A Master Thesis
entitled
The Impact Social Media has on Collegiate Gymnasts: Social Support and Body Image
by
Alaska Richardson
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of
Educational Psychology Degree in The Judith Herb College of Education
______Mary Ellen Edwards, Ph. D., Committee Chair
______Revathy Kumar, Ph. D., Committee Member
______Lynne Hamer, Ph. D., Committee Member
______Amanda C. Bryant-Friedrich, Ph. D., Dean College of Graduate Studies
The University of Toledo May 2018
Copyright 2018, Alaska J. Richardson
This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author.
ii An Abstract of
The Impact Social Media has on Collegiate Gymnasts: Social Support and Body Image
by
Alaska Richardson
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Educational Psychology Degree in The Judith Herb College of Education
University of Toledo May 2018
With the tremendous growth of technology over the years, social media platforms have become a new and improved way for people from all parts of the globe to stay connected. This can cause many different impacts and actions on individuals who are viewing a variety of social media content or posts. One can become inspired by those they follow by engaging in similar practices to either better themselves or begin to compare themselves to others which can lead to more negative side effects such as developing low self-esteem, anxiety, and even depressive thoughts. Little is known about how social media can impact people’s social support and views on their body images. In this study, a total of six college female gymnasts were interviewed about their views on how social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have impacted their social support system with others and how body image is presented. Results revealed that emotional thoughts and views all depended on the individual. Social media can only control and consume an individual’s life if she allows it.
iii
For my wonderful parents, Anthony and Johnnie. It has been your everlasting love and support that has allowed me to aim for the stars and beyond. For my big brother, Anthony
II, who I have always looked up to growing up. Thank you for your inspiration.
Acknowledgments
This thesis would not have even been possible without the encouragement, support, and doting love I received from the parents, family, and close friends. I now realize why my parents and family never gave up on pushing me to limits I never thought were possible and believing in me when I did not believe in myself. I am thankful for my close friends that have stuck by me through this journey. I only hope I have been able to replicate the same amount of support through their lives as they have done for mine.
I would also like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Mary Ellen Edwards from the
University of Toledo for all her assistance and patience while working with me throughout this challenging, yet rewarding experience. I would like to thank my wonderful committee members for taking the time out of their business schedules to help me succeed. Without their participation and input, this could not have been conducted. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the University of Toledo’s Writing Center
Coordinator, Clayton Chiarelott, for always being available and encouraging me through the process of writing of this thesis.
To the Bowling Green State Gymnastics team and coaching staff, thank you for taking the time to supply me with important information for my research. You all have been a huge help and I wish you all the best of luck during your 2018 season. One team, one vision. Go Falcons!
Lastly, I have benefited tremendously from the guidance and mentoring from the welcoming staff of the Student-Athletic Academic Services Department at the University of Toledo. Thank you all for allowing me to learn and grow from the knowledge and unfailing support you all have shared with me during my years as a graduate student.
v Table of Contents
Abstract iii
Acknowledgements v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables viii
I. Introduction 1
A. Research Question 11
B. Limitations 12
II. Literature Review 14
A. Body Image 14
B. Social Support 18
C. Social Media 20
III. Methodology 25
A. Procedures & Ethics 27
B. Participants 27
C. Interviews 28
a. Body Image 29
b. Social Support 29
c. Social Media 29
IV. Data Analysis and Results 31
A. Participant Profiles 32
a. Person A 32
b. Person B 32
vi c. Person C 33
d. Person D 34
e. Person E 34
f. Person F 34
B. Results 35
V. Discussion 40
A. Conclusion 41
References 43
Appendices
A. Interview Questions 46
B. Interview Transcripts 47
vii List of Tables
Table 1 Positive, Negative, and Neutral Results from Participants. Each result is based off individuals’ responses, non-verbal cues, and facial expressions recorded by the researcher.…………………………………………………………………………… 39
viii Chapter One
Introduction
For 13 years long years, I experienced the busy lifestyle of a competitive gymnast. Since the ripe age of nine, I had the drive and determination to balance both countless hours training in the gym to the ability to receive good grades in the classroom.
Gymnastics helped me develop a great mental toughness and physical strength needed to perform difficult skills as well as remain disciplined with my academic works.
Gymnastics was my home away from home. It was a place where I could let loose and truly be myself; a gymnast. With the help, love, and support from my family, coaches, and teammates, I could reach my goal by earning a full athletic scholarship away from my home in Dayton, Ohio to the wild and wonderful mountains of West Virginia
University.
As a collegiate gymnast, I saw action on the floor exercise and the vault earning high scores and many honors my junior and senior year. However, the road to such a high level of gymnastics did not happen over-night. Some days, I found myself excelling in the gym, completing all my routines accordingly and reaching not only my expectations, but the expectations of my teammates and coaches. The same went towards my professors when it came to assignments and exams taking place in the classroom. Having to balance sports, workouts, academics, a social life, growing as a young adult, and all that came with being a student-athlete was a challenging, yet very rewarding experience.
However, I am human and mistakes were inevitable. The scale used to balance both gymnastics and academics began to tip and picking up the spills were more chaotic than it sounds. Just add the distraction of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook,
1 and Instagram to the mix and we have a recipe for misunderstandings. Through my experience with social media as a student-athlete, my grades unfortunately began to drop.
I found myself more focused on posting pictures of myself and teammates engaging in risky, college behaviors such as partying, drinking alcohol, writing obscene captions under posts, and using foul language. However, such behaviors did not go unnoticed.
One-on-one disciplinary meetings were administered by the coaching staff and members in the athletic department which educated student-athletes on the importance of watching what they share with the world. In my case, certain posts online could have potentially been interpreted the wrong way and could have ruined my reputation.
For example, I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza for me and my two roommates after practice and posted the delicious pie on Twitter. I received comments from followers wishing they could join us for a feast, but my coaches were not pleased with my food selection. What I thought was an innocent post of yummy food was interpreted by my coaches as an unhealthy food choice that could jeopardize my weight, thus potentially effecting my performance in the gym. I was called into a one-on-one meeting with my coach a few days later to be told that I was not setting a good example for the other girls. I was further required to meet with a nutritionist once a week to make better food choices. All because of one post of a medium pepperoni pizza.
As a student-athlete, it was my responsibility to represent the university as well as the gymnastics program I was involved with in a respectable manner. Looking back now, it also taught me how to represent myself as an individual when posting on personal social media accounts. If anything is going to raise a concern or cause an uproar with your following, just do not post it.
2 With the raise and popularity of social media platforms, young gymnasts can upload videos and pictures of themselves for certain collegiate gymnastics teams to view, comment, share, and like. This has developed social media technologies to become visible players allowing college coaches to make judgments of potential recruits before even meeting with the individuals face-to-face. Thus, collegiate athletic departments are faced with unique challenges in harnessing social media. For example, in an analysis of the practices of collegiate athletic departments towards student-athletes and Twitter,
Sanderson and Browning (2013) obtained a sample of 1,434 tweets to examine whether
Twitter had opened avenues when discussing sports culture and gender. Their thematic analysis revealed three different themes: (1) opening the space for conversation; (2) offering enough evidence of change in sports culture; and (3) expressing the resistance to sports cultural change.
However, as these authors point out, student-athletes are governed by a host of rules and regulations from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In short, the NCAA has crafted social media policies for its student-athletes by monitoring and restricting any post that may be deemed inappropriate or harmful for their education or reputation. Their results suggested that Twitter functioned as an encouraging space where people can share personal content, which can spread meaningful and relevant sports cultural issues no matter one’s gender. This concept works on other social media platforms, for it allows individuals to share and actively engage through joining productive discussions.
Williams in the study of adolescent and adult literacy and identity (2006) also speaks on how adolescent females are becoming more comfortable with online
3 communications and technology to not only build social relationships, but to sustain them. Technology has become part of our culture and has shaped it, bombarding females with popular cultural messages and images that could cause them to become obsessive with their physical appearance, fashion, relationship with boys, and even their sexual lives and power (p. 304). Williams states:
the power of culture to shape gender identity becomes particularly critical for
adolescents making the transition from child to adult. As young people build their
adult identities they look constantly to the culture around them, from family to
peers and to popular media, for guidance and hints. They seek assurance that they
are becoming insiders- people who will be accepted by the dominant culture- and
not those who will be shut out and shunned. (p. 300-301)
Despite the many lectures, words of wisdom, and encouragement from those around them, adolescents spend a great deal of time and energy simply observing adults, popular culture, and their peers to then obsess about how to interpret and incorporate what they see into values and actions.
However, in the world of gymnastics, the majority of gymnasts follow each other through social media platforms, which allows individuals to use companies with a unique online platform to connect directly, personally, and regularly with an audience of peers or with the public at large. Affiliate Scholar of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
Harvard University, Raizel Liebler, and Keidra Chaney, Editor of the Learned Fangirl and JSTOR Daily, explored the history of social media platforms and the evolution of private, closed networks into audience-driven mass media tools. Liebler and Chaney
(2014) gave an overview which reflected on if there should be a thin line drawn between
4 personal and professional speech with an individual. The issue of personal versus professional speech tends to become more relevant for not only celebrities and athletes, but to anyone who is online or logging into social media platforms daily. These kinds of services combine the audience-building platforms of mass media, with the personal data and relationships of in-person social networks.
Fortunately for the NCAA, social media has become a convenient resource they use to monitor and even discipline student-athletes and their affiliate academic institutions. Liebler and Chaney concluded that the challenges when developing the law and policy around social media platforms are due to the rapid pace of growth with social media. This growth has given greater access into the lives of individuals due to the emerging social norms that encourage sharing personal information openly and, at the same time, becoming a tool for companies like the NCAA to promote an organized identity.
