Research | Sports and Society Initiative

A key focus of our initiative is to support, fund and promote research conducted at the intersection of sports and society. Here is our 2024 research productivity report:

SSI Affiliate Research Awards

2024 National Academy of Kinesiology Fellow (Dawn Anderson-Butcher)

Publications

Allison, Rachel, and Chris Knoester. 2024. “Who watches and follows girls’ and women’s sport? A gendered life course analysis of U.S. adults' consumption.” Journal of Emerging Sport Studies 10:1-35.

Anderson-Butcher, Dawn, Samantha Bates, S., and Meng-Ting Lo. 2024. “Coach training participation and athlete life skill development: Findings from the US National Coach Survey.” Online first in Quest.

Anderson-Butcher, Dawn, Samantha Bates, Rebecca Wade-Mdivianian, and Sydney Mack. 2024. “Community sport as a context for positive youth development.” In N. Holt & M. McDonough (Eds.), Positive youth development through sport 3rd ed. (pp. 269-287). Routledge.

Bates, Samantha, Dawn Anderson-Butcher, and Kylee Ault-Baker. 2024. “Practical approaches to teaching values and life skills.” In K.T. Koh, T.J. Newman, & M.S. Bin Salleh (Eds.) Coaching Values and Life Skills through Physical Education and Sports (pp. 74-88). Routledge.

Bates, Samantha, and Obidiah Atkinson. 2024. “Mental health training for coaches: A policy, practice, and research commentary.” Sport Social Work Journal 5:27-34.

Bates, Samantha M., Vincent F. Minjares, Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Jennifer Brown Lerner, and Jon Solomon. 2024. “School coaches in the United States: Insights from the National Coach Survey.” Strategies, 37(4):43-46.

Bates, Samantha, Sydney Mack, and Emily Nothnagle. 2024. “Beyond the scoreboard: School-based sport experiences and high school student-athlete well-being.” Online first in Sport, Education, and Society.

Bates, Samantha, Emily Nothnagle, and Kethan Mokadam. 2024. “Resilience training for high school student-athletes: A pilot of the Life and Leadership Through Sport Series.” Sport Social Work Journal, 6(1):32-53.

Bunstine, Josie L., Jingzhen Yang, Sandhya Kistamgari, Christy L. Collins, and Gary A. Smith. 2024. "Differences in overuse injuries in gender-comparable sports: A nationally representative sample of high school athletes." Journal of Athletic Training 59(9):962-968.

Cioletti, Alina, and Leeann M. Lower-Hoppe 2024. “The clash of sports officials and fans: When free speech borders harassment.” The Physical Educator 81(3):281-290.

Davis, Evan, and Chris Knoester. 2024. “U.S. public opinion about the personal development and social capital benefits of sport: Analyzing components of the Great Sport Myth.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 48(5):340-365.

Hextrum, Kirsten, Knoester, Chris, and James Tompsett. 2024. “Inequalities in girls high school sports participation: How social class, race/ethnicity, and gender route opportunities to play and persist in athletics.” Sociological Focus 57(2):63-93.

Hextrum, Kirsten, Knoester, Chris, and James Tompsett. 2024. “The privilege to play: Race, gender, & SES advantages in boys’ high school athletic opportunities.” Online first in Leisure/Loisir.

Hextrum, Kirsten, Knoester, Chris, and James Tompsett. 2024. “Who plays, persists, and stands out in interscholastic athletics? Habitus, parenting, social class and perceptions of athletic merit." Forthcoming in Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education.

Kapusta, Rebecca J., and Leeann M. Lower-Hoppe 2024. “Golf course website: A case analysis of ADA Title III website compliance.” The Physical Educator 81:139-145.

Knoester, Chris, Allison, Rachel, and Victoria T. Fields. 2024. “Reconstructing, challenging, and negotiating sex/gender in sport: Public opinion about transgender athletes’ rights, rights for athletes with varied sex characteristics, sex testing, and gender segregation.” Sociology of Sport Journal 41(1):12-26.

Knoester, Chris, and Chris Bjork. 2024. “U.S. youth sports participation: Analyzing the implications of generation, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family and community sport cultures." Online first in Leisure/Loisir. doi:10.1080/14927713.2024.2366177

Knoester, Chris, and Kirsten Hextrum. 2024. “Saving women’s sports? The ideological underpinnings of U.S public opinions about trans* athlete rights and sex testing, before widespread politicization.” Forthcoming in Sociology of Sport Journal.

