Ruth Jeanes

This study sought to better understand the ways in which African women negotiate and navigate multilevel contexts and social forces throughout their migration and resettlement, in the pursuit of their football passion. The research utilized a narrative design to interview eleven women, aged between 18 and 24 years old, living in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia (SA). Bronfenbrenner's Person-Process-Context-Time Social Ecological model was employed to identify the interrelated personal and environmental layers that influence the women's experiences of football over time. The experiences of the women in the study highlight the cultural, religious and gendered intersections that influenced their football participation throughout pre-migration and post-migration. The women in the study demonstrated that although they were subject to varying degrees of socio-cultural pressure and experienced bi-cultural tension, they were able to draw on resources and skills to successfully negotiate their football participation.

IntroductionIn September 2015, Cricket Victoria recognised the Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association (MAACA) as their 77th association. Cricket Victoria and MACCA are now providing opportunities for people with an intellectual disability to play in a regular, structured and organised cricket competition, moving from sampling to sustainability. In March 2019, Cricket Victoria commissioned researchers from Monash University’s Faculty of Education to undertake an evaluation of the work of MAACA. The evaluation responded to three key research questions: 1. What are the experiences of people with disabilities and their families of participating in MAACA? 2. How have clubs facilitated these experiences? and 3. How do they anticipated the Association will develop in the future? Evaluation Approach The evaluation adopted a mixed method approach, utilising telephone interviews with MAACA administrators and club volunteers, surveys with players and face-to-face interviews or focus group...

OBJECTIVES This study addresses a need for quantitative research examining factors supporting the frequent use of homophobic language (e.g., fag) in male team sports which has a range of negative health impacts on gay and bisexual males. Intervention methods are needed to stop this behaviour, but little is known about why this language remains common. DESIGN Cross-Sectional survey. METHOD Male Rugby Union (n=97; ages 16 -18 years) and Ice Hockey players (n=146; ages 16 - 31 years) self-reported their use of homophobic language and completed measures of homophobic attitudes and descriptive and injunctive norms related to language use on their team. Bivariate and multivariate analyses examined factors associated with this behaviour. RESULTS Over half of participants (53.8%) self-reported using homophobic language at least once in the previous two weeks. No relationship was found between homophobic attitudes and language use. In contrast, norm measures had a strong, positive relationsh...

Academic literature on sport for development commonly identifies the dominance of those in the Global North over policy and practice in the field (Akindes and Kirwan, 2009; Hayhurst, 2009; Darnell, 2012) and yet, taken collectively, academic research in this field could well be subject to a similar critique. Research, and resultant academic publications, on sport for development have largely been undertaken by researchers working in universities in the Global North. Potentially as a result, much early sport for development research can be identified to have a focus on programmes and issues that are international in their orientation (Lindsey and Grattan, 2012). It is positive that this trend has begun to be countered recently with a greater number of publications exploring the local implementation of sport for development programmes (Guest, 2009; Whitley et al., 2012; Hasselgard and Straume, 2014) with some authored by researchers from the Global South (Banda, 2011; Njelesani, 2011)...

This thesis examines the construction of young girls' gender identity and the influence participation in football can have on this process. Increasing numbers of girls are now participating in football, a sport which has traditionally been connected with extreme forms of masculinity. The thesis examines the influence participation in football by girls can have on altering dominant and traditional gender assumptions and breaking down the construction of football as a masculine sport. The thesis utilises a feminist post-structural theoretical positioning to enable an understanding of girls' identities as diverse and multiple. The literature reviewed firstly provides an examination of identity theory, girl culture and the influence on global discourses and local mechanisms on girls' gender identity construction. The second phase of the review examines the relevance of sport to the dominant gender order, girls' participation in sport and the potential of sport and footba...

Introduction Homophobia appears to be greater in sport settings than in others. However, little is known about whether lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) young people experience discriminatory behaviour in team sports because of their sexuality and whether coming out to sport teammates is associated with homophobic behaviour. Method This study used a sample (N = 1173; 15–21 years; collected in 2014–2015) from six countries (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) to examine whether LGB youth who ‘come out’ to teammates experience homophobic behaviour. Results Close to half of the sample (41.6%) reported having been the target of homophobic behaviour (e.g. verbal slurs, bullying, assaults). Multivariate logistic regression models adjusting for age, gender, country and contact sport participation found that participants who ‘came out’ as being LGB to sports teammates were significantly more likely to report being a target of homophobic behaviour. There appe...

In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight Victorian swimming coaches to examine the discourses of disability1 and inclusion that they expressed in relation to their current coaching practices. Analysis specifically pursued links between neoliberalism, ableism, elitism, classification and inclusion in coaching, with the intention of exploring what discourse relations are possible, imaginable and practical within what have been referred to as neoliberal-ableist times. Findings reveal that coaches replicate and reproduce elitist, ableist assumptions about the body and sport. The discussion prompts a consideration of how rationalities and techniques of inclusion are limited under the prevailing political context.