In the early to mid-2000’s, social media platforms were not as popular as they are now. My experience ten years ago demonstrates in some ways the development of social media for women participating in college gymnastics. When going through the recruiting process of becoming a collegiate gymnast, I relied heavily on email to communicate with college coaches. To be recognized or noticed, I attended numerous gymnastics camps during the summers or simply performed to the best of my ability at various gymnastics competitions during season. I had my family, friends, coaches, and teammates to count on for support.
Creating a YouTube account only made the recruiting process slightly easier. It allowed me to share my videos to the schools I was interested in attending from across
5 the country and not just within the state of Ohio. If schools became interested in me, I had to check my emails or make myself available to receive phone calls once I reached a certain grade in high school for eligibility purposes. Through unofficial visits, I was given the chance to meet the coaches in-person and introduce myself to the team, asking them important questions about the gymnastics program and what my responsibilities were if I accepted to join their team in the future.
By its nature, sports activities, like gymnastics, is a social context within itself.
This allows participants to develop their cognitive, physical, and social selves through interacting with, relating to, and influencing others. The influence of peer groups become more important during the transitions from childhood to adulthood joining an ever- expanding social network. Sukys, Lisinskiene, and Tilindiene (2015) conducted a quantitative cross-sectional design that examined the relationship between adolescents’ participation in sports activities and their parent and peer attachments. Adolescents between the ages of 12 to 16 years old were asked to complete a survey assessing their trust, communication, and alienation attachments from both parents and peers. Results revealed that adolescents who did not participate in sports activities initially scored lower than adolescent athletes. Involvement in sports, namely competitive sports, indicates an important factor for greater attachments with parents and peers.
Peers who encourage and provide feedback to their teammates have a keen sense of wanting to improve. This can also foster feelings of belonging and facilitate being part of a group, as well as emphasizes the effort of trying to create a task-involving, psychologically beneficial climate. Atkins, Johnson, Force, and Petrie (2013) in a study looking at persistence in young student athletes define motivational climate as the
6 supportive behavior from an individual’s support system. This becomes the key for understanding one’s psychological outcomes and intentions to remain in sport.
Supportive, or motivational, behaviors consist of self-esteem, sport competence, enjoyment, and the individual’s intention to continue with sports participation. With the involvement, warmth, and supportive efforts from parents and peers, Atkins et al. concluded that although enjoyment from the individual is significant to their continuation with sports participation, but parents were the primary influence in determining their individual’s positive psychological experiences in sport.
In collegiate athletics, female gymnasts undergo rather rigorous conditioning regiments to be in the best shape possible for competitive season. Since the late eighteenth century, the stunning sport of Gymnastics has been well-known for its high- flying acrobatics, flexibility and grace, and continues to test one’s mental toughness and strength, while executing high-level physical skills. In the world of woman’s artistic gymnastics, there are four apparatuses each young gymnast must train and master to achieve greatness: the vault, the uneven bars, balance beam, and the floor exercise. Not only must female gymnasts balance good grades in the classroom and good work ethic in the gym, but they need to take responsibility in their food choices to gain the power, strength, and energy to perform high level skills consistently. Without that balance, the body could suffer from malnutrition or even becoming too heavy to take on certain acrobatic skills.
According to de Bruin, Woertman, Bakker, and Oudejans (2009), state “previous research has shown that exercising to lose weight is a common place, and that weight loss is one of the main reasons cited by women, but not by men for engaging in physical
7 activity” (p. 628). For women gymnastics, only a leotard is worn during practices or competitions. Becoming body conscious and comparing oneself to another is bound to occur. This can lead to more negative comparisons than positives. Not to mention, continually being judged by one’s performance also leads to becoming body conscious and comparing one’s body with others.
In the United States, today’s collegiate athletes will compete for many different reasons in physical activities and sports. These reasons can go beyond that of extracurricular amusement, simply staying healthy, or for the love of the game. Some collegiate athletes will want stardom, while others simply wish to obtain a college scholarship. Some may even battle for an opportunity to play on a professional sports team in hopes to secure endorsement deals with an impressive salary. In a study of college athletes, it was found that to achieve such determined goals, some athletes must develop a “win-at-all-costs” mentality to gain an advantage over their rivals (Muller,
Gorrow, & Schneider, 2009, p. 513).
A motivating factor to reach such goals would be to alter one’s body composition to enhance their performance as well as their physical appearance. In fact, physical appearance can have influences on one’s own body image, how one perceives themselves, their belief on body size, and how one describes, thinks, feels, and behaves towards one’s body as athletes strive to meet public expectations and establish ideals for their sport. Based on their investigations of body image in female collegiate athletes, according to Crissey and Honea (2006):
one important threat to the physical and mental health of girls and women in the
United States today is a cultural obsession with weight and slimness. Since the
8 beginning of the twentieth century, the dominant White, heterosexual, middle-
and upper-class ideal of stereotypically feminine beauty has increasingly
emphasized thinness. Current representations of female beauty in the popular
media depict a body size and shape unattainable for the vast majority of women.
(p. 249)
As a result, this narrow beauty ideal has negative body image among girls and women who do not conform to it, and health problems associated with dangerous weight control measure, including eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Social media has a wonderful way of glamourizing today’s beauty trends, which female athletes are viewing daily.
Recent trends have suggested that those who fall within the recommended ranges of weight and body fat consider themselves as being overweight. However, when it comes to the bodies of gymnasts, not every competitor will have the same body type, nor will they fall within those typical ranges of weight and body fat. Gymnastics requires a considerable amount of muscular tone participates need to execute certain sequence of skills and complete routines efficiently. Muller et al. (2006) states that “sports can encourage girls and young women to be strong and self-reliant, and to focus on what the body can do, not simply its appearance” (p. 249).
However, other researchers have argued that playing sports can have the opposite effect, since fitness has increasingly become intertwined with ideals of beauty.
Furthermore, girls who participate in sports may exaggerate this dominant model of femininity through bodily practices like losing weight to attain the ideal of thinness and counteract the masculinizing effect that sports are perceived to have.
9 Fortunately, collegiate female gymnasts have the support from coaches, trainers, and their fellow teammates to assist them in their time of need or uncertainty.
Researchers examining social support in college athletes have found that motivation, commitment, and overcoming adversity during the transition are just a few elements linked to social support (Morgan & Giacobbi, Jr., 2006). According to a study looking at college athletes and stress, Kimball and Freysinger (2003) found participation in physical activities and sports have positive consequences on mental health for people of all ages.
Participation in sports regulates or buffers stress, gives individuals a sense of competence, gives a sense of purpose, and provides pure enjoyment. When it comes to collegiate sports, however, Kimball and Freysinger concluded that participation is a matter of choice, an experience, or a form of serious leisure. Despite the demands of collegiate sports, such opportunities provide participants, or athletes, a “small world” of social identification, chances to learn and develop new skills, escape from monotonous and routine work, recognition for commitment and excellence, and expression of achievement motivation.
The same goes for collegiate student-athletes, as they pursue their degree in the classroom along with achieving goals within their sport. As many scholars of adolescent development have stated, during adolescence individuals search for themselves, their identity, and seek to know the surrounding environment. It is important for their development be emotionally secure, with supporting relationships between them and dominated by parents, peers, and teachers. A meaningful, positive social support from teachers, or professors, can influence positive attitudes towards athletes leading to good emotional atmosphere in the classroom and better understanding of academic tasks.
10 Desires to learn not only occurs in the classroom, but can transition into a student- athlete’s athletic sport as well. Many scientists point out that sports activities are characterized as a fundamental factor for the personality development. A recent study of student athletes concluded that education in sports activities affects not only individual physical skills, but also cultural values. Other effects include understanding and perception of behavior standards, which positively impacts the development of one’s communication and collaboration with peers, emotional stability, adequate self- evaluation, self-confidence, self-realization, and other positive personality characteristics
(Tilindienė, Šukys, & Kavaliauskas, 2016).
From this perspective, social media has an impact on college athletes towards their view of body image, in addition to the social support they receive from coaches and teammates. Both social media and social support from key people can have some life changing outcomes. There have been studies conducted on various sports relating to body image and social support factors; however, little is known about how social media affects female collegiate gymnasts’ views on body image and their social support systems. The aim of the present qualitative study was to examine collegiate female gymnasts through their experiences and thoughts towards their social support systems, views on body image, and views on social media platforms used today.
Research Question
Although I have my own thoughts and views on how social media has affected me during my experiences as a former student-athlete, I am interested to see how social media use has developed in women collegiate athletes today. I am specifically interested in hearing the voices of women collegiate gymnasts. This study was conducted to find
11 how the student-athletes characterize themselves in the eyes of their followers, as well as how they characterize others. I also wanted to figure out if there is any togetherness within the social media community. How does social media affect female college gymnasts today? Does social media present a more positive or negative view? Does social media bring individuals and communities together or tear them apart? After and receiving approval from the human subjects committee at the University of Toledo, receiving acceptance from their head coach at Bowling Green State University, I invited the women’s gymnastics to participate in this study. Through semi-structural interviews, six volunteers generously took the time out of their busy schedules to answer questions and share their personal experiences for this study.
Limitations
Despite the limitations of this study, which included the sample size and population, the data does reveal that social media has made tremendous impacts on the lives of collegiate gymnasts, such as bringing awareness and togetherness or comparing oneself to others. Perhaps using all 20+ girls on BGSU’s gymnastics team could have brought more depth to the study. Not asking how much time each participant spent on their social media platforms would have also brought along interesting results. Lastly, the population was only that of the Bowling Green University gymnastics team. Using the other six gymnastics teams within the Mid-American Conference (Central Michigan,
Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State, Kent State, and Northern Illinois) could have given more support when concluding the results for this study. Focusing on just the impacts social media has on everyone could have possibly presented more in depth and
12 important topics to be discussed. Unfortunately, with social media rapidly changing and emerging, not much research has been conducted to date.