Lower-Hoppe, Leeann M., W. Andrew Czekanski, Richard J. Buning, and Daniel Springer. 2024. The role of external partners in shaping the organizational capacity of collegiate sport clubs: A Delphi study. Online first in European Sport Management Quarterly.

Myers, Alison, Jingzhen Yang, Robyn Recker, Laura Boucher, James Onate, and Jaclyn Caccese. 2024. "Assessing the impact: Headgear usage and concussions in high school girls’ lacrosse in Ohio: 415." Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 56:140-141.

Recker, Robyn, Alison Myers, Nikhil Desai, Jaclyn B. Caccese, Laura Boucher, James Onate, and Jingzhen Yang. 2024. "Headgear use in girls’ lacrosse—stakeholders not ready for change." Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 6:1363007.

Robinson, Emily, Tarkington J. Newman, Travis R. Scheadler, Leeann M. Lower-Hoppe, and Anna Baeth. 2024. “The unique lived experiences of LBGQ athletes: A collegiate women’s rugby club team as an inclusive and empowering community.” Journal of Homosexuality 71(4):1003-1029.

Romano, Alicia B., Logan Schuetz, Brent D. Oja, and Leeann M. Lower-Hoppe. 2024. “Skating to legitimacy: Institutional work practices within collegiate club hockey.” Leisure Studies 43(2):278-293.

Scheadler, Travis R., Dawn Anderson-Butcher, and Samantha Bates. 2024. “College coaches’ engagement in advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQIA+) rights and racial justice: Experiences, facilitators, and barriers.” Online first in Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

Scheadler, Travis R., Dawn Anderson Butcher, and Samantha Bates. 2024. “Long-term life skill transfer from sport-based positive youth development programs.” Journal of Youth Development 19(3):21-38.

Springer, Daniel, Leeann M. Lower-Hoppe, and Marlene A. Dixon. 2024. “Deconstructing the structure of American collegiate sport club programs.” Online first in Managing Sport & Leisure.

Turner, Brian. A., Kimberly Miloch, Mark Beattie, and Laci McRee. (Eds.). 2024. Sport marketing: Winning strategies for sport business success (3rd ed.). Forthcoming from Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt Publishing.

Upenieks, Laura, Ryan, Brendan, and Chris Knoester. 2024. “Better to have played than not played? Childhood sport participation, dropout frequencies and reasons, and mental health in adulthood.” Online first in Sociology of Sport Journal.

Warner, Mariah, and Chris Knoester. 2024. "Does sport bring different racial/ethnic groups together? Examining US adults’ beliefs and the impact of youth and adult sport experiences.” Forthcoming in Sociology of Sport Journal.

Warner, Mariah, and Chris Knoester. 2024. "Sports-related mistreatment in the U.S.: Retrospective recognitions and connections to social structural locations, childhood contexts, and adult characteristics." Conditionally accepted in International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure.

Yang, Jingzhen, Enas Alshaikh, Nichole Asa, Olivia VonDeylen, Nikhil Desai, Hudson Gerry Taylor, Thomas Pommering, James P. MacDonald, Daniel M. Cohen, and Keith Owen Yeates. 2024. "Exploring the association between cognitive activity and symptom resolution following concussion in adolescents aged 11–17 years." British Journal of Sports Medicine 58(6):328-333.

Yang, Jingzhen, Despina Stavrinos, Thomas Kerwin, Sylvie Mrug, Michael Tiso, Benjamin McManus, Cameron G. Wrabel et al. 2024. "R2DRV: Study protocol for longitudinal assessment of driving after mild TBI in young drivers." Injury Epidemiology 11(1):10.

Presentations

Anderson-Butcher, D., Bates, S., Ault-Baker, K., & Nothnagle, E. 2024. “Coach Beyond: Call to action.” Workshop presented at the Ohio Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance annual convention, Upper Sandusky, OH.

Anderson-Butcher, D., & Bates, S. 2024. “Research on the value of youth sport: LiFEsports and Coach Beyond.” Presented at The Ohio Public Health Conference, Lewis Center, OH.

Aryeetey N-A, Hiersche K, Pan J, Yang G, Rose S, Onate J, Caccese JB, Saygin ZM. 2024. “Examining the role of the arcuate fasciculus on reading development by studying repetitive head impact.” Poster presentation at the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) meeting in St. Pete Beach, FL.

