Josh Adell’s appreciation of both philosophy and the sport of volleyball led him to the research he now focuses on today. “I took a Philosophy of Games course with my advisor, Dr. Robby Finley, in which we read many texts relating to Philosophy of Sport and Philosophy of games. What drew me in were the ideas of ‘striving play’ and achievement play.’” Josh was able to connect what he was reading to what he experienced as a player on the Men’s Volleyball Club. “This feeling of validation helped spark my interest in the niche field, encouraging me to explore more, and ask more questions.”
Adell’s current project is exploring “the relationships between the motivations, identities, and behaviors of players, how they view and act on the rules and those motivations, and winning.” Using a variety of frameworks from different areas and subfields of philosophy, he will “explore the relationship between how these behaviors may or may not change at different levels of play with respect to the general expectations of said levels of play.”
“Having a faculty research advisor has made every part of the process of this research easier and simpler.” Adell says having the opportunity to work with his mentor, Robby Finley, has been important to his project. “Dr. Finley has not only assisted in refining the language or the foundation of which my interests lay, but he has also suggested many texts or philosophers that I ought to look into that might prove useful.” Additionally, Adell credits Finley with helping him through application processes, and helped him polish his ideas when he was feeling unsure about aspects of the research.
While Adell believes that everyone doing research has a different experience, he thinks “there are some core values to what makes a good research project.” He says “you must be passionate and curious about the subject you are exploring, but it is also important to be disciplined and routined.” He says that having a regularly scheduled meeting with your faculty mentor or fellow researchers can be “incredibly beneficial.” Most importantly, he says, “is that you are dedicating some time regularly to your research project.”
