA and Olympics Demographics  as Globalization Impacts

A View on The Team and Medals Received in Men’s Basketball for Globalization

Competition matters as part of globalization and impact for the NBA.  History shows that since 1936, the United States has led the world in the number of gold medals received during Men’s Basketball Olympics competition.  As Table 6, Table 7, and Table 8 show, excluding, 1940 and 1944, in which Olympic Games were not held and noted as N/A, the United States has won 81% of the gold medals, three countries, the old Soviet Union (17.3%),  Yugoslavia (17.3%) and France (17.3% )have won 52% of the silver medals, and two countries, Brazil (13%) and

Lithuania (13%), have won 26% of the bronze medal.  With this level of dominance, the United States and its’ basketball players are a cut above the rest in terms of Olympic basketball and international participation in both men’s and women’s basketball.   More specifically, Table 6 indicates that the men received a substantial number of gold medals.  Table 6 indicates the following:

Men’s Olympic Gold Medals Since 1936 (N=21)

Table 6, according to (10), shows how the United States has won substantially more gold medals than any of the other competing countries. No other country has come close to the United States in receiving gold medals in basketball.  Table 7 highlights the silver medals received by the United States since 1936.  Table 7 is as follows:

Table 7, according to (10), shows that a three-way tie existed between France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia with having four (4) medals.  The United States has received one (1) silver medal along with the countries of Canda, Croatia, and Serbia.  Table 8 highlights the number of bronze medals received since 1936 by different countries. Table 8 shows the following: 

Table 8, according to (10), shows that the countries of Brazil and Lithuania have received three (3) bronze medals.  The United States has received two bronze medals along with the countries of the Soviet Union, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, and the one listed as N/A.  Thus, the composition of the medals received by the United States is clearly at the gold level with less medals being received at the silver and bronze levels.  Table 9, however, provides insights into the competition experienced by those who were part of the NBA finals.  Table 9 is as follows:

Table 9, according to (4), identifies the frequency in which players with foreign nationalities (N=6) were on NBA Finals rosters during the 55 years of NBA Finals MVP selections from 1969 to the most 2024 season.  The table reveals that 6 of the 35 (17%) of the MVP Finals MVPs were from France, Greece, Nigeria, Serbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Germany, while 29 of the 35 (83%) were of United States nationality.  As a result of these findings, it can be assumed that over a period of 55 years of NBA Finals from 1969-2024, pre-

1992 and the Olympic Dream Team in Barcelona, all Finals MVP’s were of U.S. Nationality, while post-1992 and until most recently, in 2023, there six individuals that have won the coveted title of NBA Finals MVP as a direct result of globalization of basketball.  Table 10 shows the following outcomes in the competition from those involved with the NBA Finals and their background:  

Table 10, according to (4), indicates how the players came from the San Antonio Spurs the majority of the times which indicates a priority of producing MVPs might be emphasized within that organization. These players primarily came from the U.S. Virgin Islands which also might indicate a pipeline being utilized to recruit players from that area.  Nevertheless, with globalization, competition matters.   

A View on The Team and Medals Received in Women’s Basketball for Globalization

Competition matters, too, for women’s basketball when considering globalization.  As Tables 11-13 show aggregately and collectively, the United States has won 77% of the gold medals, while two countries, Australia (23%) and France (15%) have won silver medals with eight countries winning at least one silver medal each to make up the remaining 62% of medal recipients; whereas two countries, Australia (23%) and Russia (15%) have won bronze medals with eight countries winning at least one bronze medal each to make up the remaining 62% of medal recipients. Table 11 highlights the United Sates in comparison to other teams. 

Table 11 is as follows: 

Women’s Olympic Gold Medals Since 1976 (N=13)

Table 11, according to (10), indicates the Soviet Union as only having received one gold medal since 1976.  The United States Women’s Team has had ten (10) gold medals within this time.  Table 12, however, highlights the silver medals where Australia had the highest number of silver medal at three (3).  Table 12 is as follows:

Women’s Olympic Silver Medals Since 1976 (N=13)

Table 12, according to (10), shows several countries with only one silver medal. Some of those countries include China, Australia, South Korea, Spain, and others.  Table 13 highlights those countries that have received bronze medals since 1976.  Table 13 is as follows: 

Women’s Olympic Bronze Medals Since 1976 (N=13)

Table 13, according to (10), indicates Australia with the highest number of bronze medals.  Russia has received two (2) silver medals while several countries received one (1) bronze medal.  What becomes evident is the consistency of the United States as the recipient of gold medals throughout the years.  Australia is identified as the country that is next in terms of the medals received since this time. Competition matters.

Shared Implications on Context and Competition Matter:   The NBA, WNBA, Olympics, and Globalization for Basketball

Context and competition have shared implications for globalization when considering the NBA, WNBA, and the Olympics. From historic Olympic, NBA, and WNBA games to the more recent Olympic, NBA, and WNBA games, it remains important to continuously consider the sociohistorical and current impact upon the globalization of the game of basketball.   Both the NBA and WNBA markets are continuing to evolve into the vision first spoken by late NBA Commissioner, David Stern vision of globalization and during the WNBA’s first president, Val Ackerman, service as a U.S. representative to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), to grow the game of basketball.  Currently, as it stands in 2024, the economic, social, political, and technological changes that are taking place are evident as the game of basketball is part of the global sports industry, that is worth $484 Billion Dollars in 2023, according to The Business Research Company in April of 2024, with an expected market growth rate of 6.1% over the next five years from $484 Billion in 2023 to an estimated $862 Billion in 2028.(15) Such financial outcomes collectively shape the context and competition for professional basketball.  

Furthermore, the Olympics Games of 2024 has provided a unique example of how much the game has grown ever since the 1992 Dream Team of NBA Players entered the competition.  Through the vision of the late NBA Commissioner, David Stern, and the continued efforts of current NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, the game and competition continued to improve. This year’s Olympic Game Gold Medal Games was another example of how far globalization has come as the United States of America competed in the Men’s and Women’s finals again the host country of France, with each of these games featuring players from not only globally, but from the NBA in the Men’s Gold Medal Game and from the WNBA in the Women’s Gold Medal Game. 

To that end, from both context and competition stances, the game will continue to build upon the past success of this year’s Olympic Games as it was viewed globally by millions.  With almost 400 million fans in 2024, basketball continues to expand across the globe.  For example, this year’s Men’s Olympic Games gold medal game averaged 19.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, which according to the (3) in the New York Times (2024).  According to LeBron James in that same article regarding the United States Olympic Games Gold Medal Game, “we got our moment…it’s a basketball world and everybody loves the game; we just hope that we continue to inspire people all over the world”.  As one of the most recognizable figures in the game and the first active NBA billionaire player, LeBron James, along with Kevin Duran, Steph Curry and the 2024 Olympic Gold Media winning team of NBA superstars, the U.S. Team was able to capture the gold and continue in the legacy of past U.S. Olympics teams made up of NBA superstars. 

Additionally, from an WNBA perspective, the U.S. Women’s Olympic Team, led by WNBA MVP, Aja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces’ and her fellow WNBA and Olympic teammates was able to win the gold medal over France with “a peak viewership of 10.9 million for the final half hour of the one-point affair” (8).  With the growth of women’s basketball on the collegiate level, through the emergence of budding stars, Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and Angel Reese (LSU), they are now in the WNBA, with Clark, with the Indiana Fever and Reese, now with the Chicago Sky and will potentially be in the 2028 Olympics to help extend their record eight straight goal medal streak started in 1996. As a result, the future is very bright with the new stars emerging in the NBA, WNBA and Olympic games, while the old guard passes the torch to the next generation.  Therefore, as the past is cherished, the present is held and the future is embarked upon, basketball is changing because of the demographic makeup of National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Olympic team rosters in 2024 and beyond (12). Context and competition matter.

