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Sports and Socialization

Kyle Harris, Joel Worthington and Jessica Southern

Socialization

"a process of learning and social development which occurs as we interact with one another and become familiar with social worlds" (Coakley, 2015, p. 52).

Socialization

  • The process
  • Social Interaction Model
  • Research

Coakley, 2015

The Process

The process

Socialization through sport occurs is an active process. An athlete is not passively influenced by coaches and teammates and the team environment. An athlete actively participates in and interprets messages from the social world of their sport.

Two Way Street

In other words, socialization is a two way street. By deciding what to within the relationships through which we are socialized we impact social worlds in return.

Opportunities

Not everyone has the same options to shape their surrounding social world or choose how it shapes them. Coakley provides an example in which one athlete receives better coaching than another, and thus theoretically will have more opportunities to use that socialization through sport to better shape his or her life.

The social interaction model is the two-street concept, whereas the personal internalization model is more a one-way street concept. As a child internalizes norms from their family and society and abide them, social learning occurs.

Social Interaction Model

If enough people internalize and accept the norms society operates at higher level. However, this approach has proven limited in its usefulness to exploring and explaining socialization.

Research: Snapshots vs Videos

Research

Most sports sociology has relied on qualitative data gathered through in-depth interviews and field observations. Fewer subjects are studied but a more thorough understanding is obtained than through studying a larger sample size using quantitative means like written questionnaires.

The previous method gives better context much a video, while the former provides only a snapshot in time. However, the following examples are drawn from both snapshots and videos.

The Process of Becoming an Elite Athlete

Becoming and Staying Involved in Sport

Coakley, 2015

Imagine for a moment you are an athlete at the elite level of your sport……..

Imagine

Feels good doesn't it? You were born with ample talent, but beyond the talent you most likely had two factors working in your favor.

Factors

Relationships

Favorable social conditions and personal relationships shaped and supported the environment for you to thrive and display your talents from the earliest ages.

You underwent a process of introduction and involvement, which probably involved having both the opportunity and the social support of parents and caretakers to participate in a variety of athletic opportunities.

Introduction and Involvement

Very often the introduction to those various sports occurred through your parents and other family members. They helped you whittle down your options and ultimately choose which area of sport you wanted to specialize in. All of this left you feeling personally connected to your sport.

Identity

Other relationships directly related to sports sprang up and blossomed as you advanced through childhood and into adolescence. Your own reputation and identity as an athlete emerged and was constantly being remade through relationships to teammates, coaches, scouts, recruiters, parents, fans, and sports media.

The burden of long hours spent in practice, travel, and games was made worth it as you made continuous choices to stay involved and willingly undergo the sacrifices involved with becoming elite.

Active Choices

The relationships formed through your sport and your identity as an athlete combined with the support system which first introduced you to the sport strengthened your commitment and resolve.

The Process of Being Accepted as an Athlete

The Process of Being Accepted

Coakley, 2015

In addition to the enormous amounts of time and effort you put into developing your world-class talent, you had to navigate being accepted by other athletes in your sport.

All the praise from coaches for your talent was not enough. You had to demonstrate a baseline level of knowledge regarding your sport, as well as successfully interact with other athletes and learn what they expected of you, all so you were eventually recognized and accepted in the culture surrounding your sport.

More experienced athletes tested you before accepting you, listening to hear you say and do the right things to justify your acceptance as an athlete.

Nor was gaining acceptance a one-time thing, and even now acceptance as an athlete has been an ongoing process and you have had to fight to maintain your identity throughout your entire playing career.

To Participate or Not Participate

To Participate or not Participate

Young people will choose to participate as an athlete only if they believe sports can help them gain respect and recognition, achieve more control in their lives, and cause them to be perceived as being more competent.

In your situation (going back to the elite athlete scenario), sports participation was an avenue for you to increase feelings of control of your life and allowed you explore other aspects of your personality.

Just because a child or teenager may choose to forgo participation does not mean they may not come back at a later date in life and decide sports participation will now benefit them. This illustrates how people gauge whether or not to participate differently at various ages and stages of life.

For some of your peers from childhood and adolescence, sports participation was perceived to hinder the amount of control over their lives and limited opportunities to explore other avenues to explore and develop their identities.

Looking outside of America, some of your peers from other cultures faced challenges in their societies which completely eliminated the opportunity to play sports.

Whether potential athletes choose at a young age to compete or not is heavily based on whether or not they see sports as hindering or helping their life on into the future.

Ending Sport Participation

Ending Participation

  • The process all athletes go through when it is time to hang it up

  • Reasons that lead to that decision

  • Why that decision is made from a mental aspect

Coakley, 2015

The Process

Research conducted during the mid-late 20th century concluded the following:

Cutting Ties?

Ending sport participation does not mean cutting ties with sports

Cutting ties?

Coakley, 2015

Dialing it Back

As athletes age, they participate in less strenuous and competitive sports

Dialing it back

Coakley, 2015

Transitions

Life development and transitions usually lead to ending sports participation

Transitions

Coakley, 2015

Fallout

Fallout may occur for those who have long, sustained sports careers

Fallout

Coakley, 2015

Reasons

Reasons

Studies from the late 20th century through early 21st century concluded the following reasons regarding ending sports participation:

Burnout

  • Feeling as if there is no control
  • Not allowed to develop or explore other areas of interest
  • Increased stress that made the game no longer fun

Coakley, 2015

Moving On

  • Voluntary decision
  • Often comes with relapses
  • Coincides with the need to progress in life (get a job, support yourself or a family, etc.)
  • Understanding realistic limitations with where sport can take them

Coakley, 2015

Retirement

  • Due to injury
  • Reached maximum heights
  • Social relationships
  • Cultural expectations
  • Can no longer participate in a manner affective enough to continue

Coakley, 2015

Why

Why

The why to ending sports participation is largely internal. While physical limitations play a role, most participants end their time playing sports due to personal decisions made regarding the direction of their life.

