“Your voice is power!” Examining Motivations and Opportunity Structures for High School Athlete Activism in U.S. Interscholastic Sport
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2025
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Source Publication
Sport Management Review
Source ISSN
1441-3523
Original Item ID
DOI: 10.1080/14413523.2024.2436707
Abstract
Whereas scholars have established increasing insights into professional and collegiate athlete activism, high school athletics within the United States has rarely been examined as a site for activism. Utilizing an interpretive approach and informed by critical positive youth development theory and sociopolitical development theory, we conducted semistructured interviews with twelve high school athlete activists in interscholastic sport to understand what motivates high school athletes to engage in activism and what structures facilitate their engagement in activist efforts. Primary motivations for pursuing activism included lived experience with exclusion, a sense of responsibility to advocate for change, and national momentum for justice movements. Among the opportunity structures identified were educational (curricular and extracurricular) influences, involvement in interscholastic sport itself, relational support, and support from the broader community. We close by discussing managerial implications to empower those managing high school sport to create spaces where youth athletes can thrive as activists.
Recommended Citation
Kluch, Yannick; Feder, Lillian B.; Newman, Tarkington J.; Scheadler, Travis R.; Martin, Eric M.; and MacIntosh, Andrew, "“Your voice is power!” Examining Motivations and Opportunity Structures for High School Athlete Activism in U.S. Interscholastic Sport" (2025). College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications. 636.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/636
Comments
Sport Management Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (April 2025): 303-327. DOI.