            In closing, since the founding of basketball at Springfield College by Dr. James Naismith in 1891, for both men and women now, the pathways into the globalization of professional basketball has expanded from a small college to larger colleges and universities to professional leagues to countries from across the world.  With there being no boundaries, the opportunities for globalization remain limitless. Thus, the success of individual teams led by those individual basketball players born outside of the United States has not only led to an increased fanbase, but also has allowed the Olympic game talent to become more talented.  As “Table 1: Birthplace of non-U.S. Born NBA and ABA Players” and “Table 2: NBA Rosters from a Global Perspective, 2023-2024” show, the nationalities of players have grown exponentially, while at the same time, selection of MVP’s has grown as well.  The cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Milwaukee, and Denver, which now boast NBA Finals MVP’s have all represented their counties well, along with those respectful induvial players.  

            When considering both context and competition, with the U.S. dominance in both Men’s and Women’s Gold Medal games, the next four years will offer interesting perspectives to consider as countries seek to close the talent gap between those teams that have and those two teams that have not.  These are tremendous efforts, particularly since 2020/2021 during the pandemic when the teams of the NBA and WNBA, had to play in the bubble, the unintended yet, resulting, outcome has led to higher medical protocols and concerns for those participating then and even now.  In effect, many will wonder how globalization will influence context and competition for the next four years.  With the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028, it will be critical that those involved in sports stay encouraged as the games continue to grow as the growth will foster itself as new markets come aboard.   Moreover, as new forms of gaming enter the technical arena, having knowledge of the past histories allows one to be able to learn the necessities for current and future matters of context and competition, particularly given the rise of e-sports and related virtual gaming.  By learning the game through e-sports and video games, participants can utilize their movements into today’s face to face games.  Strategic planning and coaching sessions help to make today’s understanding of the globalized basketball game in a more reflective and projected manner. Within these types of sessions, learning about the world of gaming offers more engaging and relevant experiences.  Such sessions create the platform for further advancing the globalized game of basketball for engaging professional and amateur worlds.  With the popularity of the NBA and WNBA and the Olympics being at an all-time high, understanding the globalization of basketball, particularly given the implications and impact of context and competition, becomes important for how the future game of professional basketball is shaped for future generations

REFERENCES

1. Babbin, B.J. & Zikmund, W.G. (2015). Exploring marketing research. 11th ed. (Independence, KY: Cengage Learning).
2. Bender, B. (2020, May 6). Inside the ‘Dream Team’: A complete roster & history of USA’s 1992 Olympic men’s basketball team. Retrieved on September 12, 2024 from Inside the ‘Dream Team’: A complete roster & history of USA’s 1992 Olympic men’s basketball team | Sporting News
3. Deitsch, R. (2024, August 11). U.S.-France men’s basketball final averages 19.5 million viewers, most watched gold medal game since 1996. Retrieved on September 1, 2024 from https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5694751/2024/08/11/usa-france-basketballolympics-viewership/
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George Minoso2024-12-09T15:40:54-06:00

The Predictive Ability of the Physical Skills Used at the NFL Combine to Predict Draft Status

George Minoso2024-12-09T15:40:54-06:00December 6th, 2024|Research, Sports Exercise Science|

Authors: Raymond Tucker ¹, Chang Lee ², Willie J. Black³

1 College of Education and Health Professions, University of Houston at Victoria, Victoria, TX, USA
2 College of Education and Health Professions, University of Houston at Victoria, Victoria, TX, USA
3 College of Education and Health Professions, University of Houston at Victoria, Victoria, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Raymond Tucker D.S.M., CFSC, CSCS * D, XPS, FMS, USATF, USAW
College of Education and Health Professions
University of Houston-Victoria
3007 N Ben Wilson St
[email protected]

Raymond Tucker, D.S.M., is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Houston in Victoria, Texas. His research interests focus on leadership skills used by coaches in their daily interactions with athletes and various topics in strength and conditioning and sports performance.

Chang Lee, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Houston at Victoria in Victoria, Texas. His research interest focuses on investigating the effects of resistance exercise and nutrition on skeletal muscle responses including lean mass and strength gains.

Willie J Black, EdD, Willie J. Black, Jr. Ed.D.  is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Houston in Victoria, Texas. His research interests are centering on leadership, physical education pedagogy, and social justice in physical education.

ABSTRACT
This study investigated the results of the six physical skills tests, 40-yard dash, vertical jump, bench press, broad jump, 3-cone drill, and 20-yard shuttle, used at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine to predict draft placement in the upcoming 2022 NFL draft. Analyses of 324 potential draft prospects’ performance data showed no significant (p<0.05) difference between drafted and nondrafted players in any of the six physical skills tests (drafted vs. nondrafted; 40-yard dash: seconds, 4.70 ± 0.30 vs. 4.75 ± 0.31, p = 0.115; vertical jump: inches, 32.81 ± 4.58 vs. 31.96 ± 4.38, p = 0.173; bench press: reps, 21.83 ± 4.62 vs. 20.12 ± 4.59, p = 0.132; broad jump: inches, 118.15 ± 8.78 vs. 117.24 ± 8.70, p = 0.458; three-cone drill: seconds, 7.33 ± 0.41 vs. 7.44 ± 0.49, p = 0.247; 20-yard shuttle: seconds, 4.52 ± 0.25 vs. 4.54 ± 0.28, p = 0.598). Draft placement was correlated with broad jump performance (r_s = -0.221, p = 0.010) and 20-yard shuttle scores (r_s = 0.250, p = 0.043), but not associated with the other performance measures. The results indicate the physical skills tests used at the NFL Scouting Combine have little to no predictive ability in the draft status of prospective players. The findings will assist strength and conditioning coaches and head football and football position coaches at the collegiate level in preparing their football players for the upcoming NFL draft.

Keywords: football, performance testing, skills test, NFL combine results.

INTRODUCTION
The National Football League (NFL) Scouting Combine is held annually at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, providing personnel from the 32 NFL teams with an opportunity to evaluate prospective draft prospects in a range of physical skills tests, on-field position drills, and an extensive medical evaluation and player interviews. Seniors who have completed their senior year and underclassmen who have declared for the NFL draft that satisfy the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the NFL requirements and guidelines are eligible to participate in the NFL Combine. It is estimated that 335 football players participate in the NFL Scouting Combine annually.