This study employs a spatial analysis to critically examine gender relations within an Australian football and netball community sports club that has sought to address gender inequity and promote the participation of women across the club. Notable changes included increased female representation in the club’s decision-making structures, growing numbers of female members, and the establishment of a women’s and girls’ football section. Using an in-depth case study that combined interviews and observations over a 6-month period, we investigated the impact these changes have had on transforming gender relations and in challenging perceptions of the club as a privileged space for its male members. The study utilized spatial and feminist theory to illustrate that, despite the club’s efforts to change gender relations, men who are able to embody dominant forms of masculinity (i.e., high ability and able-bodied) continue to be privileged within the club environment. The article highlights t...

Participation in physical activity and sport is on the decline and there is a poor understanding of the psychosocial factors that contribute to people’s reluctance to participate. We examined whether there were relationships between factors such as weight stigma, weight bias internalization, appearance evaluation, and fears of negative appearance evaluations, and enjoyment and avoidance of physical activity and sport. Undergraduate students (N = 579) completed a survey assessing demographics, and the variables described above. In hierarchal multivariate regression models, weight stigma (β = −0.16, p < 0.001), appearance evaluation (β = 0.19, p = 0.001), and weight bias internalization (β = −0.19, p = 0.003) were associated with lower enjoyment of physical activity and sport. Weight stigma (β = 0.46, p = 0.001), weight bias internalization (β = 0.42, p = 0.001), and fear of negative appearance evaluations (β = 0.16, p = 0.000) were also significantly associated with the tendency t...

There is increasing scientific and public support for the notion that some foods may be addictive, and that poor weight control and obesity may, for some people, stem from having a food addiction. However, it remains unclear how a food addiction model (FAM) explanation for obesity and weight control will affect weight stigma. In two experiments (N = 530 and N = 690), we tested the effect of a food addiction explanation for obesity and weight control on weight stigma. In Experiment 1, participants who received a FAM explanation for weight control and obesity reported lower weight stigma scores (e.g., less dislike of ‘fat people’, and lower personal willpower blame) than those receiving an explanation emphasizing diet and exercise (F(4,525) = 7.675, p = 0.006; and F(4,525) = 5.393, p = 0.021, respectively). In Experiment 2, there was a significant group difference for the dislike of ‘fat people’ stigma measure (F(5,684) = 5.157, p = 0.006), but not for personal willpower weight stigma...

Sports educators have long used coaching and teaching methods based on regimes of mechanical execution of movements. Without accounting for the social context in which sports education takes place, these methodologies consider exhaustive action replication the best way to master physical skills. The past decades have seen a surge in alternative pedagogies that acknowledge that sporting bodies are much more than a combination of techniques. Pedagogies such as Game Sense approach the sports teaching-learning process through a constructivist perspective in which the intellectual dimensions of games are highlighted. This paper empirically examines how dialogic pedagogies can be put to work in sports education in order for students' bodies to become creative and a central part of their own development. Using autoethnographic data drawn from the authors' international personal experiences as sports coaches, physical educators, researchers and evaluators in two sports education contexts-school sports education and sport for development (SfD)-the paper aims to reveal pedagogies that foster creative participants who can enjoy, read and write their own games. The authors conclude that while dialogic sports education is not without conflict, it enables sports educators to create spaces in which continuous dialogue can occur. These pedagogies are not simply a tool for inquiry-based educational possibilities; they are the actual dialogic education.

Healthism is both an ideological and a regulative discourse that manifests as a tendency to conceive health as a product of individual choice. Healthism represents a collection of taken-for-granted assumptions, positioned at the intersection of morality, blame and health, that can lead to a privileging of ‘healthy’ and ‘productive’ individuals. It is argued that healthism is a key issue for physical educators and a significant focus for research. The validation of a scale – the Attitude Towards Healthism Scale (ATHS) – that seeks to quantify pre-service physical education teachers’ attitudes towards healthism is described. Participants were 201 pre-service teachers undertaking a Bachelor of Education degree in Australia. The factor structure of the initial 17-item scale was determined using an exploratory factor analysis followed by Rasch modelling and, lastly, confirmatory factor analysis. Initial exploratory factor analysis supported a unidimensional measure of healthism. Further ...

