This research focuses on the contexts of Korean women professional golfers’ transnational migration, and the ways that US and Korean media represent those athletes. A theoretical framework informed by sociology of sport, postcolonial and transnational feminist studies was employed to illustrate the contexts of the women’s golf migration, and to investigate how transnational Korean women professional golfers are represented in both US and Korean media from 1998 to 2009. Elite discourses—941 media texts from both nations together with government/institutional documents—were collected, Korean texts were translated into English, and document analysis, critical discourse analysis and intersectional analysis were employed. The results illustrate that globalization and neoliberal capitalism, patriarchy, and colonial and imperial history all help to shape the women golfers’ transnational migration paths. The complex contexts also shape the media representations of the women golfers in the two nation-states. In US media, the Korean women golfers are constructed as a racialized and gendered Other within the context of Orientalism, and selective knowledge production in the media maintains and ensures global White supremacy. In Korean media, the women golfers are portrayed as winners under hypermasculine Western forms of globalization and neoliberal reformation of the world order but, at the same time, as keepers and performers of Korean traditional Confucian values. Further, Korean media explain the women’s transnational success as a result of following traditional Korean values and norms; therefore, the women are represented as proud symbols of Korean nationalism and ideal models of productive female subjects in neoliberal globalization. In sum, the Korean women professional golfers are taken up by media in both nation-states as an effective discursive contact zone for making sense of the changing power dynamics of race, gender, and nation under a period of rapid changes of world order.

This thesis examines the school-based Olympic education (OE) programs implemented in the Beijing Olympic Games from both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. The research employs a three-pronged methodology for data collection, using textual analysis, semi-structured interviews with five key informants, and storytelling with six student participants. Findings suggest that OE in China was primarily government-led, with BOCOG, academic experts and numerous volunteers providing expertise and assistance. The students’ narratives shed light on how OE was conceptualized and experienced by its recipients as well as the useful role it served in revitalizing the traditional education system. To strengthen OE during future Games, the thesis recommends that future organizers and host governments embed programs of OE in the ongoing state school systems, set clear learning objectives in advance and monitor and evaluate implementation continually. It also recommends that future researchers continue this students’ focus on the student voice.

This thesis examines the school-based Olympic education (OE) programs implemented in the Beijing Olympic Games from both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. The research employs a three-pronged methodology for data collection, using textual analysis, semi-structured interviews with five key informants, and storytelling with six student participants. Findings suggest that OE in China was primarily government-led, with BOCOG, academic experts and numerous volunteers providing expertise and assistance. The students’ narratives shed light on how OE was conceptualized and experienced by its recipients as well as the useful role it served in revitalizing the traditional education system. To strengthen OE during future Games, the thesis recommends that future organizers and host governments embed programs of OE in the ongoing state school systems, set clear learning objectives in advance and monitor and evaluate implementation continually. It also recommends that future researchers continue this students’ focus on the student voice.

This research focuses on the contexts of Korean women professional golfers’ transnational migration, and the ways that US and Korean media represent those athletes. A theoretical framework informed by sociology of sport, postcolonial and transnational feminist studies was employed to illustrate the contexts of the women’s golf migration, and to investigate how transnational Korean women professional golfers are represented in both US and Korean media from 1998 to 2009. Elite discourses—941 media texts from both nations together with government/institutional documents—were collected, Korean texts were translated into English, and document analysis, critical discourse analysis and intersectional analysis were employed. The results illustrate that globalization and neoliberal capitalism, patriarchy, and colonial and imperial history all help to shape the women golfers’ transnational migration paths. The complex contexts also shape the media representations of the women golfers in the two nation-states. In US media, the Korean women golfers are constructed as a racialized and gendered Other within the context of Orientalism, and selective knowledge production in the media maintains and ensures global White supremacy. In Korean media, the women golfers are portrayed as winners under hypermasculine Western forms of globalization and neoliberal reformation of the world order but, at the same time, as keepers and performers of Korean traditional Confucian values. Further, Korean media explain the women’s transnational success as a result of following traditional Korean values and norms; therefore, the women are represented as proud symbols of Korean nationalism and ideal models of productive female subjects in neoliberal globalization. In sum, the Korean women professional golfers are taken up by media in both nation-states as an effective discursive contact zone for making sense of the changing power dynamics of race, gender, and nation under a period of rapid changes of world order.

The thesis is a case study that seeks to understand the democratic coaching style by observing the practices of a specific democratically-minded girls’ varsity hockey coach at a private secondary school in the Greater Toronto Area. The study first characterizes a democratic coach by comparing the democratic leadership style with other styles of leadership; the study then offers a clear understanding of the methods and practices of the case study coach by organizing the findings of the study into four categories: communication techniques, organizational structure, coaching decisions and strategies, and the environment created. Within these four categories, themes emerged that helped answer the following research question: How is democratic coaching understood and practiced by a democratically-minded coach?

