18. Research in Sports Pedagogy
Paper
Playing by the Rules in British University Sport: A Multi-Institution Case Study of Student-Athlete Experiences of Racism and White Neutrality
Joanne Hill1, Gavin Ward2, Ronnie Richards2, David Scott3, Alun Hardman4, Lisa Edwards4
1University of Bedfordshire; 2University of Wolverhampton; 3Abertay University; 4Cardiff Metropolitan University
Presenting Author: Hill, Joanne
This paper summarises the findings of a twelve-month research project commissioned by British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) to explore race and equality among non-white student-athletes, participants in university recreational physical activity, and staff leading, coaching, and managing university sport.
The experience of racism continues across all areas of peoples’ lives and its consequences are destructive. Inequalities attributable to racial identity are consistently reported across key social intuitions, not least education. Debate concerning race has consistently challenged ‘post-race’ narratives that rationalise racism down to individual prejudices and explains racial inequalities through poor individual decision-making (Hylton, 2005, 2021). Post-race narratives are often set into ideas of societal meritocracy that believe everyone has equal access to resources and influence, and individual talent and hard work is equally rewarded (Bimper, 2017). In university sport, the educational achievements, athleticism and professionalism of Black student-athletes are viewed through ostensibly neutral and meritocratic lenses rather than considering institutional inequalities (Bimper, 2017; Singer, 2005). Much of this research on student-athletes analyses US institutions; in the UK, recent examination of university sport in regard to LGBTQ+ inclusion notes ‘tokenistic’ policies within a culture of homophobia and misogyny (Phipps, 2020).
Two research questions were posed:
- What are the experiences of non-white students and staff of university sport?
- How are the sport and physical activity experiences of non-white students considered strategically and operationally by universities?
This paper reports on analysis and conclusions relating to the first research question, specifically experiences of university sport among non-white students. Non-white was chosen as a term to focus attention upon the voices of those who do not share the racial majority of those who lead, coach, and participate in university sport (Long and Hylton, 2022).
The data were approached from a Critical Race Theory and Intersectional perspective. CRT promotes seeing race and racism as central features of society; critiques colour-blind approaches; and centres marginalised voices (Hylton, 2005; Solorzano and Yosso, 2001). People’s experiences are spread across different contexts and are experienced through different intersecting identities including gender, class, race, and ethnicity (Collins, 1986). This spread also means that it is not easy for participants to compartmentalise their lives before, during and beyond university. Deep explorations of personal experiences and looking to recruit participants who may not respond to a survey became key requirements of the research methodology.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedA qualitative research approach was considered the most feasible means to explore the nuances of participants’ experiences and how their identities are produced through and within different contexts. The commissioned research tender was based on a partnership of researchers geographically spread across the UK. Over an eight-month period, a research team of staff and student researchers explored the experiences of 66 staff and students across five universities. These case studies captured insight into a range of university and student populations. In-depth interviews were used to explore experiences of being a student-athlete in university sport and/or recreational physical activity at their home campus and when playing fixtures at other universities.
Student participants were interviewed by student researchers recruited from each institution’s student body. Student researchers were employed to lower the power differential that can occur between staff and students. Training was provided to student researchers by the research team, through regular meetings and reviews of interview transcripts. These interactions also functioned to support monitoring and care of both participants and student researchers. To avoid racialising the research participants, they were asked how they identified themselves in relation to race and ethnicity. Snowball sampling was used to recruit research participants, plus calls via institution and student union communication channels.
Initial analysis began with research teams from each case study analysing data from a small sample of student and staff transcripts drawn from one case study. Key analytical questions were drawn from the research questions and used to develop an initial analysis and themes. The lead researchers from each of the collaborating universities then shared the meta-analysis framework with their local research team to analyse their own student-athlete data set. During this phase there was a strong emphasis on assessing and identifying similarities and differences in interpretations within the local research team, as well as critical assessments of the overall effectiveness of that framework. The core research team then met to share their interpretations, and discussions focussed upon how to achieve parity across the case studies. The use of a mixture of analytical questions and themes supported both a broad and contextual analysis of the data and similar patterns of analysis were developed from the sample data. Each case study was developed using a common framework and this served to draw together the key findings of the research across the multiple case studies.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe student data produced two core themes of ‘Play by the Rules’ and ‘Keep You Guessing’, characterised by negotiating whiteness.
