Drs. Mary Jo Kane and Nicole M. LaVoi, School of Kinesiology, and director and associate director, respectively, of the Tucker Center, have an article forthcoming in the Journal of Sport Management with co-author and Tucker Center Affiliated Scholar Janet Fink, University of Massachusetts—Amherst. "The Freedom to Choose: Elite Female Athletes' Preferred Representations Within Endorsement Opportunities" examined the choices Division I scholarship athletes made regarding how they would like to be portrayed if given the same amount of financial reward and recognition within marketing campaigns. Findings revealed that the overwhelming majority of sportswomen picked images of on-court athletic competence though 30% preferred to be portrayed in a dual fashion, meaning representations of competence and traditional femininity.

Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi, teaching faculty in the School of Kinesiology and associate director of the Tucker Center, is quoted on youth sports in "Rethinking Youth Sports: Businessman David Baird Tries a Different Kind of Hockey Camp," a MinnPost profile of David Baird, a businessman and founder of The Difference, an organization that fosters leadership development through hockey.

The CEHD Vision 2020 Blog recently featured the School of Kinesiology in two pieces.

Dr. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, associate professor of kinesiology, contributed to an article, "5 Tips to Ensure Children Have a Quality Youth Sports Experience." In the feature, Wiese-Bjornstal explains that both parents and coaches have a great impact on youth sport and must be competent, mindful, and motivational. Some tips she shares with sport parents are to, comment on great plays, encourage many different sports, do not coach from the sideline, and to cheer for good plays on both teams.

The blog also contains a preview of the annual Gopher Adventure Race (GAR) in, "Get Outdoors Day: 4th Annual Gopher Adventure Race Preview." The GAR is organized and managed by the Recreation, Park and Leisure Studies Program and brings together 200 participants who take on physical and mental challenges across campus. Not only is the GAR a fun and competitive event but it also allows students to plan, implement, and gain valuable work experience. The article notes on the importance of outdoor recreation explaining that many benefits including better health, a spark in creativity, greater emotional connections, and wonderful memories happen that occur outdoors.

Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi, teaching faculty in the School of Kinesiology and associate director of the Tucker Center, will give a keynote at the Alliance of Women Coaches (AWC) Huddle in Boston, Mass., on Thursday, June 13. Her keynote, "Out with Burnout," will address how coaches can help stave off burnout and stay fully engaged in their coaching careers.

The Huddle is the premiere event for female coaches in the United States. LaVoi serves on the National Advisory Board for the AWC.

Dr. Beth Lewis, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology, was recently quoted in Health Talk, a blog from the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center (AHC). The blog entry, "Twin Cities: Fittest cities in the USA," discussed the implications of Minneapolis-St. Paul being named the fittest city in the U.S.

Lewis' research focuses on various motivational strategies to make physical activity a part of everyday life. In the blog, Lewis stresses the importance of routine. "It doesn't have to be going to the gym," she said. "But, it should be added to the calendar like any other appointment. "

Dr. Zan Gao, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology, presented two research projects at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) 60th Annual Meeting and 4th World Congress on Exercise is Medicine in Indianapolis, Ind., May 28 - June 1.

Gao's first presentation was titled, "Using the Transtheoretical Model to examine the effects of exergaming on physical activity among children." This project was presented with associate professor in the School of Kinesiology Dr. Beth Lewis, and Dr. Maria Kosma from Louisiana State University (LSU). His second project compared physical activity levels in young children during physical education, recess, and exergaming. In addition, Dr. Gao co-presented another project titled, "The influence of health-related physical fitness model on children's physical activity levels and motivation," with his graduate student You Fu.

Dr. Zan Gao, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology, published a research article on exergaming titled, "Associations between students' situational interest, mastery experiences, and physical activity levels in an interactive dance game." This article was published in Psychology, Health and Medicine, with lead author Chaoqun Huang, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Wayland Baptist University.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of previous experiences on students' situational interest and physical activity levels, as well as the relationships between situational interest and physical activity levels in Dance Dance Revolution. The findings suggested that students would have higher physical activity levels if the activity provides new information.

Maureen Weiss, professor of kinesiology, recently gave an invited lecture and participated in a research seminar with faculty and students in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The presentation titled, "Sport as a social context for promoting youth development," was the focus of the developmental psychology scholarly lecture series and invoked interest from individuals pursuing research on and outreach with after-school programming.

Dr. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, associate professor of kinesiology, gave an invited talk on the "Psychological Aspects of Returning to Sport Following Injury" at the Current Concepts in Sports Medicine spring conference sponsored by Fairview Sports and Orthopedic Care, held in Edina, Minn., on May 18, 2013. This year's conference had national and regional experts come together to discuss and lecture on injuries of the overhead athlete.

Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi, teaching faculty in the School of Kinesiology and associate director of the Tucker Center, discussed the lack of female athletes in sport media on Dr. David Leonard (Professor of Culture, Gender & Race at Washington State University) and Tara Conley (Founder of Media Make Change; Ph.D Student at the Teacher's College of Columbia University).