College athletes’ perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs on professional sports’ reactions to social and racial injustices within the United States.
Location
Online - Session 3C
Start Date
4-21-2021 2:10 PM
Major Field of Study
Global Public Health
Student Type
Undergraduate
Faculty Mentor(s)
Michaela George, PhD
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Insights are applied from the Black Lives Matter movement, the Civil Rights movement, comparisons between the two, today’s social and racial injustices against Black people in the U.S. and the national response- in particular highlighted from professional sports and athletes. Collegiate athletes were recruited from various demographic backgrounds, colleges and universities, and various grade levels from Divisions I, II, and III throughout the United States to participate in a Zoom conducted interview. These participants were selected from a wide range of NCAA sports including: football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and baseball. Once a participant agreed to be interviewed, we scheduled a time and date to meet virtually on Zoom which took about 20 minutes up to an hour depending on how in depth the respondent went into answering our questions. After each interview was completed, snowball sampling was in effect when we asked each participant to notify us of any teammates or friends who would be interested in participating. Some themes that were found when analyzing responses were that the general perspectives and attitudes of these student-athletes’ are very similar in the sense that they believe that it is a very good thing that professional athletes are using their platforms in a positive way by spreading information for others to learn about, they believe that now more than ever it has been really important to raise awareness and talk about the social and racial injustices occurring in the U.S., they also believe that the way certain events have transpired such as the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s case were inhumane and unfair. When discussing controversial topics like kneeling during the national anthem, most of the participants agreed that it is every person’s right to do what they want and the majority felt by kneeling that doesn’t mean you are disrespecting the flag or citizens who have served our country, rather, a silent way of ironically ‘standing up’ for what they believe in which most often is that we aren’t a country that has “liberty and justice for all”. Ultimately we found that our target population was very interested and moved by action items of awareness brought to these injustices from professional sports and athletes, BLM, and learning from fellow Black loved ones, peers, and teammates.
College athletes’ perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs on professional sports’ reactions to social and racial injustices within the United States.
Online - Session 3C
Insights are applied from the Black Lives Matter movement, the Civil Rights movement, comparisons between the two, today’s social and racial injustices against Black people in the U.S. and the national response- in particular highlighted from professional sports and athletes. Collegiate athletes were recruited from various demographic backgrounds, colleges and universities, and various grade levels from Divisions I, II, and III throughout the United States to participate in a Zoom conducted interview. These participants were selected from a wide range of NCAA sports including: football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and baseball. Once a participant agreed to be interviewed, we scheduled a time and date to meet virtually on Zoom which took about 20 minutes up to an hour depending on how in depth the respondent went into answering our questions. After each interview was completed, snowball sampling was in effect when we asked each participant to notify us of any teammates or friends who would be interested in participating. Some themes that were found when analyzing responses were that the general perspectives and attitudes of these student-athletes’ are very similar in the sense that they believe that it is a very good thing that professional athletes are using their platforms in a positive way by spreading information for others to learn about, they believe that now more than ever it has been really important to raise awareness and talk about the social and racial injustices occurring in the U.S., they also believe that the way certain events have transpired such as the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s case were inhumane and unfair. When discussing controversial topics like kneeling during the national anthem, most of the participants agreed that it is every person’s right to do what they want and the majority felt by kneeling that doesn’t mean you are disrespecting the flag or citizens who have served our country, rather, a silent way of ironically ‘standing up’ for what they believe in which most often is that we aren’t a country that has “liberty and justice for all”. Ultimately we found that our target population was very interested and moved by action items of awareness brought to these injustices from professional sports and athletes, BLM, and learning from fellow Black loved ones, peers, and teammates.