Courtney Boucher, PhD, assistant director for research and programming at the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport in the School of Kinesiology, joined Randi Zuckerberg live on “Randi Zuckerberg Means Business” on SiriusXM Business Radio on SiriusXM132 to talk about the Women’s World Cup, equal pay, and women in sport leadership, and to highlight the Tucker Center’s work on behalf of girls and women in sport.
In the interview, Antunovic talked about media representations of women’s sport, opportunities for women in professional sport, and what to expect from the FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage in Europe.
In addition, Antunovic talked about her path as an athlete from Subotica and her academic career in the United States. The full interview is available in Serbian on YouTube.
The paper examines how WNBA teams communicated about social issues during the 2021 season. The authors found that teams posted about women’s empowerment, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ rights in ways that take a stand. Social media posts reflected advocacy stances in teams’ community outreach initiatives, game-day promotions, and amplification of stakeholders’ voices (e.g., athletes). The posts ranged from recognitions of a historical event to calls for legislative action and/or political transformation.
The paper’s lead author is Dunja Antunovic, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and affiliated scholar in the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport; co-authors include Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD, senior lecturer and director of the Tucker Center, Kim Soltis, former Tucker Center research assistant and incoming Master’s student in sport sociology, as well as external collaborators Ceyda Mumcu, PhD (University of New Haven), and Tucker Center external affiliated scholars, Katie Lebel, PhD (University of Guelph), Nancy Lough, PhD (UNLV), and Ann Pegoraro, PhD (University of Guelph).
Dunja Antunovic, PhD, assistant professor of sport sociology in the School of Kinesiology, and School of Kinesiology undergraduate students Meg Messer (Sport Management) and Sam Dreher (Kinesiology) published an article entitled “‘Time to award some medals’: A comparative analysis of Olympic coverage in the United States and Australia” in the International Journal of Sport Communication (IJSC). The article is a collaboration with Kelsey Slater, assistant professor of sport management at North Dakota State University. This is the first publication of Antunovic’s newly formed research group, Media Analysis Research in International Sport (MARIS). MARIS research projects focus on the relationship among sport, media, and society from international, global, and transnational perspectives. One of the primary purposes of the group is to engage undergraduates in research.
Gender impacts every aspect of coaching, as well as every aspect of girls’ sport experiences. Coaching HER tackles the most central, yet unaddressed issue which negatively impacts girls’ performance, self-perceptions, sport choices and experiences: coaches’ unconscious gender biases and stereotypes. Coaching HER is designed to help get and keep girls in sport through critical drop out ages.
In her post-summit workshop, LaVoi and others will dispel false narratives with data, share data on the barriers and supports for women coaches evidence-based approaches for recruiting, hiring, and retaining women coaches, as well as strategies to help women feel safe, valued, and supported.
Dunja Antunovic, PhD, assistant professor of sport sociology in the School of Kinesiology, gave a plenary talk at the European Association for Sociology of Sport Annual Conference in Budapest on May 31, 2023. The talk was entitled, ““What is still ‘new’ about social media? The importance of sociology of sport research on mediatization” and utilized data from various countries in North America and Europe to explore the theoretical and practical aspects of conducting research on social media in the field of sports.
In addition to the talk, Antunovic also held a workshop for doctoral students entitled “Preparing for the Academic Job Market” and moderated two sessions.
This study aimed to evaluate a new web-based program called “Body Confident Coaching” (BCC) designed to help coaches address body image concerns among adolescent girls in sports. The program consisted of five 20-minute modules and was found to be easy to follow, useful, and enjoyable by coaches. Preliminary results showed that coaches who completed the program reported higher self-confidence in body image, lower levels of fat phobia, and less gender essentialist beliefs compared to coaches who did not participate in the program.
Savannah Gilmore joined our administrative office team just under a month ago and will be holding down the front desk duties this summer. We had a chance to interview Savannah to let you know a little more about her…
What is your work background? What is your educational background?
I am currently a freshman with an intended major in kinesiology. I went to high school about ten minutes away (St. Anthony Village), which is when I worked as the supervisor of the Life Cafe at LifeTime Fitness for two years. Presently, I coach the Vibe Minneapolis club volleyball team as well as my position here.
What are the responsibilities of your current position?
The responsibilities for this job vary day by day. Some days I’m printing things out for TAs and professors, others I’m moving things around Cooke Hall. There are a lot of things that I haven’t had the chance to do here yet, so I’m excited to experience them.
What do you like best about working here?
I love the environment that the people who work here create. Everyone I have met has been extremely kind and welcoming towards me. I was expecting to feel some discomfort or uneasiness starting this job, but once I was introduced and got a chance to talk to everyone I knew that there was nothing for me to be nervous about. I now know that I can approach just about anyone in Cooke Hall with a question and they would be more than happy to help me out. I also enjoy the flexibility that this position offers, like being able to work on my homework after I have finished everything I need to do for the job.
