Post Tagged with: "Organizational Culture"

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The Hidden Layer of Sport

From the outside, this layer of sport is almost invisible. But from within, one thing becomes clear very quickly: match manipulation is not rare. It exists in plain sight, but few notice it.

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A New Identity for the Chicago Sky

Just hours into the first day of free agency, it was announced that Angel Reese was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for the Dream’s 2027 and 2028 first-round picks (WNBA, 2026). Reese had expressed frustrations with the Sky franchise ​in an interview with the […]

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Sport Has To Be Fun

Most, if not all, sports are still games at their core. That matters. Before trophies, scholarships, contracts, or status, sport should be fun first, especially for the players. It should not matter whether you are in the World Cup final or in a pickup game at the neighborhood court. We […]

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How Does Leadership and Organizational Culture Shape Success, Performance, and the Long-Term Wellbeing of Athletes?

Across every level of sport, from recreational sports to professional organizations, leadership and organizational culture dictate how teams operate, athletes are treated and perform, and how organizations respond to success, pressure, and adversity. For decades, many organizations, leaders, coaches, support staff, athletes, and fans have celebrated performance while overlooking the […]

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Sports are the Catalyst for National Unity

In the present, it’s largely accepted that sports serve the masses for entertainment purposes, whether it be going to a game or watching it with friends and family on the television. However, there is one thing in common, that is it always seems to attract groups of people who share […]

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Video: Helping Sport Think Forward

Watch Dr. Jeremy Piasecki, along with Dr. Ayana James, Megan Luu, and Laurel Richardson, of STRAAD, discuss culture, leadership, stakeholders, authenticity, influencing positive change, and the current state of sports. This special episode is part of exploring what will be discussed in Culture in Sports 2023 Annual Leadership Summit

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Helping Sport Think Forward

The Culture in Sports Podcast
The Culture in Sports Podcast
Helping Sport Think Forward
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Listen to Dr. Jeremy Piasecki, and Dr. Ayana James, Megan Luu, and Laurel Richardson, of STRAAD, speak about culture, leadership, stakeholders, authenticity, influencing positive change, and the current state of sports. This special episode is part of exploring what will be discussed in Culture in Sports 2023 Annual Leadership Summit.

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Shaping the Future: What Kind of Organization Do We Want to Be?

Defining the future of an organization is a fundamental strategic process that underpins the direction, purpose, and values it aspires to uphold. In sports coaching, determining the kind of organization we want to be, shapes not just the broader institutional framework, but also the coaching practices and the experiences of […]

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Understanding and Honoring My Moral Compass

Our moral compass is a critical part of who we are as individuals and leaders. It comprises the personal values, ethics, and principles that guide our actions and decisions (Shao, Aquino, & Freeman, 2008). A moral compass is extremely influential in a team’s culture. The Essence of a Moral Compass […]

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Embracing Authenticity in Leadership and Coaching

Authenticity has emerged as a critical aspect of effective leadership and coaching. Leadership researchers often cite authenticity as a key characteristic of successful leaders, linking it to improved leadership effectiveness and employee engagement (Banks et al., 2016). Understanding Authenticity Authenticity involves aligning actions with inner values and beliefs, embracing one’s […]

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How Do I Communicate? Exploring Communication Styles in Sports Coaching

Interaction with others is part of the human connection. However, many will spend an entire lifetime refining their communication skills. As a coach, communication is essential to athletes, the team, and reaching success. Effective communication is critical for coaching success, influencing everything from team dynamics to performance outcomes. Understanding Your […]

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Coaches Do Make Mistakes

Coaches do make mistakes. Are these “mistakes” intentional or actual mistakes that a human being can make? Are coaches and other sports leaders willing to self reflect, identify toxic and abusive behavior, and take corrective action? Or will they double down on their behavior at the expense of others? We, […]

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Sport Psychology Myths

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The Athletic Approach
Sport Psychology Myths
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In the final episode of season one the hosts breakdown common misconceptions when it comes to what a Sport Psychologist produces and experiences.

