Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, has thirty plus year legacy of making thought-provoking documentaries for PBS. His current subject is Muhammad Ali. Burns’ four-part look at Ali’s life and times premiered on Sunday and continues over […]
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Tag: Sports
It’s Part of Taking Care of Your Athletes
As a coach, athletic director, trainer, general manager, or a host of other positions in an organization that focus on athlete safety, health, and performance, an athlete should be ready for competition. That is what […]
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Colleges, Please Take Care of Your Athletes
College student-athletes recently got a boon after the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) allowed them to sell the rights to their names, images, and likenesses from July 1st, 2021 and onward, so now players can […]
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No Girls Allowed
Yesterday, the Taliban’s head of the cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, reportedly said women would not play cricket, or any other sport, under the new regime in Afghanistan. While it was not a surprising announcement, it […]
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Against All Odds
Imagine being out of a sport for almost three years due to an injury. Now imagine returning to the same sport after the injury. And now imagine getting the opportunity to compete again. McKenzie Milton […]
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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 […]
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Too Long Away, Much To Say About the Power of Sports
I didn’t realize I’d been away for a month, at least from writing here, in my favorite space at Culture in Sports. Having predicted the return of sports since the beginning of this Summer, it […]
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Delegating Tasks
By the title of this article, you may just want to skip to something else, but please take the time to read how there are plenty of coaches, general managers, athletic directors, and front office […]
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Jessica Long: The Athlete Any Coach Would Love to Have on Their Team
As the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games continue, an amazing feat happened: Jessica Long, a Team USA swimmer and most decorated active Paralympian, won her 25th Paralympic Games medal. Long has competed in the Paralympic Games […]
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Fans Behaving Badly
A recent football match in France was stopped midgame due to fans throwing objects at athletes, storming the field, fighting with athletes, and because of their overall behavior. It was extremely sad to watch and […]
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Coach With an Expectation That You Will Not Receive Anything in Return
Coaching is not easy at any level. When someone is coaching a recreational youth team, there are athletes who are dependent on your role, their parents who want the best for their child, others who […]
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The Right Time to Make Positive Change
Both NCAA basketball tournaments have been very exciting and have proven that there are always Cinderella stories and games that come down to the final buzzer or whistle. There are heroes, villains, officials, and heartbreak […]
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Sport: A Platform for Advocacy
The influence of top athletes; their ability to amplify important debate allows advocacy on a global level. Sport is unique in that it can bring together people of different cultural backgrounds; different nationalities; different religions […]
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Use Your Powers for Good or Evil
Do you remember listening or watching coaches, teachers, or other adults when you were a young child? Do you remember when they would tell you to do something, you just assumed they had the authority, […]
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The Power of Inclusivity
In the summer of 2015, I had the opportunity to be involved with the Special Olympics World Games based in Los Angeles, California. I spent the whole week working the volleyball portion of the whole […]
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What Are You Afraid of? Your Fear May Be Keeping You From Your Destiny
What are you afraid to try? What has been ringing in your ear for the last couple of weeks, months, days, that you are dying to try? My second question is, what is stopping you? […]
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Forever Changing Goalposts
On Monday 22 February the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnston, unveiled the UK’s latest road map to lead the UK out of lockdown into the new ‘normal’ of existing with Covid. 12 April being the […]
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Why Doing the Right Thing Seems So Hard
In trying to define the focus of Culture in Sports, and what we should be writing about on this site, the Led Zeppelin song title, What Is and What Should Never Be, comes to mind. […]
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The President of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee Is Really a Reflection of Sports Around the World
Over a week ago, Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee suggested that women talk too much in meetings. I was shocked to hear what Mr. Mori said, especially for the Japanese […]
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Are Sports Fertile Ground for Abusive Treatment and Abusers?
Are sports more susceptible to giving abusers and harassers space to operate, and if so, are sports particularly poorly structured to expose these abuses, and protect athletes and those victimized because of their love of the game?
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When an Athlete Is Injured
Last time I wrote about “Ed”, a retired professional athlete who also participated in the Olympics. Ed experienced an extremely toxic environment the last few years of his professional sports career. During my discussion with […]
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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 […]
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Treat Those Two Imposters Just the Same
We have a chance here to demonstrate that while winning and losing have value, they are as Rudyard Kipling- talk about a complicated potentially toxic legacy-correctly observed, two imposters to be treated the same. Victory is a neutral, not definitively a positive concept.
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Using Sports as a Platform for Social Justice
Recently someone told me they stopped watching the NFL because they were tired of athletes speaking about their causes, and they just needed to “shut up and play.” To which I ask Why? What makes […]
Read MoreCaring for Someone Should Never Translate Into Mental, Physical, or Emotional Abuse
Juliet Macur of the #newyorktimes wrote a great article about a decision that USA Gymnastics made earlier this year: They suspended a coach for eight years for repeatedly putting her #athletes‘ #mentalhealth, #emotionalhealth, and #physicalhealth in jeopardy. This decision by USA Gymnastics shows they are aware of […]
Read MoreInappropriate Relationships With Athletes
Last week, British Cycling dismissed one of its top coaches after finding him guilty of gross misconduct, to include inappropriate relationships with athletes. Kevin Stewart, who was the head men’s sprint coach, was given repeated warnings about #inappropriaterelationships and […]
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