What are you looking forward to learning in your position?
I hope to learn how to better communicate with the faculty here as well as with whomever might come visit the building. I am mostly excited to get to know more people and get more experience under my belt in a more professional environment.
Tell us about you!
I have always been super active and have played just about every sport. Volleyball, basketball, track & field, cross country, soccer, tennis, golf, dance, and swimming, you name it. My favorite by far, though, was volleyball and I played both school and club volleyball throughout high school. I now coach volleyball at the same club that I played at, so it’s cool to experience the game from a new angle. I also love to travel and have been all around Europe, including Barcelona, Amsterdam, Edinborough, and the Scottish Highlands. I have one brother, Greyson, a dog named Pablo, and my cat named Misty. My favorite color is blue, and I love bubble tea!
Do you have a special talent or interest that might surprise someone?
I can do a backflip! I am also interested in sports cars and the history of ancient Egypt.
Any final words of wisdom?
Instead of looking at a negative experience in a bad light, I like to take something from it. Thinking about everything as being bad and something that you screwed up can really start to weigh on you. Try to learn something about yourself or the world when something negative is happening so that you’re better prepared for it next time.
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, gave a keynote address, “Women in Sport Coaching,” at the Congress Equality on the Move conference on April 28 in Barcelona. The Congress Equality on the Move is “a platform for the transfer of knowledge, interaction and learning in order to promote women’s sport in Catalonia, organized by the General Secretariat of Sport and Physical Activity through the National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC), and with the coordination of the Presidency and Equality and Feminism departments of the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya).”
The reviewer discusses the authors’ argument that traditional ways of analyzing media coverage of men’s sports result in missed opportunities to examine how feminism shapes women’s sport media narratives. It is noted that the authors seek to explore where feminism occurs in media spaces and they call for new methodological and theoretical approaches that do not just focus on inequalities in sports media but also look for where feminism occurs in these spaces. Using case studies, the book explores the articulations of feminism in sports media, sports broadcasting, coverage of the Olympic Games, athlete activism, promotional culture, women’s sports films, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s sports. Antunovic and Cooky explore how academic narratives shape how the media discuss issues and inequalities and challenge readers to view the topic differently. Finally, the book seeks to tell stories differently and provide a more critical feminist narrative that investigates persisting gender inequality.
Quotes from the review include:
The book achieves its goal of ‘telling stories differently’ and provides a comprehensive review of the literature in the field.
It challenges us all to think differently about how we approach analysing media narratives of women’s sports and being more critical in our approaches.
Dr. Michael Joyner “Exercise & Experiments of Nature”
April 28, 2023 (Friday), 1:30pm – 2:30pm This is an in-person only event. Location: University Recreation and Wellness Center, Multipurpose 6 Host: Dr. Don Dengel
Dr. Michael Joyner has broad-based interests related to integrative physiology in humans, and he also practices clinical medicine as an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic. His specific areas of expertise include autonomic control of circulation, muscle, and skin blood flow, as well as exercise, oxygen transport, and metabolic regulation in humans. Joyner’s work has been continuously funded by the NIH since the early 1990s. During the COVID-19 pandemic he repurposed his lab and led the U.S. Expanded Access Program for Convalescent Plasma and has an emerging interest in passive immunity and antibody therapy for infectious diseases. In addition to his funded work, Dr. Joyner also has significant expertise in the physiology of human performance, including the original work that led to the sub-2-hour marathon.
Dr. Rachel Allison joined the faculty at Mississippi State University in 2014 after receiving her PhD from the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a scholar of gender and sport, and has focused primarily on the selling and marketing of women’s professional sport in the United States. She is the author of Kicking Center: Gender and the Selling of Women’s Professional Soccer, published in 2018 with Rutgers University Press. More recently, she received a FIFA Research Scholarship to study the perspectives and experiences of fans attending the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
The School of Kinesiology Graduate Studies Office proudly its 2023 Spring Graduate Seminars lecture series.
Dr. Lisa Kaler
Dr. Lisa Kaler “Graduate Student Mental Health: Collective Action in the School of Kinesiology”
March 29, 2023 (Wednesday), 3:00pm – 4:00pm This is an in-person only event. Location: University Recreation and Wellness Center, Multipurpose 6 Host: Dr. Sarah Greising
Lisa S Kaler, PhD, is an expert in student mental health and wellbeing. Dr. Kaler integrates her background in student affairs, academic success, and critical research paradigms to advocate for systemic and sustainable support for positive graduate student mental health. She is an expert on undergraduate and graduate student mental health, courses related stress, and suicide in higher education. Dr. Kaler currently lectures in the College of Education and Human Development’s Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD) and the Leadership Minor here at the University of Minnesota. Kaler earned her PhD in Higher Education from OLPD in 2021.