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RELATIONSHIPS

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The Athletic Approach
RELATIONSHIPS
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This week’s episode breaks down the different scenarios and dynamics involved with relationships in sport. How can we get to know each other as people, deeper than just a coach player model.

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Identity

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The Athletic Approach
Identity
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In this weeks episode the team breaks down the different facets of identity and how it relates to sports performance. Determining what kind of parts of identity allow us to get through challenges.

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Goal Setting

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The Athletic Approach
Goal Setting
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In todays episode Bryce and Manisha break down the dynamics of goal setting. Reflect and re-evaluate, its ok that your goals can change. Develop a roadmap to combat challenges to your goals.

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FOCUS

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The Athletic Approach
FOCUS
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In todays sport mental performance conversation, hosts Bryce and Manisha discuss routines, how each sport requires a different focus, and focus control.

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RESILIENCY

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The Athletic Approach
RESILIENCY
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Breaking down the importance of creating resiliency as an individual athlete, which can lead to mental toughness as a team culture.

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VIDEO: Visualization

Using mental reps to get positive outcomes for yourself, through being able to use your imagination. What’s the difference between day dreaming and being able to see positive benefits from imaginations?

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Motivation

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The Athletic Approach
Motivation
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Manisha and Bryce discuss the importance of mental performance and motivation for athletes, teams, coaches, organizations, culture, and leadership.

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Gain a Mental Advantage

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The Athletic Approach
Gain a Mental Advantage
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Manisha and Bryce discuss the importance of mental performance for athletes, teams, coaches, organizations, culture, and leadership.

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Another Look at the Sarver Investigation & Sanction

The shocking results of the NBA’s external investigation of Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, and his actions and the workplace culture of his franchise were revealed last week, and Sarver was suspended for a year and fined $10 million dollars by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, with Silver stating it was […]

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Another Toxic Culture Uncovered

The owner of the Phoenix Mercury and Phoenix Suns was suspended and fined by the NBA. For 17 years, the toxic culture prevailed. All personnel in both organizations were impacted by Robert Sarver’s toxic leadership and culture for 17 years. Sarver was suspended for one year and fined $10 million. […]

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Life in the World of Soccer

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The Culture in Sports Podcast
Life in the World of Soccer
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This episode provides a glimpse into the world of soccer with Samantha Johnson. She discusses how she sought mentorship at different points in her life. We’ll also hear how important team bonding is, and so much more.

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What You Don’t See

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The Culture in Sports Podcast
What You Don't See
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On this episode we discuss with Lori Okimura how important the behind the scenes support is for all athletes. From the Olympics volunteering, to breaking down the importance of behind the scenes and what that entails, and helping athletes understand the transition into the workforce.

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Life with a little help from sports

This is a two part episode, this first part with Saber Youman, discussing how leadership and mentorship in sports can play a role in your life and career. The values, discipline and guidance can help mold you in to the type of leader you want to be in your everyday […]

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Mercedes Petronas F1 Team Teamwork and Culture

Mercedes F1 team are one of the biggest teams and most successful teams winning seven constructor’schampionships in a row and have dominated the sport in the last decade. In 2010, the companybought the Brawn GP team, rebranding it as Mercedes and since then have been at the pinnacle ofthe sport. […]

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The Power and the Passion

I was in a debate with someone about the ‘power’ in an organization. The gentleman in question was adamant that the power came from the team and that they are responsible for the culture of the work environment. I’m of the belief that the captain steers the ship and guides […]

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Culture in Sports: We Focus on Athletic Success

Athletic success – what does that mean to you? The truth is that it likely means many different things to many different people. Think about it … if you were an athlete (or still are) you understand that Athletic Success goes way beyond solely Athletic Performance. We at Culture in […]

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The Soul of Sports: Optimistic Coaching

In the course of reviewing titles for my school library, I have come across a book written by Darrin Donnelly called “Relentless Optimism” This little gem tells the tale of Bobby Kane and his encounter with the legendary and inspirational coach Wally Hogan. As an Australian, I’m not very familiar […]

