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This investigation examined the ways in which, and the rationalizations with which, certain elite athletes juxtaposed the two role-identities of “Christian” and “athlete.” The data were obtained through in-depth interviews with current and former college and professional athletes associated with the Athletes-in-Action (AIA) organization in Western Canada (N=31: 23 males, 8 females). Initial analysis indicated considerable variability in the types of behavior that the athletes, as Christians, saw as acceptable in their sport environments, and yet the majority of these Christian-athletes did not appear to perceive any values-conflict between their Christian faith and their sporting practices. A more detailed examination using both a developmental and an interactionist perspective identified three more or less distinct types of accommodation to the normative expectations associated with the two role-identities (the segregated, selective, and committed types), each of which was associated with different consequences for the athletes’ own behaviors in sport, the values and attitudes they expressed, and the kinds of behaviors they perceived to be acceptable for Christian-athletes.

One of the primary dilemmas surrounding the topic of early sport specialization is whether the practice develops talent or creates long-term psychological problems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this issue using psychosocial and developmental frameworks. This review begins with an overview of several developmentallybased constructs (e.g., biological maturation, perceived competence, body image, self-identity, motivational orientation) that are relevant to the sport domain. These developmental progressions are then used to address some potential implications for children who begin intensive training and competition at an early age. Next, some socioenvironmental factors are explored, with specific links made to the early sport specialization process. Finally, the paper ends with four recommendations for future research on the topic.

This commentary examines the argument for early sport specialization versus sport sampling from a physical growth and motor development perspective. Three developmental frameworks are examined (Mountain of Motor Development, Developmental Model of Sport Participation, Spirals of Engagement Trajectory model) to make the case that a broad base of fundamental motor skill competence is necessary in the early years before sport specialization in the adolescent years. Early sport specialization is criticized from the standpoint of increased risk for overuse injury, concerns about long-term growth, and the fact that early and intense practice schedules often do not differentiate elite versus nonelite athletes. A strong argument is made for early sport sampling to acquire a broad base of fundamental motor skills to apply to different sports, and to allow physical maturity to develop before specializing in sport. Such an approach also better equips a child to be active across the lifespan.

This study examined the impact of athletic participation on the academic, social, and social–psychological development of high school girls. A panel design and multistage sampling were used to assess the effect of athletic participation on perceived popularity, sex-role attitudes, psychological well-being, sociability, delinquency, academic achievement, educational aspiration, and extracurricular involvement. Data were obtained from transcript records and survey questionnaires administered during the subjects’ sophomore (1980) and senior (1982) years. Multiple regression analysis revealed that athletic participation was strongly related to extracurricular involvement, modestly related to perceived popularity, but only slightly related to delinquency and educational aspiration. Athletic participation was not related to psychological well-being or sex-role attitudes.

The purpose of the project described in this study was to develop and field-test an educational workshop designed to lower individual and organizational resistance to change relative to the issues of gender equity in intercollegiate athletics. The effectiveness of the workshop was assessed by addressing three questions: (a) Did participants believe that their participation in the workshop increased their awareness and understanding of Title IX?; (b) Did participants believe that their participation in the workshop increased their awareness and understanding of the gender specific value of sport?; and, (c) Do/did participants indicate that they intended to initiate actions to facilitate further gender equity on their own campuses?

Workshop participants included intercollegiate athletic personnel from two National Athletic Intercollegiate Association and/or National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III member institutions. The institutions and participants were selected based on their willingness to participate in the workshop fiel, d-tests.

The workshop content addressed Title IX and the gender specific value of sport using a combination lecture and small group activity format. The effectiveness of the workshop was assessed using a post-workshop survey, workshop facilitator notes and reflections, and in the case of the first workshop field-test, focus group and follow-up interviews.

The findings were: (a) Both workshop field-tests were effective in lowering change resistance as defined in this project, with the revised workshop being more effective than the original workshop; and, (b) The workshop was improved through consideration and implementation of selected education change strategies and adult learning theory.

This paper has three main purposes: to undermine the dominant mythology surrounding football hooliganism, to propose an alternative conceptualization, and to highlight more general issues in the sociology of sport. The main basis for the study is a systematic survey of newspapers and FA minutes dating from the 1880s. Examination of the changing nature and extent of both the actual forms and the perception of spectator disorder by powerful outsiders is undertaken. Changes in the specific forms of spectator disorder, in perceptions of it and in attempts to control it, are more adequately understood in terms of class cultural conflict over ways of living in English society and by attempting to trace the antecedents of such conflict. Crucial in this regard has been a marked narrowing of the forms of behavior that are seen as consistent with public disorder—the defining and redefining of the limits of “decent” spectating reflects this process. Analysis of the more general issue of agency and structure is considered in the concluding remarks.