Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2022, Honors

Each year social media usage increases which creates new opportunities for marketers to promote their products and brands. Sports teams and athletes are joining social media platforms and creating their own unique accounts (Cooper, 2015). Fans and followers, new and old, are discovering these teams and athletes while building relationships (Kentrin, 2020). Social media has also proven to be a useful tool in building two-way relationships between teams and spectators (Joanna & Zuzanna, 2020). This has also reigned true in building a team or personal athlete brand (Witz, 2020). Through different sports marketing social media strategies, marketers are learning how to engage fans, increase attendance, and stand apart from other teams (O'Hallarn et al., 2016). The manner in which a fan behaves and engages with different teams and athletes is influenced by social interactions, deals, promotions, giveaways, and relationships with teams and athletes (Fink et al., 2002; Perrault, 2016). Through new applications (apps), athletes and fans are spending more time online (Samet, 2020). These apps allow fans to witness new sides to athletes and teams through increased content which, consequently, helps form connections between fans and athletes (Sharpe et al., 2020). This research analyzed the relationships between teams' and leagues' social media presence on fan behavior by conducting in-depth one-on-one interviews with professionals working in the sports industry at the professional and collegiate levels. A total of eight professionals were interviewed from eight different sports. Questions asked specifically addressed how social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok have affected ticket sales, fan attendance/tune-in rates, engagement, brand loyalty, and merchandise purchases. Using content analysis, best practices were determined for increasing engagement and fan behavior and understanding the relationships crea (open full item for complete abstract)

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

This study explored the lived experiences of sports retirement among elite, action sport athletes. This study examined participants' retirement experiences, their well-being post-retirement, and recommendations participants had for current athletes about retirement. Interviews were conducted remotely with four participants. Participants identified as Caucasian, in the 25–38 age range, had been involved with their sport competitively for 17.75 years, and had been retired for 3.37 years. Data was collected and analyzed utilizing Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Participants' experiences during retirement illustrated a significant disruption in their lives and the way they lived. This disruption was characterized by significant grief and distress, followed by a prolonged existential crisis and lack of meaning. Given their level of sport involvement and intensity, athletes struggled to relate with others who had typical social development. As a result, participants felt alone and misunderstood, which compounded their grief, loss, and overall existential crisis. Participants navigated their new lifestyles that were characterized by agency over what they wanted to portray and disclose to others and increasingly living by their values. As participants stepped into their new lives, they had accepted themselves more, were more present, and had an increased sense of well-being. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and Ohio Link ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd).

BA, Oberlin College, 2022, Gender Sexuality and Feminist Studies

In this paper, I set out to understand how women have been successful as coaches of men's sports at the Division III college level and above. This is important because despite a national increase in women playing sports after the passage of Title IX in 1972, there continues to be a glaring lack of women in coaching positions, especially within men's sports. Existing scholarship highlights social barriers to reaching these positions, however there is very little information about the women who do achieve success in this field. Four coaches from men's baseball, basketball, and football teams were interviewed in order to gain perspective on what has been crucial to their success, as well as the structural issues within athletics that present barriers to women being successful coaches. I found that mentorships and support systems are crucial in order to access opportunities in coaching, and that there are several physical and cultural environments within sports that hinder these opportunities. The final chapter explores how to move forward in order to create more opportunities for women to coach men's sports at the highest levels. This research is necessary as athletics move forward in the name of progress, and as we begin to see higher numbers of women involved in positions of power in men's sports.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2000, Graduate School

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, History

Hockey holds a central place in Canadian national identity. Despite the traditional dominance of Canadian teams in the pre-war and immediately post-war years, European nations such as the USSR, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia developed their hockey programs quickly in the post-war years, challenging Canadian dominance, and thus jeopardizing, in the eyes of Canadians, one of the most central aspects of their national culture. This loss of hockey supremacy compounded an already challenging period in which Canadians struggled to define what it meant to be Canadian in the US-led Cold War world. This thesis examines the Canadian cultural dynamics of Canadian participation in international hockey competitions during the 1960s and 1970s. These tournaments and exhibition tours played against foreign teams were commonly detailed by the Canadian press using no uncertain terms to express their contempt for their opponents. This thesis suggests the public focus on international hockey during this period reflects the uncertainty of Canadian culture and politics at home. Faced with trouble defining Canadian national identity in the Cold War world, Canadians looked to their national sport as a means of reaffirming their identity, rooted in northern masculine toughness and “Canadianness.” This work uses sports periodicals from the period between 1955 and 1975, to assess the shifting attitudes towards Canadian hockey in international competitions, and how Canadians viewed themselves in relation to the wider Cold War world when confronted with a domestic cultural crisis. This work expands on the diligent work of scholars of Canadian culture and those in the expanding subfield of hockey studies by providing a look at the thoughts of Canadians, and how their attitudes towards hockey reflect their attitudes towards Canadian culture.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2017, Vision Science