Ault-Baker, K. J., Anderson-Butcher, D., Bates, S., & Mack, S. 2024. “Lessons learned from developing a coach education training on mental strategies for athletic performance.” Lecture presented at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP): Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Atkinson, O., Villalon, C., Bates, S., Bowers, L., & Bobek, N. 2024. “Using interdisciplinary teaching practices in coach education.” Panel presentation at the United States Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE): North American Coach Development Summit, Columbus, OH.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D. Ault-Baker, K. J., Mack, S., & Wade-Mdivanian. 2024. “Coach Beyond: Fostering a positive team environment.” Workshop presented at the United States Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE): North American Coach Development Summit, Columbus, OH.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Ault-Baker, K., & Nothnagle, E. 2024. “Supporting student-athlete mental health.” Workshop presented at the Ohio Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance annual convention, Upper Sandusky, OH.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Ault-Baker, K., & Nothnagle, E. 2024. “Managing stress and pressure as coaches and educators.“ Workshop presented at the Ohio Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance annual convention, Upper Sandusky, OH.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Mack, S., Brandon, D., Atkinson, O., Mokadam, K., Goodway, J., Ault-Baker, K., & Nothnagle, E. 2024. “Are sport-based positive youth development programs fundamental to fundamental motor skills?” Paper presented at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, New Orleans, LA.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Wade-Mdivanian, R., Mack, S., & Ault-Baker, K. J.2024. “Coach Beyond: Supporting student-athlete mental health.” Master class presentation at the United States Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE): North American Coach Development Summit, Columbus, OH.

Bates S., Ault-Baker, K.J., & Anderson-Butcher, D. 2024. “Coach Beyond: Co-creating gamified coach education programming with high school athletic administrators.” Symposium presentation at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), New Orleans, LA.

Davis, S. R., Mack, S., & Prince, M. A. 2024. “Towards precise mental health screening in college athletics and associations with cannabis use and other health-risk behaviors.” Presented in J. S. Zeiger (Chair), Cannabis and physical activity. Research Society on Marijuana Eighth Annual Meeting, Toronto, CA.

DeAngelo S, Culiver A, Shoaf N, Doshi D, Tracy R, Lickovitch J, Le Flao E, Smith C, Pan J, Yang G, Rose S, Oñate J, Saygin ZM, & Caccese JB. 2024. “Repetitive head impact exposure differences based on four data cleaning methods.” Poster presentation at the American College of Sports Medicine Annua Meeting in Boston, MA.

Desai N, Alshaikh E, Wheeler KK, Smith GA, & Yang JZ. 2024. “Screen time duration and type and associations with recovery during the first-week post-concussion in youth aged 11-17 years.” Oral presentation at the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research 2024 Annual Meeting, Chapel Hill, NC.

Karen, David, Murphy, Eve, and Chris Knoester. 2024. “Factors affecting children’s sport participation in the United States: A Bourdieu-sian approach.” Presented at the 2024 American Sociological Association meetings, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Knoester, Chris, and Chris Bjork. 2024. “U.S. youth sports participation: Analyzing changes across the past 60 years with the National Sports and Society Survey." Presented at the 2024 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport meetings, Chicago, Illinois.

Knoester, Chris, and Chris Bjork. 2024. “U.S. youth sports participation: Analyzing the implications of generation, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family and community sport cultures." Presented at the Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society, Granada, Spain.

Le Flao E, DeAngelo S, Culiver A, Shoaf N, Doshi D, Tracy R, Lickovitch J, Smith C, Pan J, Yang JZ, Rose S, Oñate J, Saygin ZM, & Caccese JB. 2024. “The effect of usage on instrumented mouthguard data quality indicators: A preliminary analysis.” Platform presentation at the International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, Stockholm, Sweden.

Lower-Hoppe, L., Lo, M., Ault-Baker, K., Bates, S., & Anderson-Butcher, D. 2024. “Implementation fidelity of a sport-based PYD program designed to teach sport and social skills.” Paper presented at the North American Society for Sport Management 2024 Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Lower-Hoppe, L., Oja, B., & Talcott, A. 2024. “Generating positive workplace outcomes through well-being: Examining collegiate recreational sport employees.” Paper presented at the North American Society for Sport Management 2024 Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Mack, S., Bates, S., & Nothnagle, E. 2024. “No sport, no school, no support: Lived experiences of high school student-athletes following the COVID-19 pandemic.” Poster presentation at the 28th Society for Social Work and Research Conference, Washington, D.C.

Mack, S., Mokadam, K., Brandon, D., Nothnagle, E., Atkinson, O., Ault-Baker, K., Bates, S., Goodway, J., & Anderson-Butcher, D. 2024. “The impact of LiFEsports on the development of FMS competency among youth participants.” Paper presentation at the Midwest Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium, Hope College, Holland, MI.

