Notes on Option 2 – Sports & Physical Activity in Australian Society

Resource Description

Option 2: Sport and Physical Activity in Australian Society

CQ1: How have meaning about sport and physical activity changed over time?

• Links with Manliness, Patriotism and Character
• The Meaning of Amateur and Professional
• Women’s Historical Participation in Sport
• Compare the Nature of sport in the 19th century with sport in Today’s society. Consider questions such as;
• The Development of Professional Sport
• Sport as a Big Business
• Sponsorship, advertising and sport
• The economics of hosting major sporting events
• Consequences for spectators and participants
• Analyse the consequences for various sports as they have adopted a business focus

CQ2: What is the relationship between sport and national and cultural identity?

• National and Regional Identity through sporting Achievements
• Government Funding e.g. the Australian Institute of Sport
• Politics and Sports
• Critically examine how sport has been used to promote the Australian national and regional identity e.g. Olympic coverage, State of Origin
• Identify Instances when Australia has used sport for political purposes and evaluate the impact of this on the athletes and the Australian public e.g. Moscow Olympics, apartheid boycotts
• Traditional activies and sports
• Links between community and Identity
• Investigate how Physical activity and sport have influences the lives and identity of Indigenous Australians
• The Role of Competition
• Links to cultural Identity
• Relationships to Health
• Ways of thinking about the body
• Research physical activies or sports to determine their cultural significance for particular groups

CQ3: How does the Mass Media contribute to people’s understanding, values and beliefs about sport

• The Representation of sport in the media
• Economic considerations of media coverage and sport
• Think critically about the impact of the mass media on sport by investigating questions such as
• Differences in coverage for difference sports across various print and electronic media
• The emergence of extreme sports as entertainment e.g. big wave surfing
• Analyse the media’s role in giving meanings to sport by considering questions such as
• Sport and the construction of masculinity and femininity
• Implications for participation
• Sponsorship, policy and resourcing
• The role of the media in constructing meanings around femininity and masculinity in sport
• Apply an understanding about the social construction of gender to explore the ways in which sport reinforces or challenges traditional narrow understandings of gender
• Critically analyse the participation rates of males and females in a range of sports and offer explanations for differences. Consider how some forms of activity have come to be traditionally associated with each gender
• Challenge to the male domain e.g. women in traditional male sports
• Examine the debate that surrounds the entry of women into traditional male sports e.g. boxing and rugby. Compare this with the entry of men into traditional female sports e.g. netball