Sport Subculture Research Articles

Positive Functions of Emotions in Achievement Sports

Abstract This article presents the results of two research projects on the emotions of men engaged in achievement outdoor sports. The conditions were analyzed under which emotions carry out positive functions. The question strikes us as a fundamental one, because it is of crucial importance when it comes to increasing sportspeople's success. The theoretical framework applied was that of microfunctionalism. The method, of a qualitative nature, was based on in-depth interviews, each lasting between 1.5 and 2 hr, with a total of 14 sportspersons. The results show that in order for emotions to fulfill positive functions, three conditions must be met: (a) existence of passion, which, with its dialectical character of pleasure and suffering, underlies all the other emotions and acts as a motor that pushes the sportsperson forward, despite all the contretemps he might meet on the way; (b) intense emotion work, which may be conducted only if accompanied by knowledge and experience of the natural environment acquired over the years; and (c) conciliation between emotion work and the feeling rules characteristic of each sport subculture. For those individuals who pursue achievement in outdoor sports, these results will provide more concrete indications regarding how to carry out the emotional preparation required for these sports.

Positive Functions of Emotions in Achievement Sports

This article presents the results of two research projects on the emotions of men engaged in achievement outdoor sports. The conditions were analyzed under which emotions carry out positive functions. The question strikes us as a fundamental one, because it is of crucial importance when it comes to increasing sportspeople's success. The theoretical framework applied was that of microfunctionalism. The method, of a qualitative nature, was based on in-depth interviews, each lasting between 1.5 and 2 hr, with a total of 14 sportspersons. The results show that in order for emotions to fulfill positive functions, three conditions must be met: (a) existence of passion, which, with its dialectical character of pleasure and suffering, underlies all the other emotions and acts as a motor that pushes the sportsperson forward, despite all the contretemps he might meet on the way; (b) intense emotion work, which may be conducted only if accompanied by knowledge and experience of the natural environment acquired over the years; and (c) conciliation between emotion work and the feeling rules characteristic of each sport subculture. For those individuals who pursue achievement in outdoor sports, these results will provide more concrete indications regarding how to carry out the emotional preparation required for these sports.

Capitalizing on a Sport's Association with an International Destination: The Illustrative Example of Tae Kwon Do

Destination marketers seek to capitalize on sport by appealing to the sport's subculture and by bundling sport with other tourism opportunities. The potential contributions of specially constructed sport opportunities are examined by exploring the contributions that a park devoted to the heritage and practice of tae kwon do can make to American tae kwon do practitioners' interests and intent for travel to Korea. Nine elements were studied using conjoint analysis: price, three park features (tae kwon do competition, tae kwon do cultural heritage and tae kwon do master classes), three typical tours (a tour of Seoul, a modern history tour, and a tour to experience traditional Korean culture), and two physical activities (a local sports package and participation in another traditional Korean martial art). Together, the three opportunities at Tae Kwon Do Park accounted for almost one-third of the aggregate sample's utility for a trip to Korea. Cluster analysis identified four segments: Heritage Seekers, Competitive Tourists, Culturally Conscious Competitors, and Price Sensitives. Opportunities provided by Tae Kwon Do Park were more than sufficient to overcome the negative utility associated with price for all but the Price Sensitives, and all four segments valued some tourism opportunities beyond tae kwon do. However, the mix of preferred activities and tours varied significantly by segment. Segment was predicted by age, a desire to learn about Korea, a desire to master tae kwon do, years of involvement in tae kwon do, role in tae kwon do and level of belt. The likelihood of purchasing a trip to Korea rose with higher levels of belt and as social identity rose, but was lower when financial constraints or knowledge and interest constraints rose. Segment moderated the effect of ethnicity and social motivation on the likelihood of travel to Korea. It is concluded that involvement in a sport can be leveraged to promote tourism to a destination when the destination has a meaningful association with the sport.

Athletic Participation and Seatbelt Omission Among U.S. High School Students

Although seatbelts save lives, adolescents may be disproportionately likely to omit their use. Using data from the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national survey of more than 16,000 U.S. public and private high school students, the authors employed a series of logistic regression analyses to examine cross-sectional associations between past year athletic participation and regular seatbelt omission. Controlling for the effects of gender, age, race, parental education, and school urbanicity, student athletes were significantly less likely than nonathletes to report seatbelt omission. Separate gender-specific analyses showed that this effect was significant for girls but only marginally significant for boys; in addition, the effect was strongest for adolescents who participated on three or more school or community sports teams. Possible explanations for the relationship between athletic participation and seatbelt omission, including Jessor's problem behavior syndrome, prosocial sport subcultures, and sensation seeking, are considered.

Medical Uncertainty and Clinician–Athlete Relations: The Management of Concussion Injuries in Rugby Union

This article addresses clinical practice in sport medicine. Combining notions of medical uncertainty with a figurational sociological emphasis on interdependence, the article illustrates how uncertainty characterizes the medical understanding, clinical treatment, and patient experience of concussion. Faced with uncertainty, the clinician’s desire for recognition and validation through athletes’ dependence on them enables medically based diagnostic and treatment guidelines to be replaced by the understanding and definition of concussion dominant in the sport subculture. Clinicians further invoke strategies that protect their professional status and therefore secure their interdependence with others in the sport club figuration. The study advances our understanding by illuminating the basis on which clinicians and athletes negotiate treatment and the impact of these experiences on clinicians’ actions and beliefs.