Nothnagle, E. 2024. “Who is prepared to coach beyond?: Ohio coaches’ self-efficacy to support student-athletes on and off the field.” Presented at the Edward F. Hayes Advanced Research Forum, The Ohio State University.

*Awarded 1st Place Oral Presentation in Social and Behavioral Sciences ($600 award).

Nothnagle, E., Bates, S., & Anderson-Butcher, D. 2024. “How do you compare?: Examining the relationship between the perception of peer behaviors and coach self-efficacy.” Paper presentation at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.

Plumage E, Amin S, Ding K, Wheeler K, Cuff S, & Yang JZ. 2024. “The impact of physician recommended early physical activity on the recovery speed of youth with concussions. Oral presentation at The Fifth Biennial Conference on Paediatric Acquired Brain Injury: Building a Better Future Together, Glasgow, Scotland.

Rundus, CRM, Zhang, F, Alshaikh, E, Kerwin, T, Wrabel, C, McManus, B, Stavrinos, D, & Yang, JZ. “Impact of simulated drivin on post-concussion symptoms in young drivers with mild traumatic brain injury.” Poster presentation at the 2024 Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research 2024 Annual Meeting, Chapel Hill, NC.

Sigler, J., Yavic, Z., Anand, J., & Ungureanu, T. 2024. “Hitting a curveball: Strategic factor markets, uncertainty, and performance.” Presented to the Sports & Society Initiative Research Working Group at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

Sigler, J., Yavic, Z., & Jiang, K. 2024. “Colliding with a star: Leaders, regular joes, and star employees. Presented at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

Sigler, J., Yavic, Z., & Jiang, K. 2024. “Colliding with a star: Leaders, regular joes, and star employees.” Presented at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.

Sigler, J., Yavic, Z., Anand, J., & Ungureanu, T. 2024. “Hitting a curveball: Strategic factor markets, uncertainty, and performance.” Presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AoM), Chicago, IL.

VonDeylen O, Alshaikh E, Wheeler KK, Recker R, & Yang JZ. 2024. “Youth sleep quantity and quality and symptom duration in the first week post-concussion.” Poster presentation at the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research 2024 Annual Meeting, Chapel Hill, NC.

Yang JZ. et al. 2024. “Daily cognitive activities following pediatric concussion and their associations with symptom resolution.” Oral presentation at The Fifth Biennial Conference on Paediatric Acquired Brain Injury: Building a Better Future Together, Glasgow, Scotland.

Data Collection Efforts

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Wade-Mdivanian, B., Ault-Baker, K. J. 2024. Status of coaching study: Survey data from Kansas coaches [data collection complete]. Funded by Susan Crown Exchange.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Wade-Mdivanian, B., & Ault-Baker, K. J. 2024. Status of coaching study: Survey data from Indiana coaches [data collection in progress]. Funded by Susan Crown Exchange.

Bates, S., Anderson-Butcher, D., Wade-Mdivanian, B., & Ault-Baker, K. J. 2024. Status of coaching study: Survey data from Maryland coaches [data collection in progress]. Funded by Susan Crown Exchange.

Knoester, Chris, Lower-Hoppe, Leeann, Anderson-Butcher, Dawn, Bates, Samantha, and Brian Turner. 2024. The National Sports and Society Survey Wave II Initial Pilot Study (NSASS W2IP). [Dataset]. The Center for Human Resource Research at The Ohio State University [Distributor]. In preparation for public release. *PI work involved 1 year of study design, survey instrument creation and testing, and monitoring of data collection. Data collection from 1,367 original respondents from the 2018-19 NSASS via a 15 min.online follow-up survey completed.

Lower-Hoppe, Leeann (PI). 2024. Generating Positive Workplace Outcomes Through Well-Being: Examining Collegiate Recreation Employees. *The purpose of this research project is to investigate the antecedents of recreational sport employee well-being and their influence on job performance which directly contributes to organizational performance. In 2024, a mixed methods sequential explanatory study, including an online survey and follow-up interviews, was conducted.

Sigler, J., Ungureanu, T., & Yavic, Z. 2024. In Pursuit of Improved Baseball Data: The Who-signed-whom database and other advancements. *We have worked with a few baseball research organizations on massive baseball data collection projects. We worked very closely with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) on projects related to scouts and the Weiss Questionnaire transcription project.

