Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Connor Sheehan

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:36 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Connor Sheehan

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

A Systematic Investigation of the Relationship between Sports and Risk of Mortality in the United States: How Does the Relationship Vary by Race/Ethnicity

Connor Sheehan | Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics

In an era when Americans are more divided than ever, Americans are still united in their passion for sports. While the social (Eime, Young, Harvey, Charity, & Payne, 2013), emotional (Branscombe & Wann, 1991), physical (Haskell et al., 2007), economic, and societal (Norberg, 2018) benefits of sports are well documented, how playing sports is related to longevity remains unclear. If funded, this grant would utilize a nationally representative survey of about 30,000 Americans tracked 13-years to conduct the most comprehensive analyses yet of how engagement in sports is associated with risk of mortality and how this relationship may vary by race/ethnicity.

The specific aims are as follows:

Specific Aim #1A: Descriptively document how engagement in specific (e.g., basketball) and different types (e.g., team sports) of sports are associated with risk of mortality of Americans from 1998-2011.
Specific Aim #1B: Test if the relationship between engagement in sports and mortality varies by race/ethnicity in the United States. That is, does the association between engagement in the specific and general type of sports differentially affect the risk of mortality for different race/ethnic groups?
Specific Aim #2A: Systematically examine why Americans who engage in sports may have a lower mortality risk. Could the benefit of sports for health be direct (e.g., cardiovascular health) or is it through more distal pathways (e.g., social engagement)?
Specific Aim #2B: Analyze how these factors and pathways vary by race/ethnicity.
Specific Aim #2C: Using advanced quasi-causal techniques such as Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment, provide quasi-casual estimates of the relationship between engagement in sports and mortality risk.

By accomplishing these aims, I will document the long-term benefits of engagement in sports for health for the U.S. adult population to an extent to which has previously not been possible. I will also examine how sports may have the potential to ameliorate racial inequality in longevity. Differences in the mortality implications of engagement in the sport by race may stress the significance of tailored policy interventions. I plan on disseminating my findings widely with the objective of promoting participation in sports as a means to promote longevity and further social equality in health.

Published Work

Associations of Exercise with All-cause Mortality among Adults in the United States

Last updated May 2020.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Chong Lee

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:36 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Chong Lee

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Combined Impact of Physical and Positive Mental Training on 3-Month Weight Change in Obese Children

Chong Lee | College of Health Solutions

To address the childhood obesity epidemic, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and National Institute of Health (NIH) have recommended a comprehensive, intensive behavioral intervention program that focuses on weight loss through multiple components approach. However, its general applicability is limited due to complex treatment guidelines with scant evidence of long-term weight loss effects. Currently, effective weight loss programs for obese children are limited. The overall aim of the proposed project is to develop intervention methods that improve weight loss among obese children. Most weight loss programs in obese children have focused on improving physical activity and healthful eating, which produces significant short-term weight loss.

On average, obese children tend to lose about 2.5 kg of body weight for 6-months of intervention, although they tend to regain about 100% of their initial weight loss after 1-year of intervention. The major reason for this failure in weight maintenance remains unclear, but it may be due to unintentional weight loss induced by low self-efficacy or boredom with the weight loss programs. There is evidence that self-efficacy, an individual’s judgment regarding his/her abilities to perform certain behaviors, plays an important role in the success of short-term and long-term weight loss in adults. Although the impact of self-efficacy on weight loss in obese children remains unexplored, enhancing self-efficacy can be a key plausible solution for short-term and long-term weight loss in obese children.

Thus, we propose to test the impact of self-efficacy on weight loss in obese children. We have identified an innovative approach (Olympic-style Taekwondo, TKD) that improves both self-efficacy and weight loss in obese children. The Olympic-style TKD comprises a powerful form of physical and mental exercises focusing on self-discipline training with self-respect and self-efficacy, which enhances self-confidence, self-esteem, weight loss, and aerobic power. Also, compelling evidence indicates that TKD training for 3 months (3 times/week) had a significant reduction in body weight (2.4 kg) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (0.4%) among obese Asian children. The project aims are to test the effect of TKD training on weight loss in US obese children. We hypothesize that obese children in the TKD intervention will have a significant weight loss from baseline to 3 months and that they will have significant improvements in self-efficacy, HbA1c, and cardiometabolic risk factors (e.g., SBP, DBP, waist circumference, visceral fat, and FMD) from baseline to 3 months.