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Values

Values in any sports organization are extremely important.  Values of the organization show coaches, staff, and athletes what is important for the organization.  CEO, presidents, GMs, and coaches’ values show what they believe, what they have learned, and who they are.  With all of these different values, from so many […]

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Mean Girls

I was reading a social media post about bad behavior in relationships and I was astounded by the statement “boys will be boys”. Is this perhaps a sterling example of poor or toxic behavior being normalized in society? Thomas Roulet, a professor of organisational theory at the University of Cambridge […]

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Leading Change

Combining my studies, my job, this crazy condition we find ourselves in globally, and the topics I explore for Culture in Sports, I have found that the most prevalent unifying issue is the constancy of change and how we manage it. The culture of an organisation can be made or […]

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A Culture of Support

In Australia on Boxing Day, there are two main sporting events that stir the nation’s interest, these are the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, and the Boxing Day Cricket Test. My English friends like to give me a hard time over the cricket, and there is a long-standing friendly rivalry […]

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Fragile Athletes and Coaches

I recently wrote an article about When Coaches Are Unwilling to Adapt or Change.  In that article I discussed that “Coaching strategies that may have worked at one level may not work at another” and used the recent example of Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Since then, much has […]

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Collaboration, Compliance, and Cohesion

Penn State’s first Director of Ethics and Compliance, Chief Ethics Compliance Officer, former FBI Special Agent, and long-standing member of the Board of Directors for the US Center for Safe Sport, Regis Becker joins Wes and Mike this week in the latest Culture in Sports podcast to discuss ethical aspects […]

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Video: For the Love of Sports

We get to take a brief glimpse into Regis Becker’s life from how his life outside of sports helped play a role with what brought him back into helping create a better culture in the sports world.

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For the Love of Sports

The Culture in Sports Podcast
The Culture in Sports Podcast
For the Love of Sports
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We get to take a brief glimpse into Regis Becker’s life from how his life outside of sports helped play a role with what brought him back into helping create a better culture in the sports world.

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Cultivating an Ethical Culture

In the latest Culture in Sports podcast Mike and Wes interview Sports Attorney, Penn State Law Professor, Athletic Integrity Officer, and President of Culture in Sports Bob Boland. Bob discusses his views of the establishment of his broader sporting relationships and the guidance of athletes. The cultural connection established and […]

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Administrative Leadership and Guidance for Athletes

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The Culture in Sports Podcast
Administrative Leadership and Guidance for Athletes
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Bob Boland speaks about his love for guiding and helping athletes become great leaders in their sports, or even just in life.

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Driving Change in Artistic Swimming Culture

The latest podcast from Culture in Sports features Californian coach, mentor, and elite athlete Ali Williams. Ali discusses her views on toxic culture within her sport of synchronized swimming, now known as artistic swimming, with Wes Livingston and Mike Scaramella. The problems within the culture began to become apparent to […]

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Experience, Assess, and Address Toxicity as an Elite Athlete

The Culture in Sports Podcast
The Culture in Sports Podcast
Experience, Assess, and Address Toxicity as an Elite Athlete
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Ali Williams, an Olympic artistic swimmer, discusses identifying and experiencing a toxic culture as an elite athlete.

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Culture & Climate in a Learning Environment

I recently had the pleasure of listening to a podcast for Culture in Sports. Jeremy Piasecki discusses with Wes and Mike the origins of the organization and the influences that shaped his perceptions on sport and culture as a whole. The interview resonated with me and dovetailed well with my […]

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What Started as a Small Lie

No, I am not talking about players flopping on the field here. There was a World Cup qualifying match between Argentina and Brazil on Sunday.  The match lasted a little more than seven minutes. The officials called the match and FIFA later stated that the match is suspended until further […]

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Thumbs Up or Down?

