Class Reflection

           The sociology of sport class opened my eyes to issues in sport that I might not have been fully aware of. I really struggled early in the class reverting to previous knowledge on what I thought I already knew about sports. I also was resistant early to changing my mindset about the process sociology method since I was becoming familiar with the concept. As the class went through the semester, I learned the different aspects of sport are difficult to change and the process of discussing the issue is one step to fixing the problem.

            One common thing that affect evident throughout each week was the affect of social class in sport. The ones in a privilege position were usually the ones who had the monetary means to make decisions. This was more evident with the children’s access to parks and recreation facilities with the budgeting assignment. Many of the children who did not have access to public parks were usually in families who struggled to make a living. I did not realize how much families had to sacrifice in order to make ends meet and one of those is the children’s desire to pursue physical activities. I feel lucky and fortunate to have the opportunity to engage in after school sports.

            The most challenging concept was getting over the idea of the sport ethic and how it was contributing to the injustice of sport. For a long time I believed everything that the sport ethic preached and that everyone can become successful if they put in the effort needed. What I did not take into account was the detrimental effects that the sport ethic presented such as the harm it does to a person’s body and long term effects it has. Athletes would push themselves to the limit and eventually hurt themselves in order to sacrifice for all good. This was exceptionally true for combative sports athletes who understood the risks and simply put in the back of their minds to accomplish their goal. I also did not realize how strong the sport ethic had in developing and shaping a person especially when a person retires. This shows how much the sport ethic is deeply engrained in American sports. This leads a person to fall into deviant self destructive acts such as drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the abuse of sex.  

            My biggest takeaway from this class was the choice of words and how powerful the way it can be interpreted. The simple normative diction of “hey guys” has a harmful effect in only segregating men from the women. It is also problematic for people who do not identify with the normative male and female population. Also the use of “but” in a sentence further negates a person’s argument. I have learned to use “and” in replacement of “but” in order to not sound threatening. Also the heteronomative terms such as “that’s gay” or “no homo” becomes problematic because it reinforces the status quo and the micro aggressions that take place.  I feel that I can greatly apply this technique when having debates or conversations with others, and simply acknowledge their argument without discounting it. The choice of words and how I use them is critical in an argument and can lead to better discussions with people.

            I feel that many lessons learned throughout this class will be further applied to a future career in collegiate recreation. The one concept that will greatly applied is the sexual identify and the gender order. Recently in collegiate recreation, the idea of gender order has become a hot topic issue. Many facilities are becoming more inclusive with transgender participants so this topic is something that I will inevitably come across. This is a sensitive topic for many people, which was evident when Brett and I did our gender order discussion on transgender athletes. The discussion was difficult during the applied scenario with the classmates having troubling comprehending how a person would want to change their gender. It was too much of a foreign issue for people who grew up in a heteronormative atmosphere. I struggled defending and standing up to this social injustice with my friend’s bachelor party in Las Vegas. With a group of machismo and bravado in one room, I found myself not confronting the people who were saying those terms. The lessons learned throughout this class will be utilized to confront those issues.

            I highly recommend that people take this sociology of sport class because it forces you to think outside the box about sport issues. The class put me in difficult situations that I had never imagined and has forever changed how I viewed sports. Many issues when I thought was initially was not problematic are actually issues. I cannot watch a professional sporting event the same way anymore or even compete in intramural sports the same without thinking about the sport ethic. I feel that this course has been a great asset in further develop my ethics in the sports world.