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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) What do we know about sport? What are common assumptions we make about sport and society?
Sport builds character
Sport provides opportunities for social mobility
Sport encourages teamwork and unity
Sport reflects values and social norms
Sport transcends politics
Sport speaks a universal language
Sport is a measure of individual merit
| Playing sports can help build character in many ways, mostly linked to the good side of it. On the other hand it can also chip at an athletes mental health until change is made. I like soccer so I’m aware on when players partake in special interviews where there publicize that they’ve been in a dark place over some years. A lot of things can make a player feel this way from opinions from the public, family matters, staff relations or medical treatments and injuries. All these added pressures take a massive effect on the players mind and doesn’t help them in any positive way. The player or athlete usually goes through a period where they question if they should quit or do they belong here because of their individual performance. |
Exercise 3: Notebook prompt
What are some other metanarratives about sport that you are familiar with? Find an image or video clip or draw something yourself that captures this idea…
So what? Why does any of this matter? Does it matter? As something we grow up with – live with – play through – we don’t often interrogate the meanings of sport, and perhaps we don’t want to.
But being aware of these assumptions and metanarratives is especially important, I would argue, because of the centrality of sport to our everyday lives, the role that sport plays in shaping our childhood and worldviews and….. [finish that thought]
| Sports frequently act as a reflection of society, showcasing and magnifying larger cultural, social and political trends. Throughout history, sports have served as a platform for confronting inequalities and overcoming barriers. Jackie Robinson’s debut in the MLB in 1947 represented a crucial turning point in the battle against racial segregation in the USA, showing how sports could drive social advancement. Likewise, the activism of sport figures such as Megan Rapinoe and Colin Kaepernick emphasizes the persistent fight for gender equality, LGBTQ+, and racial justice. Athletics also highlight problems related to economic inequality and workers’ rights, as demonstrated in discussions about athlete wages and employment environments.
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B) What is social justice?
Exercise 4: Padlet Prompt
Think back to the last section and try to look at some of the ideas we discussed differently. How might sport and social justice actually co-exist?
Record any images, video clips, or gifs you added to the padlet and identify a point of intersection between sport and social justice (can be an issue or a barrier or a debate or something you would like to explore in more depth in this course) . Screenshot or paste in your response below.
| one example I can think of when sport and social justice co-existed together was when FIFA allowed the use of Hijab’s during their matches. I believe this was around 2014 just prior to the World Cup that year. This was an important moment for Muslim women that wanted to enjoy and demonstrate their love for soccer/football while also being able to practice their religion. Unfortunately, there are still some countries and leagues that prevent players from wearing the Hijab and that could be to protect the players as it makes them easily noticeable for potential attacks.
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C) Social Justice Reading
(note: this activity is optional!)
D) KINESIOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Exercise 5:
Exercise 6:
What are the implications of bodies-at-risk discourse and the refusal to understand the health gap from a social justice perspective, according to the authors of this article?
| From what I’ve understood the text tells us that the normal healthy body is one that belongs to the white race. That bodies-at-risk are bodies that belong to other races. This becomes a social justice problem because our bodies are all structured the same the only difference is the colour of our skin, eyes and hair. The problem to not understand the health gap from a social justice perspective is that if they continue to prioritize the health and fitness for members of the white race, they keep all the other races excluded with micro- and macro-level systems of oppression, such as institutional racism, on health disparities.These authors believe that handling this social issue begins in the schools where physical education is taught, adding that “confronting deficit thinking and politics of privilege that continue to promote inequality” (p. 17) must be at the forefront of the social justice agenda.
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Section Two: Sport Feminism
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
What is feminism? What does it mean to you? Choose one of the images below and explain how it captures your understanding of feminism (or find one that does speak to you and paste this into your pressbook with an explanation of why it matters to you.
| They’re shown in the media usually as a white woman who feels strongly about this discussion that women need equal rights as men like picture #6. What I do know is that women do have a lot of rights just like men do in the western side of the world. In other places like Palestine and Syria I am aware that women’s rights are different to men but it’s hard to compare life over there to here when their culture and way of life in countries like that are extremely different.
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Exercise 8: Notes Prompt (optional)
NB: Cornell notes is a great resource that teaches effective notetaking. Unfortunately, our system can’t save notes taken in the H5P app, so this is fully optional.
Exercise 9: Crossword Activity
Exercise 10: Padlet Prompt
word cloudLiberal sports feminism – like any other feminist they urge and fight for equal opportunities and experiences for women in sports and are against older ways sports have been ran, where women are playing softer, less physical sports and men get to play the extreme hardcore sports like football, hockey, rugby. They also want more inclusion for women in sport using the example of the 2012 Olympics being the most female friendly games. Radical feminism – Fight against women’s oppression involving underlying structural power relations that are the result of the systematic maintenance of male power through patriarchy. Radical feminists explore the nature of oppression through the personal experiences of women and centralize sexuality as a major site of men’s domination over women through the social institutionalization of heterosexuality.
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| I believe that the reason Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark brought so much attention to women’s basketball was for 2 reasons, 1. their talent 2. the competitiveness they had towards each other. This topic about the popularity of women’s sports gets brought up all the time and its very cliché. Anyone that watches a sports know that the players make money off of revenue like tickets bought or amount of people that watch on tv. That along with brand and sponsor deals is why they get paid so much. Like I mentioned before because they have so much talent is one reason why women’s basketball took on so much more attention and give people a reason to start watching women’s basketball more often. The more exciting the players are the more people will tune in to watch.
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