However, it is unclear whether the physical skills tests used by the NFL Combine can accurately predict draft status in the NFL draft and assess if prospective draftees have the skills and abilities required to play in the NFL. Sierer et al. (10) indicated that testing performed at the combine might not take into account a player’s potential skill level during an actual game. Yet, coaches and scouts have used the test results from the NFL Combine to assess players’ physical abilities and skills as a determining factor of their success at the professional level. McGee and Burkett (8) state that the NFL Combine can be used to accurately predict the draft status of running backs, wide receivers, and defensive backs. The study by McGee and Burkett (8) supports the study by Kuzmits and Adams (6) that shows the 40-yard dash, 10-yard and 20-yard timed increments are highly correlated with running back performance in the NFL and should be used going forward when drafting running backs. However, a later study by Robbins (9) concluded that draft success is not significantly correlated with the results of the NFL Combine’s physical test battery, normalized or not. Normalized data were no more valid than raw data for predicting draft order based on the results of the eight physical skills tests comprising the battery of tests utilized at the NFL Combine. Robbins (9) added that performance measures used at the combine have only a weak correlation with draft success. The author emphasized that NFL teams are interested in only a few physical characteristics, such as straight sprint time and jumping ability. The study by Robbins (9) supports an earlier study by Kuzmitz and Adams (6) that found that only one third or less of the physical performance measures making up the NFL Combine test batteries correlated well with draft performance in the quarterback, running back and wide receiver positions. They suggested that other performance evaluations at the combine, such as field position specific drills, anthropometric measurements, interviews, aptitude testing, flexibility, injury evaluation, and illegal substance testing, may help better determine whether prospective football players will be selected in the upcoming NFL draft. According to Robbins (9), the findings of Kuzmitz and Adams (6) would imply that NFL teams do not rely heavily on physical performance data collected at the NFL Combine when making draft decisions. Furthermore, a former Tennessee Titans president stated that all that matters at the combine is medical evaluations and player interviews (4).

We have previously observed that the physical tests used at the NFL Combine are not a reliable predictor of draft placement in the NFL draft except possibly for the WR position (11). We found that the physical skills tests utilized at the NFL Combine are essential in differentiating between getting drafted into the NFL (11). To follow up on and reconfirm our previous findings, we designed the present study to conclusively investigate the issue by analyzing more recent NFL Scouting Combine performance data in 2022 for their predictive ability to draft status. We hypothesized that there would be no differences between drafted and nondrafted players in their physical skills tests, and the physical skills test scores would not have any predictive validity in the NFL draft.

METHODS
Participants
This research study included 324 football players who attended the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine: 15 Quarterbacks (QB); 36 Running backs (RB); 40 Wide Receivers (WR); 21 Tight Ends (TE); 58 Offensive Lineman (OL, including offensive guards (OG), offensive tackles (OT), and centers (C); 48 Defensive Lineman (DL, including defensive tackles (DT), nose tackles (NT), and defensive ends (DE, edge rushers); 36 Linebackers (LB); 61 (DB); and 9 Specialist (ST). The Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) at University of Houston-Victoria determined this study is exempt from Institutional review board approval because this study is a secondary analysis of publicly available data.

Procedures
Players were grouped by position to perform on-field positional workouts and physical skills tests. Group 1: QB, WR, and TE; Group 2: OL, RB, and ST; Group 3: DL and LB; Group 4: DB. The data for this study was obtained from Pro Football Reference, a web-based public access domain (13). The physical skills tests used for the analyses in this study include the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, bench press, broad jump, three-cone drill, and 20-yard shuttle for offensive, defensive, and special team positions.

Positions	Tests	Drafted	N		Non-Drafted	N	P-Values
C	40-yard dash	5.10 ± 0.15	5		5.19 ± 0.76	3	0.302
	Vertical jump	29.25 ± 3.80	4		28.67 ± 0.58	3	0.807
	Bench press	25.00 ± 0.00	1		24.50 ± 0.71	2	0.667
	Broad jump	110.25 ± 6.85	4		110.33 ± 2.08	3	0.985
	3-cone drill	7.51 ± 0.22	3		7.51 ± 0.14	2	0.985
	20-yard shuttle	4.66 ± 0.25	3		4.58 ±0.12	2	0.687
CB	40-yard dash	4.44 ± 0.09	18		4.48 ± 0.10	13	0.250
	Vertical jump	36.75 ± 3.11	6		36.88 ± 2.14	4	0.946
	Bench press	16.50 ± 1.73	4		14.00 ± 0.00	1	0.287
	Broad jump	125.75 ±5.19	4		126.25 ± 4.03	4	0.884
	3-cone drill	N/A	0		6.48 ± 0.00	1	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	N/A	0		3.94 ± 0.00	1	N/A
DE	40-yard dash	4.76 ± 0.19	6		4.79 ± 0.03	2	0.846
	Vertical jump	32.92 ± 3.68	6		33.25 ± 6.01	2	0.925
	Bench press	20.50 ± 4.36	4		N/A	0	N/A
	Broad jump	118.00 ± 5.37	6		119.00 ±5.66	2	0.829
	3-cone drill	6.96 ± 0.27	3		N/A	0	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	4.30 ± 0.15	3		N/A	0	N/A
DT	40-yard dash	5.00 ± 0.22	9		5.33 ± 0.25	4	0.035
	Vertical jump	28.40 ± 3.66	10		27.50 ± 3.78	3	0.717
	Bench press	23.00 ± 6.00	3		N/A	0	N/A
	Broad jump	109.10 ± 6.12	10		103.00 ± 4.24	2	0.216
	3-cone drill	7.76 ± 0.45	5		N/A	0	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	4.66 ± 0.18	7		N/A	0	N/A
EDGE	40-yard dash	4.61 ± 0.14	11		5.08 ± 0.00	1	0.009
	Vertical jump	35.81 ± 2.66	13		26.50 ± 0.00	1	0.006
	Bench press	23.40 ± 2.61	5		21.00 ± 0.00	1	0.448
	Broad jump	122.62 ± 4.15	13		104.00 ± 0.00	1	<0.001
	3-cone drill	7.14 ± 0.10	2		7.20 ± 0.00	1	0.707
	20-yard shuttle	4.37 ± 0.08	6		4.24 ± 0.00	1	0.203
K	40-yard dash	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	Vertical jump	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	Bench press	12.00 ± 0.00	1		N/A	0	N/A
	Broad jump	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	3-cone drill	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
LB	40-yard dash	4.57 ± 0.11	14		4.69 ± 0.13	9	0.033
	Vertical jump	37.00 ± 2.76	16		34.65 ± 2.65	10	0.042
	Bench press	23.75 ± 2.75	4		21.67 ± 2.08	3	0.326
	Broad jump	125.06 ± 4.30	16		120.40 ± 6.80	10	0.042
	3-cone drill	7.03 ± 0.09	4		7.19 ± 0.25	3	0.272
	20-yard shuttle	4.27 ± 0.02	2		4.44 ± 0.16	2	0.256
LS	40-yard dash	N/A	0		4.97 ± 0.00	1	N/A
	Vertical jump	N/A	0		29.50 ± 0.00	1	N/A
	Bench press	N/A	0		18.00 ± 0.00	1	N/A
	Broad jump	N/A	0		107.00 ± 0.00	1	N/A
	3-cone drill	N/A	0		7.53 ± 0.00	1	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	N/A	0		4.62 ± 0.00	1	N/A
OG	40-yard dash	5.18 ± 0.14	15		5.17 ± 0.16	7	0.872
	Vertical jump	27.14 ± 3.38	14		26.36 ± 3.29	7	0.618
	Bench press	26.50 ± 4.59	6		25.50 ± 4.12	4	0.735
	Broad jump	105.60 ± 4.47	15		105.71 ± 7.76	7	0.965
	3-cone drill	7.73 ± 0.20	11		7.88 ± 0.37	7	0.286
	20-yard shuttle	4.77 ± 0.19	13		4.79 ± 0.18	7	0.808
OT	40-yard dash	5.11 ± 0.18	10		5.10 ± 0.19	10	0.868
	Vertical jump	26.46 ± 2.39	11		27.17 ± 3.50	9	0.596
	Bench press	26.00 ± 3.46	3		22.50 ± 6.36	2	0.469
	Broad jump	106.27 ± 5.12	11		107.56 ± 4.48	9	0.563
	3-cone drill	7.71 ± 0.25	7		7.93 ± 0.44	6	0.284
	20-yard shuttle	4.69 ± 0.19	9		4.78 ± 0.26	7	0.433
P	40-yard dash	4.63 ± 0.06	3		N/A	0	N/A
	Vertical jump	32.00 ± 0.00	1		N/A	0	N/A
	Bench press	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	Broad jump	121.00 ± 0.00	1		N/A	0	N/A
	3-cone drill	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
QB	40-yard dash	7.78 ± 0.16	5		7.77 ± 0.13	3	0.934
	Vertical jump	31.50 ± 3.43	5		31.38 ± 4.01	4	0.961
	Bench press	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	Broad jump	117.25 ± 8.26	4		117.25 ± 5.32	4	1.000
	3-cone drill	7.14 ± 0.10	4		7.12 ± 0.39	3	0.956
	20-yard shuttle	4.34 ± 0.08	5		4.31 ± 0.11	3	0.648
RB	40-yard dash	4.48 ± 0.09	17		4.53 ± 0.10	10	0.217
	Vertical jump	33.11 ± 3.05	19		32.92 ± 2.57	12	0.860
	Bench press	23.50 ± 3.00	4		18.50 ± 2.12	2	0.109
	Broad jump	120.78 ± 3.84	18		119.83 ± 3.71	12	0.509
	3-cone drill	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
	20-yard shuttle	N/A	0		N/A	0	N/A
S	40-yard dash	4.45 ± 0.10	9		4.45 ± 0.08	6	0.973
	Vertical jump	36.11 ± 1.64	9		35.25 ± 2.66	6	0.448
	Bench press	18.67 ± 3.06	3		18.00 ± 3.23	6	0.775
	Broad jump	125.56 ± 4.48	9		122.63 ± 3.54	8	0.159
	3-cone drill	6.77 ± 0.18	5		6.95 ± 0.08	2	0.269
	20-yard shuttle	4.22 ± 0.10	5		4.46 ± 0.00	1	0.093
TE	40-yard dash	4.67 ± 0.09	8		4.86 ± 0.07	4	0.005
	Vertical jump	33.00 ± 2.85	8		32.70 ± 2.20	5	0.845
	Bench press	19.22 ± 3.03	9		19.00 ± 0.00	1	0.946
	Broad jump	120.40 ± 3.21	5		116.60 ± 3.58	5	0.115
	3-cone drill	7.05 ± 0.01	4		7.15 ± 0.20	4	0.337
	20-yard shuttle	4.46 ± 0.08	5		4.37 ± 0.16	5	0.276
WR	40-yard dash	4.43 ± 0.10	18		4.54 ± 0.09	14	0.002
	Vertical jump	35.34 ± 2.34	19		34.07 ± 3.77	15	0.235
	Bench press	N/A	0		15.00 ± 4.58	3	N/A
	Broad jump	124.37 ± 4.15	19		123.80 ± 7.50	15	0.795
	3-cone drill	7.10 ± 0.19	10		7.16 ± 0.32	4	0.642
	20-yard shuttle	4.31 ± 0.14	8		4.40 ± 0.16	5	0.307

