Campus Times
March 14, 2005
There are many ways to express yourself in the world of sports. One way is to wear a particular team’s jersey. Jerseys have come a long way as far as styles. They now come in all types of colors and designs regardless of a team’s style. Besides jerseys, sports in general plays an important role in many people’s lives.
Ketra Armstrong, associate professor of sport management at Cal State Long Beach, lectured on sports psychology and the role of sports in people’s daily lives last week at Pomona College.
“It is fascinating to see fans wearing a jersey emblazoned with the last name of someone else, usually their own sports icon,” said Sharon Davis, professor of Sociology at the University of La Verne.
“We identify with celebrities,” Davis said. “They become extensions of our friendship groups as we learn about the personal lives of the various players, actors and singers that we admire.”
“People wear merchandise all of the time,” Armstrong told her audience of roughly 30 Pomona College students and community. “The meanings of these things are internalized all within the idea of symbolic interaction.”
Armstrong then spoke on the individual’s need for attending sports events and how people use these events in a social setting in their daily lives. Armstrong’s lecture titled “Self, Situation and Sport Consumption: An Illustration of Symbolic Interactionism," was focused on how people relate with sports and how the components of sports satisfy our daily needs.
“Less than 2 percent of people attend events alone,” Armstrong said. “Sport spectating is a part of symbolic interaction.”
Armstrong talked about how people depend on the way a certain event is going to make them feel and how that dictates the choices they make.
“If it doesn’t make me feel the way that I want to feel at the end of the day, then I’m not going,” she said. “People take part in these events because they can relate in some way and it makes them feel good.”
With the role of sports in society today, one could think that Americans have become too obsessed with such a culture. Today, children play all types of sports such as soccer, baseball, football, basketball and hockey. The time spent on these activities can consume much of a person’s time.
“Sports allow us to release built up aggresion,” Davis said. “We encourage our children to play sports and cite the benefits of physical fitness and learning teamwork as valuable byproducts.”
John David, father of three from Claremont who attended the event, said sports played a huge role in his son’s life.
“Sports teaches character, discipline and teamwork,” David said. “Kids meet friends and learn to work together in a team manner.”
Though participation in sports has its downside.
“Children learn agression and how to commit infractions that are not detected by referees,” Davis said.
Additionally, Davis said sports can consume children’s time keeping them from other valuable experiences.
“It is interesting that oftentimes children are so involved in sports that there is little time to teach them to play a musical instrument or how to cook for and feed themselves,” Davis said.
Still David said: “Sports teaches lessons that are life long and most valuable.”
Overall, Armstrong constantly reminded the audience that people consume sports based on how they relate to them.
“People aren’t going to do something or watch something that doesn’t make them feel good,” Armstrong said.
This lecture was sponsored by Pomona College and is part of series of sports related lectures continuing throughout the month of March.
Steven Falls can be reached at sfalls21@msn.com.