Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Cognitive processing abilities play a vital role in sport performance, and in order to perform at the highest possible level, athletes must be at optimal states of cognitive readiness to compete at the outset of competition. Therefore, athletes may benefit from using a valid and reliable assessment tool that could identify generalized cognitive deficits prior to sport competitions that may be present due to psychological or external stressors. Corrective action could then be taken to counter deficits if they are detected. The quantitative portion of the present study used a single-participant design to assess the predictive ability of a portable cognitive assessment device known as the MiniCog (Shephard & Kosslyn, 2003) on various aspects of performance in sport. Seven participants competing and/or training in five sports were used to determine if performance on the MiniCog test battery would correlate with performance in sport. The primary hypothesis was that sport performance would improve as performance on the MiniCog test battery improved. No consistent trends of support were found in the data, as the seven participants produced correlations of various strength and direction between the MiniCog Rapid Assessment Battery (MRAB) and sport performance. The MiniCog device did not appear to be an accurate predictor of sport performance for the participants in this project, but due to some trends that were seen in the data, the possibility that it could be useful under different conditions or with additional participants cannot be discounted at this time. The qualitative exploration revealed that the five participants who used the MiniCog device prior to athletic events throughout their competitive season suggested that use of the MiniCog appeared to affect their focus, confidence, and anxiety levels in both facilitative and debilitative ways. Also, excessive external distractions, time constraints, and focus on the pending athletic event limited the participants' capacity to implement the MiniCog device into their precompetitive routines successfully. The results from this portion of the project yielded useful recommendations for athletes and their coaches or sport psychologists concerning the feasibility of utilizing a portable assessment device in applied settings. / 2031-01-02

Within the last decade a lack of evidence discourse (Nichols et al, 2010) has emerged raising issues around limited Monitoring and Evaluation (M and E) practice and capacity of Sport For Development (SFD) programmes to elicit change. Critics (Coalter, 2013; Harris and Adams, 2016) have argued that a deeper understanding of what works for whom and why (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) is required when evaluating SFD interventions. This thesis explored practitioner involvement in M and E, and drew upon a realist participatory M and E framework (delivered in two phases), developed to train student sport development practitioners (SSDPs) to make sense of how and why their SFD interventions worked. The framework was evaluated at each phase, utilizing Realist Evaluation (RE) to ascertain if, how, and why the framework worked for SSDPs. The evaluation at phase one (involving interviews, blogs, and questionnaires) led to a series of context mechanism and outcome (CMO) configurations explaining how and why the framework worked for SSDPs. This led to refinements of the framework at phase two embedding Schula et al’s (2016) collaborative principles of evaluation. Evaluation of phase two embedded Q factor analysis (Watts and Stenner, 2012), interviews and reflective blogs. Findings emerged surrounding the value of RE for SSDPs. Schula et al’s (2016) principles enabled practical and transformational characteristics to unfold for SSDPs within the framework. Four sub groups of practitioners emerged depicting how the framework worked. These sub groups were made up of ‘travelling far in M and E competency’, ‘polished problem solvers’, ‘passive passengers’, and ‘proficient yet skeptical practitioners’. These were underpinned by holistic narratives demonstrating subjective views about the framework. A new compilation of CMO configurations informing refinements to the framework followed. In conclusion, participatory approaches of M and E can work with practitioners and should be embedded to enable application of RE.

Throughout history women’s participation in the male-dominated sporting atmosphere has been fraught with tensions. Many researchers have sought to bring light to the experiences of sportswomen walking the fine line between acceptable gender representation and successful sport performances. Rodeo is one such male dominated sport in which one event of seven is allocated for women’s participation. Ladies barrel racing showcases a rider and her horse racing through a cover-leaf pattern attempting to attain the fastest time. This thesis examines how barrel racers make sense of their sporting experiences. Drawing on Foucault’s notions of power, discourse, and knowledge a discourse analysis was performed to showcase how barrel racers become subjects. The results showcase two separate, yet interconnected, themes. The first analyzes how the barrel racing subject interacts with discourses of gender. It was found that contextual discursive fragments were (re)produced by the barrel racers that defined a code of professionalism that serves to discipline a barrel racer’s body and dress in order to represent an authentic cowgirl image separating her from the deviant, non-authentic ‘others’: groupies and wannabe’s. Further, when examining the inter-species interaction in barrel racing it was found that the racer and horse co-exist between three intertwined subjectivities: the athlete, the team member, and the trainer. Overall, the importance of context is showcased in the results as the specific cultural discourses actively engage with dominant gender discourse to create a nuanced knowledge base through with the barrel racers make sense of their subjectivity.

