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Transforming Sport

Transforming Sport

By Sport and Leisure Cultures Research Group

Transforming Sport is a podcast run by the Sport and Leisure Cultures research group at the University of Brighton. In it, we feature discussions on the place and role of sport in contemporary society, drawing on the research expertise of our staff and guests. The overall focus of the podcast is on understanding how sport can rise to meet various challenges it faces in the 21st century. In this way, we highlight both transformations that are needed within sport itself, and also the ways sport can help to transform individuals, communities, and societies.
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Episode 11: The eSport Revolution with Dr. Anne Tjønndal

Transforming SportJul 16, 2021

00:00
45:17
Episode 14: Mobilizing Football Fans for Climate Change with Jennifer Amann

Episode 14: Mobilizing Football Fans for Climate Change with Jennifer Amann

May 06, 202255:20
Episode 13: eSport for Development with Dr. Holly Collison

Episode 13: eSport for Development with Dr. Holly Collison

On the third episode in our mini-series on eSport I had the pleasure to speak with Dr. Holly Collison, Lecturer at the Institute for Sport Business at Loughborough University London, UK. She is an anthropologist in the field of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Holly has completed extensive fieldwork in West and East Africa and South East Asia examining post-conflict development interventions and the use of sport. Her research explores youth identity, notions of community, international development, peacebuilding, social inclusion, and grassroots perspectives and experiences of SDP. Recently her work has shifted to focus on eSport as a space for social inclusion and community development on which she has co-published multiple journal articles.

In this episode we discussed the research she has undertaken with eSport stakeholders in the UK and United States, looking at how eSport communities can provide spaces for social inclusion as well as exclusion, including toxicity and tribal mentalities in these digital spaces. Space is indeed an important theoretical concept for Holly, and she has used a tripartite conception of space following Henri Lefebvre to explore questions around eSports potential for incorporation into Sport for Development (SfD) more broadly.

Dr. Holly Collison’s recent publications include Exploring the Contested Notion of Social Inclusion and Gender Inclusivity within eSport Spaces and Landscapes of Tension, Tribalism and Toxicity: Configuring a Spatial Politics of eSport Communities. She has recently been invited to participate in expert meetings for the United Nations on the topics of the “Sustainable Development Goals and the UN System” (New York, 2018), and “The Use of Sport as an Educational Tool to Tackle Radicalisation and Violent Extremism” (Vienna, 2018, 2019). Find out more about her latest research and publications on her Loughborough University staff profile page here.

Contact us: @SportTransform or @SeanmrHeath

https://anchor.fm/transformingsport

Sep 24, 202143:26
Episode 12: eSport Health and Performance with Gscience Co-founder Jamie Kiff
Aug 20, 202149:02
Episode 11: The eSport Revolution with Dr. Anne Tjønndal

Episode 11: The eSport Revolution with Dr. Anne Tjønndal

Dr. Anne Tjønndal is Associate Professor of Sport Sociology at Nord University, Norway, and has held the title of Norwegian National Champion in Women’s Boxing. She has a prolific publishing record in academia on a variety of topics from gender equity issues in boxing, eSports, coaching policy in sport, and social innovation in sport. She recently published an article “Youth Sport 2.0” which reviews the growth of eSports in Norway between 2016 and 2019. In this episode we discussed the stereotypes of the “gamer” and how her research has shed light on this false portrayal. We discussed the ability for eSport to provide spaces for forms of social inclusion and community, which more traditional “physical” sport clubs have recognized and have begun to incorporate into their club structure. We also discussed the difficulties facing the recognition and incorporation of eSports into national sporting frameworks and policy.

Dr. Anne Tjønndal’s recent publications include Social Innovation in Sport and Gender Equity and Sports Coaching in Norway: Political Discourses and Developmental Trajectories from 1970 to 2020. Her larger research interests include social inequality, gender and sport, eSports, innovation and entrepreneurship in sports, and sports policy. Find out more about her latest research and publications on her Nord University staff profile page here.

Jul 16, 202145:17
Episode 10: Sport Ecology with Dr. Madeline Orr
Jun 11, 202155:49
Season 2 Trailer - Transforming Sport

Season 2 Trailer - Transforming Sport

The Transforming Sport Podcast is back for a second season this coming summer. We have a new series of public talks and conversations with sport experts, both academic and professional, coming your way.

May 28, 202100:47
Episode 9: Running, the Environment, and Human Becoming

Episode 9: Running, the Environment, and Human Becoming

In this episode Dr. Thomas F. Carter, Reader in Anthropology at the University of Brighton, speaks with your host, Sean Heath, about all things running.

Tom’s ethnographically focused anthropological research centres on the relationships between the individual and the state, the movement, migrations, and mobilities of various peoples, the politics of spectacle, and the dialectic relations of spatialized embodiment. He is currently working on a project centred around the human body, human movement, and how running makes us human.

Our conversation today centres on his book entitled On Running and Becoming Human: An Anthropological Perspective. We discuss the connections between our own moving bodies, our environments, and how the act of running literally shapes our minds, our bodies and the ways we experience our environments. Tom’s decades of running experience in both mundane and exotic places across the globe provides the route of travel as we wandered through the anthropological, neurological, philosophical and experiential aspects of our very human form of locomotion: running.

