PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine the demographic make‐up of volunteers and their motives for participating in a professional tennis event.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a cross‐sectional descriptive study to investigate the primary motivation of volunteers from a US Open Series professional tennis event. A MANOVA was also conducted to compare the volunteer motivation factors (purposive, egoistic, leisure, material, external) by demographic factors (gender and age).FindingsVolunteers' demographics closely resemble the tennis participation population and are similar to other tournament volunteers in the sport of golf. Volunteers were strongly motivated by material and purposive factors. Gender and age had no significant effect on the motivation to volunteer.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample being from a single event can limit the generalizations, but the work can serve as a framework for more extensive studies, including focusing on a women's event to examine the differences in motivation.Practical implicationsImplications of the results are provided in an effort to assist sport managers to design quality volunteer experiences that enhance the overall experience, supporting episodic volunteers' work ethic, and management of the event. There is clear evidence that volunteer satisfaction is higher when their motives are met. It is intended that this research will offer more support for event organizers based on the growing usage of volunteers and concerns in the sport industry.Originality/valueThis study is the only one that examines tennis volunteers in general as well as exploring the effect of the dependent variables of gender and age on motivation.

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The NCAA Growth, Opportunities, Aspirations and Learning of Students in College data were used to explore the relationship between self-reported high levels of difficulties thinking or concentrating and grade point average (GPA) in college student-athletes. We specifically investigated the mediators of the relationship between self-reported high levels of difficulties thinking or concentrating and GPA. Results revealed there was a significant indirect effect between self-reporting the highest level of difficulties thinking or concentrating and service use through GPA, moderated by identity, full model: F(4, 14738) = 184.28, p < .001; R2 = .22. The athletic/academic identity variable acted as a moderator of the mediating effect of GPA on the relationship between self-reported high levels of difficulties thinking or concentrating and the use of academic resources on campus. If a student-athlete who is self-reporting high levels of difficulties thinking or concentrating identifies more as a student, GPA is likely to prompt academic service use. However, if the student-athlete identifies more as an athlete, GPA is less likely to lead to use of campus academic support resources.

Sport management programs continue to focus on developing innovative pedagogical strategies to prepare students to enter and successfully navigate the rapidly evolving, highly competitive sport industry. One effective tactic is to integrate experiential learning projects into the classroom. This paper describes a collaborative three-year partnership involving a sport management program, athletic department, and corporate sponsor. The relationship provided scholarships for the program, internship opportunities, research funding, and an experiential learning project. Specifically, the lead author applied the metadiscrete experiential learning model developed by Southall, Nagel, LeGrande, and Han (2003) to a client based sponsorship activation project for an upper-level sport marketing course. The paper offers a blueprint and specific recommendations for faculty who wish to develop a client-based collaborative effort that can provide a hands-on learning experience for students and generate programmatic resources, research possibilities, student scholarships, and funding opportunities for an academic program. Such projects can further prepare students as well as enhance the fit between sport management programs and the sport industry.

Exercise psychology encompasses the disciplines of psychiatry, clinical and counseling psychology, health promotion, and the movement sciences. This emerging field involves diverse mental health issues, theories, and general information related to physical activity and exercise. Numerous research investigations across the past 20 years have shown both physical and psychological benefits from physical activity and exercise. Exercise psychology offers many opportunities for growth while positively influencing the mental and physical health of individuals, communities, and society. However, the exercise psychology literature has not addressed ethical issues or dilemmas faced by mental health professionals providing exercise psychology services. This initial discussion of ethical issues in exercise psychology is an important step in continuing to move the field forward. Specifically, this article will address the emergence of exercise psychology and current health behaviors and offer an overview of ethics and ethical issues, education/training and professional competency, cultural and ethnic diversity, multiple-role relationships and conflicts of interest, dependency issues, confidentiality and recording keeping, and advertisement and self-promotion.