Racism and racial bias were present risks for non-white student-athletes, requiring them to constantly negotiate Whiteness and white sporting spaces (Bimper, 2017). All students engaged in additional labour to seek a sense of belonging. For instance, non-drinkers were distanced from the social ties built around a partying culture that created a challenge to feeling an equally respected member of a squad. There was no consistent approach to collating demographic data about students who participate in sport and recreational programmes; a colour-blind or passive approach to inclusion reinforced White-centric assumptions about experiences in sport (Hylton, 2021).
Explicit racism occurred as isolated incidents and did not have a regular pattern. Racial abuse could be very subtle, camouflaged in comments and actions by players and teams that happened momentarily; such abuse was implausible to capture and evidence. Racial abuse was used by opponents to try to gain advantage by ‘fishing’ for an explicit response and adverse judgement from competition officials. Lines of explicit responsibility for the management of crowd behaviour are not clearly established. The search for evidence becomes prioritised over care for the victim. Thus, the perpetrator is privileged, and responsibility placed upon the victim to seek justice. Findings resonate with other enquiries into British university sport (Phipps, 2020) that equality and inclusion are not viewed as requiring ongoing enactment.
We draw conclusions relating to robust mechanisms of reporting racial abuse and supporting non-white student-athletes’ participation, including tackling a white-centric culture and assumptions about student needs. Higher education institutions should collate data about inclusion in sport and physical activity ‘offers’, listen to experiences of imbalances in power, and commit to proactive equality practices and action plans.
ReferencesBimper, A. Y. (2017). Mentorship of Black student-athletes at a predominately White American university: critical race theory perspective on student-athlete development. Sport, Education and Society, 22(2), 175–193.
Collins, P. (1986). Learning from the outsider within: The sociological significance of Black feminist thought. Social Problems, 33, S14–S31.
Harper, S. (2012). Race without racism: How higher education researchers minimize racist institutional norms. The Review of Higher Education, 36(1S), 9–29.
Hylton, K. (2021). Black Lives Matter in sport…? Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 40(1), 41–48.
Hylton, K. (2005). “Race”, sport and leisure: Lessons from critical race theory. Leisure Studies, 24(1), 81–98.
Long, J. & Hylton, K. (2002). Shades of white: an examination of whiteness in sport, Leisure Studies, 21, 87-103
Phipps, C. (2020). “We already do enough around equality and diversity”: Action taken by student union officers to promote LGBT+ inclusion in university sport. Sociology of Sport Journal, 37(4), 310–318.
Singer, J. N. (2005). Understanding racism through the eyes of African American male student‐athletes. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8, 365–386.
Solorzano, D. and Yosso, T., (2001), Critical Race and Latcrit Theory and Method: Counter-Storytelling, Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(4), 471–495.
18. Research in Sports Pedagogy
Paper
The Global Design Challenge for Sport and Physical Activity and its impact: An Evaluation
Fiona Chambers
University College Cork, Ireland
Presenting Author: Chambers, Fiona
Introduction
The university-led Global Design Challenge for Sport and Physical Activity (GDC) was founded by author in April 2020 and is now entering its fourth year. It enjoys UNESCO patronage. The GDC is a global, online innovation challenge, designed initially in response to the pandemic's impact on sport and physical activity. The challenge set is fully informed by a desk study, which surfaced the most relevant challenges facing sport and physical activity (O’Neill et al, 2021). The GDC crowdsources ideas which hack this challenge, using design thinking for incubation and impact.
