Award Date

1-1-2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Hotel Administration

First Committee Member

Kurt Stahura

Number of Pages

102

Abstract

Intercollegiate athletics at the Division I level in the United States have developed into highly publicized forms of entertainment and business (Hill, Burch-Ragan, & Yates, 2001), while often generating conflicts and dilemmas within universities when the goals of the athletic department clash with the goals of the school (Sperber, 1990; Zimbalist, 1999). In the middle of it all are student-athletes, young adults whose title combines two distinct roles into one. Balancing these roles can be difficult (Adler & Adler, 1987; Adler & Adler, 1990; Miller & Kerr, 2002; Miller & Kerr, 2003), but student-athletes who do balance their roles and view both of them positively are better equipped to adjust to college life (Killeya, 2001); In addition to the student and athlete roles, student-athletes also desire social interactions and experiences. Miller and Kerr (2002, 2003) suggest that the lives of student-athletes revolve around athletic, academic, and social spheres. The overwhelming majority of existing literature related to student-athletes deals with one or more of these areas; While Miller and Kerr (2002) studied a variety of male and female, team and individual sport student-athletes at a Canadian university, this paper will replicate their methods and extend them to a more specific population: senior female team sport student-athletes at an American Division I university. The participants in this study also received at least a partial athletic financial aid package, which is one of the major differences between American NCAA Division I athletics and college sports in Canada, where athletic scholarships provide very minimal financial assistance. This paper examined and analyzed the athletic, academic, and social experiences of this more specialized sample of participants---female team sport student-athletes; This study employed qualitative research methods. Specifically, in-depth interviews with the participants accounted for all of the data collection. Following Miller and Kerr's (2002) methods, this paper sought to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding intercollegiate student-athletes by portraying and investigating the experiences of a specific group of student-athletes: senior female team sport student-athletes who received athletic financial aid. Seven of these individuals were interviewed with regards to their experiences as intercollegiate student-athletes. Their responses add to the existing literature and present professionals in the world of college athletics with a broader picture of the student-athlete experience.

Keywords

Academic; Athletes; Athletic; Experience; Females; Intercollegiate; Social; Sport; Students; Team

Controlled Subject

Recreation; Women's studies; Education, Higher

File Format

pdf

File Size

1402.88 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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