August was a bad month for the New York Mets.  They started the month on a high note.  They were the first-place team in the NL East and had made a blockbuster deal with the Cubs to acquire star shortstop Javier Baez.  Injured pitchers Jacob DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard were […]

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‘Pics or it Didn’t Happen’

Following her initial complaints of misogyny within Swimming Australia, Maddie Groves has further alleged that the culture of Swimming Australia is so bad that people who wish to thrive in the sport are forced to ignore entrenched negative behaviors. Groves, a two-time Olympic silver medalist announced via Instagram on June 9 […]

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Trust is a Two-Way Street

As an athlete, I had many coaches who just expected athletes to trust them because they were the coach.  I also had coaches who showed that they deserved trust.  The coaches that showed or proved their trustworthiness were also the ones who started off the coach and athlete relationship by […]

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The Woke Coach

An emotionally intelligent organizational culture remains positive even through changes and challenges. Far from just being a corporate buzzword, it is an important skill needed by leaders, mentors, and coaches to elicit the best from their people on a performance level as well as on a personal level. Coaching in […]

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Getting Comfortable In the Status Quo

I had a coach recently reach out to me to ask if I had any suggestions for her, as she felt stuck in her coaching journey.  Upon some great discussion and learning for both of us, it was identified that she was not stuck in her coaching journey, but she […]

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Sports for the Student Brain

For kids, we often view sports as a way for them to stay healthy, have fun, and get some fresh air. The benefits, though, go deeper, as a study from the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity reveals. After examining decades of educational data, researchers Francois Trudeau and […]

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Will the Boomers Go Boom in Tokyo?

NBL (National Basketball League) Australian National team head coach, Brett Brown stepped aside late in 2020 amid issues of the NBA possibly delaying its 2020-2021 season which had caused uncertainty for the Tokyo Olympics campaign. There was a real concern that his sudden departure in such a climate would adversely […]

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The Mindful Athlete

There are plenty of quotes and cliches about the mental aspect of sports. Mountaineer Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mount Everest, once said: “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” Muhammad Ali stressed that the will must be stronger than the skill. And as legendary women’s basketball […]

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The Wrong Platform: Athletes Spreading Disinformation

I’ve written in the past about the role athletes can play in promoting positive change in their communities. Their platform offers unparalleled influence, and several serve as community leaders and activists for noble causes. Athletes are blessed with the right amounts of wealth, celebrity, and admiration to exert significant sway. […]

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Are We Burning Kids Out?

Youth sports are a staple of American culture, often viewed as the surest track to developing talented athletes. It makes sense — more practice time and more gameplay lead to better skill and fitness. For parents hoping to see their kids earn a college scholarship or start a pro career, […]

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The NCAA and the Winds of Change

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is in full swing, and teams are jockeying for this year’s championship trophy. The tournament is both a cultural staple, with millions of Americans filling out brackets each year, and a massive revenue source for the NCAA, top universities, and bettors. In 2019, March Madness […]

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Is It I or We?

When you start a sentence about your team, do you start with an I or we?  But let me ask two further questions: When you are speaking about your team’s successes, do you say that we (As in all coaches and athletes) have made it this far, or do you […]

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Endure, Learn, and Move On

I apologize in advance to all of you haters out there.  I am an Astros fan.  Still am.  Let me explain. I live in The Woodlands, Texas.  It is a suburban utopia just north of Houston.  As the name suggests, there are lots of trees.  It is a master-planned community […]

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The ‘Business’ of Team Sports

Every team has a culture, the question is what does this culture say about the team? A culture is a set of observable behaviors that are promoted and widely accepted by the organization. Teams whose members are aligned culturally, are more engaged and have better morale which ultimately leads to […]

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Have the Houston Rockets Hit Rock Bottom?