The GDC vision is a world where everyone has the right to enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of being physically active across their lifespan. The GDC mission is to support the creation and development of new innovative ideas from around the world that enable people of all ages and abilities to lead active healthy lives. In particular, the GDC strives to promote and support the Kazan Action Plan 2017 which calls out seven United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which pertain to physical education, physical activity and sport. The GDC goals are:
Goal 1: To support innovation in sport and physical activity;
Goal 2: To support the achievement of the sustainable development goals through life-long engagement in sport and physical activity;
Goal 3: To promote evidence-based solutions and sustainable behavioral change in respect of engagement in sport and physical activity;
Goal 4: To establish a global competition and platform for new ideas in sport and physical activity to emerge;
Goal 5: To support the progression, piloting, and scaling of new ideas in sport and physical activity that can be tailored to local contexts;
Goal 6: To bring individuals and organisations together globally to create sustainable engagement in physical activity throughout life;
Goal 7: To close the gap between policy and grassroots in sport and physical activity;
Goal 8: To promote and teach design thinking as a means of addressing complex global problems.
The underpinning theoretical framework for the GDC leans on the following three interconnected pillars: A Human-Centred Approach to Innovation (Brown, 2008); The paradigm of design thinking (Laursen & Tollestrup, 2018); and The Social Innovation Ecosystem Model (Audretsch, Eichler & Schwarz 2022, p.234 adapted from Isenberg, 2011).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe GDC impact study uses a mixed methodology i.e., both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. As an evaluation tool, it utilises an indicator-based approach called the Theory of Change Logic Model (TOCLM) (Weiss, 1995) to check the impact of the GDC in relation to its eight goals. The TOCLM unpacks these impacts at a meta level under the following categories: cultural, economic, educational, environmental, health, political, social and technological, and within time horizons (short, medium, long-term). The declared impacts are underpinned by specific metrics i.e., (a) Engagement and Attribution, and (b) Reach and Significance. In addition, the annual submissions to the GDC online platform are harvested as living case studies to showcase the ideas being submitted by teams and the journey of those who enter the incubator(s).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings show the attainment of all eight GDC goals. Here are findings pertaining to two of these goals:
GDC Goal 4: To establish a global competition and platform for new ideas in sport and physical activity to emerge. This shows strong evidence of Engagement and Attributions and Reach and Significance:
(i) GDC 2020 (https://global-design-challenge.devpost.com/): 187 participants from 40 countries, 38 projects from 25 countries.
(ii) GDC 2021 (https://gdc2021.devpost.com/): 256 participants from 53 countries, 58 team submissions from 16 countries, 10 projects furthered through funding and support.
(iii) GDC 2022 (https://gdc2022.devpost.com/): 136 participants from 25 countries, 36 team submissions from 14 countries.
GDC Goal 5: To support the progression, piloting, and scaling of new ideas in sport and physical activity that can be tailored to local contexts. We can see movement of GDC ideas to incubation i.e., the GDC judging panel has identified ideas worthy of investment and incubation. Since July 2020, over 20 GDC team ideas have entered the incubator programme. From these, five are being tested and scaled intensively in a university incubator, one in an international accelerator, and two within our international partner organisations.
Finally, in terms of the relevance of the GDC story to this conference, it is clear that the GDC imbues diversity at every level - (i) The GDC fosters the design thinking mindset in teams which relies on diversity of thought and disposition; (ii) The GDC Management Team is diverse being comprised of academics, leaders of non-governmental organisations and business-leaders and incubator leaders; and (iii) the makeup of competing GDC teams themselves, which cut across gender, time-zone, expertise, sector, etc. These three characteristics of the GDC show how it embodies the theme of ECER 2023 i.e., the value of diversity in education and educational research.
ReferencesAudretsch, D.B., Eichler, G.M. & Schwarz, E.J. (2022). Emerging needs ofsocial innovators andsocial innovation ecosystems 1International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal (2022) 18: 217-254
Isenberg, D. (2011). The entrepreneurship ecosystem strategy as a new paradigm for economic policy: Principles for cultivating entrepreneurship.Presentation at the Institute of International and European Affairs,1(781), 1-13.
Laursen, LN & Tollestrup, C. 2017. Design Thinking - A Paradigm. DS 87-2 Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 17) Vol 2: Design Processes, Design Organisation and Management, Vancouver, Canada, 21-25.08. 2017
Weiss, C. (1995). Nothing as Practical as Good Theory: Exploring Theory-Based Evaluation for Comprehensive Community Initiatives for Children and Families in Connell, J, Kubisch, A, Schorr, L, and Weiss, C. (Eds.) ‘New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives’. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.
