Private Sport Research Articles

Balancing between coordination, cooperation and competition? A mixed-method approach for assessing the role ambiguity of local sports authorities

ABSTRACTIn recent years, the subsidiarity principle has been underlined in Sport-for-All policies in countries such as Germany, Austria and Belgium. According to this organising principle, issues need to be handled by the lowest possible political and administrative level, and as close to the citizens as possible. The 2007 decree concerning Sport-for-All policies at the local level in Flanders (Belgium) clearly referred to this. It emphasised the decentralisation of the Sport for All policy, and highlighted the regulatory and coordinating role of local sports authorities. As a consequence, they may face conflicting roles of being coordinator, regulator and provider of mass sport at the local level. In this paper, a mixed-method approach is used to give a closer insight in the role perceptions of local sports authorities in Flanders, and their position towards private sport providers. The results show that local sports authorities consider the coordination and regulation of mass sport in their municipality as their primary task. Yet, it appears that private sport providers also perceive competition from local sports authorities. Moreover, a considerable number of the local sports authorities believe they can combine the roles of provider and coordinator. As there appears to be considerable goal ambiguity, it is necessary for local sports authorities to formulate clear goals. Referring to the principle of subsidiarity, it is argued that sports authorities should only intervene when (non-)profit sport providers are not able to achieve the desirable outcomes with regard to sport and the welfare agenda.

Increasing the level of certainty in medical diagnosis. Using AHP/ANP with compatibility index G in support of medical diagnosis

This paper is based on the development of a web-based tool, in support of medical decision making called medical sapiens (MS), oriented to improve diagnostic accuracy and diminishing the uncertainty of the initial diagnosis. It has been developed for four years working with several senior physicians from Medicine Faculty of Los Andes University, and is currently being installed in a public hospital and in a private sport centre in Santiago in its testing mode. The results of this work show that medical certainty grows up significantly when applying this new approach for the diagnosis issue, mainly due to its better way of coping to intrinsic complexity.

Developing young athletes: The role of private sport schools in the Norwegian sport system

The aim of the paper is to analyse the increasingly prominent role of private sports schools in the development of elite athletes in Norway. The context for the analysis is the apparent paradox between the emergence of a network of sports schools, the most successful of which are private and require that parents pay a fee, and the social democratic values of Norway. Data were collected through a series of interviews with 35 respondents from nine stakeholder groups, including athletes, coaches, parents and sport school managers. The research describes an elite sport system that is successful in producing medal-winning athletes, but which is organisationally fragmented, uncoordinated and under-funded with regard to youth talent identification and development and susceptible to tensions between key actors. The primary analytical framework is Kingdon’s multiple streams framework augmented by path dependency theory. The findings include, a picture of an elite youth sport development system in which multiple and overlapping problems have received, at best, only partial policy solutions some of which, such as the growth of private sports schools, have emerged by default. When focusing attention on the relationship between structure and agency in the policy process it is argued that the government, through its inaction, has allowed sports schools the policy space to expand. The consequence is that the government has, whether deliberately or not, enabled the strengthening of a commercial elite youth sport development system, while still preserving its egalitarian and non-interventionist credentials.

Management and marketing of private basketball clubs for children and juniors

Abstract Basketball is in the top of favourite sports. The appearance of private sport clubs on the sports market is caused by the increasingly precarious conditions in state institutions and, at the same time, by the influence of the European Community. We aim at identifying a pattern of activity meant to attract and educated children in the field of basketball through private basketball clubs by making parents aware of the beneficial effects of basketball and of being a member of a sports team. The survey was carried out in 12 private basketball clubs that carry out activities in a consequent manner (in number and in value). Private basketball club managers responded to the questions in our questionnaire showing willingness to cooperate; results show that all private basketball clubs are non-profit organisations and are involved in the competitions organised by the Romanian Federation of Basketball. Private basketball clubs represent half of the affiliated basketball clubs and dominate the competitions reserved to the different age categories, which denotes the efficiency of their activities.