Sport Climbing with Pre-existing Cardio-pulmonary Medical Conditions

Over the past 25 years sport climbing has developed from an elite extreme sport subculture pursued by few into a mainstream recreational sport enjoyed globally by climbers of all ages, climbing abilities, and with pre-existing health conditions. As the demands and grades of climbing difficulty have increased over this period, most scientific literature on sport climbing focused on acute injuries and overuse syndromes, or performance physiology in healthy adult males. The physiological response to sport climbing is more similar to that of resistance training (i.e., body building) rather than a predominantly aerobic sport (i.e., running, cycling), so that heart rate and blood pressure during a climb will be disproportionately high relative to the 'exercise' of climbing, and breathing may be irregular. Therefore this review sought evidence-based recommendations for recreational sport climbing participation by those individuals with pre-existing cardiopulmonary medical conditions including coronary heart disease, chronic heart failure, cardiac dysrhythmia, pulmonary diseases (i.e., asthma) or hypertension. This review defines the criteria that must be fulfilled for safe sport climbing by those with pre-existing cardiopulmonary conditions or those with hypertension.

Points of Leverage: Maximizing Host Community Benefit from a Regional Surfing Festival

This research investigates the potential for sport event leverage in the context of a relatively small surfing festival in regional Australia. Chalip's (2004) model for sport event leverage underpinned the study. Event leveraging is a recent phenomenon, with empirical research sparse and limited to mega and hallmark events in large cities. This study develops our understanding of event leverage in a smaller, more regional context. Data came from participant observation, interviews with key stakeholders and documentary evidence. The study reveals the centrality of sport subculture to both immediate and longer-term event leverage. By demonstrating the potential for leverage from a small event in a regional centre, the findings lend empirical weight to Chalip's (2004) theoretical model and suggest the model may be more generally applicable than previously thought. Implications for triple bottom line leverage and sustainability in the sport event context are also drawn.

Reality TV on the Rock Face – Climbing the Old Man of Hoy

In July 1967, 15 million people were glued to their TV sets to watch one of the most audacious BBC outside broadcasts – the climbing of the Old Man of Hoy. A 450-foot crumbling sea stack situated in the Orkneys was conquered by six climbers in a broadcast that has been dubbed the first ‘reality television’ programme. It connected an armchair audience with the elite of a sport subculture intent on conquering one of Britain's most spectacular geological treasures. This paper, which draws on original archive material, autobiographical accounts and press reports, examines the climb and situates the broadcast historically within the evolution of televised climbing in Britain, and considers the continuing and evolving relationship between climbers and the media.

Bundling sport events with the host destination

An emerging challenge in sport event tourism is to incorporate events more strategically into the host destination's overall mix of tourism products and services. An effective means is to bundle event elements with the host destination's attractions using a mixed bundling strategy. Appropriate event elements include activities that support the subculture of the sport, as well as complementary cultural events. Appropriate destination attractions include sightseeing, visits to destination‐specific attractions, opportunities to shop, and activities consistent with the values or interests of the sport subculture. The potential for bundling sport event elements with the host destination's attractions is illustrated for eight bundle components and two destination features at the Gold Coast Marathon. Conjoint analysis followed by clustering identified four distinct market segments among a sample of 277 distance runners from two large domestic source markets. On the basis of cluster profiles, the segments were labeled: dedicated runners, running tourists, active runners, and runners who shop. Some host destination attractions were attractive to all but the dedicated runner segment. However, different segments were attracted to different attractions. It is argued that further work is needed to elaborate optimal procedures for bundling sport event elements with activities and attractions at host destinations.

Leveraging Subculture and Identity to Promote Sport Events

In order to increase the number of visitors attracted to sport events, organisers have sought to broaden their appeal by adding to the range of consumption options their events provide. This is typically done by expanding the tangible product or by adding augmentations. These expansions and augmentations provide useful bases for event promotions if the nature of benefits derived and the segments to whom those benefits appeal are identified. The key to identifying benefits and segments is to examine customers’ relationships to the subculture of the sport being showcased. Recent research suggests that consumers’ enjoyment of sport events derives, at least in part, from their identification with the sport's subculture. This is consistent with other work in consumer behaviour demonstrating the importance of subculture in transmitting consumption values, particularly in leisure contexts. Recent research into three events – the Key West Women's Flag Football Tournament, the Gold Coast Marathon, and the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix – highlights the utility of leveraging event consumers’ identification with the sport's subculture when promoting sport events. Implications and recommendations for event management and marketing are reviewed.