Data are presented as mean ± SD. Units: seconds for 40-yard dash, inches for vertical jump, number of reps for bench press, inches for broad jump, seconds for 3-cone drill, seconds for 20-yard shuttle. C: center, CB: cornerback, DE: defensive end, DT: defensive tackle, EDGE: edge defender, K: kicker, LB: linebacker, LS: long snapper, OG: offensive guard, OT: offensive tackle, P: punter, QB: quarterback, RB: running back, S: safety, TE: tight end, WR: wide receiver.

Data Analyses
All statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics software (version 28; IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY). The assumption of normal distribution was checked using Shapiro-Wilk test, and non-normal data were analyzed using non-parametric statistical procedures. Independent t-tests were performed to examine differences between two groups (e.g., drafted vs. nondrafted), and Spearman’s correlations were used to examine associations between physical skills tests and draft placement. P values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant, and data are presented as mean ± SD unless stated otherwise. RESULTS Differences between drafted and nondrafted players in performance measures. When participants were analyzed together, there was no difference between drafted and nondrafted prospective draft prospects in any of the six physical skills tests drafted vs. nondrafted; [40-yard dash: seconds, 4.69 ± 0.30 (n=148) vs. 4.75 ± 0.31 (n=87), p = 0.115; vertical jump: inches, 32.81 ± 4.58 (n=141) vs. 31.96 ± 4.38 (n=82), p = 0.173; bench press: number of reps, 21.83 ± 4.62 (n=47) vs. 20.12 ± 4.59 (n=26), p = 0.132; broad jump: inches, 118.15 ± 8.78 (n=135) vs. 117.24 ± 8.70 (n=83), p = 0.458; three-cone drill: seconds, 7.33 ± 0.41 (n=58) vs. 7.44 ± 0.49 (n=34), p = 0.247; 20-yard shuttle: seconds, 4.52 ± 0.25 (n=66) vs. 4.54 ± 0.28 (n=35), p = 0.598]. When the individual positions were analyzed separately, no differences were observed between drafted and nondrafted players in most of the positions’ physical skills tests with the exception of (DT)’s 40-yard dash, (EDGE) 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and broad jump, (LB) 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and broad jump; (TE) 40-yard dash; and (WR) 40-yard dash scores, where the drafted athletes showed better performances than the nondrafted athletes (Table 1). Correlations between performance measures and draft placement When all the participants were analyzed together, draft placement was weakly correlated with broad jump performance (rs = -0.221, p = 0.010) and 20-yard shuttle scores (rs = 0.250, p = 0.043), but not associated with the other performance measures (40-yard dash, vertical jump, bench press, and three-cone drill scores; p>0.05). When the individual positions were analyzed separately, draft placement showed a moderate to strong correlation with (DT)’s 40-yard dash (r_s = 0.753, p = 0.019) and offensive tackle (OT)’s 40-yard dash (r_s = 0.782, p = 0.008), but not associated with any other performance measures in any other positions (p>0.05).

DISCUSSION
The main finding of this study is that the physical skills tests used at the NFL Scouting Combine may not have predictive ability in determining the draft status of prospective draftees entering the 2022 NFL Draft. The performance differences between drafted and nondrafted players were minimal, and weak correlations between draft placement and physical test scores were observed in only a few tests or positions.

