Competitive cheerleading is a sport that has received very little research attention yet was of great interest to the researcher who has coached this sport for over six years. This research asks, "What is the impact of a competitive cheerleading experience on the development of female athletes?" The literature surrounding cheerleading, the sports environment, psychology of coaching, sociology of sports, and feminism in sports is reviewed. A case study approach using both quantitative and qualitative techniques for data collection was used. Participants were five females who had been involved in competitive cheerleading for a mean of 4.4 years. Each participant completed a questionnaire as well as an interview with the researcher. Seven themes were found in the narratives: athleticism, team dynamics, unique aspects of competitive cheerleading, social skills, negative impacts of competitive cheerleading, involving male athletes and peer perception. Within each theme, there were key findings. This study filled some of the gaps in past research by using female participants, qualitative research methods, and the analysis of one sport.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/574 |
| Date | 10 April 2008 |
| Creators | Steinberger, Amanda Liane. |
| Contributors | Ferguson, Roy. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Detected Language | English |
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