PED 217 - Social Aspects of Sport

Chapter 5

Sport and Socialization

Socialization is the general process which humans learn their culture and become participating members of society.

Social learning theory as it applies to sport roles is featured in three aspects:

1. Reinforcement: This highlights reward and punishment. Our parents were our first social agents, and later in life it is siblings, peers, teachers, and coaches. Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated (law of effect), and behavior that is punished tends to be inhibited. Behavior that is not rewarded nor punished tends to end on its own.

   Parents teach children appropriate role behavior. For example, young boys will play with trucks and footballs.

2. Coaching: deliberate teaching. It has 3 primary effects on children:
   1. They learn the range of behaviors the teacher thinks appropriate.
   2. They acquire new skills and responses.
   3. They show greater motivation as a result of the rewards they have received.
3. Observational Learning: learning by watching someone else (son at kitchen table). Results:
   1. Response patterns are acquired (holding a baseball bat or golf club).
   2. Existing responses may be strengthened or weakened (line drives are more likely to be hit when the bat is held a certain way).
   3. You are able to identify certain types of stimulus: (a ball gets by a soccer goalie because he does not have his hands up)

Agents of Sport Socialization: groups or individuals who initiate the learning of skills, values and attitudes.

1. Family: This happens early in life as a result of direct teaching from mother, father, or sibling, or by observing an older sibling participating. How many former athletes have famous sons or daughters in sports?

   Sports such as golf and tennis have traditionally drawn from higher social classes.

2. The peer group: Peer pressure operates to influence sport related facets of our lifestyle. How many times has a peer influenced you to play a certain sport?
3. The school: Mass education and mandatory gym classes have enabled many to learn the fundamentals of a variety of sporting activities.
4. The community: The availability of sport opportunities in a community heavily determines what kids will play. If a community does not have any tennis courts, there will not be a great number of students who will be interested in the sport. Baseball is the oldest and most highly developed programs, but there are also Pop Warner football, youth hockey leagues, and swimming clubs. 35 million youngsters participate in organized sport programs.
5. The media: TV, radio, movies, and the newspaper expose children to sports and their heroes, who function as role models (Charles Barkley says he is not a role model).

Factors contributing to participation in sport:

Parents are among the most significant socializing agents contributing to sport (are they too significant?), especially at the varsity level. (Find an article)

Motivation for sports participation is affected by:

1. Economic factors (money)
2. Prestige and power of that person or group.
3. Opportunity to play that sport.
4. How much the student wants to play and if they have the physical skills to play.

In a study it was found: males in college are influenced by family, and females in high school are influenced by peers, but college females found coaches to be their influence. Whites were influenced more by their parents than blacks, and sport opportunities were more available to whites.

Sport involvement can be primary or secondary:

Primary is direct participation (quarterback, or pitcher), and indirect participation (coach, trainer).

Secondary direct involvement includes alumni, promoters, administration, retailers, concessions, and indirect involvement includes spectators.

There are 3 categories of sport involvement:

1. Behavioral-involves active participation and passive modes (watching sports).
2. Affective-a person’s feelings and emotions about sport.
3. Cognitive-a person’s knowledge about sport.

The fan: short for fanatic: an enthusiast of sport.

2 personal functions performed by sport for fans are relevant to this chapter:

1. It gives a feeling of belonging and social identification.
2. It provides a socially acceptable outlet for hostile and aggressive feelings.

English soccer fans are a great example of this, except that their rowdy behavior is not socially acceptable. But violence is daily in their lives, and fighting is one of the few sources of excitement, meaning and status that are available.

Why do fans give their energy and interest to athletics to the extent they do?

1. Normative social influence-what is important and where interest should lie. Because sports are popular, many people participate in and identify with them.
2. Sports provide a sense of belonging and identification with a social group beyond the immediate family.
3. Team identification may represent an extension of the self. Adults and children wear the school’s or team’s clothing to link themselves with successful organizations.

