Conclusion of Sport and Globalization

Well it is a wrap and I have to admit that I did not keep up with this like I had hoped I could. However, all is not lost because I have learned a lot about globalization and sport. Over the past semester our class has had numerous topics that have provoked much debate and discussion. I actually felt like our class grew together. We had a number of great guest speakers too. This allowed my classmate and myself to get a first hand look at globalization in sport. For instance, Dr. Meek opened my eyes even more to the racism that is in soccer around that world. Furthermore, I view Dr. Cho as an ambassador for glocalization because he is a wonderful source of information about what the study f sport is like in other countries.

I especially liked our discussions about soccer and how it is viewed around the world. It was kind of disappointing that some people did not seem to care about soccer in the class, but I understand that is how it is going to be sometimes. With the help from Wiebe, we were able to talk about soccer overseas (along with Dr. Meek)0. He also gave us some insight on how Europeans view some American sports as well. For instance, it was sort of shocking that he had never heard of  Wayne Gretzky. Now this kind of makes sense because hockey is not a huge sport in America like football, but he is one of the most famous athletes in this country and of course Canada.

Overall this has been one of my favorite classes that I have taken here at BG and I hope that this will continually be a class that is taught to Sport Management students.

The Gender Trap

Gender has become a very touchy and sometimes controversial topic within the world of athletics. Females are put through many gender test  to compete in high athletic events such as the Olympics. It is hard for me to talk about these issues because I just wish it was easier for men and women to deal with these issues. I'm sure that most of them wish that they could be the person they feel they are without having to go through all of these strenuous counseling sessions, and hormonal therapy. Also, I feel bad for the athletes that have to go through hormone therapy because then they have to wait two years until they can compete on any level. This makes the decision to come out with these issues even more strenuous because if the person is planning on competing in the Olympics, they have to plan out when they complete the therapy so they have enough time to compete and train. If an athlete waits too long to publicly confront these issues they run the risk of being too old to compete, but they also have to be ready for  all of the issues and possible media attention. I feel bad for these athletes because they must go through such a hard time and some people are not open to these issues.