The Examination of Life Satisfaction Levels of Individuals Practicing Sport at Private Sport Centers

The goal of this study was to measure and evaluate the life satisfaction levels in the individuals doing sport at private sport centers. The search group was made of 75 female, 125 male attendants randomly chosen from the members doing sport regularly at the private sport center called Maximum Fitness Center located in Konya throughout one year. In this study based on the scanning (survey) method, The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), which was developed by Diener et al. (1985), whose validity and reliability were performed by Yetim (1993), was used herein. The SPSS 16.0 statistically package program was used to evaluate the data and determine the calculated values. The data were summarized by giving the average and standart deviations. It has been determined that the data did not show a normal distribution; the Mann Whitney U Test was used during the dual league comparisons, the Kruskal Walliz H Test was used during the multiple comparisons of data. The error level was regarded as 0.05 in this study. In the results of the research, while evaluating the life satisfaction levels of the individuals doing sport at private sport centers due to the gender parameter, a statistically meaningful difference was observed in favour of married members. While a statistically meaningful difference was not found in the life satisfaction levels of the members attending in the survey in accordance with the education and age parameters, it was seen that the members with an income of 1000 TL and over had a higher life satisfaction level than the members with an income of 1000 TL and below in accordance with the income parameter.

Sport, health and the genesis of a physical activity policy in the Netherlands

Sport and physical activity have become prominent tools in governmental health policy in the Netherlands. This paper focuses on developments in dominant understandings of sport and physical activity in relation to notions of health in the field of sport policy since the 1950s. We show that ‘sport is good for health’ arguments were emphasized and mitigated by different stakeholders with diverging purposes at different moments in time, to stimulate or legitimize interference of the national government in the field of sport. By studying changes in the power balances between the state, the private sport sector and other stakeholders, we explain how, gradually, public health became a, and at times the, major legitimization for this interference. Furthermore, we demonstrate how these developments coincided with a narrowing of the vision of sport, as frequency and intensity became more important than what was actually practised. In this process, sport became blurred with other terms like physical activity and recreation, and new interest groups entered the field of sport and health. However, these developments had real consequences for the sport sector. This paper clearly illustrates the unintended and complex outcomes of a policy process with interdependent power relations and interests. Over the past decades, health-related aims gained dominance in Dutch sport policy, but certainly not in a straightforward way.

Driftsformer og idrætsfaciliteter – hvordan åbnes den “sorte boks”?

Organizational behavioural patterns of Sport FacilitiesThis article develops hypotheses on how different steering methods influence patterns of action in Sport Facilities. It is firstly argued that the sport facility run by the City Council seen from a normative institutional perspective will focus on other user groups than those who use the facility today. This is due to an increased focus from the City Council on Sport for All. Secondly, from a rational institutional perspective, the sport facility run by the City Council will keep focus on existing users and public welfare institutions due the transaction costs of focusing on new users. Thirdly, private nonprofit sport facilities seen from a normative institutional approach might focus on existing users due to a ‘logic of appropriateness’ established between the users and the sport facility. Finally, seen from a rational institutional perspective on non-profit private sport facilities, the hypothesis is that they will have an increased focus on attracting more activity to the sport facility as they will benefit economically. Which of these hypotheses that is most valid is an empirical question that needs to be tested in additional studies.

Sahra altı Afrika ülkelerinden Türkiye’ye iş göçü

The population at large of Istanbul takes notice of the presence of large numbers of sub-Saharan immigrants from the ubiquity of African street vendors. The significant role that these immigrants assume in export and shipping activities, or the social and cultural activities in which they engage among themselves are much less widely known. Two developments underwrite this immigration movement. On the one hand Turkey’s opening to sub-Saharan Africa, its closer political and economic ties and the relations established through private investments, sport teams, schools, and university students; on the other, rising African growth rates, which stimulate both demand for imports and the desire for outmigration. This article is based on a yearlong fieldwork among West and Central African immigrants in Istanbul. It describes their social life and the range of economic positions they occupy, from daily wage work, to the provision of independent services and crafts, to business ownership. The article ends with a section assessing the economic and social contributions of the immigrants.

