Study Skills for Sports Studies

Tara Magdalinski

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136289125
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Sociology

Starting university can be a daunting prospect, as students come to grips with new ways of working, learning and thinking. Studying sport at university poses particular challenges, with students often engaged in playing or coaching sport alongside their studies and having unconventional working patterns.

Study Skills for Sport Studies is the only complete guide to degree-level study to be written specifically for students on sport-related courses, outlining the core academic competencies needed to succeed at university. The textbook offers tips and techniques for all aspects of higher education, including time management, critical thinking, academic research and writing, e-learning, presentations, group work and exams. The practical processes are supported by sports-related examples, and each chapter ends with useful exercises to test your skills as well as reflect on your prior learning experiences. Designed as either a self-paced text or a companion to an introductory class, Study Skills for Sports Studies demystifies the academic skills needed to succeed and helps you make the most of your time at university.

1 Welcome to University Settling in and getting started

DOI: 10.4324/9780203113974-1

Overview

This chapter outlines:

• what it means to study sport at university;
• the difference between secondary and tertiary education;
• the importance of time management and organizing college, sporting, social and family commitments;
• the most efficient way to incorporate study sessions into a weekly schedule.

Introduction

Welcome to the exciting field of sports studies, and congratulations for embarking on an educational path that leads to so many interesting careers. Whether you want to manage sports events, improve athletic performance, work in sports federations or coach athletes, there are many ways that people study sport, and each incorporates a variety of intellectual approaches, academic disciplines and fields of knowledge. ‘Sports studies’ is used in this book as an overarching or ‘umbrella’ term that includes both biophysical and socio-cultural perspectives of sport. Your course might have a general name, such as sport and exercise science, human kinetics, kinesiology or human movement studies, or the name may be more specific, such as sports management or recreation studies. If you are interested in the biophysical study of sport, then you might be taking classes in exercise physiology, biomechanics or motor learning. If, however, you are more business or industry oriented, then you might have enrolled in a sports management major that includes areas such as sports marketing, sponsorship, operational management and event management. The socio-cultural approaches examine sport from a philosophical, historical, psychological or sociological perspective, whereas those with a practical or applied outlook might be studying coaching or athletic training. Finally, some will be considering sport as part of broader studies in leisure, recreation or tourism. Regardless of the specific sub-discipline or the kind of programme you are enrolled in, this book guides you through the academic conventions and processes, the skills and the techniques that will help you study sport successfully.

Do you remember what it is like to try a new sport for the first time? You might be excited, though nervous – perhaps even a little unsure of what will be expected of you. Yet after learning a few basic skills, your nerves dissipate and you find yourself more at ease and confident in your abilities. Entering any new learning environment can be daunting. Whether you are a school leaver or a mature-age student returning after time away from formal education, you will face challenges as you navigate your way through college. For many students, it takes no time to settle in, whereas for others, it takes longer, particularly when faced with larger classes, few contact hours and uncertainty about what you are supposed to be doing. Understanding what is expected of you and knowing where to turn for assistance will ensure you make the best possible start to your studies, and this book outlines the basic skills you will need to ease your transition into higher education.

Terminology

Before getting started, it is important to clarify the terminology used throughout the text. Some general terms are used to describe the study of sport, and as these may not be familiar to you, it is important to define them so that you can establish the equivalent at your institution (see Table 1.1 for a summary).

Table 1.1 Summary of common terminology across different national contexts*

	Overall programme of study	Teaching staff	Subject	Class	Practical
USA	Major	Professor	Course	Class	Lab
UK/Ireland	Programme	Lecturer	Module	Lecture	Prac/Lab
Canada	Degree	Professor	Course	Class	Lab
Australia	Degree/Course	Lecturer	Subject/Unit	Lecture	Prac
New Zealand	Degree	Lecturer	Paper	Lecture	Practical
Other terms		Faculty/Tutor		Tutorial/Seminar

*These are not exclusive terms and there can be a wide range of variation among institutions within a country.

This book is intended for students in ‘higher education’, which encompasses all forms of education after high school, such as university, college, institutes of further or higher education, technical colleges and other educational organizations that teach students who have left secondary education. To simplify the text, ‘university’ or ‘college’ will generally be referred to throughout, though the skills and tips will be applicable to anyone studying sport in any kind of higher educational setting and may, in fact, also be useful for those in the upper levels of high school/secondary education.