Purpose. Record head and eye movements and analyze horizontal gaze tracking of novice subjects (no intercollegiate or professional baseball experience) as they viewed pitched balls. Compare these novice data to a group of Division 1 intercollegiate baseball players. Methods. Novice subjects with no prior intercollegiate or professional baseball experience viewed tennis balls projected from a pneumatic pitching machine in a simulated batting set up, but were not allowed to swing. Subjects were asked to call out numbers and the color of these numbers (red or black) printed on the balls. Eye movements were monitored with a video eye tracker, while the head was monitored with an inertial sensor. The eye and head movement data were synchronized with ball position using an analog recording device. Data were analyzed for 14 subjects. These data were then compared to data recorded in a similar manner for Division 1 intercollegiate baseball players. Results. Eye rotation, head rotation, and gaze errors (signed and unsigned) were calculated at various elapsed times. Overall, novice subjects tracked the ball with the head throughout the pitch trajectory, while the eye remained stable until very late in the pitch flight. Despite significant differences between subjects for the mean amplitudes of head and eye movements, a common tracking strategy emerged (partial rotational vestibulo-ocular reflex suppression) for all subjects. Anticipatory saccades were not visually detected for any subject based upon the mean amplitudes of gaze errors. When the novice subjects were compared to the intercollegiate subject data, significant differences emerged in the mean amplitudes of head and eye movements, along with gaze error differences especially very late in the pitch trajectory. Overall however, the novice subjects performed relatively similar to the intercollegiate subjects. Conclusions. On average, novice subjects tracked the pitched ball primarily with (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1994, Graduate School

Master of Social Work, The Ohio State University, 2015, Social Work

It is important to create effective, interesting, and intentional PYD programming for youth. Effective PYD programming helps to create protective factors and reduce risk factors for youth leading to better outcomes. Specifically, sports-based PYD programs provide unique opportunities for youth to grow. Sports provide relatedness to peers and individual empowerment for youth (Anderson-Butcher, et al., 2011). Many programs are trying to create sports-based PYD programming that keeps youth engaged and has positive, proven results. Thus, numerous programs are adopting curriculum deriving from evidence-based practices. So far, the degree to which they implement these evidence-based practices is unclear. While implementing effective PYD programming is essential to positive youth outcomes, it is equally important to make sure the curriculum is being implemented as intended. This study gives insights into implementation fidelity and its importance to quality programming. Monitoring programs for implementation fidelity is an important aspect of effective programming. Implementation fidelity is important for programs to emphasize because it is difficult to determine whether unsuccessful outcomes reflect a failure of the model or failure to implement the model as intended (Chen, 1990). The purpose of this study was to (1) explore common strengths and barriers to successful implementation of the curriculum and (2) investigate the degree to which Ohio State University's LiFE Sports summer camp curriculum was implemented in an afterschool setting The study used both qualitative interviews as well as quantitative daily session log forms to understand implementation fidelity of OSU's LiFE Sports curriculum. Staff reported on experiences September through December 2014.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Agricultural Education

