Involved to Evolve: Student Voices on Campus Climate and Sense of Belonging

Jamal-Jared Alexander Technical Communication and Rhetoric Presidential Doctoral Student, USU Amand Hardiman Department of Human Development and Family Studies Doctoral Student, USU Jessica Chatman Psychology School Counseling Graduate Student, USU Theresa Botchway Undergraduate Student, USU Kirk Napoleon Business Administration Undergraduate Student, USU Watch the video to see the session. Click on the download button for the accompanying discussion guide designed to provoke thoughtful discussion and advance conversation within social circles

Graduate Student Voices

Building on previous events in this series, especially our conversation on inclusive mentoring, this panel will feature perspectives from USU graduate student leaders from across the university. Discussion will explore pressing issues in the graduate student experience through an intersectional lens and explore graduate students’ work as scholars, teachers, researchers, learners, activists, and more. Fellow graduate students, faculty, and staff will benefit from hearing this conversation, and will leave motivated to create a more inclusive and supported graduate student community at USU. Readings, resources, and campus connections to groups like the Graduate Students of Color Association, Black Student Union, Inclusion Center, and more will be shared with attendees.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/inter_inclusion/1004/thumbnail.jp

Youth sport during the COVID-19 pandemic: The influence of race and affluence on parents’ perspectives of youth participation

COVID-19 restrictions led to a nearly 50% decline in youth sport participation across the United States (Dorsch et al., 2021). Today, communities and sport organizations have resumed sport. However, research has yet to fully elucidate how COVID-19 restrictions impacted youth participation across different sociodemographic groups during the pandemic. The present study explored the association between race and affluence and their relationship with parents' attitudes toward children's youth sport participation before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Online questionnaires were completed by a nationally representative sample of 3706 parents (Mage = 39.57 ± 9.03 years) who had a child regularly participating in youth sport before COVID-19. Multivariate Analyses of Variance using Tukey post-hoc tests were conducted to examine the main effect differences by race and affluence and the interactive effects of race and affluence. Results suggest that race and affluence -- independently and in combination -- were salient categorical variables of children's weekly hours of sport participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings highlight that White*high affluent groups had the highest rates of sport participation during the COVID-19 pandemic and that these families desire to invest more time and money at greater rates upon returning. Theoretically, designed intersectionality research is recommended to explore further effects of race and affluence in youth sport

Developing an Organizational Mission Statement in Youth Sport: Utilizing Mad Libs as a Novel, Shared Leadership Approach

Sport organizations often utilize mission statements as “road maps” to guide the design and delivery of sport to youth. In the present work, we utilized a novel technique and sought out the perspectives of multiple stakeholders to craft a mission statement for an elite youth volleyball club on the east coast of the United States. Prior to the competitive season, a subset of club administrators (n = 3) head coaches (n = 6), parents (n = 10), and athletes (n = 11) participated in Mad Libs, a phrasal word game in which individuals are asked to fill in missing words in a prescribed, written story template. Key mission-relevant words were left blank, and beneath each blank was a prompt such as “noun (what the club should provide)”, “verb (what the club should do)”, or “adjective (kind of partnerships the club should build).” Participants completed stories individually, and responses were synthesized using content analysis. We then crafted a three-sentence mission statement and shared it with club stakeholders at a preseason meeting. The mission statement was adopted by the club and guides the direction of the club and its members. Importantly, our work highlights a novel technique, informed by a range of stakeholder perceptions and experiences, that can be used to craft an organizational mission statement in elite youth sport

National Trends in American Youth Sport during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding Parents’ Perspectives and Experiences

American children participate relatively ubiquitously in youth sport and parents are intimately engaged in their participation. However, the onset of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has dramatically changed how families consume youth sport. Given this, it is important to explore the new and still-changing landscape of youth sport in the United States. The purpose of the present study was to better understand parent perceptions of the current state of youth sport in the United States amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this purpose, a large and statistically representativesubset of youth sport parents in the United States (N= 2603; Mage= 38.72) was recruited via Qualtrics panel to complete a study-designed instrument assessing their perceptions prior to and during COVID-19-related restrictions. Results highlight parents’ experiences in youth sport in the United States amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as thier expectations for return-to-play protocols in various organizational, community, and sociodemographic contexts. The present work has the potential to shape the ways families engage with youth sport when COVID-19-related restrictions are ultimately lifted