I need to help make my research proposal research ready.. I will be collecting my own data and I have to propose to my commute and IRB.. I send to my advisor but it is not as ready as if should be..I will copy my paper : Understanding the Motivations Behind Allegiance Switching Among Track and Field Athletes in Antigua and Barbuda
Athlete migration and nationality switching are becoming more prevalent in international sports. These shifts reflect both individual ambition and inequalities in global athletic systems. In the Caribbean, this phenomenon is noticeable, driven by limited resources, underfunded programs, and the lasting impact of colonialism that continues to shape movement and opportunity. Antigua and Barbuda, a twin-island nation with a population of about 105,200 (Antigua and Barbuda | History, Geography, & Facts | Britannica, 2025) has seen two of its most promising athletes, Miguel Francis and Rai Benjamin, make a difficult decision to compete under different flags. The discussion of these transitions primarily focuses on the accessibility of superior facilities and the potential for enhanced success. However, there is often a lack of emphasis on the emotional implications of these decisions for athletes and how they experience changes in their sense of identity.
Globally, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved many nationality changes throughout the years. In 2024 alone, they accepted eleven (11) new applications (IOC Executive Board Approves 11 Athletes’ Changes of Sporting Nationality for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, 2024). Even though this issue is growing, most studies focus on athletes from big countries, ignoring smaller nations like Antigua and Barbuda. Additionally, general migration patterns are outlined, overlooking the nuanced stories of athletes. This study is designed to address a significant gap in current research by emphasizing the perspectives of underrepresented regions, such as Antigua and Barbuda. The objective is to gain a deeper understanding of the motivations and internal experiences that influence allegiance-switching at the elite level. To better understand the term “elite” according the oxford reference, is someone who has reached the highest level of performance in a particular sport (Elite Athlete, n.d.)
Problem Statement
There is a lack of research on the experiences of athletes from small islands who change national teams. In Antigua and Barbuda, athletes receive little support, and their stories are rarely heard. This limits our understanding of how these choices affect emotional growth, identity, and future policy.
Purpose of Study
This study aims to explore elite athletes from Antigua and Barbuda’s experience of identity changes, emotional shifts, and social pressures when switching national allegiance. By capturing their stories, this research aims to inform both academia, Caribbean research, and policy development in sports and youth within small developing states.
Significance of the Study
This research provides valuable insights into the key factors driving Caribbean athletes to change allegiances, with a sharp focus on individuals from small island nations, including Antigua and Barbuda. By highlighting their experiences, the study aims to influence national sports policy, strengthen talent retention and affirm cultural identity. Furthermore, it empowersathletes to voice their journeys and reshape the athletic framework of Antigua and Barbuda.
Review of Literature and Conceptual Framework
Allegiance switching refers to the formal process through which athletes request and obtain permission to represent a country other than the one they were originally affiliated with (World Athletics, 2022). While these regulations address eligibility, they often overlook the deeper psychological, cultural and structural dynamics that inform the athletes decisions to switch. Therefore, understanding allegiance switching among athlete from small islands like Antigua and Barbuda requires a multidimensional lens that combines structural analysis with psychosocial and identity-based frameworks.
Global Inequality and Structural Forces
The migration of athletes across national borders reflects broader inequalities. As (Bale & Maguire, 1994) observe, sport act as a labor market in which athletes from less economically developed nations are “pulled” toward wealthier states offering superior training, infrastructure and visibility. This structural imbalance is significant to Antigua and Barbuda, despite producing talent, due to lack of facilities and funding to retain them. Athletes such as Miguel Francis and Rai Benjamin exemplify this dynamic both of which choose to represent wealthier countries, thus, highlighting the limits of local national sports programs in the Global South.
These movements can be understood through Acculturation Theory (Berry, 1997), which explains how individual psychologically and behaviorally adapt to new culture environments. Athletes relocating for better opportunities may engage in integration, blending their original and new cultures, or assimilation, adopting their new context in its entirety. However, such adaptations often come with emotional costs like homesickness, cultural displacement and identity conflict (Worthy et al., 2025). For example, an Antiguan athlete in the U.S may benefit from elite coaching but still experience alienation or cultural marginalization.