Funding bodies seek to promote scientific research that has a social or economic impact beyond academia, including in sport management. Knowledge translation in sport management remains largely implicit and is yet to be fully understood. This study examines how knowledge translation in sport management can be conceptualized and fostered. The authors draw on a comparative analysis of coproduced research projects in Belgium and Australia to identify the strategic, cognitive, and logistic translation practices that researchers adopt, as well as enablers and constraints that affect knowledge translation. The findings show ways in which knowledge translation may be facilitated and supported, such as codesign, boundary spanning, adaptation of research products, and linkage and exchange activities. The findings reveal individual, organizational, and external constraints that need to be recognized and, where possible, managed.

Community development research suggests that positive partnerships and connections between groups can result in stronger, more resilient and productive communities. Despite community connections featuring increasingly at a curriculum level in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, research is only beginning to explore the nuanced processes that precede the creation and sustenance of connections between students, teachers and their local communities. Drawing upon research from a broader study, this paper explores ‘Take Action’ a Health and Physical Education unit of work aiming to create meaningful and sustainable connections between students, teachers and their local communities. The work of Stephen Ball and colleagues is used as a lens through which to understand the enactment of Take Action as an extension of policy. The findings illuminate a range of processes that contributed towards a failure to develop and sustain community connections. The findings can guide the creation of meaningful and sustainable connections between students, teachers and their local communities.

... Agency and action therefore is not a single sequence or single acts, 'they are a flow of being' (Kaspersen, 2000). ... I don't think I've felt like this for a long time and not since I've been at the hostel. It's great to feel this way and football is a focus for us. ...

ABSTRACT In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Examining Sports Development provides a comprehensive overview of U.K. sport development policy and practice over the last decade. The text presents an accessible account of the complexities of sports development work in practice and is one of the few available books that detail how sports development is delivered and the challenges with this process. It is a valuable book for both students studying sports development and practitioners within a U.K. context seeking to critically appraise the work they are undertaking. The practical relevance of the book has been greatly enhanced by the inclusion of several chapters written by "in the field" practitioners who have been able to provide personal reflective accounts of their experiences skilfully interwoven with existing theory and academic knowledge from the sports development area. For sports historians many of the chapters provide informative accounts of the historical routes of contemporary sports development policy and detail more generally how the sports development movement has evolved over the previous three decades. It is particularly interesting for the reader to appreciate how many of the contemporary policies driving sports development are reincarnations of previous policies, initiatives, and practice that have been repackaged and rebranded. Chapter 2 written by Collins provides an engaging and accessible historical account of sports development. The author's involvement in much of the policy development in the late 1970s and early 1980s assists with providing detail not readily available in this area. The remainder of the book consists of a range of case studies, all exploring different aspects of sports development. The text has been edited well with chapters linking effectively and key themes developed. Chapters 3 (Enoch) and 5 (Charlton) consider the development of County Sport Partnerships in the U.K. and considers these in the context of their predecessor the Active Sports program, a major youth sport policy initiative of the late 1990s. Other chapters examine sports development from a Scottish perspective (Chapter 7, Thompson) the role higher education can play in sports development (Chapter 6, Thorpe and Collins) and the development of education policy through sport (Chapter 7, Lindeman and Conway). The second half of the book provides an analysis of a range of sports development initiatives and considers the challenges of both implementing these and also assessing whether they are effective. These include an examination of both grassroots coaching and club development initiatives (Chapter 8, Bell and Chapter 9, Collins and Sparkes). Bell's chapter is an interesting one as the initiative she examines, Champion Coaching, was disbanded and absorbed into other policies in the late 1990s. This has provided an opportunity to examine its legacy and to illustrate that whilst sports development initiatives generally may be short lived their impact can be sustained. The chapters focusing on community development (Chapter 10, Walpole and Collins) and the use of sport to address social problems amongst young people (Chapter 11, McCormack) are particularly useful. These provide a detailed discussion of the complexities of each area of work but also provide an assessment of the necessary conditions to achieve impact. As the authors discuss, this at times requires challenging the fundamental principles underpinning sports development and drawing more on community development theory. The last two chapter consider sports development in the context of physical activity promotion with Almond (Chapter 12) providing an overview before Bolton (Chapter 13) analyzes a specific initiative, the free swimming program in Wales. The text is neatly pulled together in the final section with Pitchford and Collins' assessment of the sports development profession and its requirements for training and development; Collins builds on this in the final conclusion by providing an assessment of how the field will develop in the future and outlines some of the challenges that may be faced. Overall the book is interesting and informative and provides a much needed text to support the teaching of sports development in universities in the U.K. The chapters at times are descriptive, but this is necessary due to the lack of academic analysis in this area and particularly as a student text is vital for ensuring this audience can gain a clear understanding of what sport development "looks like" in the field. Whilst the involvement of practitioners...

... Agency and action therefore is not a single sequence or single acts, 'they are a flow of being' (Kaspersen, 2000). ... I don't think I've felt like this for a long time and not since I've been at the hostel. It's great to feel this way and football is a focus for us. ...