The purpose of this correlation and descriptive study was to explore the perceptions that youth involved in school sports and/or 4-H programs have regarding the level of support or pressure from their parents, coaches, and/or 4-H club advisors. A Likert-based written survey was administered to 433 students in the eighth and ninth grade at Coldwater Exempted Village, Convoy-Crestview Local, and Delphos St. Johns Schools. This research did not find a statistically significant difference of parental support perceived by youth participants of school sports versus 4-H clubs. Youth involved in sports, and not 4-H, reported a higher level of pressure from their fathers than from their mothers (z=3.36, p<.05). There was not a statistically significant different level in support of sports involved children by mothers and fathers. There was no significant difference found in the level of support or pressure found by mothers and fathers of 4-H-involved youth. Youth involved in 4-H reported lower levels of pressure from 4-H club advisors than youth in sport reported from coaches (z=2.01, p<.05). There was not a significant difference found in advisor/coach support perceived by youth. Youth respondents whose mothers were alumni of school sports reported higher levels of maternal pressure than those whose mothers were not alumni of school sports (z=2.16, p<.05). Paternal alumni status did not explain any differences in paternal pressure or support of these youths' extracurricular activities. There were small, but significant correlations found between enjoyment of school sports and coach support (r=.33, p<.05), paternal support (r=.29, p<.05), and maternal support (r=.31, p<.05). When comparing enjoyment of 4-H club involvement, there were small correlations between advisor support (r=.39, p<.05), advisor pressure (r=-.25, p<.05), paternal support (r=.36, p<.05), and maternal support (r=.32, p<.05). When evaluating the likelihood of their continued involvement in sports, there we (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2004, Speech Pathology and Audiology

Many athletes do not realize when a concussion has occurred or the risk involved with contact sports. Athletes, coaches, trainers, and medical doctors must become aware of the effects and risks of sports-related concussion in order to decide when an injured player is ready to return-to-play. Research is still needed to effectively manage and treat sports- related concussion. This study investigated aspects of sports-related concussion including effective objective and subjective testing, average length of recovery time, and specific incidence across player position in football. Athletes were given pre-season neuropsychological testing to gather baseline data. The results indicated that subjective and objective testing are helpful in determining readiness for return-to-play after a concussion, however the tests are not the only factors to be used when determining readiness to play. The mean length of time needed for recovery after concussion was determined to be approximately seven days post-injury.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Mass Communication (Communication)

College athletic departments are expanding a trend of hiring professional journalists to improve their content and grow their audiences. This positioning of the professional journalist in the arena he used to cover creates unique dynamics for the professional journalist, for the department, and for the audience. This dissertation adds to the literature by identifying the dynamics, roles, and routines of an athletic department communication worker at a major athletic conference university. It examines how those dynamics, roles, and routines influence content for the department's website and how this content upholds the athletic department's position of political and economic power in its geographical region and sustains the cultural hegemony of college football. I employed a month-long observation prior to and at the start of the 2012 University of Washington Huskies football season. A mixed-methods approach generated ample empirical data as collection procedures included participant observation, unstructured interviews, and document review. The results of this dissertation find the athletic department communication worker negotiating three roles: The roles of "Traditional Journalist" of "PR Practitioner" and of "Subordinate." This structure ultimately is utilized to exploit college football players, to place material interests ahead of human interests, and to maintain and strengthen the cultural hegemony of big-time college football.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2024, Education

E-sports, or online gaming, is a relatively new phenomenon taking place on high school campuses across the country. While many view online gaming through a negative lens, there is a growing body of research that E-sports participation provides similar benefits and detriments to those of traditional sports. The purpose of this paper was to identify factors that students, parents, staff and school stakeholders report as being important to participation on an E-sports team and how that compares to traditional sports. This qualitative case study consisted of interviews held with members from a rural Ohio high school E-sports team, members of traditional sports teams, coaches, parents and school district stakeholders. The findings of this study indicated that the benefits and detriments of E-sport and traditional sport participation were very similar. However, E-sport athletes described their participation through a personal, singular lens while traditional sport athletes explained their experiences through a shared group viewpoint. The findings of this study supported the literature in that there are shared benefits and detriments of E-sport participation with traditional sports, but there is also a great need for future research into how athletes perceive these similarities.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

Antisemitism has a long and troubling history in the United States, often manifesting in various social settings, including organized sports. This study investigates the experiences of Jewish-American youth athletes in Central Ohio, focusing on how modern antisemitism affects their participation in sports and overall well-being. Recent data shows a resurgence of antisemitic incidents, which has prompted a need for detailed exploration of its impacts on young athletes. The problem addressed in this study is the increasing prevalence of antisemitism in youth sports and its detrimental effects on Jewish teenagers in Central Ohio. Through a Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) methodology, this research combines qualitative and quantitative data to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issue. Surveys conducted with Jewish teenage athletes reveal experiences of verbal abuse, exclusion, and other forms of discrimination leading to heightened psychological distress, and negative impacts to Jewish identity and sense of belonging. This study underscores the urgent need to address antisemitism within youth sports in Central Ohio. By implementing targeted community interventions, harm can be mitigated and a supportive environment for Jewish athletes can be fostered. This research contributes to the broader understanding of how antisemitism affects minority youth in sports and provides a framework for future studies on marginalized groups. Continued efforts and collaboration among community organizations, educational institutions, and policymakers are essential to combat antisemitism and promote inclusivity in youth athletics.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Vision Science