Economic incentives are also the tipping point in these decisions. As (Besnier et al., 2020) argue, material condition such as financial support, dual citizenship, access to medical care and coaching, play a decisive role in motivating athlete to switch national affiliation. This reinforces the commodification of sports under neoliberal globalization, where athletes becomes economic assets within global marketplace (Crossan, 2024). However, this commodification overlooks the identify struggles embedded within choices.
Identity, Citizenship, and Post-Colonial Migration
To contextualize these identity struggles, Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner (1979), and Psychosocial Development Theory (Erikson, 1968) offer critical insights. Social Identity Theory explains how individuals derive a sense of self through group affiliations within national, ethnic, and team based. When athletes switch national teams, they undergo identity dissonance, feeling torn between their former and current affiliations. For Rai Benjamin, born in the United States but raised in Antigua, the decision to represent the U.S was not just strategic, but posed emotional complexities, potentially disrupting his Antiguan group identity.
This disruption is amplified when athletes are in critical stages of identity formation. According to Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory, adolescence and early adulthood are vital periods for establishing a coherent identity. Changes such as switching national allegiance can destabilize this process, creating internal conflict. Miguel Francis, transitioned to representing Great Britain at a young age, may have experienced psychological stress as he navigated new national and athletic identity ((Erikson’s Stages of Development, 2025).
These identity shifts are further complicated by legal and emotional affiliations. (Oonk, 2017) concept of “thin and thick citizenship” distinguishes between legal status and a deeper emotional connection. Athletes may legally represent a nation (thin citizenship) without feeling cultural or emotional attachment (thick citizenship). This distinction helps explain why some athletes represent nations they never lived in but to which they have legal ties, often as result of post-colonial linkages. (Connor & Griffin, 2012) highlight how colonial histories and cultural familiarity ease transitions for athletes from the Caribbean to former metropoles such as Britain, Canada, and the United States. Shared language, education systems and diasporic networks function as both “push and pull factors” making it easier for athletes to migrate and integrate, yet simultaneously contributing to talent drain from their home nations. (Wise, 2024) further emphasizes that such movements are inherently scalar, shaped by layered power dynamics between places, identities and institutions.
Place, Belonging and Emotional Dislocation
Thie emotional attachment athletes feel to their homeland is integral to understanding the complexity of allegiance switching. Place Theory, as outlined by (Wise, 2024) argues that “place” holds symbolic and emotional significance foster belonging and national identity. When athletes leave these behind, they often experience symbolic detachment and emotional displacement. In Rai Benajmin’s case, although he represents the U.S. on the global stage, his formative years in Antigua continue to shape his emotional identity, complicating his sense of national loyalty.
This dislocation may also produce broader sociocultural consequences. While the migration of athletes benefits receiving nations through medals wins and enhance visibility, it simultaneously weakens the athletic and cultural capital of smaller nations. (Connor & Griffin, 2012) and (Jansen, n.d.)highlight how talent loss undermines local sports ecosystems, erodes national pride, and disrupts the development of homegrown athletes. In Antigua and Barbuda, the exits of Francis and Benjamin underscores the urgency of structural reform and investment in domestic sports programs to mitigate this ongoing talent drain.
Yet, as (Dichter & Teetzel, 2023) argue international sports bodies like IOC and World Athletics often impose rigid eligibility rules that fail to accommodate these nuanced identities. These governing structures prioritize formal legal categories over emotional and cultural affiliations deciding to switch allegiance more bureaucratic than reflective of athlete’s lived experiences.
Research Questions
It is within this context that my research seeks to investigate the following questions:
1. What factors influence Antiguan track and field athletes to switch national allegiance?2. How does athlete allegiance switching affect the development of track and field in small Caribbean nations, with a focus on Antigua and Barbuda?
Methods
This study will use a qualitative approach. This approach is best designed to explore complex personal and social topics like identity, emotional impact, and national representation. The main data collection tool will be semi-structured interviews, which allow participants to express their experiences in their own words while ensuring that key topics are consistently covered across all interviews.