13 Chapter 2
Literature Review
There have been numerous studies conducted on the impacts sports have on both children and adults. There are even a few studies which look at the impacts the internet, or social media, has on individuals or other sports teams. However, there are little to no studies which focus on the impacts social media platforms can have on collegiate gymnasts, which is what this qualitative study addresses. During the interviews, the participants were asked to tell the researcher some facts about themselves, their experiences with the sport of gymnastics, their views of social media, and lastly, their thoughts about how social media projects body image and connections with others. This allowed the participants to express their feelings and thoughts on how social media has either impacted their lives in a beneficial or harmful way.
Body Image
Exercising for health, fitness, or enjoyment, has been associated with a decrease in overall eating disorders and improved body satisfaction. However, body-related exercising for weight loss, body tone, or attractiveness has been shown to be related to disturbed eating habits, body dissatisfaction, and lower self-esteem (de Bruin et al.,
2009).
These authors conducted a study of 140 Dutch females involved in dance, field hockey, volleyball, tennis, non-sport fitness activities, and jogging. The participants ranged between the ages of 13 to 18 years old and attended two schools of secondary education. This study was conducted to determine whether weight-related exercise motivates disturbed eating habit and body image views. Each participant was asked about
14 their sports participation and completed items from the Multidimensional Body Image
Questionnaire and Bulimia Test Revisited (BULIT-R), the Contour Drawing Rating
Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Characterizing the girls into two different groups, sports-participants with or without weight-related motives or as non-sports- participants, the researchers concluded that weight-related sport participation had a significant association with body dissatisfaction, more weight control, and lower self- esteem. In the end, de Bruin et al concluded that it is also important to consider the motives for sports participation when studying the relationships between sport and well- being, as well as emphasize a sense of enjoyment through sports experience which builds self-esteem and increases positive body image.
Although the authors did not involve any gymnasts within their study, gymnastics falls within the characteristic of a weight-related sport participation. In the sport of gymnastics, there are different body types gymnasts develop to perform different sequences of skills. Most gymnast who are muscular are known as the power gymnast.
Due to their strong stature they are known to perform better on the Vault and Floor
Exercise events, which requires explosive power, quick twitch, and strength. A great example of a power gymnast would be the 2016 Gold Medalist and Three Time World
Champion, Simone Biles, who was known for her amazing strength and difficult skill level on both the Vault and Floor Exercise.
However, a more thin or petite gymnast is known as the elegant gymnast. With their lean muscle tone, they can perform more graceful and flexible movements which is best for the Uneven Bars and Balance Beam events. 2008 Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin is the best example of such a gymnast for her long lines and abundance of grace and
15 flexibility in her routines. However, to maintain their unique frames and bodies, gymnastics must constantly train and push themselves to improve their bodies every day.
If not careful, such measures can lead to damaging changes like that of body dissatisfaction and developing low self-esteem if results do not reach their expectations.
According to Lunde and Gattario (2017), “body image is usually defined as an individual’s attitude towards and self-perception of their bodies and is considered a multidimensional construct” (p. 81). This definition lead Lunde and Gattario to conduct a qualitative study which aimed to examine different experiences and thoughts of young female sport participants in equestrianism, soccer, and swimming in terms of their sports, their bodies, and social appearance norms. Within six focus groups of 25 female sport participants in Sweden, there were many positive experiences in relation to sports participation among the participants as well as witnessed conflicts.
Those conflicts consisted of the intersections between the culture within their sport, emphasizing physical performance, and the culture outside of their sport, which emphasized the physical appearances. Through Lunde and Gattario’s thematic analysis, four themes were illustrated and formed as the balancing acts between those two cultures:
“(a) the performing body versus the objectified body, (b) food as fuel versus sources of shame, (c) appreciation of body type diversity versus appearance prejudice, and, (d) empowerment and agency versus disempowerment and restraint” (p. 81). They concluded that young women who engage in sports must be able to face complex, ambiguous, and restricting norms and notions.
Understanding the definition of body image is important for a student-athlete, especially that of a collegiate gymnast. Not only does the physical performance in the
16 gym or during competitions lead to positive or negative results on their physical appearance, but having a positive or negative physical appearance or image about themselves can lead to improvements or disappointments in their physical performances.
Female collegiate gymnasts should recognize and find balance between the two cultures despite their location; the ability to face the complex, ambiguous, and restricting norms and notions of their sport.
Muller and colleagues designed a study to determine if there were any differences between 210 males and 241 female collegiate athletes’ supplement usage and behaviors that modify body appearance. The participants, ranging between the ages of 17 to 28, executed an informed consent agreement before completing a questionnaire that dealt with the average number of times each week they performed specific supplementing, exercise, and/or dietary behaviors. What the authors found were the differences associated with gender for 9 out of the eighteen behaviors. Two of nine were dietary, only one was supplementary, three were physique concerns, and lastly, three involved personal motivation for weight-lifting. In conclusion, the male athletes reported with a much higher drive for size, speed, and power. Females, on the other hand, were more concerned with body fat, were most likely to restrict calorie intake, and more prone to consume weight loss supplements. However, there were no differences found by gender regarding supplement use to increase body size (Muller, Gorrow, & Schneider, 2009).
Even though these researchers studied supplement usage between male and female athletes, their results towards females having more concerns with their body fat, restricted calorie intake, and prone to weight loss supplements can be an accurate conclusion when it comes to that of a collegiate female gymnast. Female gymnasts are
17 known to be at their physical peak by the age of sixteen, while male gymnast peak in their early twenties. Since collegiate gymnasts are years passed their peak age, maintaining a healthy, stable physical body can be strenuous and in some cases mentally challenging.
Social Support
One major adversity that occurs often within the world of sports is injuries, but how an athlete copes with such adversity depends on his or her social support systems.
According to Yang, Peek-Asa, Lowe, Heiden, and Foster (2010), in a study of sports injuries in college athletes, “an athletic injury frequently has profound negative consequences on the physical health of a college athlete and can also cause a great deal of psychological distress, evoking anger, depression, anxiety, tension, fear, and lower self- esteem” (p. 372). Disturbances of one’s mood can become apparent due to functional loss or the inability to participate with the team causing rather devastating and difficulty coping with the injury both cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. Yang and colleagues found that during the recovery and rehabilitation process, positive social support could serve as a protective cover for the individual to utilize to reduce distress and improve one’s motivation to become stronger mentally, emotionally, and eventually physically again.
According to Yang et al. (2010) “social support has been identified as a rather important factor in facilitating recovery from injury. However, no previous authors or studies have been able to assess the changes in social support patterns before and after injury as occurred” (p. 372). By examining the pre- and post-injury social support patterns in Big Ten conference collegiate athletes, both male and female, Yang and
18 colleagues conducted a prospective observational study in which 256 collegiate athletes identified and reported their experiences, history of injury, sources of and satisfaction with social support systems. The participants all ranged between the ages of 18 or older branching from 13 different sports. The aim of this study was to (1) examine the sex differences in social support patterns in sources of social support and the satisfaction received and (2) assessing the changes in social support patterns before and after an injury occurred with the participant.
Yang et al. (2010) defined social support as the athlete’s appraisal of the support that may be available from social networking and how satisfied they were with said support. Injury is defined as any reportable injury which required medical attention and restricted the athlete from fully participating in their sport for longer than one day. Using the Sports Injury Monitoring System to identify injury incidences and the 6-item Social
Support Questionnaire to measure social support, data on pre- and post-injury social support patterns were compared, drawing the authors to conclude that male athletes reported more sources of social support than female athletes. However, female athletes had much greater satisfaction with the support they received. After an athlete became injured their social support patterns changed, having to rely on athletic trainers, coaches, and their physicians for support, whereas once they recovered from injury their social support was more received from friends, coaches, athletic trainers, and physicians.
Injuries are going to happen in sports. However, during competition season, collegiate student-athletes cannot have injuries holding them back from the action.
Collegiate gymnastics season begins in early January and can carry on until the middle of
April where teams compete every weekend. The constant pounding and hard lands can
19 take a toll on one’s body and can lead to persistent aches and pains, and even serious injuries that can threaten a student-athlete’s career to be tarnished in a matter of minutes.
With encouraging words, proper guidance, and hope from support systems like teammates, coaches, family, and athletic trainers, a collegiate gymnast can make a promising return and thrive due to the positive reinforcements.
Social Media
One of the most fascinating things about technology is the impact it has on various aspects of our lives. However, it does not have to play the dominant role in a human interaction to have a significant impact. A recent study has found that it is likely that the average person thinks about and interacts with technology many times throughout the course of a day, and engages in brief discussions that are at least indirectly related to technology a few times a week (Surry & Baker, 2016).
In fact, technology provides new outlets that amplify to express personal characteristics, being either positive or negative. These same authors suggest that social technology can also become addictive to us so that we cling to it at all costs, changing behaviors that are considered normal within a given situation to something completely different and out of character. It is evident that technology can have profound effects on the way we interact with one another as well as our surroundings, introducing us into a social system with the stated intention of making life easier for people. With technology constantly changing and evolving, it has intertwined itself within the lives of many and will not likely be separating anytime soon. Based on recent studies of social media use,
Surry and Baker (2016) have concluded:
20 We are dependent on technology for virtually every aspect of daily life and that
dependence will likely increase over time. Just as human existence is dependent
on technology, so is technology’s existence dependent on humans for its
continued development, maintenance, expansion, and refinement. (p. 16)
The authors conclude that there is, no doubt, a codependent relationship between that of technology and humans around the world. Technology may not have the ability to project emotions, but humanity has passionately turned to technology and social media platforms in hopes of possibly enhancing human capabilities and potential.