The first finding of this study indicates that when all of the offensive and defensive positions were analyzed together, the physical skills tests used at the NFL Combine to predict draft placement showed a weak correlation with broad jump performance (rs = -0.221, p = 0.010) and 20-yard shuttle scores (rs = 0.250, p = 0.043), but is not associated with the other performance measures 40-yard dash, vertical jump, bench press, and three-cone drill scores; p>0.05). The standing broad jump tests lower body strength and power. NFL players may have an advantage in a one on one situations if they can explode from a standing position while maintaining control and balance. Every player in the NFL will need a measure of lower body strength, balance, and explosiveness to jump, run, block, change direction, fight off an opponent in football, and prevent injury. The 20-yard shuttle tests a player’s ability to change direction. Every offensive and defensive position in football will need to have the ability to change direction to catch a pass or evade an opponent in football. The standing broad jump and the 20-yard shuttle showed a weak correlation, meaning that a farther broad jump and a faster 20-yard shuttle could influence draft placement; however, this finding is nonsignificant.
The second finding of this study indicated that when individual offensive and defensive positions were analyzed separately, draft placement showed a nonsignificant moderate to strong correlation with (DT) 40-yard dash (rs = 0.753, p = 0.019) and (OT) 40-yard dash (rs = 0.782, p = 0.008), but not associated with any other performance measures in any other positions; (p>0.05). The 40-yard dash tests a player’s ability to accelerate for 40 yards, which is a test of acceleration. Football players will start from a three point stance and sprint 40 yards. Times are recorded at the 10-yard, 20-yard, and 40-yard increments.

The present study showed a nonsignificant moderate to strong correlation between draft placement and the 40-yard dash for (DT) and (OL); however, a question should be asked whether either of these positions runs 40 yards during a single play in a football game. The answer to this question would be that they don’t. Rather, they run 5 and maybe 10 yards, depending on the blocking scheme for offensive linemen and defending the pass rush. It appears that NFL personnel are looking at the fastest 40-yard time, but in reality, they could be more interested in the start and the times in the 10-yard and 20-yard increments, which are more relevant to the offensive and defensive tackle positions. The only positions on the football field that start in a three-point stance are offensive and defensive linemen and perhaps a fullback. If this is the case, why is every position at the NFL combine starting in a three-point stance when timed in the 40-yard dash? It may be better to evaluate how quickly a player can accelerate in 10-yards, which is a better indicator of what occurs on any given play in a football game for offensive linemen and defensive tackles.

The third finding is that 324 players attended the 2022 NFL Combine, and only 262 players were drafted. The results of this study show that the physical skills tests do not have the predictive ability to determine draft status in any offensive and defensive positions except for the positions of DT and OT in the 2022 NFL draft. The authors indicate that if the 40-yard (36.6 m) dash is the heavily weighted performance test and can distinguish between drafted and undrafted players, then why do the results of this study not show a positive correlation between the 40-yard (36.6 m) dash and draft status in all of the offensive and defensive positions.

The validity of the performance metrics used at the NFL Scouting Combine has been investigated in several other studies, and the results were equivocal (5). Football coaches appear to share the assumption that combine performance indicators can forecast a football player’s overall ability to play the game, yet studies have identified few reliable indicators (1-5). The performance metrics utilized at the NFL Scouting Combine examine players’ athletic skills rather than their ability to play football. It is questionable whether those combine performances are directly related to the football playing ability of prospective draftees. According to Vincent et al. (12), the NFL should consider changing the National Scouting Combine (NSC) testing battery to position-specific tests. These include a 10-yard dash for linemen and change of direction drills that are similar to those needed to execute successful pass patterns for wide receivers.

Our findings support a study by Robbins (9), which suggests that the combine tests are not sufficiently specific and have little bearing on a player’s actual ability to play the game of football and consequently receive little attention from NFL personnel. The study by Robbins supports an earlier study by Kuzmits & Adams (6), suggesting various explanations as to why performance in a number of the combine tests is not strongly correlated with draft order. One may be the rigorous preparation invitees undertake before attending the combine. Research by Kuzmits and Adams (6) indicates that the abundance of prep courses and other learning resources available to help players prepare for the combine may be the reason for the lack of correlation between overall performance at the NFL Combine. Kuzmits and Adams (6) explain that the lack of correlation between NFL Combine performance and NFL performance is that combine exercises measure the athlete’s athletic skill and not the athlete’s actual ability to play football. Also, when drafting prospective draftees, there are a number of additional variables that can come into play. The team’s needs for the upcoming season, injuries, off the field issues, and performance during college or pre-draft workouts are examples of such factors. In the end, NFL teams consider numerous factors when selecting players, making it difficult to predict the draft status of the participating players using the NFL combine skills tests. The combine tests are used to determine if a football player has the necessary elite skills and physical abilities to play in the NFL and contribute to a team’s success. However, according to Lyons et al. (7), on-field performance in college is likely the strongest predictor of success in the NFL.

CONCLUSIONS
Although certain individual positions may have limited applicability for specific skills test scores due to their ability to reveal players’ overall elite athletic prowess, collegiate football players aiming to earn NFL drafts should devote the majority of their time to honing the positional technical and tactical proficiencies necessary for success at their respective offensive and defensive positions. Additionally, they should be wary of suppliers and performance centers who make false promises of improved outcomes and substantial compensation at the NFL combine, only to enrich themselves through excessive pricing. The NFL Combine appears to be a mere exhibition where the nation’s most talented collegiate football players convene for a week in an attempt to secure a drafting spot and realize a lifelong ambition of playing professionally. Over the years, more and more top-rated collegiate football players have opted out of attending the NFL combine for several reasons, one common reason being to avoid injury. The hype of the players performing well at the NFL Combine has opened the doors for private sports performance facilities to offer training services to improve a player’s performance on the physical skills tests utilized to enhance the chances of being drafted higher and receiving a payday. Robbins (9) suggested that the lack of a strong relationship between the performance measures and the draft may be because of the rigorous preparation invitees undertake before attending the combine. The study by Robbins (9) supports an earlier study by Kuzmits and Adams (6) that brings up a very interesting point other than marketing claims made by vendors themselves, there is no scientific evidence that their preparation improves NFL combine performance. The authors of this study agree with Robbins (9) and Kuzmitz and Adams (6) and suggest that the physical tests used at the NFL combine are used to measure a player’s physical skills and not their football playing ability.

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT
This study hypothesized that there would be no difference between drafted and nondrafted athletes in their performance measures, and the performance scores would not have any predictive validity in the NFL draft. 324 football players participated in the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine, and based on the results, our data suggest that NFL Scouting Combine test results have little to no effects on the participating players’ overall draft status and bear little predictive value. Some of those skills test scores might be of limited usage in a few individual positions because those can show players’ overall elite athletic physical capabilities. To conclude, collegiate football players with the goal of one day getting drafted into the national football league should spend most of their time improving the positional technical and tactical skills required to succeed in their various offensive and defensive positions. They should also be aware of vendors and performance centers promising better results at the NFL combine and big paydays only to fill their pockets with the high prices they charge. Finally, prospective NFL players should place more emphasis on further developing their overall football playing ability, such as mental aptitude, team attitude, and willingness to learn, rather than the physical characteristics evaluated at the NFL Scouting Combine.
REFERENCES