Participants
Participants were selected using purposive sampling, targeting individuals with direct experiences or expert knowledge related to track and field in Antigua and Barbuda. The study will include 10 to 15 current and former elite track and field athletes, those who remained and those who switched allegiance. This sample size is used because of the small population and fewer elite athletes. To be included, participants must have had formal training, or a competitive history linked to the country. Athletes with no direct training or competition history will be excluded.
Procedures
I plan to contact the Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association during June and July to introduce the study and seek an assistant to recruit participants. If they are unresponsive, I will use social media and local clubs to connect with eligible athletes. Once the athletes have expressed interest, they will receive an informed consent form outlining the study’s purpose, confidentiality measures, risks, and rights. After they sign and return the form, we will schedule a 45 to 60-minute Zoom interview. All interviews conducted via Zoom will be recorded with participants’ permission. All data will be anonymized and stored securely.
I will apply for IRB approval before starting data collection. This includes submitting all required material, such as consent forms, interview guides, recruitment flyers, and scripts for communication with the athletics association. Participation will be voluntary. Athletes may decline to answer questions or withdraw from the study without penalty.
Measures and Materials
Data will be collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted via Zoom. The interview protocol will include open-ended questions that explore participants’ motivations for switching or staying, emotional experiences, cultural identity, and perceptions of support systems. Each interview will be audio-recorded (with consent), then transcribed verbatim. All data will be anonymized and stored on a secure, encrypted device.
Analysis
Once initial interviews are transcribed, I will analyze the data using NVivo software. I will follow Braun and Clarke’s (2013) six-phase framework for thematic analysis: (1) familiarization with the data, (2) initial coding, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) writing the report. This process will help identify meaningful patterns related to athlete motivation, identity negotiation, and systemic challenges in small island sports systems.
Positionality
My interest in this topic is rooted in both personal and professional commitment to the well-being of youth and families in Antigua and Barbuda. As someone deeply committed to nurturing young athletes through sport, I understand the vital influence national systems have in shaping their bright futures. The decisions to switch are not only practical but deeply personal. As an Antiguan athlete, I have seen how poor sports infrastructure, lack of funding, and emotional exhaustion influence athletes to leave. Changing national teams can impact one’s sense of belonging, motivation, and national pride.
Proposed Timeline
Tasks
Dates
Thesis Proposal
May 2025
IRB Submission and Approval
June 2025
Recruitment of Participants
June – August 2025
Data Collection and Analysis
Sept – Oct 2025
Results and Discussion
Nov- Dec 2025
Thesis Defense
May 2026
References
Bale, J., & Maguire, J. (1994). The Global Sports Arena: Athletic Talent Migration in an Interdependent World. Frank Cass.
Besnier, N., Calabrò, D. G., & Guinness, D. (2020). Sport, Migration, and Gender in the Neoliberal Age. Routledge.
Connor, J., & Griffin, A. (2012). The Muscle Trade: International track and field athlete mobility, colonialism and development.
Crossan, W. (2024). Czech Sport Migration: Push and Pull Variations Between Sports and Cultures. Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press.
Dichter, H. L., & Teetzel, S. (2023). The Olympic Winter Games at 100: Challenges, Complexities, and Legacies (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032623207
Elite athlete. (n.d.). Oxford Reference. https://doi.org/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095747427
Erikson’s Stages of Development. (2025, April 18). https://www.simplypsychology.org/erik-erikson.html
IOC Executive Board approves 11 athletes’ changes of sporting nationality for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. (2024, June 13). Olympics.Com. https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-executive-board-approves-11-athletes-changes-of-sporting-nationality-for-the-olympic-games-paris-2024
Jansen, J. (n.d.). Who Can Represent the Nation?
Oonk, G. (2017). Who Belongs to the Nation? Sport, Nationality and Identity: a Global Continuum of Thin and Thick Citizenship Cases.
Wise, N. (2024). Geography, migration and sport. In Handbook on Sport and Migration (pp. 11–21). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781789909418/book-part-9781789909418-8.xml
World Athletics. (2022). TRANSFER OF ALLEGIANCE REGULATIONS.
Worthy, L. D., Lavigne, T., & Romero, F. (2025). Berry’s Model of Acculturation. https://open.maricopa.edu/culturepsychology/chapter/berrys-model-of-acculturation/