Research Forum Contributions

The OSU Sports and Society Initiative and Ohio State’s Sports Analytics Association hosted a fourth annual Sports Analytics Conference on April 5-6, featuring student presentations and panels featuring sports professionals. Nearly 100 people attended the in-person event, with another 150 online. The conference included participants from 14 different universities and six analytics firms. There were 11 in-person panelists representing 8 different organizations and an additional 4 online panelists all from unique organizations. The event was held in a virtual format Friday and in person Saturday. The virtual sports professionals attending included Summer Sports Vice President and partner Eric Eager, author of Basketball on Paper, Dean Oliver, senior project manager of global baseball strategy at Hawkeye Innovations, Katie Krall, and senior data scientist of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Katerina Wu. The Saturday panels included a sports science group from the Columbus Crew, a football analytics panel, and a basketball analytics panel. Brian Burke, a senior analytics specialist at ESPN, ended the conference as the keynote speaker. We are thankful for our continued sponsorship from Sumer Sports. Sumer has sponsored the conference for two years and several people on their staff have appeared as guests. The department of economics and Fisher College of Business have provided financial and logistical support as well.

Relatedly, we had incredible growth in our integrated student presentations, representing our 6th annual SSI Undergraduate Research Fair. This year we had 32 total presentations and posters, more than doubling last year’s total. Our in-person attendance increased by 30% and we have likely outgrown our space. We even had 30 people come to the Friday night meet-up. Students and faculty from 14 different universities were present on Saturday. Our online event on Friday had 156 people log-on for at least 30 minutes. There were 11 in-person guests and 4 online guests. The conference program is posted here: Conference Program. A list of student presentations is available here: List of Student Presentations. Awards were given to seven outstanding student presentations, but the all of the students’ work was impressive.

The Sports and Society Initiative Research Working Group came together for five formal sessions that included presentations, collaborative discussions, research news and updates, and fellowship. About twelve persons attended each session. Now in its 3rd year, the SSI Research Working Group was designed by the SSI Research Committee to offer new encouragement and opportunities for research active scholars, and others who are interested in sports and society research, to come together to share their projects, ideas, requests for collaboration, and support for one another. The goal has been to enhance our sports and society research productivity, collaborations, connections, and impact. The activities, and group itself, have been primarily targeted for the benefit of OSU sports and society research-active folks (i.e., faculty, grad students, perhaps high achieving undergrads doing research theses) and designed to enable brainstorming/sharing/supporting/collaborating. But, more generally, the group has been created for folks who are interested in learning about, doing, and collaborating on sports and society research. In 2024, the SSI Research Working Group collaborations markedly and uniquely enhanced the receipt of grant funding, data collection efforts, and the mapping out of collaborative research projects particularly surrounding the National Sports and Society Survey Wave II Initial Pilot and Phase II Pilot.

Other SSI-supported research forums included the continuation of a new series that focuses on bringing in external speakers to speak to topics that are of public interest, research-based, and meaningful to undergraduate students and the general public. In addition, a variety of research forum events were offered and promoted to undergraduate students, specifically. On February 20, SSI was honored to partner with the Department of Sociology to host a special and important event concerning athletes and the mental health crisis--focusing upon women college athletes and their experiences. The event featured the presentation of a research summary and a corresponding documentary film by Villanova University sport sociologist Rick Eckstein. A panel discussion followed, moderated by SSI Director and Communications professor Nicole Kraft. Panelists included Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher, LISW-S, CMPC, Professor of Social Work, Co-Executive Director of LiFEsports, and Lead on Coach Beyond program; sport psychologist Carla Morrow, Associate Head Coach for the OSU Women’s basketball team; and Emily Nothnagle, Graduate student in Social Work, mental health advocate, and recent 3x National Champion college athlete. On October 16, Dr. Letisha Engracia Cordoso Brown, a sociologist from the University of Cincinnati, was our honored guest for the Fall segment of the undergraduate-focused research series. Again, this was presented in partnership with the Department of Sociology. Dr. Brown presented her insightful research on “Hair Matters: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Black Hair in Sport” for our featured in-person undergraduate focused research presentation for the semester.