However, for student-athletes, the role social media plays within their lives can be conflicting compared to others. Although they wish to post college life such as partying, they have to be mindful and follow certain guidelines that inhibits them from potentially losing control. According to Hernandez (2013), who focuses on the power NCAA regulations have over student-athlete use of social media, there have been embarrassing issues involving social media misuses by student-athletes, ranging from posting inappropriate content, committing a crime, reaching out to a future recruit, and/or accepting gifts from another college team or professional agency. Such behaviors have caused the NCAA to monitor and even limit social media use by student-athletes, possibly by banning it altogether since the misuse of social media can not only be detrimental to the student-athlete, but to also their teammates, fans, peers, professors, sponsors, and the college in its entirety.
The NCAA is a non-profit organization which regulates over 1,000 institutions and conferences providing opportunities for college students to not only receive an education, but to continue to grow and possibly pursue farther goals through their sport of
21 choice. As long as the student-athlete agrees to abide by the rules, receives passing grades in classes, and stays out of trouble, their experience will flourish. However, the rise of social media has unfortunately resulted in disturbance within a student-athlete’s career.
Hernandez concluded that although the NCAA has a wide discretion to limit social media usage, they are doing what they can to address certain issues and take affirmative steps to engage the problem before it occurs.
Social media has not only created unique challenges within the collegiate athletic departments, but has become a convenient resource. The NCAA sets rules and regulations for student-athletes and disciplines student-athletes as well as their affiliated academic institutions (Sanderson & Browning, 2013). Fortunately for student-athletes, social media is still available for use if they keep personal profiles private, be mindful of their posts, and following NCAA rules.
According to Sanderson and Browning, social media technologies act as visible players in the sports world working together to provide resources for eligible student- athletes. Within their qualitative research, the authors examined the messages student- athletes received from the officials working in the athletics department and coaches about the social media platform called Twitter. Conducting semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 20 student-athletes who were asked, “How closely do you believe your
Twitter account is monitored by university athletic staff?” and “Are there university or
NCAA rules you must follow when using Twitter? If so, how were they explained to you?”
With ten football players, five men’s basketball players, three women’s basketball players, and two baseball players, participants reported how long they have used Twitter,
22 how many followers they each have, and how often they check or log in to their Twitter accounts throughout the day. Student-athletes also indicated whether officials in the athletic department or members of the coaching staff checked their social media accounts through: (a) non-training purposes, (b) for close surveillance/monitoring, and lastly (c) reactive training. Sanderson and Browning’s findings concluded that there needs to be a clearer explanation or education about social media use involved for student-athletes.
While sports have the potential to positively impact young women, it is necessary to recognize both positive experience and positive development throughout one’s journey is unfortunately not guaranteed. According to a study by Ferguson, Kowalski, Mack, and
Sabiston (2015), young women involved in athletics can encounter physical, mental, and emotional challenges. This includes appearance- and performance-based evaluations made by the self as well as by others. This is where the role of expressing self- compassion, as well as receiving compassion from others, can improve and become a useful tool in a young women’s life within sports.
Ferguson et al concluded that overall social media use can be a positive force for student athletes. They state that self-compassion is defined as “an emotionally positive self-attitude that represents a healthy relationship towards oneself” (p. 1264) and go on to say that practicing such emotion gives rise to behaviors aimed at “promoting or maintaining well-being, and self-compassionate individuals have been found to have much greater life satisfactions, happiness, optimism, and positive affects (p. 1264-1265).
Through training and educating student-athletes the proper way to carry themselves through social media, this could potentially minimize the inappropriate posts that could not only damage the reputation of the student-athlete, but the reputation of the
23 university they are attending. Social media can project a false reality and even get people in trouble with the content they share with others.
24 Chapter 3
Methodology
The aim of the present qualitative study was to examine how social media impacts the lives of six collegiate female gymnasts. To meet this aim, I addressed the following three research questions: How does social media affect female college gymnasts today?
Does social media present a more positive or negative view? Does social media bring individuals and communities together or tear them apart? To answer these research questions, I chose to conduct interviews with six collegiate level gymnasts. I wanted to utilize the six participants’ experiences and thoughts towards social media and how it impacts that of their social support systems, views on body image, and views on social media platforms used today.
Interviews were appropriate because it provided the opportunity to capture similar themes as well as gave today’s collegiate gymnasts a voice in sharing their thoughts and feelings. I reached out to the Bowling Green State University gymnastics team to find whether social media impacts the way they view their bodies and their social support groups. Through my experiences as a student-athlete, social media was simple and used for personal enjoyment. Today, social media has grown to great heights promoting luxurious lifestyles, trend setting, promoting business, and gaining a large following for popularity by freely sharing many parts of one’s life.
Although there has been little to no studies which focus on the impacts social media platforms can have on collegiate gymnasts, this study conducted semi-structural interviews with participants who were asked to provide some facts about themselves, their experiences with the sport of gymnastics, their views of social media, and lastly,
25 their thoughts about how social media projects body image and connections with others.
This interview method allowed the participate to express their feelings and thoughts on how social media has either impacted their lives in a beneficial or harmful way.
All questions from the researcher and answers from participants were recorded from the researcher’s smartphone. Participants were asked to speak with enough volume so answers could be heard properly by the researcher. Videotaping was used during each interview to not only record the participants answers, but to collect any non-verbal cues and facial expressions from participants such as fidgeting, rubbing of hands, legs, or arms, uncertainty, frowning, smiling, shaking, etc. These non-verbal cues allowed the researcher to prompt for more follow up questions or move along with the interview if participant grew uncomfortable with a certain question. Repetitive words and fillers such as: umm, like, you know, and uhh were eliminated from the transcripts. Notes were also recorded by the researcher during the interviews just in case video recording stopped or malfunctioned throughout the study.
According to Creswell (2014), “backyard” research involves the researcher studying within their own organization, amongst friends, and even immediate work settings, which can often lead to compromises in the researcher’s ability to disclose information and raise issues of an imbalance of power between everyone who is involved. When a researcher uses this style of research, it brings information that may be convenient and easy to collect. Although “backyard” research allows a connection to be formed between the researcher and participants, information obtained may risk jeopardizing the roles of both parties. It is the researcher’s responsibility to identify
26 human rights and gain permission from any gatekeepers and the institutional review board (IRB) before conducting their research (p. 237).
Procedures & Ethics
The researcher first contacted the head coach of the Bowling Green State
University’s (BGSU) gymnastics team via email asking for permission to meet with the team to collect data for the present study. Once a time and date was set and written permission from the BGSU’s gymnastics Head Coach, the gymnastics teams, consisting of 24 young women, were notified of the study through a team meeting conducted by the researcher. Both Head Coach and Two Assistant Coaches were present during the meeting with the entire gymnastics team. The meeting took place before the team’s scheduled practice and lasted for 20 minutes in the Anderson Arena where the researcher provided a brief description of the study to the hopeful participants.
The researcher provided their contact information to everyone present if any further questions, comments, or concerns were needed to be addressed on a later date or privately. Prior to collecting data, verbal and/or written consent from participants were obtained. Before conducting individual interviews, participants must have fully read, understood, and signed the written consent form, approved in advance by the University of Toledo’s Human Subjects Committee, informing participation and video recording in the study is voluntary.
Participants
The sample for this study consisted of six collegiate female gymnasts, ranging from ages 18-23 years old. All participants attended Bowling Green State University as full-time students, as well as participating in collegiate organized sports. This sample size
27 was chosen simply out of convenience due to proximity of the university from the researcher and unchallenging access to the team members. The researched requested that four participants come from each class (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior) to volunteer for individual interviews. The last two remaining participants were chosen on a first come, first served basis. Participants must have access and ownership of their own social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc..) and competed in higher level gymnastics for more than five years. Each participate had the ability to give a verbal and written consent before being interviewed by the researcher. The researcher only had a causal relationship with all the participants.
Interviews
Interviews were conducted individually with each participate in a secluded, well- lit area. Each interview was recorded to collect answers from participants, capture nonverbal cues and body language, as well as facial expressions. Once all interviews were recorded, the researcher decoded the interviews into a word document where answers that expressed social support views were highlighted in yellow, body image views were highlighted in red, and thoughts about social media/technology were highlighted in blue. This process allowed the researcher to group all three topics as positive views, negative views, or neutral.
The participants were not required to answer any questions they were not comfortable with answering and could end the interview at any time. Interviews lasted for
15-30 minutes long for each participant taking place in a well-lit room at Anderson Arena at the Bowling Green State University. Each participant was asked about themselves, their gymnastics experience, their views of social media, their thoughts about how social
28 media views body image, and their thoughts on how social media connects people to each other. Probing questions will also be asked to collect more possible data throughout the interview. All gymnasts reported individual characteristics such as their current year in college, where they are originally from, some information about themselves, and lastly about their experiences with gymnastics so far in their career.
Body Image. This is a well-known sensitive subject for gymnasts, however they continued to share their feelings and thoughts. With the consistency of being judged in every move they execute in their sport, gymnasts are very much prone to developing eating disorders, low self-esteem, and exhibit high levels of anxiety. This section explores how social media affects the way collegiate gymnasts view their own bodies as well as the bodies of others they see upon social media platforms.