Last updated 2019.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Eric Legg

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:36 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Eric Legg

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Exploring the Volunteer Experience of Women of Color in Local Tennis Communities

Eric Legg | School of Community Resources and Development
Eric Legg was a recipient of Global Sport Institute's Inaugural Year Seed Grant Program

Volunteers play an essential role in the production of sport from community through professional levels. Millions of volunteers perform functions include coaching, field maintenance, event management, and national leaders of sport governing bodies (Wicker, 2017). Given the important role of volunteers, in sport understanding their experience is crucial to ensuring the sustainability and success of sport programs. Of particular interest is the experience of volunteers from diverse backgrounds. Ensuring diversity in representation and influence is a social justice issue and a performance issue, as research indicates that diverse teams perform better financially, and are generally more innovative (Díaz-Garcia, González-Moreno, & Sáez-Martinez, 2012).

However, a recent meta-analysis indicated that race and sex diversity actually had a small negative relation with team performance (Bell, Villado, Lukasik, Belau, & Briggs, 2011). Given, therefore, that diversity may not always be related to performance, it is important to approach the study of diverse volunteers from a social justice lens, and not just a performance perspective (Spaaij et al., 2018). Although a substantial body of research within sport examines the motivations and experiences of volunteers, the bulk of existing research explores volunteers in general, board members, or executive committee members (Wicker, 2017).

This leaves a gap in understanding experiences of volunteers who are not in leadership positions. Further, researchers have noted the importance of additional research related to specific, and diverse population groups within sport (Hoeber, 2010). The purpose of the present research, therefore, is to explore the lived experiences of women of color who are either current volunteers or potential volunteers within tennis. As such, this research will not only fill the identified gaps, but also expand on in-progress research (Legg & Karner, in progress) that explores the experience of diverse national-level volunteers within tennis. Preliminary findings from that research indicate the need to examine issues of diversity at the local level, and this research addresses that need.

Published Work

Towards a model of diversity and inclusion for sport volunteers: A narrative inquiry of the experience of diverse volunteers for a national sport governing body

Being female AND: Using intersectionality theory to explore the experiences of female sport coaches

Last updated May 2020.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Victoria Jackson

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:36 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Victoria Jackson

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Black Labor/White Privilege: The Amateur Myth and Big-Time Sports in American Universities

Victoria Jackson | School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies

I am applying for a Global Sport Institute seed grant to fund a book project on big-time sports in American universities. The book blends history, personal story, and current events, and concludes with policy recommendations, looking to the future of college sports. It presents the narrative history of intercollegiate athletics policy and, more broadly, higher education policy through the local, because only at the level of the individual institution can we see how various actors put policy into practice, to influence individuals’ lives and athletic and academic experiences. We also see the dynamics of power and privilege that create bifurcated educational experiences and outcomes determined, in most cases, by the sport one plays. It is no coincidence that the divide in college sports correlates with race. This project fits nicely with the 2018-19 research theme “Race and Sport around the Globe,” as well as the sub-theme “advancing diversity and social justice,” because in my research I have identified a global color line in college sports, with disproportionately African American male revenue-sport labor subsidizing world-class athletic and academic experiences of white American, European, and Commonwealth nonrevenue-sport athletes. My work adds complexity and new knowledge to the college sports reform conversation; while scholars have been studying college sports for nearly a century, rarely do they spend much time exploring how nonrevenue athletes have become the real beneficiaries of the intercollegiate athletics system, and since the 1970s in particular.