Legal Environment of Private Sport Academy Industry and Measures to Vitalize Right to Use Sports Facility

Legal Environment of Private Sport Academy Industry and Measures to Vitalize Right to Use Sports Facility

Validity and reliability of a self-report instrument to assess social support and physical environmental correlates of physical activity in adolescents.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to examine the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity and predictive validity of a new German self-report instrument to assess the influence of social support and the physical environment on physical activity in adolescents.MethodsBased on theoretical consideration, the short scales on social support and physical environment were developed and cross-validated in two independent study samples of 9 to 17 year-old girls and boys. The longitudinal sample of Study I (n = 196) was recruited from a German comprehensive school, and subjects in this study completed the questionnaire twice with a between-test interval of seven days. Cronbach’s alphas were computed to determine the internal consistency of the factors. Test-retest reliability of the latent factors was assessed using intra-class coefficients. Factorial validity of the scales was assessed using principle components analysis. Construct validity was determined using a cross-validation technique by performing confirmatory factor analysis with the independent nationwide cross-sectional sample of Study II (n = 430). Correlations between factors and three measures of physical activity (objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), self-reported habitual MVPA and self-reported recent MVPA) were calculated to determine the predictive validity of the instrument.ResultsConstruct validity of the social support scale (two factors: parental support and peer support) and the physical environment scale (four factors: convenience, public recreation facilities, safety and private sport providers) was shown. Both scales had moderate test-retest reliability. The factors of the social support scale also had good internal consistency and predictive validity. Internal consistency and predictive validity of the physical environment scale were low to acceptable.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate moderate to good reliability and construct validity of the social support scale and physical environment scale. Predictive validity was only confirmed for the social support scale but not for the physical environment scale. Hence, it remains unclear if a person’s physical environment has a direct or an indirect effect on physical activity behavior or a moderation function.

Uncorrected land-use planning highlighted by flooding: the Alba case study (Piedmont, Italy)

Abstract. Alba is a town of over 30 000 inhabitants located along the Tanaro River (Piedmont, northwestern Italy) and is famous for its wine and white truffles. Many important industries and companies are based in Alba, including the famous confectionery group Ferrero. The town suffered considerably from a flood that occurred on 5–6 November 1994. Forty-eight percent of the urban area was inundated, causing severe damage and killing nine people. After the flood, the Alba area was analysed in detail to determine the reasons for its vulnerability. Information on serious floods in this area since 1800 was gathered from official records, state technical office reports, unpublished documents in the municipal archives, and articles published in local and national newspapers. Maps, plans and aerial photographs (since 1954) were examined to reconstruct Alba's urban development over the last two centuries and the planform changes of the Tanaro River. The results were compared with the effects of the November 1994 flood, which was mapped from aerial photographs taken immediately after the flood, field surveys and eyewitness reports. The territory of Alba was subdivided into six categories: residential; public service; industrial, commercial and hotels; sports areas, utilities and standards (public gardens, parks, athletics grounds, private and public sport clubs); aggregate plants and dumps; and agriculture and riverine strip. The six categories were then grouped into three classes with different flooding-vulnerability levels according to various parameters. Using GIS, the three river corridors along the Tanaro identified by the Autorità di Bacino del Fiume Po were overlaid on the three classes to produce a final map of the risk areas. This study shows that the historic floods and their dynamics have not been duly considered in the land-use planning of Alba. The zones that were most heavily damaged in the 1994 flood were those that were frequently affected in the past and sites of more recent urbanisation. Despite recurrent severe flooding of the Tanaro River and its tributaries, areas along the riverbed and its paleochannels have been increasingly used for infrastructure and building (e.g., roads, a municipal dump, a prison, natural aggregate plants, a nomad camp), which has often interfered with the natural spread of the floodwaters. Since the 1994 flood, many remedial projects have been completed along the Tanaro and its tributaries, including levees, bank protection, concrete walls and floodway channels. In spite of these costly projects, some areas remain at high risk for flooding. The method used, which considered historical data, river corridors identified by hydraulic calculations, geomorphological aspects and land-use planning, can indicate with good accuracy flood-prone areas and in consequence to be an useful tool for the coherent planning of urban expansion and the mitigation of flood risk.