Pickup artists: street basketball in America

The history of blacktop basketball in fast-paced words and pictures. A New York street hustler. A lonely man in a Maryland prison. A confused Native American on a reservation in Idaho. What do they all have in common? They are among the best pickup basketball players in the country. In Pickup Artists, Lars Anderson and Chad Millman tell the complete story of the street game from its mythical past to its glorious present. Using original reporting to examine the evolution of playground basketball, Anderson and Millman are the first journalists to unravel the thickly woven tapestry of the sport's subculture. Today's super-hyped, corporate-sponsored tournaments weren't always the norm. The foundation of the game was laid with sweat in the 1920s and it has grown from a rudimentary sport to a sophisticated exhibition. Basketball is more than macho melodramas acted out in America's inner cities. It's a town meeting in the heart of Indiana and symbol of freedom for prisoners in jail. Anderson and Millman tap into the essence of pickup basketball, examining its importance everywhere the game is played. They profile not just legends like Earl Marigault and Joe Hammond, but players like Fred Spook Stegman, the man who carries the legacy of being the first to connect the playgrounds with colleges, and Gregory Vaughn, whose tragic death in the 1980s exposed the underground world of drugs in basketball. Forget about the NBA and showtime. Pickup basketball is about basketball on the blacktops, at its most basic level. It's about the unusual lives of some of the nation's best players you've never heard of. Until now.

Peers in Pain: The Experiences of Student Athletic Trainers

Recent work has suggested that masculinist sport subcultures (e.g., Young & White, 1995) and “conspiratorial” sports organizations (Nixon, 1992a) foster the acceptance of pain and injury by athletes. Using semistructured interviews, this study examined the experiences and beliefs of 22 student athletic trainers at a large university. The study found that student athletic trainers had conflicting alliances to student athletes and to staff trainers, held competing beliefs about athlete pain and injury, and struggled with athletes who did not properly use health care services and advice. It is recommended that future studies focus upon processes of negotiation and conflict, that more attention be directed to medical treatment of injured women athletes, and that recommendations to change medical services for athletes await further research.

The Construction and Confirmation of Identity in Sport Subcultures

It is usual in interactionist research to view the process of socialization into subcultures as, in part, a process of identity formation. However, we prefer to examine this process, at least in the case of sport subcultures, as a far more deliberate act of identity construction. That is, through a variety of means, the most significant of which is modeling, the neophyte member begins to deliberately adopt mannerisms, attitudes, and styles of dress, speech, and behavior that he or she perceives to be characteristic of established members of the subculture. Such perceptions among neophytes are usually far from being completely accurate and are frequently stereotypical. Thus, it is necessary to examine also the complementary process of identity confirmation in order to conduct a more complete examination of socialization into a subcultural career. These processes, and neophyte mistakes emerging in them, are examined with respect to ethnographies of climbers and rugby players conducted by the authors, together with supporting material from studies of other sports-related aspects of ethnographic research.

The hidden curriculum in leisure: An analysis of a girls' sport subculture

Subculture studies in sociology have overwhelmingly concentrated on male activities while either ignoring or denying the existence of all-female gatherings engaged in leisure pursuits. The growth and expansion of organized sports opportunities for girls and women has facilitated the development of female ‘subcultures.’ While providing alternative leisure activities for girls, sport has also acted as both a challenge and a form of resistance to the traditional socialization patterns and cultural norms reflected in the ideology of feminity, the sexist structure and nature of the institution of sport, and the constraints of the roles and activities deemed appropriate for women. This article addresses the ‘hidden curriculum’, implicit in both education (formal and informal) and the socialization process, which perpetuates the attitudes that inhibit the participation of girls in sport. The results of an exploratory study, involving participant-observation and interviews, at a girls' Ringette camp, illustrate how even those girls who continue to participate in sport throughout their adolescent years, and at highly skilled levels, experience the tensions of the apparently contradictory roles of women and athlete. The implications of these socio-cultural attitudes and the accompanying practices extend beyond the realm of organized sport into the lives of all women. Girls' subcultures do exist, and it is important to acknowledge them and learn from them. While women's leisure has always been circumscribed by social constraints and cultural sanctions, there is within women's sport the seeds of resistance and the potencial for social change.

The Institutionalization of Sport Forms

The institutionalization of sport forms is normally seen as involving such pro ceses as (increasing) bureaucratization and formalization; leading to the characteriza tion of sport in terms such as "technical efficiency" and generally ''instrumental orientations" on the part of those involved. However there is nothing logically ine vitable in institutionalization processes leading sport progressively in these direc tions. Cases can be found — even in compleN industrial societies — in which value patten,s emphasizing non-competitivveness and rejecting high degrees of formaliza tion and organization are institutionalized. This article discusses the institutionalization of sport in terms of two contrasting types of sport subculture; play-sport subcultures and athletic-sport subcultures. Certain conditions are identified which are conducive to the development of each of these "types" of sport.

An Adapted Model of the Sport Participation Choice Process

Abstract In a conceptual examination of sport participation, the concept of “sport careers” is introduced. Sport careers are defined as the modal patterns of temporally ordered sport roles current in a sport subculture as well as the sequence of sport roles individuals may perform over the course of their lifetimes. Treating sport participation as a career pattern (but not as an occupational pattern) can be seen to have numerous advantages, among them that the considerable literature of work careers can be brought to bear on problems of sport participation. A conceptual model of the career entry choice process created by Blau and others is presented and adapted to the parallel problem of the sport participation choice process.