You Are What You Play: Employing the Socioecological Model (SEM) to Understand Athlete
Motivations and Outcomes for Sport Participation
According to SEM (Bronfenbrenner 1979), how students participate in sport differs based on four levels of
factors. What sport you play and how you play is based on who you are (intrapersonal), your external environment
(interpersonal, institutional, and environmental) and the feedback you receive from the things/people around you.
Before we use this model to explore other athletes, I want us to use the model to analyze ourselves. Please complete
the following based on the sports you played in high school. If you did not play a sport, think about how these factors
contributed to you not playing.
Sport(s) Played: Football and Soccer Intrapersonal • Personality • Parents’ Athletic Background • Parents’ Education • Athletic Ability • Academic Aspiration • Career Aspiration • Health
• Very competitive in sports, always want to be the best.
• Dad played soccer in high school & mom played volleyball in high school/college.
• Both parents have BA’s in Criminal Justice (Dad from Texas A&M; Mom from Florida St.)
• Due to an ACL tear my junior year in HS, I joined sports medicine to stay involved in sports.
• Academic: I plan on graduating with a Bachelor’s in Sports Admin and then go to Rice to get a
Master’s.
• Career: I plan on wanting to work as an athletic director of a high school or university after
graduating.
Interpersonal • Family Dynamics • Team Dynamics • School Dynamics • Coach Support/Role
• Family Dynamics: I come from a military family (Parents were marines, brother is enlisted in the Navy) so striving to give 100% and be the best I can has always been implemented in my family. “Failure is not an option”
• Team motto in HS: “do your job.” “Always have your brother’s back.” The guys I played sports with in HS were always supportive and always had each other’s back.
• School Dynamics: I went to Memorial HS (Houston) where we competed every year in baseball and tennis and soccer, so if you were picked to be on the team, you had to live up to the motto of “always strive to be excellent”
• Coaches: Coaches were always seen as parents away from home. They would always get on me when I messed up, but did it in a where they supported us and wanted us to be at the best of our ability.
Institutional School • Eligibility Rules • Resources (tutors, health insurance,
funding) Community
• Eligibility rules: UIL official rules in Texas, “No Pass, No Play” so even with the pressure to be the best in my respected sport, I had to be the best academically as well.
You Are What You Play: Employing the Socioecological Model (SEM) to Understand Athlete
Motivations and Outcomes for Sport Participation
According to SEM (Bronfenbrenner 1979), how students participate in sport differs based on four levels of
factors. What sport you play and how you play is based on who you are (intrapersonal), your external environment
(interpersonal, institutional, and environmental) and the feedback you receive from the things/people around you.
Before we use this model to explore other athletes, I want us to use the model to analyze ourselves. Please complete
the following based on the sports you played in high school. If you did not play a sport, think about how these factors
contributed to you not playing.
• Structural (Playgrounds, Churches) • Employment Opportunities • Cultural (Adult and Peer Influences)
• Resources: Going to Memorial had a lot of sponsors. Our school was always renovating fields, locker rooms, etc.
• Structures: We had our own Freshman, JV football field and track on campus. Many track events and playoff games for baseball and softball were always held at Memorial due to constant renovation.
• Employee: Our sports teams that had new coaches would have to go through the system of “starting at the bottom and working your way up.” Meaning new coaches would coach Freshman/sophomore teams with the coaches who have been there for 10+ years coaching JV and Varsity.
• Culture: The saying “football is religion,” definitely was felt at memorial. Since we competed with schools like Katy, Cinco Ranch, & Strake Jesuit, stadiums were always packed on Friday/Saturday nights.
Environmental • Professional Athlete Role Models • Popular culture (music and fashion) • Crime/Legal System • Racial/Gener/Class Ideologies
• Professional Role Models: Soccer: Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Landon Donovan. Football: Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, Peyton Manning.
• Popular Culture: clothing was always the same. Nike Shoes/shorts with college (places I wanted to go to; UH, A&M, Michigan, etc.) T- Shirts. Music Culture differed in sports. In football it was definitely more towards heavy rock and roll (AC/DC, Drowning Pool, Iron Maiden, etc.) Whereas with Soccer it was more of the rap scene (J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, etc.)
• Crime and Legal Scene: Living in the memorial area, we were heavily surrounded by police stations (Spring Valley PD, Piney Point PD, etc.) so crime was very limited due to constant surveillance.
• Racial/Gender ideologies: Living in a rich area, many of the kids whos parents would donate to the school were first picked for spots on teams, where those who could not donate
You Are What You Play: Employing the Socioecological Model (SEM) to Understand Athlete
Motivations and Outcomes for Sport Participation
According to SEM (Bronfenbrenner 1979), how students participate in sport differs based on four levels of
factors. What sport you play and how you play is based on who you are (intrapersonal), your external environment
(interpersonal, institutional, and environmental) and the feedback you receive from the things/people around you.
Before we use this model to explore other athletes, I want us to use the model to analyze ourselves. Please complete
the following based on the sports you played in high school. If you did not play a sport, think about how these factors
contributed to you not playing.
(middle-class) had to work extra hard and prove that they belonged on the same field (I was one of those kids.) Since women teams always competed in state, they got the same level of interest, but only during playoffs, whereas every male sporting event was sold out during the regular season, whereas women regular season games only saw parents and close friends of those on the team.