On February 16, Ohio State alum Dennis Drazin of the law firm Drazin and Warshaw,chairman and CEO of Monmouth Park Racetrack in New Jersey joined SSI for a webinar to discuss how gambling is connecting sports and society. His talk included an introduction to current gambling models and the challenges and opportunities they present, including problem gambling. Nov. 6’s “Getting Started on Sports Research” event was a collaboration with Thompson Library. We worked together for the second consecutive year to adapt their getting started on research program to be sports specific. We had student participants from our Spring Sports Analytics Conference and SSI research fair give their presentations to model what sports-related research can look like and also offered a Q & A panel. Over 50 students participated in the event. Furthermore, SSI Assistant Director Ryan Ruddy put together research-focused outings throughout the year. On April 11, he offered a Huntington Park tour, during which student met with a representative from group sales. The tour took participants through all of the seating sections and several other parts of the stadium and finished with a Q&A on ticketing, marketing, and the operations of the ball park. On September 16, he offered a similar version of the tour that also featured a tour of seating options and a discussion of ticket pricing hosted by a representative of the Clippers, this time with a Q&A from the visitors’ dugout. On Monday, November 4, 2024 SSI enabled participation in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 3rd annual business analytics night. Programming began at 1:30 pm and concluded prior to the start of the evening's game vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. Programming included panel discussions and networking opportunities. Finally, on November 21, Dr. Ruddy led a group so that they could participate in The Columbus Blue Jackets’ annual Sports Management Night. The event began with a tour of Nationwide Arena at 4:00 pm. After the tour, there was a Q&A panel with CBJ employees, followed by the game vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Funding

Funded:

Bates, S. (PI). 2024. “Life and Leadership Student-athlete Series.” New Albany Schools. 2024 – 2025 ($10,000).

Bates, S. (PI). 2024. “Life and Leadership Student-athlete Series.” Orange School District. 2024 – 2025 ($11,000).

Bates, S. (PI). 2024. “Life and Leadership Through Sport Series.” Circleville High School. ($3,500).

Bates, S. 2024. “Life and Leadership Through Sport Series: Metro Athletic League Conference.” Streetsboro High School. ($1,000).

Bates, S. 2024. “Life and Leadership Through Sport Series: Mid-States League Conference.” Ohio Christian University. ($1,000).

Bates, S. (PI). 2024. “LiFEsports Youth Leadership Academy: OSU Office of Outreach and Engagement Seed Grant.” OSU Office of Outreach and Engagement. 2024 – 2025 ($15,000).

Bates, S., (Co-PI), & Anderson-Butcher, D. (Co-PI). 2024. “Coach Beyond Expansion: Building State Cohort Model [Project 2].” Susan Crown Exchange. 2024 – 2025 ($501,942).

Bates, S., (Co-PI), & Anderson-Butcher, D. (Co-PI). 2024. “Coach Beyond Expansion: Ohio Coach Trainings [Project 3].” Susan Crown Exchange. 2024 – 2025 ($100,000).

Bates, S., (Co-PI), & Anderson-Butcher, D. (Co-PI). 2024. “Coach Beyond Expansion: Partnership with the U.S. Council on Athletes’ Health [Project 1].” Susan Crown Exchange. 2024 – 2025 ($100,000).

Bates, S., (Co-PI), & Anderson-Butcher, D. (Co-PI). 2024. “Innovations in the Youth Sport Sector: Coach Beyond.” Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS). 2024 – 2026 ($250,000).

Bates, S., (PI), & Wade-Mdivanian, R. 2024. “LiFEsports Clinics:Title II Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Grant Award.” Franklin County Office of Juvenile Justice. 2024 – 2025 ($35,000).

Joyce, Echo. “Nonbinary and Non-heterosexual Experiences in Sport over the Life Course: Patterns and realized costs and benefits.” OSU Undergraduate Research Scholarship. 2024 ($5,000) Advisor: Chris Knoester.

Lower-Hoppe, Leeann (PI), and Chris Knoester. 2024. “Patterns of Sport Involvement, Physical Health, and Mental Health and their Relationships to One Another: APre- to Post-Pandemic Analysis across Two Generations.” OSU Department of Human Sciences Seed Grant. ($15,700).

Nothnagle, E. 2024. “2024-25 OSU Sports and Society Initiative Graduate Student Research Grant.” OSU Sports and Society Initiative. ($500).

Wade-Mdivanian, R., (PI), & Bates, S. (Co-I). (2024). “LiFEsports Clinic 2024.” Columbus Youth Foundation. ($8,703).

Wade-Mdivanian, R., (PI), & Bates, S. (Co-I). (2024). “LiFEsports Summer 2024.” City of Columbus. ($50,000).

Yavic, Z. 2024. “2024-25 OSU Sports and Society Initiative Graduate Student Research Grant.” OSU Sports and Society Initiative. ($500).

