Millicent Kennelly

A Qualitative Exploration of Participant Motives Among Committed Amateur Triathletes

This study explored motivations of amateur triathletes using an interpretive approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 triathletes in two Australian east coast states. Data were interpreted through the theoretical lenses of self-determination theory and flow. Nine motivation themes emerged. The triathletes were motivated to participate in triathlon partly for intrinsic reasons, though extrinsic motives were also extensively prevalent. Different motivations were found to be cyclical in directing behavior contingent upon individual goals, event schedules, and personal circumstances. There is a need for further inquiry into endurance sport participants’ endorsement of intrinsic versus extrinsic motives.

Constraint negotiation in serious leisure: a study of amateur triathletes

Abstract This paper explores strategies employed by amateur triathletes engaged in serious leisure to negotiate leisure constraints. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 Australian triathletes, revealing a range of negotiation strategies used to adapt to or alleviate constraints. In particular, triathletes accepted the likelihood of opportunity costs, were pragmatic about their performance and used a self-determined hierarchy of importance to make leisure/non-leisure decisions. They engaged in planning and time management, endeavored to communicate and cooperate with significant others, were opportunistic and flexible with training, and employed discipline props to maintain participation. Their participation was cyclical in nature, with periods of intense involvement before events. Cognitive and behavioral negotiation strategies were interconnected, suggesting implications for physical activity programs and interventions.

Costs and perseverance in serious leisure careers

Few studies have explored the impacts of costs on serious leisure careers. This article presents a case study of amateur athletes encountering a significant cost—cancellation of the 2012 Ironman New Zealand triathlon—and how they persevered despite this cost. Through a phenomenological research design incorporating qualitative interviews with 14 amateur triathletes, grounded theory analysis revealed that despite encountering a significant cost, athletes remained committed to their serious leisure careers. Athletes acknowledged and accepted the inherent risk of cancellation associated with outdoor sports events. Their experiences stimulated deployment of cognitive and behavioral strategies aimed at rationalizing or mitigating risk. This article contributes three theoretical propositions regarding costs encountered by serious leisure amateurs, how they persevere around costs, and concomitant impacts on serious leisure career trajectories.

I Can't do Everything! Competing Priorities as Constraints in Triathlon Event Travel Careers

The term “event travel career” describes how highly involved and/or committed persons pursue a career of travel to organized events linked to their preferred leisure activity. The introduction of this significant, discretionary social role may lead to individuals experiencing dilemmas in prioritizing between day-to-day needs and desires and those of their event travel career. This article discusses how the concepts of competing priorities and opportunity costs are useful in understanding constraints faced by serious leisurists pursuing an event travel career. The sport of triathlon was chosen as a context in which to examine these concepts. A textual analysis of postings to an Australian online forum for triathletes was undertaken over 4 weeks. The data supported the contention that persons who train for and travel to triathlon events face significant resource-related constraints in the form of competing priorities. Three domains where the triathletes encountered competing priorities in their lives were identified: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural. In terms of negotiating constraints presented by their competing priorities, the triathletes appeared willing to accept a range of opportunity costs in order to maintain momentum in their event travel career. This study contributes to enhancing knowledge regarding constraints faced by serious leisurists in a tourism context, and also in understanding the broader implications of constraints negotiation at the individual level.

Introduction to the Special Issue Active Sport Tourism

When scholarly and industry interest turned to sport tourism in the 1990s, there was some consensus on the existence of two types of tourism associated with sport: active and passive (Standeven & De Knop, 1999). Active sport tourism was associated with participating in sport while on holiday/vacation. It encompassed golf and skiing, as well as other forms of ‘taking part’, including participating in organized running and cycling events, and physical activities that crossed into adventure tourism such as hiking and canoeing. Passive or event sport tourism, on the other hand, referred to tourism associated with spectating at sport events from the Olympic Games, through to regular season football matches. The key difference between the two forms of tourism was in the behavior of physically taking part as an ‘athlete’ or watching as a ‘fan’. Standeven and De Knop (1999) included visiting sports museums and halls of fame as passive forms of sport tourism, whereas earlier Redmond (1991) had suggested these constituted a third form of sport tourism, that of nostalgia. Gibson (1998a) agreed in light of the growing popularity of sports-related attractions, including the sports theming of destination restaurants such as those dedicated to ESPN or cruise lines hosting voyages to attract sports fans. Through the 1990s and early 2000s academic discussions continued on the nature and definition of sport tourism. Since these early days of sport tourism research the body of work has grown from around 50 (CABI circa 1996) to 951 results on CABI (27 March 2018), with Google Scholar yielding 1,600,000 results (27 March 2018). Early works on active sport tourism were largely focused on the general ‘sport lover’ who chose to participate in sport while on vacation (e.g. De Knop, 1990; Gibson & Yiannakis, 1994; Glyptis & Jackson, 1993), or who undertook travel associated with sports such as golf (Priestley, 1995) or SCUBA diving (Tabata, 1992). At the same time, tourism researchers (e.g. Bojanic & Warnick, 1995; Richards, 1996; Williams & Lattey, 1994) were examining skiing, but without formal connection to the growing focus on sport tourism as a distinct form of tourism. Nogawa, Yamguchi, and Hagi (1996) were the first to specifically differentiate between active sport tourists who traveled to take part in organized sport events, compared with ‘self-organized’ tourists (i.e. skiers and golfers). In these early studies, researchers used a range of concepts to examine active sport tourism, including constraints (Williams & Lattey, 1994), skilled consumption (Richards, 1996), and life span (Gibson & Yiannakis, 1994). However, despite attempts to understand the behavior and preferences of active sport tourists, the level of explanation was rudimentary. This led to calls for more theoretically informed work if sport tourism was to mature as an area of scholarly endeavor (Gibson, 2004; Weed, 2005). Specifically, Weed (2005) questioned the need for ongoing foundational work to legitimatize the academic study of sport tourism, calling for scholars to more carefully consider how their work contributes to a coherent body of knowledge. Meanwhile, Gibson shared Weed’s call for addressing ‘why?’ questions over the ‘what’ of sport tourism. For Gibson (2004), the path to correcting this conundrum was for scholars to broaden their theoretical horizons:

Leveraging ambitions and barriers: Glasgow universities and the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate why and how universities in the Glasgow region sought to leverage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to achieve their own benefits. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth qualitative case study, utilising documentary evidence and in-depth interviews, was employed to examine how Glasgow universities leveraged the Games, and the outcomes they sought. Findings Universities sought to leverage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to garner a range of benefits, including increased brand awareness, student and staff development opportunities, new or improved infrastructure, and strengthened stakeholder relationships. Leveraging strategies included developing relationships with other Games’ stakeholders to establish and participate in collaborations, committees, and research consortia, hosting ancillary events, and hosting teams on training camps. However, data revealed substantial barriers to effective leveraging, such as insufficient resourcing and lack of leadership, and consequently several interviewees conveyed a sense of missed opportunities. Practical implications The results can inform universities located in host regions about the opportunities and challenges to strategically leveraging an event. Also, if event organisations understand the leveraging ambitions of event stakeholders, such as universities, they can better facilitate and manage their relationships with such stakeholders to maximise event benefits in the host region. Originality/value This research considers the leveraging activities of a previously un-researched event stakeholder group (universities) that have the potential to deliver benefits that reach students, staff, and industry interest groups in event host communities. The knowledge contributed could aid universities in future event host regions to strategically leverage to maximise the benefits of major sport events.