18. Research in Sports Pedagogy
Paper
Gendered Movement Learning: an Analysis of the Women’s Spanish Olympic Karate Team Styles of Fighting
Fabiana Turelli1, Alexandre Vaz2, David Kirk3
1University of Manitoba, Canada. Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain; 2Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil; 3University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. University of Queensland, Australia.
Presenting Author: Turelli, Fabiana
Our purpose was, in an analogy with Young’s (1980) ‘throwing like a girl’, to investigate what it means to learn ‘to fight like a girl’ and if there is a feminine fighting style evident among women karate elite athletes. We adopt a critical feminist position, taking inspiration from the work of Iris Marion Young on the feminine within physical pursuits such as throwing or fighting like a girl, and Nyberg’s contributions to the development of learning theories in physical education and sport.
Karate, organized by weight categories, has room for different body types. Starting with Young’s (1980, 144) writing, ‘one can nevertheless sensibly speak of a general feminine style of body behaviour and movement’, we described main features for each female weight. Such description allowed the observation of general characteristics of the fighting styles. We structured findings in first, ‘fighting like a girl’, presenting the analysis of the criteria, and second, ‘specificities of girls’ embodied knowing in movement’, focusing on movement capability and embodied learning as background for the learning and development of fighting styles (Nyberg 2015; 2021).
Regarding the analysed criteria, Use of space, expansive male movements, and restricted female movements make the first set trying to say that women fighters present inferior performance in comparison to men fighters. The comparisons are constant. We, however, neither agree with the inferiority that mainly karateka men attribute to women, nor consider the comparison itself worthwhile. Social burdens count for female and male resourcefulness, the former being given a position of object in a wide range of environments, and the latter of subject. Considering the normative context of karate, women could keep a position of self-consciousness about their bodies and ways to move diminishing their possibilities for performance, while men could build their embodied awareness relatively more easily (Mason 2018; Standal and Bratten 2021).
A second set of criteria Less risk taking, less aggressive, and difficulty in complex time-gesture coordination can be summarised to a matter of perspective. This is so that often athletes and coaches present opposite views about same issues. For example, women athletes consider themselves to be aggressive, while for coaches that should be highly improved.
Less projection work, sweeps, melee work was the third set of criteria, since women are considered by coaches to present a natural inability to perform these complex movements. Traditional martial pedagogy (Cynarsky, Obodynsk, and Zeng 2012) proposes the achievement of an elevated moral level through the development of the character of practitioners (Funakoshi 2003). However, in the gender binary organization followed by this pedagogy, men and women correspond to different places in terms of morality. Once the environment is built on hierarchy and a stream of tradition that is passed on, teachings received are going to be retransmitted with priority over formal pedagogy. Then, the common position given to women in the field, that of inability to perform some movements is spread and passed on, and (often) embodied by the women.
A fourth set of criteria, tactical work, more careful and assertive, do the basics necessary to score, showed different perspectives. Coaches tend to consider that women ‘think too much’ to carry out good tactical work, and athletes understand they are very attentive and this is a good thing. This presents itself as part of social-karateka construction, building women fighters normatively following the traditional martial pedagogy, but expecting them to perform non-normatively. It seems to be of fundamental importance to achieve embodied self-knowledge (Standal and Bratten 2021) in order to develop movement capability (Nyberg 2015) and be sure of the person’s own potentialities in a mixture of resisting and giving in.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis paper refers to a part of a broader study. We have carried out an ethnography project with autoethnographic elements. For the specific content reported here, we have carried out a video analysis in order to observe and analyse the gendered martial-sportive movement learning and performance of women elite karate fighters. We developed a series of criteria to carry out this task supported by the literature, coaches’ perspectives and athletes’ views. We used these criteria qualitatively to describe and discuss the fighting styles of the women, looking for the obvious and not so obvious aspects of combat in karate from a gender perspective.