Applied (not funded):

Ault-Baker, K. J. (PI), Bates, S., & Worley, J. 2024. “Piloting the life and leadership through sport series for high school student-athletes.” Jeffrey Schottenstein Program for Resilience, OSU Department of Psychiatry. ($20,000).

-Not Funded.

Knoester, Chris. 2024. “Exploring Sex, Gender, Gender Fluidity, and Nonbinary and Transgender Identities in a Large Sample of U.S. Adults.” Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Research Grant. ($2,000).

-Not Funded.

Knoester, Chris. “Levels of and Changes in Sports-related Public Opinions, Health and Well-being, Physical Activity, and Sports Involvement: Initial Piloting for a Mixed-Methods Study of Levels, Changes, and Mechanisms among US Adults and of Dynamics Involving Two Generations within American Families.” OSU Department of Sociology Seed Grant. 1/6/25-1/6/26 ($40,000).

-Not Funded.

Knoester, Chris (PI), and Jingzhen Yang, Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Brian Turner, Leeann Lower-Hoppe, and Samantha Bates. “Changes in Health, Physical Activity, and Sports Involvement since Pre-pandemic Times: Initial Piloting for a Mixed-Methods Study of Changes and Mechanisms among US Adults and of Dynamics Involving Two Generations within American Families.” OSU Institute for Population Research Seed Grant. 6/1/24-5/31/26 ($80,000).

-Not Funded

Knoester, Chris (PI), and Jingzhen Yang, Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Brian Turner, Leeann Lower-Hoppe, and Samantha Bates. “Levels of and Changes in Health, Physical Activity, and Sports Involvement: Initial Piloting for a Mixed-Methods Study of Levels, Changes, and Mechanisms among US Adults and of Dynamics Involving Two Generations within American Families.” OSU Institute for Population Research Seed Grant. 1/1/25-12/31/26 ($40,000).

-Not Funded

Lower-Hoppe, Leeann (PI). 2024. “Exploring Patterns of Consuming Women’s Sports and its Relationship to Health: A Pre- to Post-Pandemic Analysis.” Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Research Grant. ($2,000).

-Not Funded.

Yang, Jingzhen and Lara McKenzie. 2024. “Make Play Safe: Intervention to increase concussion recognition and reporting in youth soccer.” NIH/NICHD 9/2025- 8/2030 ($3,636,897).

-Pending

Media and Public Scholarship

Anderson-Butcher, D., Jones, V., & Williams-Jeter, T. 2024. Getting the most from your team: Creating a positive team environment for female athletes. [Webinar series]. Coach Beyond…, Columbus, Ohio. https://go.osu.edu/getthemostwebinar

Anderson-Butcher, D., & Nothnagle, E. 2024. College athletes and the mental health crisis: A focus on women college athletes and their long-term sports and society experiences. [Invited panelists]. The Ohio State University Sports and Society Initiative, Columbus, OH, USA. https://sportsandsociety.osu.edu/events/college-athletes-and-mental-health-crisis-focus-women-college-athletes-and-their-long-term

Bates, S., Jones, V., Peterson, J., & Boucher, C. 2024. Status of coaching for women and girls [Webinar series]. Coach Beyond…, Columbus, Ohio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rr4RcbziVA

Boggs, Justin. 2024. “More girls playing sports, but access becoming segregated.” Scripps News, March 6. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://scrippsnews.com/stories/more-girls-are-playing-sports-but-access-becoming-segregated/

*Picked up widely and published in dozens of other outlets, such as MSN and countless digital platforms from associated TV networks.

Boggs, Justin. 2024. “Tickets to see Iowa’s Caitlin Clark can cost hundreds. Here’s why.” Scripps News, January 5. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://scrippsnews.com/stories/tickets-to-see-iowa-s-caitlin-clark-can-cost-hundreds-here-s-why/

*Picked up widely, across countless digital platforms from associated TV networks.

Caldwell, Emily. 2024. “Parents, wealth, race drive girls’ chances to play sports: Study suggests high schools house multiple social inequities.” Ohio State News, February 29. Interviewee: James Tompsett and Chris Knoester. https://news.osu.edu/parents-wealth-race-drive-girls-chances-to-play-sports/

Cheluget, Ryan Isaiah Kipchumba. 2024. “Is the NBA becoming a ‘daddy’s money’ league?” YouTube, August 4. Interviewees: James Tompsett and Chris Knoester. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqbMxqOI9Yc

*Video by popular NBA youtuber kipkame11 quickly accumulated more than 1 million views.

