Our Sport & Gender course has really opened my eyes to the vast differences in sport when it comes to the divide between how men and women are perceived. Not only did this course show me that the perception of the difference in skill is so vast, but we also covered concepts that I had never put any thought into such as individuals who are intersexed, who look to compete with the opposite gender, and who undergo extensive surgeries in order to alter their gender. I think these topics, along with others such as covering the budgeting and equity in sport, were very important to all of us in the class. As each of us in the class hope to someday obtain a position within the field of sport, I think it is important that we become acquainted with each of the topics that this course touched on, especially so that we can learn from how instances of gender differences were handled in the past so they can be improved upon in the future.
As I had stated during my portion of the presentation that my group had given last week, my favorite portion of the class was when we covered the Canadian Identity, and discussed the impact of hockey in the sport. Being from the East Coast, I feel as though I may be even less familiar with Canadian culture than some individuals who are from this part of the country, being just an hour or so south of the border. The discussion, along with having a member of the class being Canadian (thanks Ryan), really gave me a better appreciation for their culture in regards to sport, seeing as hockey has been my favorite sport for as long as I could imagine. With this discussion, as well as the discussions regarding Lebron and Kobe in comparison to Jordan, I found it very interesting to look at players of the present and compare both their athletic talent as well as marketability to their Hall of Fame predecessors. I also enjoyed how well the class interacted during these topics, as it seemed these discussions brought about some of the best classroom discussion that we had throughout the year.
While on the topic of discussion amongst classmates, I found the blogs to be equally as beneficial. Being an individual who wrote a blog each week, I thought that these were a great way to put some of my ideas out there for the rest of the class to read since I am not one to necessarily speak up in the classroom. Each week, I tried to post relevant blogs that went along with that week’s class discussion, and also looked to bring in outside sources such as videos or news articles that corresponded to what I was writing about. I hope that my blogs were interesting for my fellow classmates to read, as I know that I enjoyed looking through the postings of my classmates as well, especially those of my groupmates Aaron and Geoff, who always provided great information in their writings. As mentioned in our presentation, I hope that blogs become a mandatory aspect of the class in future semesters, as I feel that they were very beneficial to become more acquainted with the given topic and found it very interesting to read about what my classmates thought.
As we conclude the course and give our final presentations, I feel as though each group that has presented thus far has brought something valuable to the classroom. I would have no problem pulling pieces of each presentation to highlight, as I thought every group that has gone did a great job. That being said, my favorite presentation so far was “Are Athletes Overpaid?”. The group did a fantastic job breaking down salaries for each sport, and discussing why they believed that athletes are not overpaid. I agree with everything that this group brought up, and feel as though it is important that we do not overlook what these athletes go through to earn these salaries. The key thing to remember is that these salaries are earned. The top athletes in the league earn the highest revenue, rookies and lesser impact players work for league minimums; like any occupation, their salaries are earned and justified.
Overall, this course has been one that I thoroughly enjoyed. While many of these concepts may not be things that I can put to further use in my future occupation which will hopefully be in professional sport, there was also plenty that I can take out of this course and consider in future endeavors. Sport & Gender was definitely one of the more interesting Sport Management courses that I have taken, and one which I have enjoyed considerably.
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