Social Support. Each participate could share their thoughts and experiences on how social media has kept their connection with others. The advantages of social media are that it brings people from all over the world together. In the gymnastics world, gymnasts have taken advantage of using social media to check out their competition or keep in close contact with former teammates who have joined different teams. This section is touch on how social media has either brought the participants together or perhaps risked tearing them apart from reality.
Social Media. Assessments of the individual’s feelings and thoughts on how social media platforms have made an impact on their daily lives. In this section, participates were free to share anything they felt or thought during their 15-30-minute interviews pointing out the good and the bad social media had to offer within their lives
29 as a collegiate student-athlete. This allowed the researcher to interpret if social media has either helped the participant benefit from usage or cause harm to their psyche.
30 Chapter 4
Data Analysis and Results
The positive, negative, and neutral thoughts and views are presented in Table 1.
The social media platforms that were the focus during this study were Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Participants who reported more positive views towards their social supports systems shared how supportive, encouraging, and involved their family members, teammates, coaches, and other faculties were during their transition.
Participants who expressed being comfortable in their own bodies despite the views social media tries to project on body image, were placed as having more positive views towards body images. Participants who presented more benefits social media and technology offers to the community were also placed within the positive views. Positive participants experienced confidence in their answers, smiled occasionally, speak with even volume in their voice, held eye contact with the researcher, and sat upright and firm.
Participants who reported more negative views towards their social support systems indicated how they were constantly compared to others and felt discouraged.
Negative views on body image from participants can be characterized as not liking or accepting the way they look, changing their appearance to look like someone else, as well as being compared to other body types. Participants who viewed social media and technology as a negative share how it is used to only gain followers and attention for all the wrong reasons, used to become someone else other than oneself, and to do harm against others. Negative participants experienced nervousness or uncertainty in their answers, showed levels of discomfort by fidgeting, clasping hands, or shaking their legs,
31 avoided eye contact with the researcher, showed signs of blushing, and simply voicing their negative views.
Participants who reported more neutral views towards social support, body image, and social media and technology showed indifference in their responses. They expressed how it all depends on the individual and neither theme affected them in any way.
Participants experienced a casual, cool behavior, did not seem affected by the questions, kept eye contact with the researcher, and expressed both the good and bad impacts each theme could have on an individual rather than focusing on one specific side.
Descriptions of each participant have been provided as well as their answers based off the questions presented from the researcher. Answers are broken into three categories: Social Support, Body Image, and Social Media/Technology.
Participant Profiles
Person A. Began her freshman year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She is originally from Connecticut, but recently moved to Providence, Rhode
Island with her family over the summer. Although her parents a divorced, she stated how she grew up in a “pretty normal” household. She started gymnastics at the young age of five and always had a lifelong goal of competing on a collegiate gymnastics team.
Throughout her journey as a gymnast, she reveals that the body-pounding sport has trained her to manage her time and has made her into thee driven, ambitious individual she is today. However, it has also caused some rather negative effects on her self- confidence and self-esteem.
Person B. Began her junior year at Bowling Green State University in August of
2017. She is from Naperville, Illinois and comes from a very athletic, active family. Her
32 father was a former collegiate hockey player, while her mother did swimming & diving.
Both have even participated in numerous Triathlons in the past and now currently work as Physical Education teachers. Person B started gymnastics at just three years old, all because she would not stop begging her parents to sign her up for classes after attending a gymnastics themed birthday party. Although she told herself she did not want gymnastics to be her life, she eventually was encouraged by her friends, family, and coaches to give competitive gymnastics a try and she immediately fell in love. She admitted that she suffered from mental blocks due to lack of confidence in herself from time to time, but as much as she kicked and screamed to quit or miss a practice to take a mental break, her parents would not let her take the easy way out. She shared how she eventually switched gymnastics academies t start fresh and started going to see a sports psychologist, who helped her map out her goals and face her fears. Now a collegiate student-athlete, Person
B continues to use positive talk and planning through her career.
Person C. Began her freshman year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. Person C is from Highpoint, North Carolina where she grew up with a close-knit family. What started out as fun participating in Mommy & Me classes turned into competitive gymnastics at just the age of six. For four years, Person C competed as a level 10 gymnast, which is considered one of the highest levels achieved in the sport. To remain successful at such an intense level of gymnastics, the individual must not only harness physical strength to execute difficult acrobatics, but should master a high level of mental strength and toughness. Unfortunately for Willow, her gymnastics experience did not start off accordingly. She was forced to move to another gymnastics training center due to verbal and sometimes emotional abuse.
33 Person D. Began her junior year at Bowling Green State University in August of
2017. Person D is a graphic design major from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and she is the middle child of three siblings. She started gymnastics when she was very young and has utilized important life skills gymnastics offered, such as leadership and time management skills, a good work ethic, and the ability to improve any social issues she may be going through during a given time. She made the final decision to come to Bowling Green State because she valued the togetherness and welcoming atmosphere from both the team and the school.
Person E. Began her senior year at Bowling Green State University in August of
2017. Person E hails from London, England where she grew up with her parents and two younger brothers. While in England, she competed for the elite international gymnastics team of Great Britain earning many praise and honors for her hard work and dedication to the sport. She decided to continue her love for gymnastics in the states when the BGSU’s
Head Coach noticed her natural talent at a competition. After witnessing a former teammate move to the states and compete for UCLA’s gymnastics team, she made up her mind that she wanted to experience the life as a collegiate gymnast, as well as studying in the states. Although she is miles away from home, she has fallen in love with the family atmosphere her teammates and coaches at BGSU offers.
Person F. Began her sophomore year at Bowling Green State University in
August of 2017. Person F originates from Washington Township, New Jersey which is just a short distance from New York City. She is the oldest of three sisters and grew up in a tight knit, supportive family. Her coaches from club were close friends with the coaches at BGSU, so she has always had her eye on the prize to compete for them one day.
34 Although her mother, who was also a gymnast, was reluctant to allow her to become a competitive gymnast, she was very persistent to pursue her dreams and thanks to the help from her father encouraging words, she could begin her exciting journey. Although she did not begin the sport until she was nine years old, which is later than most gymnast, it was love at first sight. She was thankful to have great coaches as well as a wonderful team aspect within her gym growing up. Despite her many injuries, she continues to persevere and has earn her spot on the BGSU gymnastics team today through hard work and maintaining a strong mental focus.
Results
There were many similarities found within the answers given from each participant. Table 1 presents that majority of the participants displayed a positive point of view based off their answers, body language, and non-verbal cues throughout each individual interview. Four out of six participants displayed positively towards their social support systems. Encouragement and support from family, friends, and teammates are the influential factors which drives these individuals to succeed throughout their gymnastics journey.
Yang et al. (2010) conducted a study that spoke on the importance of having a strong social support system while a student-athlete goes through an injury. However, regardless of a student-athlete’s situation, the findings support that positive social support could serve as a protective cover for the individual to utilize and reduce distress. This can also improve one’s motivation to become stronger mentally, emotionally, and physically
(Yang et al., 2010, p. 372).
35 Most of the girls on BGSU’s gymnastics team have traveled from different parts of the world to become part of one community who are all interested in the same goal.
Person B gives credit to her former teammates, coaches, parents, and meetings with her sports psychologist for making her journey with competitive and collegiate gymnastics easier to navigate. Working together as a team is the main objective and with everyone, the parents, coaches, and gymnasts, all on the same page, this allows the environment to radiant the energy the girls need to despite the distractions they are faced with every day in a college setting.
Social media does a fine job linking to social support systems by the way it connects different people and groups together who may be living in varieties of places around the world. Each participant presented a great need to thrive to meet the expectations of their loved ones and most importantly, their coaches. With the help of fellow college teammates, athletic trainers, and other staff members, this allows the transition into college life and sports to flow more smoothly for the individual. Having a great support system from family members back in their home state is also expressed within each participant, which gives them the extra drive and motivation needed to not only become success and grow within the sport themselves, but show appreciation to those supporting them on their gymnastics journey.
However, social media can be either good or bad when projecting body image.
Someone who has a positive view of their body may post about embracing the skin they are in and loving one’s self no matter how they look, while the negative viewpoint will try changing their appearance to look like someone else they admire not knowing the full consequence of their actions. The neutral view stands if the individual expressed
36 indifferences. This mindset can lead to dramatic changes of one’s lifestyle and behaviors such as changing their daily lifestyle, their diet, and doing anything possible to become someone or something else that they are not. In gymnastics, most of that change comes from one’s body.
The perfect gymnast could be described as having great muscle tone, profound flexibility, explosive power, and elegance all combined into one. However, there is no such thing as a perfect gymnast, which means every girl has their own special ability.
One gymnast may dominate the floor exercise with her impeccable, high-flying tumbling skills, while another gymnast may show amazing upper-body strength and flexibility on the uneven bars. Unfortunately, the act of being compared to other teammates from coaches can cause a variety of effects on one’s view with their own body.
Such distractions can be that of social media, where a single post can be interpreted in either a beneficial way or potentially damaging way. However, four out of the six participants have claimed to use social media in a more beneficial manner by using it to connect with their followers and fans, make new friends, start movements or spread awareness, networking purposes by bringing different groups together, entertainment, promotion for their competitions, a learning tool by watching other gymnastics skills, a fast way to communicate with others, and lastly to stay informed.
Those whose views were more negative displayed more behaviors of comparing themselves to others in their social support systems, especially when linked to social media. This supports the study conducted by Surry and Baker (2016) who agree that there is now a codependent relationship between that of technology and the humans who have welcomed it into their daily lives. Although social media/technology was intended to
37 make life easier for people, it tends to cause a change in one’s behavior about themselves, mentally, emotionally, and physically, but also the way they interact with others, such as giving off the wrong impressions, trying to become someone else, and only posting certain things for approval or attention. This proves that the dependence people have on technology has indeed increased and merged its way into enhancing, and even damaging, a person’s capabilities and potential (p. 13-26).