Published Work

Black Labor/White Privilege: The Amateur Myth and Big-Time Sports in American Universities

Last updated May 2020.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Angela Gonzales

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:36 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Angela Gonzales

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Na’hongvita!” (Dig Deep, Be Fit, and Use Internal Strength!): Running as a Cultural Tradition and a Pathway to Hopi Health and Well-Being

Angela Gonzales | School of Social Transformation

In 2015, the New York Times published an article entitled, “Two Hopi Traditions: Running and Winning” (Branch, 2015). The article made public the largely untold story of the tradition of running among the Hopi people. On July 26, 2016, ESPN carried this message even farther when it aired “Hopi Run,” a 30-minute film about the Hopi High School Boys’ Cross Country team and their 26 year streak as state champions (Harves, 2016). The film powerfully highlights running as a source of hope and resilience for these young runners, many of whom live in homes without electricity or running water. For viewers, the film provided a glimpse of the cultural meaning and significance of running to the Hopi people. While these two stories brought national attention to the Hopi excellence in sport running, there remains more to explore in understanding running as both a sport and a metaphor for Hopi identity and the health and wellbeing of the Hopi people.

Na’hongvita, the Hopi word called out to runners encouraging them “to dig deep, be fit, and use their internal strengths” embodies Hopi values and virtues of strength, resilience and commitment to culture and community. As part of the tribe’s traditional folklore, Hopi ancestors competed in mythic races with the animals that brought balance to the world by emphasizing their relationship and responsibility to the land and to each other (Fewkes,1892; Nabokov, 1987). Today, the tradition of running continues as part of many Hopi ceremonial events. Foot races up the steep mesa escarpment mark the beginning of traditional ceremonies as both young and old runners, or warik’aya as they are referred to in Hopi, run as representatives of their clans and for the benefit of the entire community who watch and cheer the runners on with shouts of Na’hongvita!

For the Hopi, running intertwines athleticism and endurance with identity, culture and the survival of the Hopi people and their way of life (Gilbert, 2018). The purpose of this project is threefold: (1) create partnership with Hopi community stakeholders to explore running as a metaphor for understanding Hopi community health and well-being; (2) work with community partners to design and develop research protocol to explore the meaning and measurement of running as a pathway to health across the lifespan; and (3) demonstrate community readiness to conduct community engaged research with additional funding.

Last updated June 2019.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Vera Lopez

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:35 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Vera Lopez

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Playing for Life: Latina Girls, Sports, and Physical Activity

Vera Lopez (video)

Vera Lopez was a recepient of Global Sport Institute's Inaugural Year Seed Grant Program.

When it comes to involvement in sports, Latina girls continue to lag behind other girls. This study examines why this is the case, and what we can do to close this gap. Phase 1 of this study involves conducting focus groups with Latina teens and interviews with coaches to better understand the barriers and facilitators associated with Latinas’ participation in school sports. Phase 2 will involve administering a survey to Latina teens. Study findings ultimately will be used to inform the development of more inclusive school-based practices and policies designed to increase Latina girls’ participation in school sports and physical activity more generally.

Published Work

No Latina Girls Allowed: Gender-Based Teasing Within School Sports and Physical Activity Contexts | SAGE Journals & ResearchGate

Last updated June 2019.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

vera_lopez_1.pdf (89.6 KB)

Seed Grant Awardee: Floris Wardenaar

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:35 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Floris Wardenaar

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

USA No.1 Study: Urine Color Self-Assessment and Racial Differences

Floris Wardenaar | School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Video)

Hydration status may differ between races. Hispanic and black adolescents have consistently higher urine osmolality than white adolescents, which indicates that this population could be more frequently dehydrated (Kenney et al. 2015). Dehydration, even moderately (1%), may lead to impaired exercise performance (Bardis et al. 2013). A higher urine concentration and lower urine volume has been associated with a higher blood pressure which may develop into health issues like hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease (Bankir, Perucca, and Weinberger 2007). There is a strong positive relationship between urine color and urine concentration (Kavouras et al. 2016). Thus, athletes are often advised to monitor hydration status by assessing their urine color (McDermott et al. 2017), yet no information is available regarding the validity of self-assessment estimating diluted urine color directly from the lavatory.

The objective of this study is to test whether differences among white, black, and Hispanic athletes are seen in 1) urine color and urine osmolality and 2) self-reported urine score in comparison to a single urine reference color. The success of this program will result in: (1) a simple strategy for athletes to self-assess hydration status and make informed decisions regarding fluid intake; (2) the delivery of pilot data on potential urine color differences between white, black and Hispanic athletes; (3) provide input for hydration education programs. In this way the study will benefit the whole (athletic) population especially in heavily populated black and Hispanic (school) athlete communities.

