Abstract
How do social factors impact sports? Participation in sports across all age groups can be beneficial, yet social factors can deter sports participation, affect training regimens, and impair performance.
The NBA, MLB, NFL and other professional leagues use sports analytics, yet the potential of professional golf analytics has yet to be tapped. Instead of using data-guided methods connecting practice to tournament performance, training regimens are often based on conventional wisdom. How can data be used to better recommend training regimens for golfers to improve performance? The research team partnered with golf analytics company, GameForge, to develop tools and methods for golf analytics to capture these markets, including the development of a data-driven training recommendation system. These tools and methods can be used to inform training decisions, particularly once more data is collected.
Women in professional sports face discrimination. How are critics of gender inequality in professional sports and their opponents competing to promote change or defend the status quo? To advocates of pay parity, the differences in pay are symptomatic of entrenched social inequities, but to their critics the disparities are seen as fair simply because they are the status quo. Participants in this debate include professional sports teams, governing and legal bodies, and athletes and fans. They are seeking influence over the issue of inequality in professional sports through litigation, online discussion and debate, and celebrity endorsement.