The Houston Rockets had a sad outing against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.  It was their 11th straight loss (They now have lost 12 straight), where they had the lowest shooting percentage and the fewest made field goals in a game in NBA history, it was the biggest point differential […]

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The Highs and Lows in Sports Help Bring People Together

On Tuesday, February 23rd golf legend Tiger Woods experienced a terrifying car accident. His car tumbled down a hill and he was pulled out of the SUV by the jaws of life. After the accident, he was immediately rushed to the hospital and sent to surgery. Tiger Woods experienced a […]

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Life in the Fast Lane: ‘Bad’ Boys on Bikes

Marco Lucchinelli is an Italian former professional, and legendary, Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, who in 1981 won the FIM 500cc World Championship with Suzuki. He is known for being fast … very fast, and he lived his life that way too. Lucchinelli had a taste for the seamier things in […]

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My Game of the Century

In Nebraska, where I grew up, everyone knows about the 1972 Nebraska-Oklahoma game. It is known as the “Game of the Century.”  Lyle Bremser’s call of the classic Johnny Rodgers punt return is legendary.  Still today, it is considered the best game in the history of college football.  Unfortunately, it […]

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‘Trivialized, Infantilized, and Sexualized’

His name was Eddie… he was my first unfortunate experience of sexism in sport, before that I always felt safe on the swimming team and playing netball and softball with my classmates at my girls-only school. Eddie, whose image is forever burned into my memory, was a ‘little’ man and […]

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Black Sox and Whistleblowing

Anyone familiar with sports, and baseball in particular, is sure to have heard of the infamous 1919 scandal involving the Chicago White Sox and the allegations that they “threw” (no pun intended) the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds that year. The background, for those unfamiliar, is that members of […]

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Stitched Up: Racism in Australian Football

The Australian Football League (AFL) has a long unfortunate history of systemic racism. Although the AFL was the first major sporting code in Australia to adopt a no-tolerance stance over racial-sledging on-field, the sport is proliferated with shameful incidences. Australian sporting fans, it is theorized, struggle to include the indigenous […]

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Fuel-injected Leadership: Motivational or Menacing

Recently, Australian Supercar Erebus Motorsport team boss Barry Ryan has come under fire for his arrogant and insensitive style of leadership. Ryan suggests that he is the victim of clever editing to make him appear to be a ‘villain’ for entertainment’s sake. This is not the first time Ryan’s leadership […]

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Nightmare for the ‘Dream Team’

It’s a fine line between confidence and egotism, a lack of self-confidence can be terribly disabling in terms of reaching one’s potential in all aspects of life and certainly in sport. But at what point do cumulative successes and accolades begin to create monsters; divas whose demands threaten the stability […]

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More Cases of Sexual Misconduct in Cheerleading

Another week, another story about another sexual misconduct issue within cheerleading in the United States.  Last week, a 25 year old coach was arrested for indecent liberties with a child and a 23 year old college cheerleader, who was also featured in Netflix’s “Cheer” and NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, was […]

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The Culture Is More Than the Team

In Australia, sport has always been a reflection of egalitarian attitudes; mateship; and sense of a ‘fair-go’. Modern social changes have commercialised sport adding new pressures to the structures of the clubs. This has unfortunately instilled a ‘win or die’ attitude within some, or perhaps most sports. Sadly, In 2018, […]

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Team Culture Can Make or Break Athletes

I recently conducted an interview for research about organizational culture.  I interviewed a professional athlete that has played at the highest levels, and even attended the Olympics.  He unfortunately had to retire from his profession due to the extremely toxic culture he was enduring.  I was extremely saddened to hear […]

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The Endemic Culture of Abuse in Gymnastics

In mid-2020 a Netflix documentary about the sexual abuse inflicted upon US gymnasts by Larry Nassar was released. This film called ‘Athlete A’ outlines the former USA Gymnastics national team doctor’s abuse and the organisation’s failure to prevent it and paved the way for gymnasts around the world to expose […]

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Toxic Culture Claims in Australian Women’s Hockey

After the shock early termination of Australian women’s hockey team coach, Adam Commens in 2016, for allegedly exposing himself to some of the Hockeyroos during celebrations after the finals in Rio, Hockey Australia is again launching inquiries into improprieties within the sport. Currently allegations of a toxic and destructive culture […]

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