Dads Matter: A Phenomenological Exploration of Fathers' Influence on Collegiate Female Athletes' Sport Experience

Female sport history, stereotypes of female athletes, and the socialization of females in sport that currently influence female athletes cannot be disregarded when attempting to understand the psychology of the female sport participant (Brustad, 2002). Additionally, reciprocal relationships between men's and women's lives need to be examined in sport studies and in all fields, even though few have been conducted (McKay, Messner, & Sabo, 2000). Furthermore, little empirical research has been done on the father-daughter relationship, and, in particular, its influence on girls' and women's experiences in sport. Therefore, the purpose of this project was aimed at exploring female collegiate athletes' experience of their fathers' involvement in their athletic careers. To accomplish this purpose, eight NCAA Division I female collegiate athletes were engaged in a phenomenological dialogue in which they were given the freedom to unravel the meaning of their experience in their own words (Valle & Halling, 1989). The interview transcripts were analyzed, allowing meaning units and themes to emerge from the quotes. The final thematic structure suggests that these female athletes' fathers' involvement in their athletic career encompasses the following: Social Support through the Sport Process, Father as Coach, Mom as Emotional Connection, Relationship Revolves around Sport, and Dad as Motivator. A narrative told by Ruth, a composite figure that represents the co-participants in this study, gives a sense of the whole of the phenomenon of fathers' involvement in female athletes' sport experience. The interviews revealed that sport can provide fathers with a means of getting involved in and forming a relationship with their daughters, a relationship that their daughters long to have. Moreover, the father-daughter "sport relationship" would be more powerful if it were paired with a strong emotional connection outside of athletics that these female athletes said was missing in their relationship with their dads.