On Your Marks, Set, Go: Running From Foster Care to Postsecondary Education

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Fourteen
  In Roundtable Session: Class, Inequality, Sport, and Education (Table 18)

Abstract

This narrative qualitative study examined the athletic recruitment and postsecondary experiences (i.e., college transition and navigation) of three Black male scholar-athletes with foster care backgrounds. Using Schlossberg’s transition theory, this manuscript delivers a dashing story of endurance. Findings suggest three themes: 1) their athletic recruitment process was complex and isolating; 2) their postsecondary transition and navigation was challenging; and, 3) their participation in athletics helped them divert their attention away from their adverse experiences, gain access to postsecondary education, and find family. The study offers implications for both future research and immediate practice that could enhance the scholarship and experiences of college-going Black youth with foster care backgrounds coming out of the blocks and accelerating toward postsecondary degrees.

Author

• Blayne D. Stone, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author