Psychologically it appears that sports mean more to the fan than the enjoyment of witnessing an event. Their intensity and satisfaction that the fan experiences at the end of each game their team wins, seeing a conflict settled, may be a substitute for the permanent conflict in the fan’s own life. This may be one of the most important psychosocial contributions of sport to our culture.

Based on the American creed: sport provides desirable outcomes and consequences, however

1. A study of male physical education majors suggests that positive attitudes toward sportsmanship and fair play are not the result of involvement in organized college sports, and football players in comparison to other sports scored the lowest in the study.
2. As far as character building, the same group suggests that “sports do not build character, they reveal it”. How?
3. They also reveal that competition does not build character…some athletes have achieved success despite personality disorders.
4. Another negative syndrome of sport participation is success phobia: the fear aroused by anticipated success. Think of the great track athlete who chokes during a big race.

Organized youth sports programs:

One of the most significant and earliest sport socialization experiences occurs during youth.

One thing is certain about youth sports: few of those involved take a neutral or disinterested stance. You either support or you are a cynic, and that depends on whether your child plays or not.

Benefits of youth sport programs:

1. There are opportunities to practice and develop skills, and apply them in game situations.
2. They develop physical fitness (whopper during practice).
3. They nurture cognitive skills such as making quick decisions under pressure.
4. They encourage strategy planning.
5. They provide an understanding of body mechanics.
6. It can develop positive self esteem (although this has been highly disputed, why?)Read pg. 126 on why children quit youth sports.

Questionable or negative areas of youth sport programs:

1. Win-Loss emphasis: professionals have to win, but children also may endorse this philosophy. Parents and youth coaches sometimes reflect this attitude, without thought to the needs of children.

   Children should not worry about winning nearly as much as the development of the process of sports participation (acquiring skills to play at the next level). If youth coaches worry too much about winning, you can bet they are not teaching children the skills to progress forward. Younger athletes may not have a chance to develop skills because the coach wants to only play those who can help him/her win on that particular night. Some youth coaches also make losing something that the children can’t learn from. Our society (parents at youth games) at times does not contribute to the overall sport development of the children. Children will only see themselves as doing well if they win, and that should be secondary. Many times there is only one winner.

2. Cutting: being rejected in sports at a young age can produce a sense of total rejection, a denial of one’s self worth. Some districts say it’s because of budgets, but yet they will hire more administration.
3. Maturity levels: There are significant differences in size and strength from age 10-16. It could be up to 5 years of skeletal age difference for two boys of the same age. The smaller and later maturing boys are not likely to be successful, even if they have high skill levels.
4. Adult intrusion-Because adults are the ones who organize, finance, and administer the sport program, they sometimes impose adult values on the children. There are accounts of youth coaches who: drill their players mercilessly, expect them to practice and play like adults, taunt them if they are afraid, call them names, tell the poorly skilled to stay home during important games, punish with extra running and encourage them to cheat. Parents will also get into fights with umpires, not talk to their children after a loss, pay coaches to play their kids, and scream during games. Why do they do this?
   1. Parents and coaches may have dull and unexciting lives become involved to receive gratification and prestige.
   2. Parents and coaches are involved to experience success that eludes them in the real world.
   3. Parents are involved to help their children attain career aspirations.
   4. Parents are involved to ensure that the sport experience is a healthy one, and to protect their child from a coach who has a win at all costs philosophy.
5. Psychological injury: children who experience anxiety in sports may try to avoid failure by shying away from active participation, by developing excuses (friend’s running story), or by refusing to try new things.

The Little League syndrome:

1. Washout-someone who was once successful and then cut from a team will not want to try out for another team unless they are pursued first.
2. Burnout-an athlete who had a lot of success early and then lost all interest in that sport by high school.
3. Superstar malady-an athlete who is always comparing themselves to someone else and continually need approval from others.