We have interviewed twice each both the women’s Spanish Olympic karate athletes team and their male coaches in preparation for the Tokyo Games 2020 (2021). Participants in the study reported here included ten women practitioners of kumite, the modality within karate that corresponds to the fight and is organized in weight categories, and four men coaches. For this analysis, their interviews were considered as well as 20 videos of the women athletes displaying, according to their own judgements, their best athletic performances. They were asked to send us two videos in competitions, and they did so.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn karateka environment, to fight like a girl means, for men practitioners, not only to fight differently due to social feminine construction of girls as Young explains but also to keep the childish condition of a girl through life and not be able to throw the opponent at all. For them, to fight like a girl means inferior performance in comparison with men. However, for us, it means ‘to fight’, not just on the mat. The perpetual comparisons between male and female sport position the former hierarchically higher when the comparison itself is unworthy, promoting a feeling of superiority on an unequal basis, supported on a traditional and normative pedagogy.
Regarding a fighting style, there is a feminine way of fighting, but only with generalized characteristics, since there is a rich plurality of styles. The gendered embodiment, cultivated throughout life, cannot be easily annulled. Even though women are magnificent in the execution of karate techniques, they perform under both sportive and traditional martial pedagogy that they are taught, scenarios where the binary conception of gender is hegemonic and severely challenges them. Notwithstanding, while karateka women face several difficulties to perform in the traditional and normative karate environment, they challenge the environment too by being there. The very beginning of karate is narrated as being a way of resistance (White, 2014). Men started to fight to defend their lives or property. Currently, perhaps it can be said that women assumed this position, fighting to resist, discovering ways of resisting domination. Even though they are often invited to leave the martial-sportive field, their action of remaining is creating space, no matter how slow the process. This picture gives a historical perspective, where the structure as much as the agents, once we keep fighting, may be redesigned, hopefully in a more just way.
ReferencesCynarsky, W. J., K. Obodynsk, and H. Z. Zeng. 2012. Martial Arts Anthropology for Sport Pedagogy and Physical Education. Revista Romaneasca pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 4:2: 129-152.
Funakoshi, G. 2003. The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
Mason, K. 2018. “Gendered embodiment.” Handbook of the Sociology of Gender, Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_7
Nyberg, G. 2015. “Developing a “somatic velocimeter” – the practical knowledge of freeskiers.” Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 7(1): 109-124, DOI: 10.1080/2159676X.2013.857709
Nyberg, G., D. Barker, and H. Larsson. 2021. “Learning in the educational landscapes of juggling, unicycling, and dancing.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 26(3): 279-292. DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2021.1886265
Nyberg, G., and I. Carlgren. 2015. “Exploring capability to move – somatic grasping of house-hopping.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 20(6): 612-628. DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2014.882893
Reich, W. 1995. Análise do Caráter. São Paulo, Martins Fontes.
Roth, A., and S. A. Basow. 2004. “Femininity, Sports, and Feminism: Developing a Theory of Physical Liberation”. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 28(3): 245-265. DOI: 10.1177/0193723504266990
Standal, O. F., and J. H. Bratten. 2021. ““Feeling better”: embodied self-knowledge as an aspect of movement capability.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2021.1886268
White, L. 2014. Lau Kar-leung with Walter Benjamin: Storytelling, Authenticity, Film Performance and Martial Arts Pedagogy. Jomecjournal. 1-20.
Young, I. M. 1980. “Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality.” Human Studies, 3: 137-156.
18. Research in Sports Pedagogy
Paper
Facilitating Diversity in Sports: Immigrant Women’s Pathways into Sports Leadership
Jennie Ryding1,2, Krister Hertting1, Linn Håman1, Eva-Carin Lindgren1
1Halmstad University, Sweden; 2University West, Sweden
Presenting Author: Ryding, Jennie;
Hertting, Krister
Sports, with its strong network of volunteer-based clubs, is often highlighted as a possible way of including newcomers in a new society (Spaaij et al., 2019). Participation in sports can, in addition to physical training, create a sense of belonging and an insight into the new society for newcomers (Walseth, 2008). However, studies point out that clubs and leaders generally require more intercultural knowledge and a readiness to understand the different cultural backgrounds of participants (Spaaij et al., 2019). This is in line with other studies (Dowling, 2020; Hertting & Karlefors, 2021; Flensner et al., 2020), that question voluntary sports clubs’ ability to meet culturally diverse participants. Previous research on female immigrants as participants in sport exists (e.g., Painter & Price, 2021). However, more research needs to focus on female leadership (e.g., Dadswell et al.,2022), forming the rationale for the present research project investigating this matter from different perspectives.