Although each participate shared similar views towards the different topics, all voiced how grateful they were once they were brought into the supportive, family atmosphere the BGSU gymnastics program had to offer to them, as well as how it has motivated them to continue with their gymnastics journey. Each gymnast came from different parts of the world, such as England, New Jersey, and Illinois, where they have each trained under completely different rules before entering the collegiate life. Such change can lead to individuals experience a culture shock that will require some to change their daily habits to keep up with the new environment or change of pace, to reach new and more challenging expectations, and figuring out their busy schedules on top of the newfound freedom and even peer pressures college life brings to the table. In the end, it all depends on the individual and their experiences throughout their journey with sports and college life.
According to Crissey and Honea (2006), who examined the relationship between sports participation and perceptions of body size and weight-loss among adolescent girls, states that sports should be used to encourage women to be strong, self-reliant, and focused on what the body can do rather than focusing on just its appearance.
38 Table 1. Positive, Negative, and Neutral Results from Participants. Social Support Body Image Social Media/
Technology
Person A ☹ ☹ ☹
Person B ☻ ☹ ▬
Person C ▬ ☹ ☻
Person D ☻ ☻ ☻
Person E ☻ ☻ ☻
Person F ☻ ☻ ☻
Note: ☹ represents negative results; ☻ represents positive results; ▬ represents neutral results. Each result is based off individuals’ responses, non-verbal cues, and facial expressions recorded by the researcher.
39 Chapter 5
Discussion
This study gives some insight of how collegiate female gymnasts respond to social media and how it has impacted their lives in various ways. Especially during a period where technology and social media have consumed most of the world today.
According to Sanderson and Gramlich (2016), social media platforms, such as Twitter, have made a way where not only can fans to go online to discuss sports and important topics deem relevant to their cultural group, but has gained more media attention for women’s sports (p. 144). As a matter of fact, it is historically stated that “women’s participation in sport has been actively resisted and women’s sport consistently gets left behind in media coverage when compared with men’s sport (Sanderson & Gramlich,
2016, p. 114).
However, social media has grown into something more than simply sharing photos and videos, but can used to promote businesses, to raise awareness towards a specific cause, spread encouragement to others, and simply stay in touch with others and what is happening around the world around them. Social media has become one extensive community where people of all ages and from different parts of the world can come together as one.
The gymnastics community was brought together in January of 2018 during the allegations of former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor, Larry
Nassar, who was convicted and pleaded guilty of child molestation of over 150 young gymnasts during his care. The silence was broken when one former gymnast decided to come forward with the truth, thus causing the “Me Too” movement. This movement
40 allowed others who were sexual abused by this disgraced doctor to also build just enough strength to come forward to bring Nassar’s reign of terror to an abrupt halt. One way his victims came out about their abuser was through that of social media. Even Olympians
Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, and Makayla Maroney posted on their Twitter and Instagram accounts about their horrific encounters and feelings towards the doctor who abused them for far too long.
Although this “Me Too” movement has brought along pain and suffering for the gymnastics program, it has done a fantastic job bringing the gymnastics community together and raising awareness to sexual abuse. There is strength in numbers and social media has made it possible for women and young girls to band together to fight for justice. Larry Nassar is now serving up to 175 years in prison for his heinous crimes thanks to one brave soul who was strong enough to press the submit post button.
Conclusion
If given another chance to discover impacts social media has on individuals, it would be interesting to focus more on the impacts social media has on only college gymnasts, but other college sports such as football, swimming & diving, wrestling, and baseball. Perhaps figure out if there is any differences or similarities between the thoughts and feelings of both males and females, which could possibly raise more awareness of accepting and love one’s self despite their physical appearance no matter one’s sex.
When it comes to social media, I can only speculate that it is going to continue to grow and bring more communities together for the better within the next three to five years. No matter one’s social status, race, age group, or language they speak, social
41 media has and will continue to bring the world together keeping us all updated and aware of the good and bad that occurs all around us. However, I can only hope that social media does not consume us; taking us away from what is more important and that is interacting with one another face-to-face. We all must remain true to who we are as individuals, not how we believe we should be through social media.
42 References
Atkins, M. R., Johnson, D. M., Force, E. C., & Petrie, T. A. (2013). "Do I Still Want to
Play?" Parents' and Peers' Influences on Girls' Continuation in Sport. Journal of
Sport Behavior, 36(4), 329-345.
Creswell, J. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches. (4th ed.). Lincoln, NE: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Crissey, S. R., & Honea, J. C. (2006). The Relationship Between Athletic Participation
and Perceptions of Body Size and Weight Control in Adolescent Girls: The Role
of Sport Type. Sociology of Sport Journal, 23(3), 248-272. de Bruin, A., Woertman, L., Bakker, F., & Oudejans, R. (n.d). Weight-Related Sport
Motives and Girls' Body Image, Weight Control Behaviors, and Self-Esteem. Sex
Roles, 60(9-10), 628-641.
Ferguson, L. J., Kowalski, K. C., Mack, D. E., & Sabiston, C. M. (2015). Self-
compassion and Eudaimonic Well-being During Emotionally Difficult Times in
Sport. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(5), 1263-1280.
Glesne, C. (n.d.) Becoming Qualitative Researcher- An Introduction. Tesol Quarterly,
29(3), 595-599.
Hernandez, A. (2013). All Quiet on the Digital Front: The NCAA's Wide Discretion in
Regulating Social Media. Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law, 15(1),
53-66.
Kimball, A., & Freysinger, V. J. (2003). Leisure, Stress, and Coping: The Sport
Participation of Collegiate Student-Athletes. Leisure Sciences, 25(2/3), 115.
Liebler, R., & Chaney, K. (2014). Here We Are Now, Entertain Us: Defining the Line
43
Between Personal and Professional Context on Social Media. Pace Law Review,
35(1), 398-545.
Lunde, C., & Gattario, K. H. (2017). Performance or Appearance? Young Female Sport
Participants’ Body Negotiations. Body Image, 2, p.181-89.
Morgan, T. K., & Giacobbi, J. R. (2006). Toward Two Grounded Theories of the Talent
Development and Social Support Process of Highly Successful Collegiate
Athletes. Sport Psychologist, 20(3), 295-313.
Muller, S. M., Gorrow, T. R., & Schneider, S. R. (2009). Enhancing Appearance and
Sports Performance: Are Female Collegiate Athletes Behaving More Like Males?
Journal of American College Health, 57(5), 513-520.
Sanderson, J., & Browning, B. (2013). Training Versus Monitoring: A Qualitative
Examination of Athletic Department Practices Regarding Student-Athletes and
Twitter. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 14(1), 105-111.
Sanderson, J., & Gramlich, K. (2016). "You Go Girl!": Twitter and Conversations About
Sport Culture and Gender. Sociology of Sport Journal, 33(2), 113-123.
Sukys, S., Lisinskiene, A., & Tilindiene, I. (2015). Adolescents’ Participation in Sports
Activities and Attachment to Parents and Peers. Social Behavior & Personality:
An International Journal, 43(9), 1507-1517.
Surry, D. W., & Baker III, F. W. (2016). The Co-dependent Relationship of Technology
and Communities. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(1), 13-28.
Tilindienė, I., Šukys, S., & Kavaliauskas, S. (2016). Evaluation of Educational School
Environment and Academic Self-Evaluation of Adolescent Athletes and Non-
44 Athletes. Baltic Journal of Sport & Health Sciences, 101(3), 52-57.
Williams, B. T. (2006). Girl Power in a Digital World: Considering the Complexity of
Gender, Literacy, and Technology. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(4),
300-307.
Yang, J., Peek-Asa, C., Lowe, J. B., Heiden, E., & Foster, D. T. (2010). Social Support
Patterns of Collegiate Athletes Before and After Injury. Journal of Athletic
Training (National Athletic Trainers' Association), 45(4), 372-379.
45 Appendix A
Interview Questions
Q1.) Tell me about yourself as a collegiate gymnast; Where you are from and how did you get your place on the team today?
Q2.) Can you tell me about your experience with gymnastics?
Q3.) Can you tell me your views of social media?
Q4. Can you tell me your thoughts on how social media views/projects body image?
Q5. Can you tell me your thoughts on how social media connects people to each other?
46 Appendix B
Interview Transcripts
Social Support Body Image Social Media/Technology
PERSON A Person A began her Freshman year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She is originally from Connecticut, but recently moved to Providence, Rhode Island with her family over the summer. Although her parents a divorced, she stated how she grew up in a “pretty normal” household. She started gymnastics at the young age of five and always had a lifelong goal of competing on a collegiate gymnastics team. Throughout her journey as a gymnast, Person A reveals that the body-pounding sport has trained her to manage her time and has made her into thee driven, ambitious individual she is today. However, it has also caused some rather negative effects on her self-confidence and self-esteem.
“In this sport,” Person A explained, “You are constantly competing to be better than the next girl and striving to reach this sense of perfection that is not always obtainable. That alone can cause some damages in a young girl’s mind”.
Person A then branches out on how coaches can make a difference in a gymnast’s life, due to the fact they are one of the social supporters needed to achieve certain goals through their own actions and words.
“I would feel a bit discouraged if I felt like I was not living up to my coach’s expectations. Especially if I was not able to perform the skills they asked me to. I felt my muscular built is what restricted me and I started to hate the way my body looked because of it”.