Pas de résumé en français / Pas de résumé en anglais

Over the past 50 years, sport has undergone a process of commercialisation and professionalisation, and has become “big business”. It now requires adequately trained professionals to manage the daily operations of sport businesses. The question in which this research originated was: are universities able to provide the kind of education needed to equip managers with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage sport in South Africa? The specific aim of this study was to determine the curriculum logic of a selected South African university degree programme in sports management and its appropriateness to the labour market. There has been little research in the South African environment in terms of how sport management is taught. Several studies have, however, been done elsewhere, showing that there is a need for a systematic study of sport management in academia, that sport and business need to be studied congruently and that sport management curriculum should move away from the science of movement (Masteralexis et al., 2015; Skinner et al., 2015). Adopting a qualitative, case study approach, and after an initial stage of desk-top research, one South African university undergraduate programme in sport management was selected for indepth research. Data was collected by making use of the curriculum details found on-line in the university's yearbook, as well as by conducting one in-depth interview with a faculty staff member. Each of the modules across all three years of study, as well as the interview with the member of faculty were analysed, on two levels. In the first level analysis, the curriculum was analysed using international guidelines provided by sport management programme accreditation bodies in the United States which identify the core elements that should form part of a sport management curriculum. The second level of analysis draws on conceptual models from the field of curriculum studies to evaluate the curriculum logic of the chosen sport management curriculum. The work of Gamble (2006, 2009, 2016) was drawn on to identify the dominant knowledge type in the curriculum, Shay's conceptual model (2011, 2013, 2016) was used to describe the nature of the coherence of the curriculum, the work of Barnett (2006) was used to analyse the recontextualisation of the curriculum, and the work of Allais and Shalem (2018) was used to examine the relationship between the curriculum and the labour market. These analyses illuminated the overall nature of the programme in terms of its selection, sequencing, pacing, recontextualisation, curriculum coherence and directionality. The study found that this case of a sport management degree did not meet the curriculum requirements stipulated by the North American guidelines. The findings were that the curriculum is comprised mainly of principled knowledge and it is a conceptually (as opposed to contextually) coherent curriculum with the majority of its modules pedagogically recontextualised. Shay and Gamble's conceptual models yielded conflicting analyses regarding the type of curriculum: in terms of Shay's model, the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) curriculum is a professional qualification, whereas Gamble's model suggests that UJ's curriculum is a general formative undergraduate degree. The pacing of the curriculum showed evidence of trying to cover too many modules and insufficient time to cover key areas in sufficient depth. The overall conclusion was that the curriculum is attempting to cover too much in three years and that it should perhaps look at becoming more focused. This can be done by strictly following the guidelines given by the North American bodies, leading to the curriculum being an occupational one that is linked closely to the labour market, or it could focus on becoming a professional qualification where it focuses more on theory and applied knowledge but in a selective way so as to ensure that it allows for a more in-depth study of the modules. Or the curriculum could settle for being a general formative degree that specialises in the postgraduate programme.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-61). / To examine the association between 1) the levels of participation in an incentive based health promotion program (study1), 2) the level of engagement with the fitness related activities (Study2) and medical claims and hospital admission amongst adult members of a major health insurer.

No description available.

No description available.