From the seemingly simple acts of running through neighbourhoods when we arrive in new cities to get an understanding of the layout of where we are, to the seeking out and exploration of spaces and places near and far from the places we live, Tom weaves together an intricate argument which positions the mind as an extension of the senses and the moving body out into the world. Our being through the act of running incorporates the environments we move through as environs, our individually positioned experiences of those environments informed by our societies, cultures, and physiology.

Dr. Thomas F. Carter has a forthcoming publication in forthcoming in The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, entitled "Gender and Sport" (2020). His latest book, On Running and Becoming Human: An Anthropological Perspective can be found through the link and is published by PalgraveMacMillan. His other research is accessible via his University of Brighton staff research profile page https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/thomas-carter

Dec 19, 202001:05:10
Episode 8: NFL and College Athlete’s Career Transitions

Episode 8: NFL and College Athlete’s Career Transitions

In this episode of Transforming Sport, Dr. Anastasiya Khomutova from the University of Brighton speaks with Dr. Robert W. Turner II, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science and Global Sport Visiting scholar at Arizona State University. They sat down to discuss the issues facing professional football players transitioning out of sport and the unpaid labour of college athletes in the United States. Uniquely qualified as a former professional football player in the NFL, CFL, and defunct US Football League, and an expert in psychosocial and neurocognitive risk and protective factors in sport scholarship, Robert Turner’s ethnographic account of the lifeworld of professional athletes and the transitions between college, professional, and retired status highlights the struggles of pursuing the athletic dream. Here he discusses his personal journey and trajectory from professional football player to career academic researcher. Noting the mistrust which athletes often have of journalists, Robert discusses the necessity of an ethical approach to building rapport with interlocutors. He also discusses how a lack of focus on the transition to life after sports can have a variety of long-term health consequences and that teachers, coaches, and scholars need to support athletes to develop their skills and themselves as individuals beyond their sport.

Robert W. Turner II’s book is entitled Not For Long: The Life and Career of the NFL Athlete. He can be found on twitter at @robertturnerphd, and his other research, including the HBO Sports documentary Student Athlete, is accessible via his website or his George Washington University staff profile page.

Anastasiya Khomutova is Senior Lecturer and member of the Sport and Leisure Cultures research group at the University of Brighton. She can be found on twitter @DrKhomutova, and her research is accessible via her University of Brighton staff profile page.

Nov 27, 202001:00:42
Episode 7: Swimming and Well-Being

Episode 7: Swimming and Well-Being

In this episode of Transforming Sport, Alex Channon interviews Sport and Leisure Cultures research group member Sean Heath about his ongoing research with youth competitive swimmers  An expert in youth competitive swimming and children’s sport scholarship, and an avid swimmer, Sean Heath recently turned his attention to pain, injury, and the well-being of youth who compete and train with competitive swimming clubs. Here he discusses the importance of the physical, emotional, and social aspects of training and competition in swimming as a key aspects of youths’ everyday experiences and their well-being. Noting the disjunctures and disruptions which injury and illness can cause in the lives of athletes, Sean discusses the variations in participation which allows youth to maintain connection to the water and their sport. He also discusses the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the sport of swimming in the UK and some of the encouraging lessons a break from organized competitive sport can provide.

Sean Heath has two recent publications on the effects of burnout and the COVID-19 pandemic, on youth competitive swimmers’ well-being. These are in the edited volume High Performance Youth Swimming published by Routledge; Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group, American Anthropological Association. He can be found on twitter at @SeanmrHeath, and his other research is accessible via his University of Brighton staff profile page: https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/sean-heath

Nov 13, 202054:24
Episode 6: Mixed Martial Arts Sport Medics
Oct 09, 202046:27
Episode 5: Refugees Welcome - Sports Clubs, Coaching and Integration
Sep 24, 202001:07:11
Episode 4: Constraints Based Coaching and Athlete Centred Coaching Pedagogy
Sep 11, 202037:41
Episode 3: Sport for Development Research during a Global Pandemic
Aug 28, 202024:25
Episode 2: Mixed Martial Arts and Men's Mental Health
Aug 14, 202051:10
Episode 1: Why Transforming Sport Matters

Episode 1: Why Transforming Sport Matters

In this inaugural episode of Transforming Sport, Sean Heath speaks with Sport and Leisure Cultures research group members, Dr. Thomas Carter, Dr. Dan Burdsey, and Dr. Mark Doidge about the broad field of social science research into sport. Drawing from their collectively edited book Transforming Sport: Knowledges, Practices, Structures our discussion centred around why sport matters and what transforming sport means in today’s volatile world. If we are the type of games we play, then we need to be looking at sport as a social catalyst while peeling back the veneer of sport as “inherently good” and looking at the social injustices that sport hides.

Thomas Carter

On Running and Becoming Human: An Anthropological Perspective

t.f.carter@brighton.ac.uk


Daniel Burdsey

Racism and English Football: For Club and Country

d.c.burdsey@brighton.ac.uk


Mark Doidge

Ultras: European Football Fandom in the Twenty First Century

m.doidge@brighton.ac.uk

@markdoidge

Jul 31, 202046:12
Transforming Sport - Season 1 Trailer

Transforming Sport - Season 1 Trailer

Although the Transforming Sport podcast is run by and features discussions with academic researchers, our intention is to discuss these kinds of issues in ways which appeal to listeners outside of academia. For listeners who want to engage with deeper theoretical questions, think critically about research methods and so on, we will provide links in each podcast to academic literature to help keep the conversation going. Thank you for listening to this introduction; we hope that your interest has been piqued, and invite you to continue listening.

May 26, 202001:19