Grabmeier, Jeff. 2024. “Here’s something Americans agree on: Sports build character. Belief in the ‘Great Sport Myth’ may be problematic.” Ohio State News, November 21. Interviewees: Evan Davis and Chris Knoester. https://news.osu.edu/heres-something-americans-agree-on-sports-build-character/

Grabmeier, Jeff. 2024. “Organized youth sports are increasingly for the privileged: Study finds generational shifts in who plays, and for how long.” Ohio State News, August 20. Interviewee: Chris Knoester.

https://news.osu.edu/organized-youth-sports-are-increasingly-for-the-privileged/

*Picked up and republished by dozens of other outlets, including US News & World Report

Grabmeier, Jeff. 2024. “Playing youth sports linked to better mental health in adults: Depression, anxiety are worst for those who played and quit.” Ohio State News, June 26. Interviewee: Chris Knoester.

https://news.osu.edu/playing-youth-sports-linked-to-better-mental-health-in-adults/

*Picked up and republished by numerous other outlets, including USA Today

**Original research summarized and referenced repeatedly, such as in Time in July and on Cleveland.com in August

Grabmeier, Jeff. 2024. “Women’s and girls’ sports: More popular than you may think.” Ohio State News, January 2. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://news.osu.edu/womens-and-girls-sports-more-popular-than-you-may-think/

* Picked up and republished by numerous other outlets, including MSN, Scripps News, Yahoo, and dozens of digital tv online platforms.

Grossmann, Martin. 2024. “In culture, the center is everywhere”. Rádio USP, November 12. Summary and analysis of Chris and Matthew Knoester’s study of affinities for Trump in 2016 as prescient. https://jornal.usp.br/radio-usp/mais-uma-vez-vivemos-em-distopia/

Hirsch, Lauren, Tania Ganguli, and Sarah Kessler. 2024. “Can the W.N.B.A. make money?” The New York Times, April 20. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/20/business/dealbook/wnba-womens-basketball-money.html

Johnson, Cierra. 2024. “How financial barriers impact youth sports.” NBC4 Columbus, August 26. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://www.nbc4i.com/video/how-financial-barriers-impact-youth-sports/9986530/

Lorange, Simon-Olivier. 2024. “Between natural marriage and business relationship.” La Presse, October 12. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/2024-10-12/sport-professionnel-et-armee-americaine/entre-mariage-naturel-et-relation-d-affaires.php

Mulroney, Ben. 2024. “Organized youth sports are increasingly for the privileged: Study finds generational shifts.” 640 Toronto, August 22. Interviewee: Chris Knoester.

Project Play. 2024. State of play 2024. The Aspen Institute. Summary of coaching research by Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Samantha Bates, and associates from LiFEsports and Coach Beyond; also, summary of research on youth sports dropout by Laura Upenieks, Brendan Ryan, and Chris Knoester. https://projectplay.org/state-of-play-2024-introduction

Sawchick, Travis. 2024. “How to find a ballplayer: Lessons from two of the best scouts of all time.” theScore. Summary of Jason Sigler, Tiberiu Ungureanu, and Zeynep Yavic’s work in creating the “Who-signed-whom database.” https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2862167/how-to-find-a-ballplayer-lessons-from-two-of-the-best-scouts-of-all-time

Siddiqi, Farah. 2024. “Coaching beyond the game for student growth in Ohio and elsewhere.” Public News Service, September 4. Interviewee: Samantha Bates. https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-09-04/mental-health/coaching-beyond-the-game-for-student-growth-in-ohio-and-elsewhere/a92188-1

Smalley, Jerod. 2024. “OSU-Iowa basketball sellout another highlight in women’s sports growth.” NBC4 Columbus, January 20. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://news.yahoo.com/osu-iowa-basketball-sellout-another-131727252.html

Staver, Anna. 2024. “Examining opportunities for participation in women’s sports.” All Sides with Anna Staver, March 5. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://www.wosu.org/show/all-sides/2024-03-05/what-elements-impact-opportunities-for-participation-in-womens-sports

Westerholm, Tom. 2024. "This activity could boost your child's mental health as an adult (but there's a catch)" Newsweek for Apple News+, June. Interviewee: Chris Knoester.

Witting, Chris. 2024. “How family income shapes today’s youth sports.” InfoTrak, November 2. Interviewee: Chris Knoester. https://www.talkzone.com/episodes/199/12038.html

*Syndicated radio talk show distributed across hundreds of stations.