The task of predicting the vertical location of an object when it arrives to an observer may be based on a combination of visual ball-flight cues and internal models of projectile motion, incorporating gravity, advance cues, and kinematic cues associated with a thrower's motion. The time required to efficiently process these visual cues to predict the ball's trajectory is unknown. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether viewing an approaching ball for a longer period of time can improve estimates of the passing height of this ball when only visual cues from ball-flight are provided. A second goal was to determine whether heuristic information predominates over visual cues to object trajectory in estimating the passing height of approaching objects, and whether heuristic information is more likely to be used early in the ball's flight. Twenty subjects (12 males and 8 females, mean age 23.7±1.69) who had played baseball or softball at the high school level or above within the past 10 years participated. Subjects stood 40 feet from a pneumatic pitching machine that propelled tennis balls toward them at 3 speeds (76mph, 61mph, and 52mph). The subjects' vision was blocked with occluding spectacles at 100ms (duration 1) or 250ms (duration 2) after pitch release. Each combination of speed and viewing duration was randomly used 10 times. Subjects then indicated on a 2-meter ruler the height they expected the ball to arrive had they been able to view the entire duration of the ball's trajectory. The balls arrived at heights of about 99cm (fast speed), 59cm (medium speed), and 21cm (slow speed). The mean height responses at the fastest speed were 109cm (duration 1) and 100cm (duration 2). At the medium speed the mean responses were 98cm (duration 1) and 80cm (duration 2). At the slowest speed the mean responses were 88cm (duration 1) and 65cm (duration 2). Paired t-tests between the mean responses for the two viewing durations at each speed all showed s (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2023, Educational Administration (Education)

In recent years, the topic of women in sports leadership has garnered significant attention in both scholarly circles and public discourse globally. While there has been noticeable progress with more women securing leadership roles in sports, a substantial gap still exists in terms of their representation and the opportunities available for young women aspiring to such positions. This disparity has prompted increased scholarly scrutiny into the barriers faced by women in sports leadership, their socialization within this sphere, and potential strategies to address these challenges. However, there has been limited scholarship in exploring the effectiveness of gender equity approaches and strategies to improve the representation and socialization of women into sports leadership. Furthermore, there is an even greater scarcity of research exploring how major and powerful international sports organizations such as the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) are addressing such gender inequities within the leadership realms. To bridge this gap, this qualitative study was conducted, capturing insights from 13 women leaders representing different FIFA Confederation regions from around the world. This study utilized a variety of theoretical frameworks, including transnational feminism, Ecological Systems Theory, and Burton's (2015) barriers to sports leadership, to understand their experiences. The findings of this phenomenological study shed light on the need for more transglocalized gender equity strategies in football leadership. These phenomena emerged from a triadic set of experiences which were labelled as a need for a more polylithic lens, an amalgamation of dualism, and the need for a more ecological approach to solutions. These insights led to the creation of a transglocalized framework for gender equity strategies in football leadership, providing a new lens through which FIFA and other international sports organizations can approa (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1959, Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Anthropology

Sports spectating is a site where supporters build their identities and navigate experiences of belonging within their communities. In this dissertation, I explore spectator experiences of Arab American Muslim women in Southeast Detroit and examine how women create social identities through their experiences of watching and following American football. Arab and Muslim women's experiences, particularly with sport, have often been represented in Orientalist and Islamophobic ways that inaccurately portray them as meek and oppressed rather than as agents. This research project uses a feminist framework to highlight Arab and Muslim women's diverse voices, histories, and experiences. I critically examine the different ways women engage in spectator culture to understand how it can be a joyful site of identity building as well as a site where women negotiate their inclusion and belonging. The data for this project was collected through participant observation at high school football games and other sport spaces and events in a large Arab American community in Southeast Detroit. I also conducted semi-structured interviews with Arab American Muslim women and members of their family and peer groups. All participants were local sports fans and supporters who were asked about their experiences within their spectator communities. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed that women consider sports to be a key aspect of the relationships they build within families, as well as a place to create community and identity among friends, neighbors, and other spectators in stadiums and online spaces. In the context of watching and following sports, Arab American Muslim women navigate gender expectations from their social groups and take different approaches to challenging and maintaining gender norms while establishing their belonging in sport spaces, from the high school football bleachers to Ford Field. Findings demonstrate that watching and supporting local sports is important to women (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2022, Communication

