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Coaches and officials

Despite the notable strides that have been made in terms of participation in sport, women continue to be underrepresented in sport leadership roles such as coaching and officiating. The 2014 United Nations (UN) International Working Group on Women’s Sport (IWG) noted that: ‘Women are significantly under-represented in management, administration, coaching and officiating, particularly at the higher levels’ (IWG, 2014 p. 6). This statement, part of the Helsinki Declaration, was made in the context of how sport can support the UN Millennium Development Goals. Across today’s sporting landscape, women’s sport experiences typically occur in male-dominated contexts, which favour men and masculinity (Norman, 2016). Recent data indicates the men to women ratio in high-performance coaching over the last four consecutive Olympic cycles has been approximately 10:1. Among US high school sporting officials, only 11% are women, and even a greater disparity exists with officiating sports traditionally played by men (Nordstrom, Warner, & Barnes, 2016). This data highlights a systemic absence of women in coaching and officiating leadership roles across sport. In this chapter we will discuss the impact this has on developing sport for women and girls. Specifically, this chapter aims to: - Provide an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of coaches and officials in women and girls sport delivery. - Explore career development pathways for improving opportunities for women in coaching and officiating. - Present a critical reflection of the differences and similarities between athlete development and coach/official development (systems and structures) for women and girls. We begin by discussing the gendered nature of coaching before turning our attention to women’s experiences in sport officiating. We draw on relevant literature throughout the chapter and identify issues and opportunities for further research. We conclude by providing practical actions and recommendations to help facilitate coaching and officiating development for women and girls LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-de-haan/

Sustainability Research Agenda for Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality

I'd like to have a house like that

This qualitative interview study explores the practices of adult female gamers who play the videogame The Sims, focusing on the motivations they have for playing and how playing a video game might influence their digital competence. We address the wider context of leisure and the household, investigating to what extent playing videogames has become domesticated in the daily life of the family. It is found that female gamers play The Sims because they enjoy the particular way it allows them to take control, fantasize, and be challenged. For some, it is clear that playing this video game has increased their digital skills. We notice that there is an interesting similarity between the pleasures of playing this videogame and more traditional ways of female media engagement such as reading women’s magazines or romance novels and watching soap operas. Our gamers similarly enjoy The Sims as leisurely moments for themselves, clearly and intentionally separated from domestic and family duties. We conclude that playing a videogame can be seen as a highly modern and liberating practice, as both playing in general and using ICT have traditionally not been a part of the female leisure domain.

"The fun begins now!": broadening and building processes in Red Hat Society® participation

Fredrickson (1998,2001,2004) supports a compelling account of the processes that turn positive emotions into a high quality life. Her broaden-and-build theory, however, has not been explored in leisure contexts nor has it been applied to older women, an increasingly important yet under-researched population. Our study uses an interpretive thematic analysis of 250 participants' responses to an on-line survey of meaningful experiences in the Red Hat Societȳa leisure context for older women. We found evidence of opening up and self-permission to play as forms of broadening, and of social connections, close friendships, and optimism as resulting forms of building uniquely important to older women. Our findings hold promise for understanding how leisure contexts contribute to quality of life.

How do leisure constraints influence the revisit intentions of music festival visitors?

Leisure constraints affecting participation can be divided into intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints. Only a few studies in the event industry have investigated the role of leisure constraints. These studies show different effects of leisure constraints on participation. The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of leisure constraints on revisit intention regarding music festivals. This study is of quantitative nature and utilizes survey research. A sample of 1,063 respondents was used within the analyses, measuring the influence of perceived constraints on revisit intention. The results show that intrapersonal constraints (a lack of importance and interest) and structural constraints (travel time, a lack of time, costs, and a lack of satisfaction with the festival area) significantly influence revisit intention. In line with results from other leisure industries, intrapersonal constraints show the strongest effects. Interpersonal constraints do not affect revisit intentions. Music festivals should ideally maintain a high level of engagement with the visitors throughout the year to ensure continuous involvement.

How stable is leisure satisfaction over time? A latent trait-state-occasion analysis of Dutch panel data

This study used a trait-state-occasion (TSO) model to isolate stable trait variance, occasion-specific state variance, and shared method related variance in a measure for leisure satisfaction in a Dutch nationally representative nine-year panel study. Findings indicate that satisfaction with leisure time is a consistently stronger indicator of overall leisure satisfaction than satisfaction with leisure activities. About half of the variance in leisure satisfaction is stable trait variance, with the remaining variance being mostly occasion-specific and to a lesser extent attributable to shared method variance and error. However, these findings depend on the age group we consider.Several socio-demographic variables relate directly to the trait aspect of leisure satisfaction. Our study underscores the importance of recognizing that over time leisure satisfaction measurements have considerable stable and more volatile elements and that one should control for shared method effects.