1. Berg K, Latin RW, Baechle T. Physical and performance characteristics of NCAA division I football players. Res Q Exerc Sport 61(4): 395-401, 1990.
2. Black W, Roundy E. Comparisons of size, strength, speed, and power in NCAA division 1-A football players. J Strength Cond Res 8(2): 80–85, 1994.
3. Burke EJ, Winslow E, Strube WV. Measures of body composition and performance in major college football players. J Sport Med Phys Fit 20(2): 173–180, 1980.
4. Diamond J. Why NFL Combine is tedious, expensive and overrated in the eyes of a team president. Sporting News February 27th, 2019.
5. Fry A, Kraemer W. Physical performance characteristics of American collegiate football players. J Strength Cond Res 5(3): 126–138, 1991.
6. Kuzmits FE, Adams AJ. The NFL Combine: does it predict performance in the National Football League? J Strength Cond Res 22(6): 1721–1727, 2008.
7. Lyons B, Hoffman B, Michel J, Williams K. On the predictive efficiency of past performance and physical ability: the case of the National Football League. Human Perform 24: 158–172, 2011.
8. McGee KJ, Burkett LN. The National Football League Combine: A reliable predictor of draft Status? J Strength Cond Res 17(1): 6-11, 2003.
9. Robbins DW. The National Football League (NFL) Combine: does normalized data better predict performance in the NFL draft? J Strength Cond Res 24(11): 2888–2899, 2010.
10. Sierer SP, Battaglini CL, Mihalik JP, Shields EW, Tomasini NT. The National Football League Combine: performance differences between drafted and nondrafted players entering the 2004 and 2005 drafts. J Strength Cond Res 22(1): 6–12, 2008.
11. Tucker R, Black W. The National Football League Combine: do performance measures predict draft status among NFL draftees. Sport J 24: November 5th, 2021.
12. Vincent LM, Blissmer BJ, Hatfield DL. National Scouting Combine scores as performance predictors in the National Football League. J Strength Cond Res 33(1): 104–111, 2019.
13. www.pro-football-reference.com

George Minoso2024-11-04T18:10:35-06:00

Maximizing Youth Sports Engagement on Social Media: How Visual Impact and Message Appeal Shape Consumer Responses Online

George Minoso2024-11-04T18:10:35-06:00November 22nd, 2024|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Research, Sports Studies, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|

Authors: Wan S. Jung1, Won Yong Jang2, and Soo Rhee3

¹Department of Professional Communications, Farmingdale State College, New York
²Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
³Department of Mass Communication, Towson University, Maryland

Corresponding Author:

Wan S. Jung, Ph.D
Knapp Hall 30
2350 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale, NY 11735-1021
[email protected]
934-420-2276

Wan S. Jung, PhD is an Associate Professor of Professional Communications at Farmingdale State College, NY. His research interests focus on the credibility assessment process of digital information.

Won Yong Jang, PhD is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. He specializes in 1) international communication, 2) news media and society in East Asian countries, 3) climate change policy & communication, 4) public opinion on North Korea’s Nuclear Program, and 5) territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Soo Rhee, PhD is a Professor at Towson University, Maryland. Her research interests include luxury brand advertising, gender portrayals in advertising, dynamics of electronic word-of-mouth, cross-cultural studies in advertising and message strategies in health advertising.

ABSTRACT
An increasing number of people rely on the Internet as their primary information source and use it to share their opinions and thoughts with others. Generally, individuals adopt a systematic approach when processing sports information, evaluating its completeness and accuracy due to the serious consequences of incomplete or inaccurate information, such as monetary loss and negative impacts on child development. However, our study finds that the heuristics of online information, even with subtle changes in design features, generate more positive attitudinal and behavioral changes compared to central cues (i.e., informational posting). Our findings suggest a dissociation between involvement and the effects of heuristics. This study also provides an empirical framework for predicting how people process information in digital media environments. Additional findings and implications are discussed.

Key Words: youth sport communication, visual impact of social media posting, message appeal

INTRODUCTION
The youth sport market is a huge and fast-growing industry, ranging from organized sports leagues to recreational activities. The market for youth sports in the United States stood at 15.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 and grew to 19.2 billion U.S. dollars by 2019 (11). With a fast-growing trend (i.e., a growth rate of 25.4% from 2017 to 2019) with various options, parents became more active in searching for information. As social media are pervasive, rapidly evolving, and increasingly influencing parents’ daily life and their sport consumption, parents increasingly turn to the internet as a source of community, which helps them connect, communicate, and share information (18).

The rapid growth of online sports information production and dissemination through social media parenting communities (e.g., Facebook local groups and Nextdoor) raises important research questions about how individuals process online information provided by other consumers (i.e., experienced parents whose child(ren) have participated in your sport programs) in youth sport consumption decision making. Moreover, since sport consumers make decisions about whether or not to adopt online sports information based on their own judgement (e.g., attitudinal formation), how individuals evaluate online information is central to sports communication agendas.

Although the formation of attitudes toward information can be attributed to multiple aspects of that information (e.g., source credibility, information completeness), sport consumers using online resources are more reliant on how the information is presented than on the quality of the argument (10), and subtle graphical adjustments become relevant when online parenting community members share their own experiences with other members on social media platforms. In order to emphasize their own views, web users often create visual prominence using subtle design elements, such as capitalized subject lines, copy-and-paste text art (also called keyboard art, e.g., ≧◡≦), or bullet-point symbols. In addition to subtle design changes, the characteristics of the online posting can be varied based on the degree of informativeness (i.e., emotion-based versus information-based).

The purpose of the current study is twofold. First, it will explore the effect on attitudinal formation and behavioral intentions of the message appeals and subtle graphical adjustments of posts in online parenting communities in the youth sport consumption context. Second, the study will investigate whether the strength of the relationship between attitude and behavioral intentions varies based on message appeals. Overall, the study will seek to advance understanding of digital media by examining how small graphical changes and message appeals impact youth sport consumers’ attitudes and behaviors when searching for consumer-generated information (e.g., testimonials) in online communities.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Parent-to-Parent Online Information in Youth Sport Consumption
“It takes a village to raise a child” is a proverb to explain the role of and community support in parenting. As social aspect is one of the primary factors that drives parents and their children to be involved in sport program (1), the influence of other parents’ opinion and the role of parent community are even more prominent in youth sport consumer’s decision making process. Braunstein-Minkove & Metz (2019) noted in their research on the role of mothers in sport consumption that youth sport consumption might not always about the sport but the experience. Therefore, parents of youth rely on other parents’ opinion to obtain relevant and sufficient information and evaluate various youth sport program options available. In order to provide the best sporting and exercise experience for their children, parents of young children are willing to hear voices of other parents (i.e., testimonial) regarding the type of sports, sports programs, and sporting events their children would participate in.

With the modern technology and the advent of social media, the notion of the village (or supporting community) has been expanded from a physical village to a digital community. Social media platforms support a variety of user generated content to be disseminated to other users and allows users to participate in interactive discussions. Among the various types of social media platforms, Facebook have become the most prevalent web-based service in the world (21) and remaining the most popular site by far (12). Also, Facebook recently provides an option to mark the group type as parenting group, which gives parents new ways to discover and engage with their communities (5). Though the role of online community and the influence of information from other youth sport consumers (i.e., testimonials from other parents in such online community) in youth sport consumer’s decision-making process became more prominent, there is no previous research to explore the effects of the presentation of online information on consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral response in youth sport consumption context.

The Impact of Visual Prominence
Quick and low effort cognitive information processing has been investigated in the field of psychology since the 1970s (e.g., 9, 13), and the research indicates that impression formation is the result of the perceiver’s rapid response to selective or incomplete information. In other words, one’s appraisal of an event occurs without intention or conscious thought. Theories of impression formation in the context of digital communication have been developed by Fogg (2003) and Wathen and Burkell (2002), and their studies suggest that visual prominence—the visual salience that allows people to effortlessly notice the presence of graphic elements (e.g., bold vs. non-bold font)—is a primary driver of attitudinal formation, rather than information quality.

