Uncovering the discourse of Canadian athletes in the American post-secondary system

Ferreira, Matthew (2020) Uncovering the discourse of Canadian athletes in the American post-secondary system. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (698kB)

Abstract

The fields and training facilities may exist in Canada, but the chase for an athletic scholarship leads many of our young athletes on a path to the United States. Many Canadians who embark on this migration go on to have successful careers in athletics. Others do not experience similar success and they return home before they had expected. There are many reasons why this might happen. These reasons, which are to be teased out of individuals’ accounts of their experiences, are the topic of this study. In examining why Canadian student-athletes return home earlier than expected from the United States without completing their education, the individual experiences of the athletes are key to understanding their story. In examining the interviews conducted as part of this study, each athlete was treated as an individual case study. The purpose of this study is to analyze the experiences of Canadian student athletes who earned a scholarship to a U.S. institution to play collegiate sports but returned to Canada without completing their intended program of study. This raises the question of why their plans were not realized. Specifically, I was interested in understanding their individual decisions to terminate their studies and intercollegiate athletic careers in the United States. Key findings include the potential of being unprepared for the transition to become self-dependent, relationships with coaches and teammates as well as the expectations student-athletes had about what their experience would likely be as opposed to the reality that they encountered. This study seeks to understand how and why these initially unanticipated outcomes came to pass.

Actions (login required)

View Item