In the sport of gymnastics, there are different body types gymnasts develop in order to perform different sequences of skills. Most gymnast that are built and muscular were known as the power gymnast. Due to their strong stature, they are known to perform better on the Vault and Floor Exercise events that need explosive power. A great example of a power gymnast would be the 2016 Gold Medalist and Three Time World Champion, Simone Biles, who was known for her amazing strength and difficult skill level on both the Vault and Floor Exercise. However, a more thin or petite gymnast is known as the elegant gymnast. With their lean muscle tone, they are capable of performing more graceful and flexible movements which is best for the Uneven Bars and Balance Beam events. 2008 Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin is the best example of such a gymnast.
“Social media has not exactly helped either,” Person A answered once asked about her thoughts of social media, “I would log onto Instagram and see someone that was thin doing the exact skill I had been training my butt off to get! That is when I started to compare myself to them and would think how happy I would be if I looked like that”.
Person A even confessed that she even spent a great deal of time trying to look like the person she followed on social media by changing her diet, working out more than usual, and basically doing anything she could to be like someone else other than herself.
“At that part in my life, I actually ended up being the least happy I have ever been,” she confessed, “I had dropped like 35 pounds in just under a month! I was not feeding myself and I felt like my brain had stopped working completely. I was so moody and not my bubbly self anymore. I always felt down, but strangely at the same time satisfied because I was reaching my goal to look just like the person on social media”.
The college freshman sighed, but perked up before continuing, “Next thing I know, the person I was trying so hard to become posted a picture with a long caption revealing that they too were not happy with themselves either!”
47
Person A quickly realized that comparing oneself to another can be one’s downfall in regard to how social media impacts her body image. It opened her eyes that changing her once muscular body type into that of a skinny body type made her gymnastics performance worse. It was unnecessary to have done what she did to herself.
With a smile on her face, Person A added, “That post made me realize that people are only going to post the best image of themselves, which can completely throw people off into believing that they are living a perfect life when it is anything but perfect”.
Not wanting to focus on the negative aspects anymore, Person A added, “I do like social media because it can be quite inspirational. I follow Aly Raisman* online and she embraces her muscular body. She stated that if it were not for the way she looks, she would not be able to do the things she does… and she is an Olympian!”
Aly Raisman is an American Gymnast who helped the United States win the team gold in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Raisman has also shared her love and acceptance for her own muscular, sharp form and explosive power which helped her capture the gold medal on the Floor Exercise in the 2012 London Olympics.
“She [Aly Raisman] allowed me to view social media in a new light,” Person A exclaims, “Now I turn to it for inspiration as I read those ‘coming out’ stories that other gymnast and followers post”.
Shifting our focus, Person A scoots to the edge of her seat with delight as she begins to discuss her thoughts on how social media connects people to one another.
“Social media is awesome because it keeps people close to others they probably would have fallen out of touch with over time. I do love the satisfaction I get being able to simply click on an old teammate’s page and see what they are up to! What school they committed to, the progress of someone who got injured, or what my family all the way in Rhode Island is having for dinner… Sky’s the limit!”
“Social media is also great for networking,” She stated clasping her hands together, “That is how I managed to secure my spot on the team here [at Bowling Green State University]”.
Her interview comes to a close as she made it a point to make sure individuals ought to not compare themselves to others and that it is okay to simply be one’s self as long as they are happy. People should be mindful of what they post online because one thing could easily be taken the wrong way.
“Being on a Division I team, there are moments when I want to share something I find funny on Twitter, but I do not want to risk getting in trouble or potentially making my school or team look bad”.
PERSON B Person B began her junior year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She is from Naperville, Illinois and comes from a very athletic, active family. Her father was a former collegiate hockey player, while her mother did swimming & diving. Both have even participated in numerous Triathlons in the past and now currently work as Physical Education teachers. Person B started gymnastics at just three years old, all because she would not stop begging her parents to sign her up for classes after attending a gymnastics themed birthday party. Although she told herself she did not want gymnastics to be her life, she eventually was encouraged by her friends, family, and coaches to give competitive gymnastics a try and she immediately fell in love. She admitted that she suffered from mental blocks due to lack of confidence in herself from time to time, but as much as she kicked and screamed to quit or miss a practice to take a mental break, her parents would not let her take the easy way out. She shared how she eventually switched gymnastics academies to start fresh and started going to see a sports psychologist, who helped her map out her goals and face her fears. Now a collegiate student-athlete, Person B continues to use positive talk and planning through her career.
48 When asked about how she views social media, Person B shrugged, “Well, when I am bored, I like using it to see what some of my friends are up to. Especially the ones I may not be close to anymore. I also like using it to get to know new people who share the same interests as me!”
Person B then touches on how getting to know someone or a group of people helps promote more attendance for their gymnastics competitions that take place in the spring.
“It is cool posting gymnastics stuff on my social media pages because not a lot of people can do it,” she laughs, “I use that to attract more potential fans for our competitions and seeing their nice comments actually motivate me to continue doing what I do”.
Person B then clasped her hands together before revealing that she does not like to post on her social media platforms that much. When asked why, she shifted in her seat, “Well, I always worry about what others are going to say or think of me if I do. I know I should not worry about something like that, but I do. People are always going to be harsher on themselves, so the moment I find something wrong with my post, I believe everyone else is going to pick it apart like me. I get so nervous whenever I post something online. I have to ask like five different people their opinions before I hit the submit button.”.
Next question had to do with social media and body image. Redness appeared on the Illinois native features, “I just feel like people who post all the time thrive for attention and I do not want to be that person! People will even stage their photos just for likes or recognition. Did you know that there are now apps where you can buy more followers? It pisses me off. It is so unnecessary”.
With a deep breath to calm her nerves, Person B continues, “I just feel like people are just wanting to show others how popular they are, yet you just bought a random person to follow you. Clearly that person must be insecure or something to go that far instead of just being themselves. They even go as far as downloading photoshop apps just to make their body look a certain way. That is where social media can be harmful on a person’s psyche”.
Person B then jokes about her nervous personality before ending her interview with a kind smile.
PERSON C Person C began her freshman year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She is from Highpoint, North Carolina where she grew up with a close-knit family. What started out as fun participating in Mommy & Me classes turned into competitive gymnastics at just the age of six. For four years, Person C competed as a level 10 gymnast, which is considered one of the highest levels achieved in the sport. To remain successful at such an intense level of gymnastics, the individual must not only harness physical strength to execute difficult acrobatics, but should master a high level of mental strength and toughness. Unfortunately for Person C, her gymnastics experience did not start off accordingly. She was forced to move to another gymnastics training center due to verbal and sometimes emotional abuse.
“Gymnastics has been quite a rollercoaster ride for me,” Person C claims rubbing her hands together nervously, “During my senior year [of high school], I was constantly compared to other teammates and told I was fat or ugly. Since coming to Bowling Green, I am beginning to find my love for the sport again. Everyone here wants to see you succeed!”
She continues to describe how Bowling Green have been very constructive and straightforward with their expectations of her and her gymnastics career, “They know how to coach me and I feel good about that”.
Person C reveals that when she first came to Bowling Green, she was not in the best physical or mental shape. Even to this day, she is doing everything she can to pick up the damaged pieces. However, the understanding, support, and family based atmosphere from her Bowling Green teammates has made the change easier to handle. She smiles as we continued with her views on social media.
49 “I follow all the gymnastics teams! I love going online to see how everyone and/or every team is progressing. Now that I am involved with collegiate gymnastics, it is cool to keep up with everyone and show my support. Especially since we are all going through the same transitions”.
She continues with saying how much social media has grown since her time in high school just a few years back. She also shared how much she noticed people post more pictures and/or videos of themselves trying to promote more followers.
Person C even believes that social media can “create the perfect gymnast” just by watching others practice or compete. It allows the viewing person to set goals to reach what someone else already has, giving them hope and guidance.
When it came to her view on social media and body image, she explains how social media can become negative if one compares themselves to others.
“I try so hard not to do that, compare myself to others. It is just so hard because sometimes I think to myself, ‘if she can do it, why can’t I?’, but then I have to remember that we are two completely different people and it is okay to be different. I am who I am and she is who she is”.
When it came to how social media connects people to one another. Person C perked up to give her answer.
“Social media is like its own community”.
Allowing gymnasts to “check on the competition” (especially those involved in their own conference), supporting one another and keeping in touch with old teammates.
“We are not with each other anymore. I have some teammates who went to do gymnastics all the way in Arizona, so social media makes it feel like we still are together”.
Person C even shares how the social media platform Twitter allows people to not only post pictures, but post or share how someone is feeling that day and where they are located.
“Social media is just so good, yet so bad. It can either give a great support system or a stress reliever while viewing funny pictures, but if we allow certain comments or things we view to control us, it can destroy someone. Social media is always going to be there, so there is not escape, even if you tried”.
“On a bad practice day, I try to stay away from social media because I know that gymnastics is going to be there. Gymnastics definitely has its highs and lows”.
The highs are the factors that motivates someone and keeps them wanting more. The lows, however, have a good chance of discouraging someone since one may view themselves negatively.
PERSON D Person D began her junior year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She is a graphic design major from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and she is the middle child of three siblings. Person D started gymnastics when she was very young and has utilized important life skills gymnastics offered, such as leadership and time management skills, a good work ethic, and the ability to improve any social issues she may be going through during a given time. She made the final decision to come to Bowling Green State because she valued the togetherness and welcoming atmosphere from both the team and the school.
“You could tell that they were a family unit and not just there to do gymnastics. Everyone is always with a group of people who share the same interests as you”.
50 Where she trained before college was pretty laid back, she says, but they were hardworking and completed their assignments as instructed. The only difference is college gymnastics focuses more on the team, while club gymnastics is more individual.
When it came to her views on social media, she remained focused on the positives stating how it should be used to make people laugh.