The impact of visual prominence can also be explained by individuals’ reliance, when making decisions, on transactive memory systems, which consist of two key elements: internal memory (e.g., personal experience) and external memory (e.g., another person’s expertise; 14). The presence of an external memory will activate a transactive memory system, and such a dependency on external memory increases efficiency and cognitive labor power (20). Thus, external sources of knowledge can have a significant impact on one’s perception of what to accept as true and how confidently to accept it.

The theoretical and empirical evidence for transactive memory systems is based on offline social interactions (e.g., interactions within family groups). However, recent studies suggest that online sources can also trigger transactive memory systems due to the similarity between the process of outsourcing cognitive tasks to other people and the process of outsourcing cognitive tasks to the Internet (6). This nonhuman transactive memory network is further fueled by the unique features of the Internet (e.g., accessibility, breadth, immediacy of information), but such features may distort one’s ability to calibrate personal knowledge because the boundary between internal and external memory becomes unclear. That is, individuals often mix up information obtained through the Internet with information stored in the brain, and this illusion inflates self-ratings of competence regarding personal knowledge and decision-making (17). Recent research on such illusions also suggests that people tend to believe they can solve problems even in unfamiliar domains and that their decision-making processes are often based on heuristics, such as visual prominence (7, 8); the impact of visual prominence would thus be greater in digital media environments.

Since online parenting community members can establish the visual prominence of their postings on social media platforms only with subtle graphical adjustments, the current study will investigate how subtle changes (e.g., capitalizing subject lines, use of text art) to posts in online youth sport communities influence individuals’ attitude formation and behavioral intentions. Given the exploratory nature of the topic of individual information judgment in digital media environments, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H1: Visually prominent postings in online youth sport communities form stronger attitudes than less prominent postings.
H2: Visually prominent postings in online youth sport communities form stronger behavioral intentions than less prominent postings.

The Impact of Involvement on Message Appeals
The persuasiveness and prevalence of various appeal types (e.g., emotional, informative) have been extensively examined in different contexts, such as brand familiarity (Rhee & Jung, 2019), cultural variability (Han & Shavitt, 1994), and involvement (Flora & Maibach, 1990). However, less is known about the differential effects of appeal types in the context of online youth sport communities, and the current study therefore presents an exploration of the question of which type of message appeal is most persuasive in such communities.
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM; 16) is one of the most prominent theoretical frameworks employed in the message appeal literature and is applied in various contexts, such as public health service announcements (Perse et al., 1996), crisis management (Lee & Atkinson, 2019), and advertising (Stafford & Day, 1995). Studies have also commonly found a moderating effect of involvement on message appeals, and according to the ELM, people tend to rely on argument quality (e.g., information completeness, comprehensiveness) when processing information under high involvement conditions, with persuasion less likely to occur through peripheral cues, such as peers’ emotional experiences. The converse is also true under low involvement conditions.

However, a recent study by Jung et al. (2017) found evidence that contradicts the prevailing literature on the role of involvement in digital media environments; the study claims that individuals often find it hard to motivate themselves to process information thoroughly, regardless of involvement levels, due to the nature of the Internet, which inundates them with massive amounts of non-verifiable information. Individuals therefore tend to compromise the accuracy of their decisions, which can require extensive cognitive effort, by relying on the heuristic aspects of information.

In addition, in the context of online youth sports communities, people tend to seek others’ prior experiences (e.g., a coach’s personality) and emotionally supportive messages because any objective information about a youth sports program (e.g., fees, coach’s experience, facilities) can be easily found through sources such as the program’s website. It can therefore be assumed that the moderating role of involvement in appeal types might be limited by the dominance of social media. Nevertheless, because there is still insufficient evidence for the limited role of involvement in the social media context, we propose the following research question:
RQ1: What effect does involvement have on the appeal types of posts in online youth sport communities?

The Moderating Impact of Involvement on the Attitude–Intention Relationship
Attitudes are among the most significant predictors of behavioral intentions in psychology. According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), intention functions as an antecedent of behavior and is attributable to individual attitudes, together with subjective norms and perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). Although a number of studies have provided strong evidence for the relationship between intentions and the three causal variables of the TPB, a meta-analytic study by Cooke and Sheeran (2004) also noted that less than 42% of the variance in intentions can be explained by those variables.

Consequently, there have been numerous attempts to increase the predictive power of the TPB by exploring moderators of the relationship between intention and the TPB variables, such as attitudinal ambivalence (Armitage & Conner, 2000) and certainty (Bassili, 1996). In addition to these moderating variables, Petty et al. (1983) has offered theoretical and empirical evidence that the attitude–intention relationship is more consistent under high involvement conditions, because attitudes established by highly involved people are more stable than those of lowly involved people. Verplanken (1989) also examined whether involvement can explain additional variance in the attitude–intention relationship, although that study was in the context of nuclear energy.

Therefore, the current study will examine the moderating role of involvement in the attitude–intention relationship in the sport communication context.
H3: High involvement will be associated with greater attitude–intention consistency than low involvement.

METHOD
Subjects and Procedure
192 participants who had parenting experiences (male = 64%) from the United States between the ages of 20 and 55 completed the study through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). For participants’ ethnicity, the most common ethnicity was Caucasian (53.6%), followed by Asian (33.9%), African American (5.2%), Hispanic (3.6%), and other racial backgrounds (3.6%). To participate in the study, subjects were requested to provide electronic consent. And subjects were debriefed and compensated upon completion of the study.

Experimental Treatment Conditions
To investigate the effects of visual prominence (high vs. low prominence) and message appeals (emotional vs. informative message) on online youth sport program postings, four versions of online postings were created as stimuli, and the subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions: low prominence and emotional (n = 49), high prominence and emotional (n = 49), low prominence and informative (n = 49), and high prominence and informative (n = 45).

The postings contained an online community member-created message about a local youth soccer program. The community member-created posting consisted of either factual information about the soccer program (informative appeal) (i.e., up to 12 kids in one session with two coaches, all are CPR first aid and AED certified, and having an indoor field) or user experiences (emotional appeal) (i.e., it was such an amazing experience and my son loves his current coach). A youth soccer program was selected as the topic for this study because of popularity of the sport among young parents. The manipulation of visual prominence was carried out by differentiating graphic elements between high prominence and low prominence conditions. Since parent community members on social media platforms can emphasize their posting with subtle graphical alterations, the high prominence version was designed to help the study participants notice the key messages by capitalizing key words, using a bulleted list and line-breaks in order to increase readability, and using a text art. The low prominence version lacks those design features.

Dependent Measures
Attitude toward the online posting
The attitude toward the online youth program posting was measured using
three semantically differential items (i.e., good/bad, favorable/unfavorable, negative/positive) emerged from the literature on the scale (Lee & Hong, 2016). The scale was internally consistent (Cronbach’s  = .91, M = 4.70, SD = 1.81).

Behavioral Intentions
Subjects were also asked to answer their intentions to 1) recommend the youth soccer program on the posting you just read and 2) register for the soccer program in the future on 7-point Likert-type scales ranging from 1 (not at all) 7 (extremely). The items were averaged to create a behavioral intention scale (Cronbach’s  = .83, M = 4.33, SD = 1.73).

Independent Measure
Involvement
Involvement in sports activities may influence the attitudinal formation and behavioral intentions. Thus, this study measured personal involvement with sports activities by using three 7-point (1 = strongly disagree, 7 strongly agree) Likert-type scales, the participants reported on how much they agreed with the following three statements: “I enjoy playing sport,” “Sport plays a central role in my life,” and “Sport says a lot about who I am.” The three items were averaged to measure involvement (Cronbach’s  = .86, M = 5.38, SD = 1.35). This study used a median split to categorize high-involvement (N = 86) and low-involvement conditions (N = 83).