Published Work

A lavatory urine color (LUC) chart method can identify hypohydration in a physically active population

Last updated February 2021.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Kaila Ann Vento

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:35 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Kaila Ann Vento

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

A Lack of Proper Nutrition Could Lead to Insecurity of Health, Impair Training, and Diminish Optimal Performance and Well-Being

Kaila Ann Vento | School of Nutrition and Health Promotion

Athletes competing at the collegiate level report a lesser quality of life compared to non-athletes. A deficiency in nutritious foods contributes to poor physiological health, however more information is needed about overall quality of life in relation to nutrition. Ample amounts of literature have examined nutrition knowledge and dietary intake of athletes, yet have failed to include a diverse athletic population. A study has found Caucasian athletes’ nutritional knowledge to be significantly greater than non-white athletes, and while differences in dietary intake between sex and sports have been examined, racial differences have not been compared. Impaired financial situations may also contribute to an inadequate diet. Athletes have stated financial situations are a barrier in purchasing (high quality) foods, leading to poor dietary intake and health. While differences exist in the amount of support the three athletic divisions provides, direct athlete finances towards nutrition is lacking.

The primary aim of this study is to test whether 1) nutrition knowledge, health and dietary intake differs among female athletes from different races at various competition levels while the secondary aims of this study are to 1) determine if financial status and nutrition resources impacts dietary intake and 2) identify differences in financial support in relation to race. This study will involve female athletes participating in intercollegiate athletics and club sports from participating universities and community colleges in the Phoenix area. Volunteers will be asked to provide blood health indicators and body composition, which will be compared with results of self-reported dietary intake, sport nutrition knowledge, and quality of life measures. Physical measurements will be conducted by the ASU Athleat Field Lab at designated locations near the athletes’ training facilities and the questionnaires can be taken at any location convenient for the student-athlete including the locations listed above.

Published Work

Relationship of Finances, Nutritional Support, and Knowledge on Blood Health Indicator, Dietary Intake, and Quality of Life Among A Diverse Female Student-Athlete Population

Last updated May 2020.

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Walking on Water, a Brief History on Black Surfers

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:27 +0000

Walking on Water, a Brief History on Black Surfers

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Many are familiar with the famous Inkwell destination of Martha’s Vineyard, but America also has another beach with a similar history — in Los Angeles. From the 1900s — 1960s African Americans found leisure and community in a stretch of Santa Monica beach around Bay Street sometimes called “The Inkwell”.

Today, a cohort of educators and sports enthusiasts are reconnecting Black + Brown LA youth to their heritage at the beach through the power of surfing.

Video of Walking on Water: a Brief History on Black Surfers

Race and Sport Around the Globe

Seed Grant Awardee: Edward Vargas

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:01:11 +0000

Seed Grant Awardee: Edward Vargas

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 10:01

Multi-Racial Attitudes of Sports Policy
Edward Vargas | School of Transborder Studies

The purpose of this research is to conduct a national online multi-racial survey on sports and race in America. Using critical race and racial threat theory, this study seeks to examine the relationships between public opinions in sports policy (views towards indigenous mascots, amateurism and athlete exploitation, doping, kneeling during the National Anthem, views toward concussions, Title VI in university settings) physical activity, self-rated health, and the most innovative measures of the racialization experience. In addition, this research will utilize online web survey experiments to understand if racial attitudes can be improved by racial empathy using sports as the medium.

Using a national survey of the ‘untold stories’ of other Americans, the aims of the current study are to:

Aim 1: Identify individual level factors associated with sports policy preferences by race/ethnicity.

Aim 2: Test if the relations between individual, cultural, and racial/ethnic group identity and physical activity are associated with sports policy preferences.

Aim 3: Test if individual-level variables (e.g., experiences with discrimination, racial/ethnic attitudes, perceived body image, obesity, racialization) explain the relations between sports policy preferences and if racial empathy can help improve race relations.

Last updated June 2019.

Race and Sport Around the Globe