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Modern Pain Science and Alexander Technique: How Might Alexander Technique Reduce Pain?

Mari Hodges, Rajal G. Cohen, and Timothy W. Cacciatore

This article brings together research from the fields of pain science and Alexander Technique (AT) to investigate the mechanisms by which AT helps reduce pain. AT is a cognitive embodiment practice and a method for intentionally altering habitual postural behavior. Studies show that AT helps with various kinds of pain, although the mechanisms of pain reduction are currently not well understood. Advances in pain science may give insight into how this occurs. Modern interventions with efficacy for improving pain and function are consistent with active approaches within kinesiology. They also share similarities with AT and may have common mechanisms such as learning, mind–body engagement, normalization of sensorimotor function, improvement of psychological factors, and self-efficacy, as well as nonspecific treatment effects. AT likely has additional unique mechanisms, including normalization of muscle tone, neuronal excitability, and tissue loading, as well as alterations to body schema, attention redirection, and reduction in overall reactivity.

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Tracing the Pioneers: Ballroom Dance Instructors and “Taxi-dance Girls” in Modern Chinese Leisure Sports

Zeng Guang Duan, Ying He, and Jian Gang Qiu

This research examines the introduction and development of ballroom dancing in Modern China, focusing on the cultural clashes, professional evolution, and survival strategies of pioneers like instructors and “Taxi-dance Girls.” It shows ballroom dancing epitomized tensions between Chinese traditions and Western modernity. The transformations of dancing and its pioneers provided insights into China’s socioeconomic transition, urbanization, and modernization. The shift from foreign to Chinese instructors reflected tensions between westernization and localization, as well as China’s cultural awakening. Case studies on instructors enabled nuanced analysis. As commodified entertainers, “Taxi-dance Girls” gained economic sustainability and social mobility through talents and gender charm, though their glamorized images provoked debates on gender relations. By exploring multifaceted roles and experiences of pioneers, this research enriches understanding of entertainment consumption, urban middle-class lifestyles, and Eastern-Western cultural integration in Modern China. It provides new historical materials and perspectives, unveiling complex interplay between cultural globalization and localization.

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Bridging The Gap: Promoting Faculty Diversity to Align With Student Demographics

Moh H. Malek, Melissa A. Mache, Gerald J. Jerome, Matthew W. Miller, and Christopher A. Aiken

In many kinesiology and health care science departments in the United States, there is a mismatch between the demographic composition of the student population and the faculty cohort. That is, although student populations are more diverse, the faculty cohort does not reflect this same diversity. The purpose of this paper is threefold: (a) Provide background information on the faculty–student mismatch, (b) discuss reactive strategies to increase diversity among a faculty cohort, and (c) discuss proactive strategies to increase diversity among a faculty cohort. Our approach is pragmatic and concise, which will give the reader various strategies they can incorporate to increase diversity in their faculty cohort.

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The Business of Sports Betting

Sangchul Park

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Champion of the Country: Mediated Sports Game Watching and National Identity Construction for the Chinese Diaspora

Xiaotong Liu

This study explores how watching international sports is related to the identity of overseas Chinese. Starting from the social significance of mediated sports, the article constructs its conceptual framework through the symbolic power of sports, media events, imagined community, networked publics, and characteristics of the diasporic community. Based on this, the study carried out 10 interviews on the Chinese diaspora in the United Kingdom, summarized the mechanisms and ways of linking mediated sports with national unity, and revealed the factors that will probably cause change to this connection. The results show that the symbolic power of sports and the consciousness as Asian are ties of diaspora identity construction and form patriotism in sporting contexts. Meanwhile, the degree of integration into local society and their community preference are influencing the status of collective identity enhancement brought by mediated sports.

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Examining Gendered Experiences in Sport Management: An Introduction

Scott Tainsky and Shannon Kerwin

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Five Overtimes: The Habs and the Leafs in the 1951 Stanley Cup Finals

Tanya K. Jones, Olaf Stieglitz, John Wong, and Brett Anderson

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An Imperfect List of Eminent Sport and Exercise Psychology Researchers

Allison Smolinski, Olivia McIntyre, Drew Martin, and Jeffrey J. Martin

The purpose of the present study was to identify eminent sport and exercise psychology researchers, based on citation count, and their most highly cited papers. Men (n = 121) and women (n = 32) from 17 different countries (e.g., the United States n = 47 to Ireland n = 1) were identified. Researchers were selected if their h-index was 60 or greater for Google Scholar and Web of Science combined. This criterion reflects Hirsch’s (2005) characterization as follows based on h-index: a successful scientist (20), an outstanding scientist (40), and truly unique (60), for one database. Our criteria of 60 for two databases are equivalent to a designation halfway between successful and outstanding. The results indicate an h-index mean of 103, median of 94, mode of 105, and range of 60–346. Top-cited publications leaned toward more sport psychology than exercise psychology topics. Prominent journals included the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (n = 24) and Psychology of Sport and Exercise (n = 15). Other publications were in related fields (e.g., Psychology and Health). In summary, we have identified the most highly cited researchers in sport and exercise psychology and their single most-cited papers. We hope this information is of both heuristic and practical value to readers.

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Does He Make a Difference? Analyzing the Role of Men Athletes in the Framing of Elite Women CrossFit Athletes in Sportswear Retailers’ Marketing Materials

Alexandra Gibson and Andrea N. Geurin

This study examined the role of men athletes in framing women athletes in marketing images, and CrossFit was used as the sport-specific context. The purpose was to understand how consumers perceive women athletes, whether the presence of men athletes influences these perceptions, and if consumers perceive women athletes to be represented more accurately when pictured alone or with male counterparts. Using a mixed-methods approach involving both quantitative and qualitative analysis, questionnaires (n = 389) and interviews (n = 19) were utilized to gather participants’ perceptions on videos featuring all women CrossFit athletes and/or those with men and women CrossFit athletes. Results showed that consumers’ perceptions began to shift when looking at their athletic competence, although a focus on appearance remained. While the results of the questionnaires revealed no clear correlation between the presence of men athletes and the perception of women athletes, the interviews suggested a relationship, highlighting the complex role that male athletes play. Overall, the study indicates that consumers perceive women athletes to be framed more accurately when pictured alone and offers valuable insights into how men athletes affect consumers’ perceptions of women athletes.

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Nationalism and Anti-LGBTQ+: Exploring the Role of Nationalism in Soccer Fans’ Protests Against LGBTQ+ Equal Rights

Mateusz Grodecki, Dagmara Szczepańska, and Barbara Pasamonik

This paper examines the role of nationalism in Polish soccer fans’ protests in resistance to LGBTQ+ equal rights. Drawing on data from semistructured interviews with 22 nationalist activists, namely ideological leaders of hard-core soccer supporters’ community, who shape the ultras’ nationalist discourse, the study explores their rationalizations behind anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations. By recognizing nationalism as an ideological background, our study goes beyond theories of masculinity, a dominating way of explaining discrimination against sexual minorities in sports (fandom) to date, and it identifies a wider set of rationalizations, conceptualized in two broader models: (1) naturalist rationalizations, and (2) the counter-counterhegemonic rationalizations, which include three more specific themes—(2a) anti-antihegemonic masculinity (2b) anti-Western and (2c) anti-leftist.