In Sweden, almost 70% of children and youth participate in sports clubs. Differences in representation do, however, exist where girls with immigrant backgrounds are the least represented group. This difference is also reflected in leadership, where representation of gender is skewed and even more skewed the higher up in the leadership structure. In general, more men than women are leaders, and the least represented group in leadership is women with immigrant backgrounds (Fundberg, 2017). To promote inclusion in sports and increase gender equality, representation needs to be addressed and prioritized to a greater extent. One way forward is to strengthen and increase diversity in leadership. An increased number of female leaders with immigrant backgrounds have the potential to create leadership role models who appeal to one of the most underrepresented groups of members in sport, that is girls and women with immigrant backgrounds.
Aim and objectives
By investigating female immigrants’ experiences of their path to participation and leadership in sports, the aim of the study is to explore experiences and turning points that have enabled women with immigrant backgrounds to enter and develop leadership in Swedish sports.
Theoretical framework
This study is based on the assumptions of so-called turning points; unforeseen events of different character that might influence immigrant women's life and possible career development (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997). Turning points can be forced, self-initiated, or structural (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997), with the potential to offer immigrant women opportunities to be included in contexts supporting inclusion in sports and a new society. Turnings points might be life events that cannot be predicted. To study the role of career development and turning points in immigrant women’s sports leadership, Hodkinson and Sparkes (1997) model of career paths is used. The model is useful since it is argued to avoid two possible pitfalls: social determinism and considering immigrant women as free agents. The model, thus, considers the tension between individuals' unequal life chances connected with and structured by gender, class, and ethnicity, and assumptions about the individual's free choice in relation to market forces. The model includes three basic concepts: horizons for action, turning points, and routines. The concepts are closely linked to each other and to learning, and when a decision is made within a turning point, the person's habitus is changed (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study follows a multiple case study design (Yin, 2018), which enables a close examination of women's individual life stories to explore different and specific narratives of turning points and critical life events, as well as potential relationships between the women's life stories.
Participants were recruited by using snowball sampling. The selection criteria for participation were made up to be first-generation female immigrants holding a leadership position within the Swedish sports community. Primarily, women who were club- or confederation leaders (boards and similar) were requested. Additional inclusion criteria were experienced forced migration from non-Western European countries (excl. U.S./other Western countries) and to be able to express themselves and to describe their experiences in Swedish. In total, 11 women participated in the interviews. The women shared different backgrounds and experiences of the sports movement. Participants were recruited from all of Sweden, with an age range of 21 to 49 years. Due to recruitment difficulties, flexibility regarding inclusion criteria was needed. For example, some participants were engaged in leadership through their work, rather than non-profit/civic engagement.
Data were produced using semi-structured interviews following the life history principle and a biographical survey (Barker-Ruchti, et al., 2015). Biographical mapping is a tool for developing and deepening the interviews and is useful for reconstructing life stories in relation to social, personal, and developmental aspects. Biographical mapping also helps to obtain data that enables the "identification of important life transitions, critical events, and turning points" (Parry et al., 1999, p. 2), thus enabling participants to mark their career path in sports alongside other central life events on the accompanying grid. The visualization of the turning points in terms of importance and time helped to create additional discussion points (Barker-Ruchti, et al., 2015).
