Place Meaning at the 2017 Canadian Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics

• Author / Creator

  Abdykadyrova, Aisulu

• Space is a defining element of sport (Bale & Vertinsky, 2004). Variations in regulations related to distance, area, location and movement help to distinguish one sport from another. As sporting spaces become infused with meaning they become “places” (Lewicka, 2011). The ways that sport events are produced and consumed, therefore, influences the way participants understand the site of the competition or its “place meaning” (Bale 1994, 2003; Higham & Hinch, 2009; Standeven & De Knop, 1998). It is logical to assume, however, that these meanings may vary between the stakeholder groups depending on the nature of their experience at the event (Hinch, Holt, & Sant, 2015). Such variation would seem to be likely in the case of small-scale elite youth-based sports such as Rhythmic Gymnastics (RG) which features a range of stakeholder groups including: athletes, their parents, and the event organizers. Elite RG athletes tend to be young women who typically begin to compete in national tournaments by the time they are 10 years old (Gymnastics Canada, 2016). Thus, the active support of their parents is critical to their participation (Holt & Knight, 2014). While these young athletes and their parents may form unique connections to competition spaces, venues and host cities, little is known about the meanings that they attach to these sites (Culter & Carmichael, 2010). Nevertheless, organizers of these types of events consciously try to shape the nature of the competitors’ and supporters’ experience so that they leave with a positive opinion of these events and the communities in which they were hosted.
  The purpose of this study is to develop understandings of the place meanings that gymnasts, their parents, and event organizers develop in the context of the 2017 Canadian Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics (2017CCRG). A qualitative interpretative case study methodology was employed. Manuscript one explores the place meaning that rhythmic gymnasts formed for the host competition space. Twelve elite rhythmic gymnasts who participated at the 2017CCRG were interviewed using semi-structured face-to-face and email formats. Place-based themes were identified through categorical aggregation data analysis. The themes that emerged from the analysis included place as function, performance, emotion, and connection. These themes were broadly consistent with Eichberg’s (1988) trialectic model of body culture – competition spaces as places of achievement, discipline, and experience.
  Manuscript two explores the place meaning that the parents accompanying participating rhythmic gymnasts had for the host competition space, venue, and host city at the 2017CCRG. Fifteen parents of elite rhythmic gymnasts were interviewed using a semi-structured face-to-face data collection format during the event. Findings revealed that they saw the competition space as a place of emotion, connection, performance, and function. The venue was considered a place of supportive function and leisure while the host city was characterized as a place of competitive sport, tourism, and hospitality. More generally, the findings indicated that parents formed understandings of place based on their daughters’ performance at the competition space.
  The third manuscript uses Morgan’s (2007) model of the experience space as a framework for understanding the co-creation of place meaning at the 2017CCRG. The efforts of event organizers (experience managers and marketers) to shape place experiences at the event was considered in conjunction with the visitors’ motivations and their interpretation of meanings inclusive of the social and cultural interactions at the event. Five event organizers, twelve competing rhythmic gymnasts, and fifteen parents were interviewed using semi-structured face-to-face and e-mail formats. Five place-based themes emerged as a result of the categorical aggregation data analysis: function, tourist activities, community, performance, and emotion. These findings demonstrated the general relevance of the Morgan’s (2007) model of experience space in the context of co-creation of place meaning at this event. However, some modifications were introduced to the model based on this analysis of a small-scale elite youth-sport event. While the revised model retains the social identity component of the original, it was modified to combine the achievement, hedonic pleasures and personal meanings components under the label of emotion, and it introduced a new ‘performance’ component. In conclusion, the 2017CCRG was not just a site of competition; it was a meaningful place for athletes, parents, and organizers.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • sport event
  • place meaning
  • Place
  • youth
  • rhythmic gymnastics.

• Graduation date

  Spring 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-f618-8c71

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.