The relationship between athletic team fiscal expenditures on athletic and academic success for NCAA Division II football and basketball programs

Athletics at National Collegiate Athletic Association schools have played a major role in the educational experience of students, alumni, and surrounding communities since they were first introduced to college campuses. This study examined the relationship between athletic team fiscal expenditures on athletic and academic success for NCAA Division II football and men's and women's basketball programs. There was a void in the literature as it relates to the relationship of athletic spending on specific sports at the Division II level. The quantitative study used correlation and regression analyses. This study found a positive statistically significant relationship between athletic spending and overall win percentage in all three sports. Only women's basketball demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between Academic Success Rates scores and total team expenses. Recommendations for future research include utilizing total athletic department expenses to evaluate the relationship with academic success of all sports at an institution. As sport-specific expenses may not be used to support academic services within the sport, total athletic department expenses may better represent a university's commitment to its student-athletes' academic success.

‘Some people treat you like an alien’: Understanding the female athlete experience of belonging on campus

College athletes across north America are often known on their respective college campuses for their athleticism, and spend a considerable amount of hours weekly engaging in their respective sport through practices, meetings, travelling and meals, to name a few. It is no wonder it is difficult for these students to feel fully engaged and connected on university campuses as students. Female college athletes in particular, who often are not athletes in revenue-generating sports, often feel left behind as students and isolated as athletes. The purpose of the current study was to examine female collegiate athletes’ experience with belonging in a university setting. This qualitative inquiry utilised consensual qualitative research to explore 14 female student athletes’ experience of belonging on a university campus. The results of the data analysis yielded the following domains or themes: athletic team culture, athletic department culture, campus support and involvement, female athlete identity, and individual athlete experience. The most salient finding was that these female athletes suggested that their sense of belonging on campus was almost exclusively related to their experience as an athlete and their athletic team.

Rivalry, revelry, and retention : an exploration into the relationship between the academic progress rate and institution, athletic department, and team characteristics

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Academic Progress Rate and team, athletic department, and institutional characteristics. The conceptual foundation for this study was the Model for Team Academic Progress Rate, which was adapted from the Comeaux and Harrison (2011) Model for College Student Athlete Academic Success. Multiple data sources were compiled to create the athletic team data set. The dependent variables of Academic Progress Rate, team eligibility rate, and team retention rate were correlated against a set of 20 independent variables at the athletic team, athletic department, and institutional levels. The analytic sample consisted of 12,616 NCAA Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision athletic teams participating in 121 public institutions between the academic years of 2005-2006 and 2011-2012. Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted at each level of inquiry and for each dependent variable. The results of the regressions revealed that gender, sport profile, and athletic aid spending, per student-athlete, had relatively weak relationships with APR and the fully specified model accounted for 14.3% of the variance observed in APR scores. The results of the study could inform future research about the importance of team level characteristics in predicting APR and the variations between the eligibility and retention aspects of APR. This study could also inform academic support programming and policy making for student-athletes and aid in understanding the conditions that lead to greater academic success.

Doping and anti-doping

Doping in sport, with its connotations of unethical behaviour and harm to health, has existed since antiquity. In contemporary times, an acceleration of doping practices resulted in the eventual development of a robust legal and scientific framework now entrenched in the World Anti-Doping Code. Young athletes are not immune to the myriad pressures to excel that exist in high-level sport. Many of these athletes are subject to Anti-Doping regulations and therefore they (and their physicians) must be familiar with Anti-Doping procedures and processes, including the Prohibited List and Therapeutic Use Exemptions. Advances in analytical and non-analytical techniques and strategies have increased detection and accountability. As part of the athletic team, physicians are in a unique position to recognize vulnerabilities and signs of doping behaviour. This must enable them to positively impact the course of a young athlete’s trajectory in life.