The purpose of this study was to determine how an organization's public communication like a website helps visitors understand its culture. Sports organizations were chosen for analysis because of their inclusive nature of the past, present, and future aspects of the game as well as its importance and strong presence in society. The goal of this paper was to apply Organizational Culture Theory to four sports halls of fame's websites to analyze how an organization's public communication illustrates its culture. Based off the assumptions of OCT, three research questions were developed to dive deeper into the concepts of the theory. From there, a code book was developed, and the websites of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Hockey Hall of Fame, and National Baseball Hall of Fame were individually analyzed. Research Question 1 focused on how a public website communicates an organization's values by specifically analyzing the mission statements, community involvement, visitor information, and official press and media reports found on the organizations' websites. Research Question 2 was based on how a public website communicates an organization's inclusive criteria of who is and who is not a member. The coding and analysis focused on organization information, employee information, and nominee and inductee criteria which are the factors as to how inclusive criteria determine who is a member. Research Question 3 questioned how a public website's use and interpretation of symbols communicate and market an organization's culture. Through the analysis of symbols and performances coded from the websites, the results express that organizations can communicate their culture and market it through the symbols of videos, photos, explanations of induction processes, and slogans, and the performances of explanations of election processes and use of metaphors.

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2021, History

The focus of this thesis encompasses a developing history of collegiate women's sports at a single institution. I trace the history of the University of Michigan's women's sports from women as participants to achieving equality as amateurs. Female students began participating in sport in the 1890s. This was a result of many factors including European influences, sporting organizations, and the sport of basketball. This was followed by a second wave of collegiate women's sports resulting from local, regional, and national sporting organizations. These institutions organized equality through advancing women's sport to include intersocial and intersorority sporting activity. Furthermore, these developments culminated in a transition to women's intercollegiate sporting competition. I emphasize national sporting organizations and Title IX as tools for institutionalizing equality for collegiate women's sports. The AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) both provided structure for collegiate sport. I recount each organizations' impact on women's sporting equality. I also emphasize the legal implications of these organizations' stance on women's competition. This harmonizes with the passing of Title IX in 1972. This legislation, an education amendment banning sex discrimination, was defined by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1975. The HEW required schools to adhere to their interpretation of the amendment. I recount the impact of this call for compliance by urging consideration of legal exogeneity for institutions' adherence. Women's teams received more funding and resources as schools complied with the HEW and NCAA's vision for women's sport. The main conclusion is women achieved sporting equality through both legal endogeneity and changing ideals for amateurism from 1898 to 1978. I recount this progress at a single institution, the University of Michigan.

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Music Composition

The drawing cycle is the foundation of archery. It determines where the arrow hits. An Arrow is a depiction of an archer drawing a bow and releasing the string, and the arrow hitting the target. The structure of the piece consists of seven sections, each of a different duration and energy: set up, draw, anchor, transfer (aiming), expansion, release, and hitting the target. The piece is a reflection on human anatomy and the mental status required when drawing a bow. The ways in which the body engages with the bow are seen in the orchestration within each section. For instance, the first section contains upward, fast-moving gestures. These reveal the motion of the arm being raised. The instruments featured are primarily woodwinds, as the first step doesn't require too much strength from an archer. The first section, set up, lays a foundation for the remainder of the piece by introducing the main motives which consist of two notes first played by the oboes. The draw section is fast and energetic, and is followed by the anchor section, which is short and featuring the brass and bass instruments. The transfer (aiming) section is the longest and most complex section, since it is the most important step during the entire drawing cycle. New motives enter the piece and are combined with motives that have appeared previously. This is the phase on which archers spend most of their time during the drawing cycle. It challenges an archer's mental strength. The expansion and release sections act as a transition which lead to the final, culminating section in which the arrow strikes the target. The music's motion is halted by an eighth rest, after which all instruments loudly declare a brash chord only to be cut off again as the piece abruptly ends.