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the process by which emotional abuse occurs and is often sustained in sport, and to examine athletes’, parents’, and coaches’ reflections on emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship. The methodological approach used for the study was a constructivist and symbolic interactionist approach to grounded theory. Methods were established that were consistent with the iterative nature of grounded theory. In total, 18 retired elite athletes, 16 parents of retired elite athletes, and nine elite coaches participated in the study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant, and data were coded using open, axial, and selective coding techniques. Athlete data were interpreted to suggest a sequence of stages by which emotionally abusive coach-athlete relations developed and were sustained over time. Furthermore, the perceived impact of emotionally abusive coaching practices on motivation, self-confidence, commitment, and achievement outcomes in sport were discussed. Parent data were interpreted to suggest that parents are socialized into the culture of elite sport and can become silent bystanders to their children’s experiences of emotional abuse. Coaches’ reflections about the reasons for choosing to use emotionally abusive behaviours in the coach-athlete relationship were interpreted to suggest two distinct origins for the use of this behaviour. Additionally, perceived reasons for abandoning emotionally abusive coaching techniques were reported by the coaches. Finally, based on the collective reflections of the athletes, parents, and coaches, an ecological transactional model of vulnerability to emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship is proposed. Several implications of the study findings are discussed and questions are posed for future research.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the process by which emotional abuse occurs and is often sustained in sport, and to examine athletes’, parents’, and coaches’ reflections on emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship. The methodological approach used for the study was a constructivist and symbolic interactionist approach to grounded theory. Methods were established that were consistent with the iterative nature of grounded theory. In total, 18 retired elite athletes, 16 parents of retired elite athletes, and nine elite coaches participated in the study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant, and data were coded using open, axial, and selective coding techniques. Athlete data were interpreted to suggest a sequence of stages by which emotionally abusive coach-athlete relations developed and were sustained over time. Furthermore, the perceived impact of emotionally abusive coaching practices on motivation, self-confidence, commitment, and achievement outcomes in sport were discussed. Parent data were interpreted to suggest that parents are socialized into the culture of elite sport and can become silent bystanders to their children’s experiences of emotional abuse. Coaches’ reflections about the reasons for choosing to use emotionally abusive behaviours in the coach-athlete relationship were interpreted to suggest two distinct origins for the use of this behaviour. Additionally, perceived reasons for abandoning emotionally abusive coaching techniques were reported by the coaches. Finally, based on the collective reflections of the athletes, parents, and coaches, an ecological transactional model of vulnerability to emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship is proposed. Several implications of the study findings are discussed and questions are posed for future research.

The thesis is a case study that seeks to understand the democratic coaching style by observing the practices of a specific democratically-minded girls’ varsity hockey coach at a private secondary school in the Greater Toronto Area. The study first characterizes a democratic coach by comparing the democratic leadership style with other styles of leadership; the study then offers a clear understanding of the methods and practices of the case study coach by organizing the findings of the study into four categories: communication techniques, organizational structure, coaching decisions and strategies, and the environment created. Within these four categories, themes emerged that helped answer the following research question: How is democratic coaching understood and practiced by a democratically-minded coach?

Master of Public Health / Department of Kinesiology / David A. Dzewaltowski / Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) may be at greater risk for not meeting physical activity guidelines than neurotypical children (NT). Influences on physical activity (PA) of children with ASD are unclear and marked characteristics of the disorder pose challenges for developing interventions to promote PA. . The purpose of this study was to explore setting (free play versus structured) and group composition influences on ASD and NT young children's physical activity (LMVPA, MVPA) during a summer camp. Methods: Data were collected on 12 boys (5-6 years) attending an inclusive summer camp. During free play and structured activity sessions, research assistants observed the camp’s social environment and children’s PA using a modified version of the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity of Children – Preschool. Results: In a free play setting, children with ASD spent significantly less time in MVPA while with a peer (1.0% of session time), compared to being with a group of peers (12%) or when alone (13%). In free play, NT peers spent significantly more time in LMVPA when solitary (67%) compared to with a peer (38%) or with an adult (40%). In a structured setting, NT peers had greater LMVPA solitary (72%) social environments compared to being in a group with adult (34%). Conclusion: Preliminary evidence suggests that features of the social environment may influence PA levels of children with and without ASD. Depending on the setting, certain social group contexts may be more PA promoting than others.

The diasporic resources and transnational flows of the Black diaspora have increasingly been of concern to scholars. However, the making of the Black diaspora in Canada has often been overlooked, and the use of sport to connect migrants to the homeland has been virtually ignored. This study uses African, Black and Caribbean diaspora lenses to examine the ways that first generation Caribbean-Canadians use cricket to maintain their association with people, places, spaces, and memories of home. In this multi-sited ethnography I examine a group I call the Mavericks Cricket and Social Club (MCSC), an assembly of first generation migrants from the Anglo-Caribbean. My objective to “follow the people” took me to parties, fundraising dances, banquets, and cricket games throughout the Greater Toronto Area on weekends from early May to late September in 2008 and 2009. I also traveled with approximately 30 MCSC members to observe and participate in tours and tournaments in Barbados, England, and St. Lucia and conducted 29 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with male players and male and female supporters. I found that the Caribbean diaspora is maintained through liming (hanging out) at cricket matches and social events. Speaking in their native Patois language, eating traditional Caribbean foods, and consuming alcohol are significant means of creating spaces in which Caribbean-Canadians can network with other members of the diaspora. Furthermore, diasporas are preserved through return visits, not only to their nations of origin, but to a more broadly defined homeland, found in other Caribbean countries, England, the United States and elsewhere in Canada. This study shows that while diasporas may form a unified communitas they also reinforce class, gender, nation and ethnicity hierarchies and exclusions in diasporic spaces. For example, women and Indo-Caribbeans are mainly absent from or marginalized at the cricket grounds, which celebrates a masculine, Afro-Caribbean culture. Corporeal practices such as sports, and their related social activities, can be deployed as diasporic resources that create a sense of deterritorialized community for first generation Caribbean migrants.