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- Book Jr., Robert T., et al.
(författare)
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Oatmeal is better than no meal : the career pathways of ten professional athletes from underserved communities in the United States
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. - New York : Taylor & Francis. - 1612-197X .- 1557-251X. ; 19:4, s. 504-523
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective of this study was to explore career pathways to athletic success in American professional athletes with low socioeconomic background. Ten African American professional male athletes, who met the criteria of playing at least one year in a professional league and spending their formative years in an American underserved community, participated in the study. Interviews inspired by the cultural praxis of athletes’ careers, lasted 68-137 minutes, and the transcripts were thematically analysed. Four career stages (childhood years, middle/high school years, college years, professional years) and three themes (context, challenges, coping) were visible in the career pathways of the participants. During the first stage the athletes’ athletic foundation was developed by participating in inexpensive, easy to access sports in unstructured sporting environments, while simultaneously relying upon the strength of a mother to keep them safe. An increased susceptibility to the dangers of environmental factors (e.g., drugs, gangs) during the middle/high school years made this period of time the most precarious for the athletes, but was also the most crucial for their athletic development. The college years were a time of “catching up,” whereby the athletes entered a whole new environment for which they were physically (e.g., underweight) and psycho-socially (e.g., racial integration) unprepared, but their hard work and the help of peers and coaches propelled them to success (i.e., professional contract). Finally, the results indicate that coping resources the athletes developed dealing with hardship were perceived as key factors enabling them to endure the difficulties of a professional career. © 2020 International Society of Sport Psychology.
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| 2. |
- Book Jr, Robert T., et al.
(författare)
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Sink or swim : career narratives of two African American athletes from underserved communities in the United States
- 2021
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Ingår i: Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 2159-676X .- 2159-6778. ; 13:6, s. 904-919
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective of this study was to explore the career narratives of professional athletes from underserved communities in the United States. Two African American athletes (named Marcus and Imari for the study), who both met the criteria of playing at least one year in a professional league and spending their formative years in an underserved community, participated in this study. Life story interviews lasting about two hours were explored through the principles of narrative analysis, focusing on both content and structure. Each participant constructed a sink or swim narrative typology termed risk, descent, and gain that focused more on the environmental context in an underserved community than their athletic development, which opposes the performance narrative often depicted by professional athletes. Although the contextualised nature of risk manifested differently for Marcus and Imari, their life courses both reflected low points precipitated by risky decisions or circumstances followed by gainful moments ultimately culminating in professional contracts. The analysis also uncovered the realities and challenges associated with having the intersecting identity of being a poor, Black aspiring athlete in a racially charged atmosphere. Finally, the athletes’ perceptions of how their challenging formative development influenced their professional career pathway as well as the ramifications of sink or swim narratives in popular American culture are considered. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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