RESULTS
Manipulation Checks
The visual prominence manipulations were examined. Using two seven-point sematic differential items, the participants were asked to rate the extent to which they thought the format of the online posting they just read were “attractive/not attractive” and “likable/not likable” (Cronbach’s  = .83, M = 4.81, SD = 1.75). A t test between the two prominence conditions (low vs. high prominence) showed subjects felt that the youth sport program posting was more visually prominent when it included noticeable graphic elements (M = 5.60, SD = 1.23) than when it lacked the elements (M = 4.05, SD = 1.84), t (190) = 6.82, p < .001.

This study measured the degree of informativeness of online postings (emotional versus informative) by asking participants to rate the extent to which they though the posting they just read was “emotional” and “warmhearted” (Cronbach’s  = .80 M = 4.39, SD = 1.61). A t test between two message appeal conditions showed that the emotional appeal group (M = 4.94, SD = 1.27) perceived the posting to be significantly more emotional than the informative appeal group (M = 3.82, SD = 1.73), t (190) = 5.11, p < .001.
H1 and H2: Visual Prominence Main Effects

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine the significant impacts of visual prominence, message appeal, and involvement on attitudes and behavioral intentions. H1 and H2 suggest that participants reading visually prominent postings would form stronger attitudes and behavioral intentions than did participants reading less prominent postings. Follow-up analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were also performed the examine the effect of visual prominence for each of the dependent variables. Findings revealed that the effect of visual prominence was pronounced in relation to being able to determine consumers’ attitudes (M_High Prominence = 5.30, SD = 2.02 vs. M_Low Prominence = 4.14, SD = 1.38; F (1, 169) = 20.90, p < .001, partial η2 = .12) and behavioral intentions (M_High Prominence = 4.69, SD = 1.64 vs. M_Low Prominence = 4.01, SD = 1.73; F (1, 169) = 7.24, p < .01, partial η2 = .04). Thus, H1 and H2 were supported.

RQ1 and RQ2: Influence of Involvement on Visual Prominence and Message Appeals
The impact of consumers’ involvement on visual prominence and messages appeals were examined by 2 (visual prominence) X 2 (involvement) ANOVAs and 2 (message appeal) X 2 (involvement) ANOVAs with attitudes toward the online posting and behavioral intentions as dependent variables. The ANOVA results showed that that there were not significant interaction effects of the involvement-appeal relation and the involvement-visual prominence relation. The p values of the aforementioned relations were greater than .37. However, the impacts of visual prominence and message appeals were greater under both involvement conditions (see Figure 1 and 2).

H3: Moderating effect of involvement on the attitude-intention relation
This study anticipated that the attitude toward the online posting would form a stronger impact on the formation of behavioral intentions for high involvement conditions. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to examine whether involvement modifies the magnitude of the attitude-intention relation. Then, each correlation coefficient values for the high- and low-involvement conditions was converted into z scores by using Fisher’s r to z transformation. In order to compare the z scores for the two conditions, the following formula was implemented to determine the observed z score: Zobserved = (Z1−Z2) ∕ (square root of [1∕N1−3] + (1∕N2−3))

For the high involvement condition (n = 83), the correlation coefficient for the attitude-intention relation was .49 (p < .001). For the low involvement condition (n = 84), the correlation was .25 (p < .05). The test statistics, z = 1.78, p < .001 (one-tailed test), indicate that the correlation in the high involvement condition is significantly higher than it is in the low involvement condition. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 is supported.

DISCUSSION
Our findings suggest a lack of association between involvement and the effects of heuristics. The moderating role of involvement has been well established since the introduction of Petty et al.’s (1983) ELM and Chaiken’s (1987) heuristic-systematic model. According to those theories, involvement is a significant determinant in the selection of an information processing route (peripheral versus central). It is also commonly acknowledged in the sport communication field that individuals generally use a systematic mode (i.e., evaluating completeness/accuracy) when processing online sport information under high-involvement conditions in order to avoid the serious consequences of incomplete or inaccurate information (e.g., monetary loss, negative impacts on child development). However, our study found that the non-systematic mode is often activated for both high-involvement and low-involvement participants, and this finding thus contributes to the literature on individuals’ approaches to online information processing.

According to evidence-accumulation models (2), individuals reach a conclusion once there is enough evidence to support a particular case, but they can also alter the amount of evidence needed for coming to that decision. Although individuals generally want to make accurate decisions, Internet users often compromise the accuracy of their decisions by reducing the amount of evidence required to validate the information they are investigating. This tendency is attributable to online information overload, in which individuals experience difficulties in understanding the nature of a particular topic (Robin & Holmes, 2008). The tendency suggests a new general pattern of the speed–accuracy trade-off (SAT) in social media environments. In line with the SAT, there are two driving forces in the decision-making process (4); one emphasizes faster (or more efficient) decisions, while the other emphasizes higher accuracy. Although there are trade-offs between speed and accuracy, the two can be pursued independently, but they produce a wide spectrum of outcomes, from slower but more accurate decisions to quicker but less accurate decisions. In social media environments, individuals are motivated to engage in less-effortful information processing and are more likely to trade accuracy for speed in the decision-making process.

The current study also found another reason for further examining the role of involvement in social media environments. It has been assumed that persuasion is less likely to occur through emotional messages when an individual is highly involved in an issue because people tend to scrutinize issue-relevant information. However, our findings suggest that emotional messages can be more persuasive than informational messages regardless of the level of involvement, especially in the online youth sport community context, and these findings can be explained by the types of information individuals seek in online communities. Objective information about a youth program (e.g., fees, coaches’ experience, facilities) can be easily found through sources such as the youth program’s website, but people also tend to seek others’ prior experiences and emotionally supportive messages when joining online communities.
It is important to stress that the attitude–intention relationship varies with involvement levels. Our study shows that the attitudes of high-involvement participants are more predictive of the intention to perform a specific act (e.g., signing up a youth sport program) than the attitudes of low-involvement participants. Our findings regarding the attitude–intention relationship suggest that the moderating effect of involvement on that relationship is applicable to not only traditional media environments (e.g., Krosnick, 1988; Verplanken, 1989), but also to social media environments.

In addition to the theoretical implications of this study, understanding parents’ information processing in assessing youth sport program is an integral part of the sport communication landscape. With the growing importance of (local) parenting community groups on social media and the impact of user generated message, this study will help youth sport service providers understand the effective way of crafting online information. This study will shed lights on communication strategies for youth sport providers when they try to utilize a form of testimonial in introducing their services to the market. This study will also lead how social influencer marketing would be employed in delivering and disseminating the promotional messages to the consumers.

This study has some limitations. All its subjects were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Although MTurk respondents tend to be more diverse than student samples in terms of demographic, psychographic, and geographic characteristics, some reliability issues (e.g., the work ethic of MTurk respondents) are unavoidable (3). Another limitation is that this study was conducted with samples of people who had parenting experiences because the study used a youth soccer program to develop the experimental stimuli, and the context of parenting might amplify reactions to emotional messages. We therefore recommend that future studies be conducted with more diverse samples and more popular sports topics (e.g., local sports events) in order to exclude the specific study topic and characteristics of the sample as potentially confounding factors.

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