LIVING THROUGH MOVEMENT: THE CULTURAL EXPERIENCE OF VARSITY STUDENT-ATHLETES

Abstract

This study examines the cultural life of athletic movement among varsity student-athletes in Philippine public higher education, with particular focus on how movement is experienced, interpreted, shaped, and performed within institutional sport environments. Guided by an integrated theoretical lens drawing from embodiment theory, Bourdieu’s theory of practice (habitus), and cultural sport studies, the research conceptualizes athletic movement as a lived, socially produced, and culturally meaningful practice rather than a purely technical or biomechanical act. Using an interpretive qualitative design, data were generated through semi-structured, in-depth interviews and contextual observations with officially recognized varsity student-athletes (n = 10). Thematic analysis revealed that student-athletes experience movement in daily training and competition as (1) an embodied routine developed through repetition and bodily adaptation, (2) a disciplined bodily practice regulated by coaching demands and institutional expectations, and (3) a heightened competitive experience intensified by affect, pressure, and public performance. Student-athletes attached meanings to movement as (1) discipline and self-control, (2) identity and self-definition, (3) responsibility and institutional representation, and (4) personal growth and resilience. Moreover, athletic movement was understood as a form of institutional representation characterized by carrying the institution’s name, collective responsibility, public visibility and scrutiny, institutional pride, and moral role modeling that extends beyond competition into everyday campus life. Overall, the findings demonstrate that athletic movement in state college sport operates simultaneously as embodied experience, habituated practice, and cultural performance shaped by institutional structures and public meaning.