The data analysis has not yet been conducted but an abductive approach will be used. Depending on insights from the initial phase of the analysis, one or more scientific articles will be produced, based on the study’s overall aim. The analysis will start with identifying how immigrant women entered, participated, and became leaders in sports, reflecting an inductive analytical procedure. In the following phase, Hodkinson and Sparkes’s (1997) theory of career paths will be used to identify critical events and turning points according to the different types (structural, forced, and self-initiated) described in theory (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997). Finally, turning points will be analyzed in relation to the aim and specific research questions.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsBy the time of writing this abstract, data analysis has not been conducted. However, some general patterns can be discerned in the participants’ stories. Just a few participants had an experience of exercising leadership in their home country. Similarly, few expressed a previously held vision or goal of becoming a leader in sports. Coincidence instead seemed to be a reason behind becoming engaged in leadership. Another pattern among the shared life stories is participants’ experiences of people in their vicinity playing an essential role in being where they are today, in life in general, and in reaching their leadership positions. Participants shared stories of specific persons who had shown trust and belief in them. These persons were argued to have infused the participants with confidence and courage, believing that they could do whatever they wanted and with the capacity to reach their goals. Although a supportive environment seems important, individual motivation and goals can also be discerned, with participants’ life stories indicating a high degree of self-motivation. Furthermore, participants shared stories that indicate confidence and purposefulness, making up what appear to be essential characteristics for finding and taking place in a “new” society and culture, reaching a position within sports, and a possible sense of belonging.
One’s attitude and approach to the situation, to see opportunities, enabled by individual attributes such as independence, courage, and curiosity, was also described as important for finding a way into and taking place in a new society. A central aim of the analysis is to identify turning points in the participants’ lives, essential for becoming a leader in sports, as well as to reach insight that can promote further recruitment of immigrant women into leadership in sports.
ReferencesBarker-Ruchti, N., Lindgren, E.C., Hofmann, A.R., Sinning, S. & Shelton, C. (2015). Tracing the career paths of top-level women football coaches: Turning points to understand and develop sport coaching careers. Sports Coaching Review, 3(2), 117-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2015.1035859
Dadswell, K., Mandicos, M., Flowers, E. P., & Hanlon, C. (2022). Women from Culturally Diverse Backgrounds in Sport Leadership: A Scoping Review of Facilitators and Barriers. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 1-30. DOI: 10.1177/01937235221134612
Dowling, F. (2020). A critical discourse analysis of a local enactment of sport for integration policy: Helping young refugees or self-help for voluntary sports clubs? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 55(8), 1152-1166. DOI: 10.177/1012690219874437
Fundberg, J. (2017). Idrottsrörelsen och samhällsnyttan - fokus på etnisk mångfald och integration. I: Idrottens samhällsnytta. En vetenskaplig översikt av idrottsrörelsens mervärden för individ och samhälle. [The sports movement and social benefits - focus on ethnic diversity and integration. In: The social benefit of sport. A scientific overview of the sports movement's added value for individuals and society] Research Report 2017:1. Stockholm: Swedish Sport Confederation.
Hertting, K., & Karlefors, I. (2021) “We can’t get stuck in old ways”: Swedish sports club’s integration efforts with children and youth in migration. Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research, 2021. DOI: 10.2478/pcssr-2021-0023
Hodkinson, P., & Sparkes, A. C. (1997). Careership: A sociological theory of career decision making. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 18, 29–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142569970180102
Flensner, K. K., Korp, P., & Lindgren, E. C. (2021). Integration into and through sports? Sport-activities for migrant children and youths. European Journal for Sport and Society, 18(1), 64-81.DOI: 10.1080/16138171.2020.1823689
Painter, E., & Price, M. (2021). Creating social capital on soccer fields: Immigrant opportunities and gendered barriers in adult soccer leagues. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(7), 1631-1648. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1602030
Parry, O., Thompson, C., & Fowkes, G. (1999). Life course data collection: qualitative interviewing using the life grid. Sociological research online, 4(2), 102-112.
Spaaij, R., Broerse, J., Oxford, S., Luguetti, C., McLachlan, F., McDonald, B., Klepac, B., Lymbery, L., Bishara, J., & Pankowiak, A. (2019). Sport, Refugees and Forced Migration: A Critical Review of the Literature. Frontiers in Sport and Active Living, 1, 1-18.
Walseth, K. (2008). Bridging and bonding social capital in sport—experiences of young women with an immigrant background. Sport, education and society, 13(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573320701780498
Yin, R.K. (2018). Case study research and applications: design and methods. (Sixth edition). SAGE.
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