Tyrimo objektas - Lietuvos miestų savivaldybių sporto padalinių specialistų (vadybininkų) kompetencijos. Darbo tikslas - Atlikti Lietuvos miestų savivaldybių sporto padalinių vadybininkų (specialistų) kompetencijų tyrimą ir analizę. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Apibrėžti kompetencijos ir darbo rinkos sampratas. 2. Išanalizuoti teorinius valstybės tarnautojų kompetencijos aspektus. 3. Ištirti sporto specialistų (vadybininkų) rengimą ir tobulinimą Lietuvoje. 4. Išsiaiškinti pagrindines savivaldybių sporto padalinių funkcijas ir priskirti kompetencijas, reikalingas jiems atlikti. 5. Nustatyti sporto specialistų kompetencijų lygį. Darbo struktūra - Darbą sudaro 4 dalys, 73 puslapiai , 6 lentelės, 23 paveikslai ir 4 priedai. Pagrindinės savivaldybių sporto padalinių funkcijų grupės: - Personalo valdymo - Sporto mokymo įstaigų veiklos koordinavimas - Teisinio valdymo - Informacijos valdymo - Statinių valdymo - Finansinės veiklos valdymo - Renginių valdymo - Aukšto meistriškumo sportininkų rengimo Pagal TUNING projektą, kuris nukreiptas į specialistų rengimo modernizavimą, 4 grupių kompetencijos: instrumentinės (būtinosios), tarpasmeninės, sisteminės ir kitos kompetencijos yra priskirtinos savivaldybių sporto padalinių atliekamoms funkcijoms atlikti. / Research object Competences of municipality sport departments managers (specialists). Aim of research To perform competence research and analysis of municipality sport departments managers (specialists). Tasks of research 1. To define conceptions of competence and labor market. 2. To analyze academic aspects of public officials competences. 3. To research training and development of sport managers (specialists) in Lithuania. 4. To detect main functions of municipality sport departments and identify competences, required to fulfill them. 5. To detect competence level of sport specialists. Research structure Research is structured of 4 parts, 56 pages , 6 tables, 23 pictures and 4 supplements. Main functions of municipality sport departments: personell management, koordination of sport teaching institutions, legal management, information management, buildings management, financial management, event management, high mastery sportsmen praparation. According TUNING project competences of 4 groups are referable to 8 main fumctions of municipality sport departments: instrumental, interpersonal, systemic and other competences. Key words: competence, sport management, public official.

There is now national and international evidence which indicates that those who have higher educational qualifications are more likely to be present-day and future sport participants than those who leave education once they reach the minimum school-leaving age. In Britain, despite significant government policy and financial investment in interventions designed to boost youth sport participation alongside other favourable trends, including a doubling in the proportion of students entering higher education (HE) since the 1980s, the rates of sport participation among the general population, including young people, have remained relatively static. This is particularly significant for, if attending HE does indeed help explain why university students are more likely to become present-day sport participants and remain sports-active into later life, then one might have expected to observe increases in participation by young people and adults over the last three decades or so. Since this has not happened, definitive conclusions about whether there is a HE effect on sport participation and, if so, what this effect/these effects are, cannot yet be drawn. The central objective of this study, therefore, was to explore this apparent paradox by analysing the development of 124 20-25-year-old undergraduate students’ present-day sport and leisure participation via a retrospective analysis of their sport and leisure careers. The study employed a cross-sectional, mixed methods, research design incorporating structured and semi-structured interviews held at two universities in England between March and July 2011. The findings indicated that the two clearest predictors of differences in the present-day sport participation and sport careers of university students were subject of study and sex, with sport students and males being the most likely participants over the life course and whilst at university. These differences first emerged during childhood, widened from age 12-13-years-old, and remained relatively set from age 16 onwards. The differences in the present-day sport participation of university students, and the richness of their overall sport careers, could thus not be attributed to a ‘HE effect’ as previous research has suggested. It was during childhood, rather than youth, when the preconditions required for constructing short- or longer-term sport (and leisure) careers were formed. The differential childhood socialization practices students’ experienced played a crucial role in the development of sporting habituses and dispositions within their unfolding networks (or figurations) which provided the foundations upon which present-day inequalities in participation were based. In this regard, the assumed contribution attending HE has previously been expected to make to students’ current and future sport participation appears to have been over-stated, and in so doing diverted attention from other processes associated with the inequalities that underlie students’ differential engagement in sport. It seemed that the context of university did little to promote overall levels of student participation, the numbers of sports they played, and the facilities they used. At best, attending HE may have simply delayed the drop-out from sport among those with already established and longer-running sport careers prior to attending university. In this regard, the present focus on raising sport participation among 14-25-year-olds by various sports organizations and facilitators would appear misguided and perhaps doomed to failure, for the evidence of this study suggests that a more appropriate focal point for policy interventions concerned with boosting longer-term participation is not with youth, but with children.