Higher education providers offer different programmes of study. These might be known as a ‘course’, ‘programme’, ‘degree’, ‘diploma’ or ‘certificate’, though yours might have another name. You might be doing a general degree and be taking a ‘major’, ‘specialization’, ‘concentration’ or ‘focus’ in sports studies, which means most of your studies will centre on this field. If you are taking a ‘minor’, then only some of your studies – and not the bulk of them – will focus on sport.

The academic year is typically divided into two semesters, though some institutions have trimesters (or three teaching periods per year). The length of the semester will vary by institution. In some colleges, you might have as few as twelve weeks of teaching, whereas in others there might be fifteen. Some institutions will give you a revision week between the end of classes and the beginning of exams, whereas others might not have a break – or might even schedule exams within the teaching period. You might be entitled to a mid-semester break from classes, such as ‘Spring Break’ in the USA or a ‘reading week’ in the UK. It is important that you familiarize yourself with the way your institution schedules classes so that you can create a complete semester timetable and study plan, which will be discussed later in this chapter.

Once you have started your degree or major, your studies will often be broken into individual units of learning, which may be referred to as ‘modules’, ‘units’, ‘subjects’, ‘papers’, ‘courses’ or ‘classes’. These are essentially self-contained units focused on specific topics, where a lecturer or professor (or a team) takes you through content in a ‘lecture’, ‘class’ or ‘seminar’. If you are attending lectures with a large number of students (maybe several hundred), you might later have the opportunity to attend smaller ‘tutorials’ with perhaps fifteen or twenty students, where you discuss the lecture content with the same lecturer or a different ‘tutor’, often a graduate student. In the biophysical sciences, you might be required to take ‘labs’ or ‘pracs’, where you will conduct experiments or learn how to apply the theory outlined in the lecture to practical situations. Some institutions will offer fieldwork, service learning, internships/ work placements, activity courses or other experiential learning opportunities. Depending on the programme or module, you might have one lecture or class per subject per week whereas others will have two or three weekly contact hours. Regardless of how the subjects are delivered, a basic expectation across all institutions is that you attend all contact hours. Some institutions or individual lecturers may make this mandatory and will take a physical or electronic attendance list; others will simply assume you are in class.

What Does it Mean to Study Sport at University?

For many people, the idea of studying ‘sport’ sounds fantastic – almost like playing fantasy football all day long. Yet, studying sport is more than simply chatting about your favourite team, analysing match reports or discussing the merits of individual players. It is even more than training to be a great coach or exercise physiologist. Studying sport is a chance to think creatively and critically about a phenomenon that touches almost every person on the planet. This means taking a step back from what you think you already know about sport, opening yourself up to new perspectives and sometimes challenging your preconceptions about the sport industry and the people in it. Studying sport requires more than blindly accepting ideas at face value: it requires delving below the surface to gain a deeper understanding of sport’s role in society, its impact internationally or locally and its significance and meaning to different groups of people. You will engage with theoretical perspectives that take you outside your comfort zone and question common myths and assumptions about the value of sport. In the biophysical sciences, you will learn about the intricacies of the human body so that you can make scientifically justified adjustments to improve athletic performance, enhance health outcomes or generate superior rehabilitative techniques, rather than relying on ‘the way it has always been done’. In short, you will be expected to think beyond the sports pages and engage critically with the field and your sub-discipline.

Regardless of your particular focus, one basic tenet applies to every student in higher education: this is your learning opportunity. It is up to you, and you alone, to make the most of it. You really do get out of college what you put in, and as...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Welcome to University Settling in and getting started
• 2 Learning and Thinking What and how to know
• 3 Making Sense of Lectures Listening in class and taking notes
• 4 Starting Assignments Breaking down questions and effective research
• 5 Learning to Read Understanding academic readings and research
• 6 Academic Writing How to write research essays
• 7 Academic Writing How to write reports
• 8 Academic Writing Incorporating evidence and avoiding plagiarism
• 9 Academic Writing Digital forms and reflective practices
• 10 Collaborative Learning Working as a team
• 11 Oral Presentations Tips and tricks for effective delivery
• 12 Experiential Learning Putting theory into practice
• 13 Tests, Quizzes, Mid-Terms and Finals Preparing for and writing exams
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4
• Glossary
• References
• Index