Burnout

Burnout amongst athletes is a result of a "cognitive-affective syndrome characterized by perceptions of emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced accomplishment, and devaluation of sport" (Ecklund and Defreese, 2017).

Moving On

The mental capacity remained, and maybe even the physical capacity, but life changing around them caused athletes to reevaluate priorities. Whether it was getting married, having a baby, or simply realizing that sports would not take you any further, participants made the decision to move on to another stage in their lives.

Coakley, 2015

Retirement

Whether it was due to injury or due to the fact that they had reached the pinnacle of their career with nothing left to accomplish, participants retire from sports as active members. Often these athletes turn to roles that keep them involved in the game indirectly (coaching, management, training, etc.)

Coakley, 2015

How do sports affect our lives?

How do sports affect our lives?

  • Experiences from sport participants

  • Social worlds created and maintained in connection to sports

  • Sports sites/social locations ideologies are expressed, changed, and challenged

Coakley, 2015

Experiences

Experiences From Sports Participants

  • current view
  • highlights
  • positive and negative socialization

Coakley, 2015

Current View

"Today we view sports as sites for socialization experiences, rather than causes of specific socialization outcomes" (Coakley, 2015, p.69).

Highlights

"Sports are social locations rich in their potential for providing memorable and meaningful personal, social, cultural experiences" (Coakley, 2015, p.69).

"Sports do not cause particular change in character traits, attitudes, and actions of athletes or spectators" (Coakley, 2015, p.69).

Sports are sites where positive and negative socialization occurs through social processes and relationships.

Positive Impact of Youth Sports

Participating in youth sports provide an opportunity for children to increase activity and build social skills. It also provides support in team games and has positive physical and psychological benefits.

Psychological benefits include increased confidence, motivation, and less anxiety and stress. It increases the development of friendships.

Merkel, 2013

Negative Impact of Youth Sports

There is a risk of injury for children who participate in youth sports.

Burnout is increased due to sport specialization. As well as, social isolation due to being engulfed in their specific sport.

Merkel, 2013

Both positive and Negative socialization occurs through sports.

Positive

Relationships are developed through experiences of athletes playing together. The memories shared and the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about the same experiences creates an emotional connection. This gives meaning to the sport and their lives.

Negative

Athletes do not see the team environment as a positive atmosphere where they can be open and express their true selves and feelings.

Coakley, 2015

It is important to nurture the team enviornment and strive to set a positive atmosphere among athletes. Therefore, when stress arises, those enviornmental factors are minimal, and the positive social relationships among tammates outweights the negative thoughts.

Social Worlds

Social World

"an identifiable sphere of everyday actions and relationships" (Coakley, 2015, p. 71).

  • Sports bring people together for one united purpose.
  • "Engulfment": Lessons learned in sports are not carried over into everyday life. -Peter & Patti Adler

Coakley, 2015

Sport World

Each specific sport is considered a social world.

Example: "the golf world"

Research

studied through qualitative research which reveals information about socialization processes and experiences.

  • Observations
  • Interviews

Coakley, 2015

Sport World Influences

Research helps outsiders get a better understanding and perception of what takes place in those worlds.

It reveals the connections and how athletes identify with sports which reflects their decisons.

Coakley, 2015

Sports sites

Sports as sites

  • stories
  • community & cultural process
  • hegemony
  • summary

Coakley, 2015

Stories

Socialization occurs through stories that are developed and told. They give meaning to sports, which helps relate to everyday realities.

Ideas and beliefs are established, and what is "natural, normal, and legitimate" in social worlds is revealed.

Coakley, 2015

Community & Cultural Process

Inspired by Antioniao Gramsci, Italian political theorist.

-Powerful leaders maintain control by expressing these things:

  • life was as good as it could be under present conditions
  • any positive things that people experienced were due to the good will and power of current leaders
  • changing the current structure of their society would threaten everything they valued

Coakley, 2015

Hegemony

"a process of maintaining leadership and control by gaining the consent and approval of other groups"(Coakley, 2015, p.75).

Sponsorships allow corporations to be associated with sports, and theses companies become a symbol that express cultural messages.

mental "ideological outpost" are established for those companies which allows them to maintain hegemony.

Coakley, 2015

Summary

Sport impacts our lives through experiences, social worlds, and sport sites.

The impact of sports depends on the meaning of the relationships developed through experiences related to cultural and social factors.

Coakley, 2015

Sources

References

  • Text
  • Articles
  • Images

Text

Text

Sources

Coakley, J. J. (2015). Sports in society: Issues and controversies (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Articles

Journal

Articles

Eklund, R. C., & Defreese, J. (2017, March 21). Burnout in Sport and Performance.

Retrieved from http://psychology.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/ acrefore/9780190236557.001.0001/acrefore-9780190236557-e-165

Merkel, D. (2013). Youth sport: Positive and negative impact on young athletes. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, 4, 151. doi:10.2147/oajsm.s33556

Images

Image

Sources

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bing.com/Images

100 Greatest Sports Photos of All-Time. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.si.com/more-sports/photos/2012/12/17/100-greatest-sports-photos-all-time-final

Moving the world with images. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gettyimages.com/editorial-images/sport

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