“I would never post anything controversial because that only starts up problems. Besides, it does not matter what you post or who you are because people are going to agree or disagree anyways”.
Switching our discussion to her views on social media and body image, Person D admits that she follows other gymnastics and fitness accounts.
“It can be positive or negative, depends on how someone takes it”.
One of the positives are that it can motivate someone to get back into shape or informed them on what ways to eat or stay healthy. A way that it be a negative is it can cause someone to question their well-being.
Switching over to how social media connects people, Person D had a few great things to say.
“Personally, it helps me stay connected to my family even though I may not talk to them every day. I like signing in and just seeing what my mom made for dinner that night, only to wish I was there to enjoy the meal”.
She even brings up the point that it is a good way to stay close and updated with celebrities. Especially that of famous gymnasts who are either informing their fans on healing injuries, organizations there are getting involved with, inspiration, and daily training details.
Then she adds, “It is kind of weird because most gymnast are in shape, yet we still question ourselves. We are in shape, but not in model shape. Being a gymnast, we have muscles that are needed to perform our skills. Yet, we want to look slimmer because it is seen and accepted on social media…”
“I know I am a gymnast, so it does not make me upset. Also, being a graphic design major makes it easier for me to see what is photoshopped and what is real”.
“People are desperately trying to be someone else online, just be yourself!”
PERSON E Person E began her senior year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She hails from London, England where she grew up with her parents and two younger brothers. While in England, she competed for the elite international gymnastics team of Great Britain earning many praise and honors for her hard work and dedication to the sport. She decided to continue her love for gymnastics in the states when the BGSU’s Head Coach noticed her natural talent at a competition. After witnessing a former teammate move to the states and compete for UCLA’s gymnastics team, she made up her mind that she wanted to experience the life as a collegiate gymnast, as well as studying in the states. Although she is miles away from home, she has fallen in love with the family atmosphere her teammates and coaches at BGSU offers.
When asked about her experience as a collegiate gymnast, Person E perks up with a smile on her face, “I really think I’ve grown from coming in as a freshman. I kind of didn’t know a lot about collegiate gymnastics since I am from a different country, so it wasn’t something that was really obvious to me and something I knew a lot about. So, taking that and growing each year as an individual gymnast has been an exciting experience.”
51 Building off from that answer, the next question asked about her experience as a gymnast competing in England. She immediately answers, “Well, I competed internationally for Great Britain, so that was quite intense and it was more about individuals and it wasn’t as much as a team aspect. Although, we still did incorporate a lot of teams because we are competing for our country and stuff. I think it’s quite similar because my personal gym club we have a lot of fun and we come in and support each other… And I think that’s what we do here [at BGSU]. So, it wasn’t that hard to adjust.”
In the sport of gymnastics, the athlete must execute a certain amount of tumbling and dancing skills within their routine to get a final score. If the skills are connected and presented with little to no flaws, the higher the score. Elite gymnasts compete with much harder level of skills than that of a collegiate gymnast. Collegiate gymnastics has stuck with the traditional scoring, a perfect ten being the goal, while the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has transformed into a scoring system that tallies a gymnast’s content of skills, level of difficulty, and how it is executed. I short, her routines in college have watered down since her days on the elite level.
“One of the main things that really changed for me in college is that we have to compete so many weekends in a row. While in England, we only had to focus on one competition that was every two months so we really had to try and focus on doing loads of routines, doing more skills, and it wasn’t about putting on a performance, just showing your big skills. In college, it’s really about performing to the judges and selling it.”
Switching to the next questions about social media, Person E adjusts her sweater before revealing that social media in England is no different than that in the states.
“That’s the great thing about social media! Someone could tweet from England, but people from America can see it. It is so global that I think everything that you put out there will get seen by someone around the world. I think it differs since I personally had media training back when I was competing for Great Britain. So, I’m lucky to have that under my belt because when I came to college I kind of already knew what to say in media situations. But other than that, social media in American and England is pretty similar.”
When asked about her views of social media, she replies, “I think it’s both positive and negative. It has a ripple effect, so everything you put out there will have an effect so you really need to think about what you are putting out there. If there’s a question about whether it is going to be bad, it might affect you in the future. But, I also think it’s really good because we promote a lot of social media. We promote our gymnastics, our program, showing what we bring to the community, and I think that really pulls people in and together so they can see what we are going. We also post fun videos, interactions with fans and stuff, and I think that’s a really good thing social media brings”
Seeing that she shared more about her team, the next question dealt with her own personal views of social media. She says, “As a young adult, I am quite addicted to it, I guess you can say. I think a lot of it has to do with portraying yourself in the best light like being funny. So, for me, I like to inspire people with my post, you know and try to relate things to other people.”
Switching to how social media projects body image, Person E jumps on the question, “Personally, I think that there’s a lot of things that show you how you’re supposed to be and how you’re supposed to look, what body type you’re supposed to have… In that senses, I think it’s bad because it can give young people a bad impression about themselves and put them down in ways. I think there’s a lot of people who will go out and buy waist trainers because they see celebrities doing it.”
“This makes people want to change their look and even make people feel insecure with a lot of photo editing going on,” Laura makes an hourglass gesture to describe how certain bodies ought to look, “Yeah, sometimes it makes you feel insecure and thinking maybe I’m just not perfect and social media sometimes makes you want to feel like that even though people should feel comfortable in their own skin.”
52 “Personally, I don’t know… I try to embrace myself and my differences, so I like to keep posting things about self-confidence and what I like personally rather than looking at other people’s body shapes, their makeup, hairstyles, you know.”
Going into the last questions about how social media connects other people, Person E clasps her hands together and says, “I think this is a positive aspect of social media because it’s really hard for me personally to stay in touch with everyone because I do live in America now and most of my friends and family are back home [in England], so I see what my family is doing, what my friends are doing on a daily basis through their posts, and not having to constantly talk to them all the time because we do, as athletes, have such busy schedules.”
“I also think it’s good because the older generation has come on Facebook more, which I think is good because they can see what I am doing with my gymnastics and certain things like that. I think it also connects everyone because we can start things: like the issues going on like politically or anything that has to do with any certain situation, it can bring people together and can really make a difference on social media. One tweet alone can get one million likes which is crazy!”
Final thoughts from Person E, she touches on how people can act differently on different apps*… This is where people will start getting the wrong idea and may mistakenly get the wrong impression about someone. Instagram, people want to only post their best pictures of themselves, but: “It is important to realize that nobody’s perfect. Everyone has certain things that make them not so perfect.”
PERSON F Person F began her sophomore year at Bowling Green State University in August of 2017. She originates from Washington Township, New Jersey which is just a short distance from New York City. She is the oldest of three sisters and grew up in a tight knit, supportive family. Her coaches from club were close friends with the coaches at BGSU, so she has always had her eye on the prize to compete for them one day. Although her mother, who was also a gymnast, was reluctant to allow her to become a competitive gymnast, Person F was very persistent to pursue her dreams and thanks to the help from her father encouraging words, she was able to begin her exciting journey. Although she did not begin the sport until she was nine years old, it was love at first sight. She was thankful to have great coaches as well as a wonderful team aspect within her gym. Despite her many injuries, she continued to persevere and has earn her spot on the BGSU gymnastics team today through hard work and maintaining a strong mental focus.
When discussing her experience with club gymnastics, Person F elaborates on how her upbringing with her strong support system of teammates, coaches, and family members helped make the transition into collegiate gymnastics go so much smoother for her, “club was very team oriented because everyone just had your back and always cheered very loudly in practice, so it made me want to go even further with my career [with gymnastics] now that I had a good foundation laid out.”
Sitting up straight with pride, she touches on how the family atmosphere has also made the transition into BGSU even better, for not a lot of other gymnastics teams around the world operates with the same mindset.
When asked about her views of social media, Person F clasps her hands together and states that, “I think that social media is really great for some things and really detrimental for other things. I try to limit myself with social media because it can get kind of distracting in ways and kind of paints pictures that aren’t necessarily realistic. Like, I see all these images of people, girls especially, about how they should look [on Instagram] and that maybe sends off the wrong message, but on the other hand, I think it connects people that aren’t face-to-face with others every day.”
“I connect with a lot of my friends who compete for other collegiate teams through social media, which is cool. I find out different things on social media, like about how my teammates are doing back at home, so I think that’s good. And my relatives and things, staying in touch with them, but I think it’s good to a point. I think it’s good to share your things and ideas in a positive way, but if it’s used in a negative way, then that’s when it’s you know, not that great.”
53
Switching to how social media projects body image, Person F looks to the side and says, “I think social media kind of gives off the wrong idea about body image because a lot of people try to base their body images off of things that they see on social media and people that they look up to. I mean, gymnastics is already scrutinizing with how you should look, but I never let it get to my head, which I feel like I’ve been very fortunate of because I have always been very comfortable in my own skin. But, a lot of people aren’t because of what they’ve seen, but I don’t necessarily think that in today’s day and age with how involved we are with it, that it sends a right image”
Throwing her hands up, she shrugs, “You know, it is what it is.”
When asked about how social media connects others, she answers that it can facilitate movements for a common issue.
“Especially in the gymnastics world now, with all the controversy and different issues going on. There has been people that will stand up for things and are very supportive of things that they’ve read and seen. Especially on Twitter, I see a lot of positive things and it’s a way that people can express their feelings and thoughts with other people and I guess that’s how our generation does it by communicating over social media which could be a good thing. I’ve seen a lot of great things and movements be facilitated through that [social media], so I think that’s good”
“With my team, we like to show a lot of things through social media to generate a fan base and get the word out about competitions, things that we stand for, ideas that we have and this can connect a lot of different groups on campus and other athletes which I think is really great.”
54