For decades, scholars and advocates of women’s sport have called for a change in how women’s sport is marketed, sponsored, endorsed, promoted, covered, invested in, capitalized upon, and broadcast. Women’s sport has deserved equal resources, yet has not been provided adequate investment, which is then used as a false narrative depicting women’s sport as not as lucrative, successful, and popular as men’s sport—a classic chicken-egg circular argument. Due to a multitude of factors, unprecedented disruption is occurring in women’s sport, specifically among women athletes.
Read about these disruptions and recommendations for accelerating systems change for women’s sport, join in disrupting sport by using the hashtag #DisruptHERS, and download the report here: https://z.umn.edu/tc-disruptHERSreport.
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, co-authored a Gender, Work & Organization article, “Elite women coaches negotiating and resisting power in football” with colleagues Annelies Knoppers (University of Utrecht), Donna de Haan (The Hague University of Applied Sciences), and Leanne Norman (Leeds-Beckett University). The article explores “how 10 elite women coaches of national football [soccer] teams negotiated and resisted the entanglement of techniques of biopower, sovereign and disciplinary power within the sport. … The findings suggest that this use of a Foucauldian analysis into the entanglement of forms of power within such male-dominated organizations and into the technologies of the self, utilized by women coaches, provides new insights into understanding the relative lack of change in gender ratio in (sport) leadership.”
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, participated in two panels at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Coaches Convention in Las Vegas. The panels, “The State of College Athletics: Now and Moving Forward” (with Rick Dickson and Tom Jacobs) and “Who is in Your Circle?” (with Leslie Allen, Lauren Conching, and Jordan Smith) were both on December 5, 2021. The ITA annual convention seeks to help tennis become more relevant, sustainable, and inclusive. #SHECANCOACH
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, was the keynote presenter at the 13th International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) Global Coach Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, November 17-20, 2021. LaVoi’s keynote, “Role of the Tucker Centre increasing the number of women coaches and participation rates of girls in sport across college campuses in the US,” lead off 10 plenary sessions over five days, with 12 ICCE-led workshops on several emerging coaching topics as well as other sessions with several topics including, research stream with symposiums, abstracts and summaries.
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, will be a panelist for a special Athlete Assessments webinar, “Coaches Who Lift Coaches,” featuring LaVoi and fellow panelists: Becky Carlson (Quinnipiac University’s Head Women’s Rugby Coach), Matt Thurmond (Arizona State University Men’s Golf Head Coach), and Tim McLaren (9x Olympic Rowing Coach). As experts who have consistently and persistently helped assistant coaches, head coaches, and others working in the coaching space, the panelists’ stories, perspectives, advice, and guidance are invaluable. Athlete Assessments’ founder and director Bo Hanson will join the panelists on November 8, 2021, at 4:00 PM CST. Register here.
In women’s college basketball, the implementation of Title IX did not significantly change the hiring trends or career pipelines for women and especially women of Color, creating disparities that still exist today. In “The Journey of Women in Basketball,” the next Global Sport Matters #GSMLive on November 12, 12PM CST, Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, will moderate a panel including Amira Rose Davis, Kyle Adams, MEd, and Nikki Fargas of the Las Vegas Aces to discuss their experiences in the game and what comes next.
The School of Kinesiology Graduate Studies Office presents the following lectures during this semester. Attend via the Zoom information below.
1) How To Get Research Published?
Dr. Ping Xiang
Speaker: Dr. Ping Xiang Date and Time: November 22, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (CST) Host: Zan Gao, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies, School of Kinesiology
Short bio: Dr. Ping Xiang is a professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University. Her research primarily focuses on students’ motivation in physical education and physical activity settings. After receiving her doctorate from Louisiana State University in 1996, Dr. Xiang has edited one book, written six book chapters, and published 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (RQES) and the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education (JTPE). Web of Science data revealed Dr. Xiang as the most prolific sport pedagogy researcher in the world from 2004 to 2013. She received the 2019 Honor Award of Instruction and Curriculum from SHAPE America. Dr. Xiang is an active fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK) and a research fellow of SHAPE America. Dr. Xiang served as the editor-in-chief of JTPE. Currently Dr. Xiang is on the editorial board of RQES and JTPE, as well as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Sport and Health Science.
2) Lessons learned from physical activity interventions in low income preschool-age children
Speaker: Dr. Sofiya Alhassan Date and Time: December 10, 11:00 a.m. – Noon (CST) Host: Zan Gao, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies, School of Kinesiology
Short bio: Dr. Sofiya Alhassan is a professor in the Kinesiology Department at the University of Massachusetts. Her research focuses on implementing physical activity for the prevention of obesity and the improvement of cognitive outcomes in underserved pediatric populations, and in particular, the utilization of community, family-based physical activity interventions to improve obesity-related health behaviors and cognitive health in children of color. Her research agenda also includes examining 1) physical activity policy-based intervention in preschool-age children; 2) environmental influences on various health behaviors in children of color, and 3) after-school family-based intervention to improve physiological, psychosocial, and academic performance of pre-adolescent children of color. Dr. Alhassan’s research in preschool-age children has been funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and her research in pre-adolescent children have been funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers developed a survey to examine what key constituents believe is working in women’s sports, what they believe the salient challenges are for women’s sport, and how they would prioritize the next steps forward in the post-pandemic sport landscape. The article discusses implications and offers recommendations.
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, is a guest of Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini in a YouTube vodcast, “Why Are We Erasing Women Athletes?” LaVoi comments on continued sexualized portrayals of women athletes in sports, and why this representation continues to happen in today’s vastly popular women’s sports environment.
On Monday, September 27, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (CST), Tucker Center affiliated scholarDoug Hartmann, PhD, professor in the U of M’s Department of Sociology, will engage in a public conversation on “The Power of Athletes” with Dave Zirin, prolific sports editor for The Nation, about Zirin’s engaging and important new book, The Kaepernick Effect. The book is based upon dozens of interviews Zirin did with athletes and their supporters all over the world of sport, including here in the Twin Cities, who have “taken a knee” in recent years. Register for the event here: http://z.umn.edu/Zirin2021
When Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem in 2016 to protest police violence and racial inequity, he did more than shake up the NFL and the world of pro sports. His actions also sparked a largely unreported movement in high schools and colleges across the country. Hartmann and Zirin’s conversation asks the audience to consider Kaepernick’s and others’ subsequent impacts on sport, politics, and culture.
Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD,Tucker Center director and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, is an invited speaker at the 2021 Breakthrough Digital Leadership Summit for Women in Sport, December 14, 2021. LaVoi will give a breakout session entitled “Women Coach Data,” sharing new data from the Tucker Center’s most recent Women in College Coaching Report Card—compiled from 357 schools within NCAA Division I conferences—including new research around women coaches of color. Additionally at the BreakThrough Summit—a free, digital leadership summit designed to develop and celebrate women in sports—Dr. LaVoi will share strategies everyone can play a part in continuing to increase the number of women in coaching positions across all levels.