The Future Past of the Amateur Sports Act: Developing American Sport

The United States is struggling to hold its own in international competitions. The Amateur Sports Act mandates that the USOC and its NGBs should build American sport performances by fostering sport participation throughout the country, and by enabling sport research. However, data from the past 16 years of sport participation demonstrate that participation is declining in many of our key sports, while others show inconsistent or merely ephemeral growth. Further, sport research is no longer pursued by the USOC, and it is not funded by any U.S. government agency or private American foundation. Consequently, the American sporting culture is eroding, and the United States is becoming a client nation when it comes to sport research. A review of the formation of The Amateur Sports Act shows that it was formulated to address Cold War concerns. Consequently, the Act failed to consider sport development, as the Act’s primary purpose was to engender a rationalized private sport system through which to build teams that could beat communist athletes. A reassessment of The Amateur Sports Act in light of contemporary conditions, suggests that greater attention to participation and research are necessary, but that such attention will require establishment of a foundation to nurture sport participation and to fund sport research. The foundation’s mandate would include creation of clubs and leagues to enable year round and lifelong sport participation, enhancement of the availability of sport facilities for club and league use, guidance for grassroots development of sport, and establishment of clear pathways for athletes. The template for such a foundation was created in the 1960s but never implemented. The time is ripe for it to be implemented now either by incorporating its mandates into the new Foundation for Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition, or by establishing a foundation that specifically targets sport development.

Climate Change and Related Effects on Water Quality: Examples from Lake Maggiore (Italy)

Lake Maggiore is the second largest lake in Italy, with a surface area, maximum depth and volume respectively of 212 km2, 370 m, and 37.5 km3. Politically, the catchment belongs in equal parts to Italy and Switzerland. Lake water is used for tourism, recreational-environmental activities, public and private navigation, professional and sport fishery, hydroelectric production, irrigation and drinking. Long-term studies provide a history of industrial pollution and eutrophication followed by successful re-oligotrophication. Thermal studies show an increase in the water temperature in the 0–30 m layer of about 1.4 °C during the last 45 years. The new physical conditions of the water column, coupled with an increase of recreational uses and the trade in exotic aquarium species, resulted in an increase of cyanobacteria blooms and alien species introduction (Dreissena polymorpha, Corbicula fluminea, Sinanodonta woodiana, Procambarus clarkii and Orconectes limosus). The water European Directive (2000/60/EC) classifies as “lowest quality” typology those lakes which have exotic species.

Sport Participation and Consumption and Post-Modern Society: From Apollo to Dionysus?

This paper analyses the influence of postmodernity on sport-participation behaviour with an emphasis on it not being excluded from consumerism. The analysis, based particularly on the French experience, identifies how the meaning of sport has moved from a focus on competitive and institutional factors to a more personalised and multi-dimensional definition centred on fun and pleasure. The specific examples illustrate such macro-tendencies as the search for adventure, the quest for new social relationships, the ecologisation of sport practices, and the tendency toward sport-participation consumers having a heterogeneous, chameleon-like nature. It concludes by analysing the numerous and sometimes contradictory aspirations that coexist within individual consumers and recommends that both public and private sport organisations rethink the sporting activities they provide and the way they can be consumed in order to provide the market with what it demands.

Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper From the National Strength and Conditioning Association

Faigenbaum, AD, Kraemer, WJ, Blimkie, CJR, Jeffreys, I, Micheli, LJ, Nitka, M, and Rowland, TW. Youth resistance training: Updated position statement paper from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. J Strength Cond Res 23(5): S60-S79, 2009-Current recommendations suggest that school-aged youth should participate daily in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity that is developmentally appropriate and enjoyable and involves a variety of activities (). Not only is regular physical activity essential for normal growth and development, but also a physically active lifestyle during the pediatric years may help to reduce the risk of developing some chronic diseases later in life (). In addition to aerobic activities such as swimming and bicycling, research increasingly indicates that resistance training can offer unique benefits for children and adolescents when appropriately prescribed and supervised (). The qualified acceptance of youth resistance training by medical, fitness, and sport organizations is becoming universal ().Nowadays, comprehensive school-based programs are specifically designed to enhance health-related components of physical fitness, which include muscular strength (). In addition, the health club and sport conditioning industry is getting more involved in the youth fitness market. In the U.S.A., the number of health club members between the ages of 6 and 17 years continues to increase () and a growing number of private sport conditioning centers now cater to young athletes. Thus, as more children and adolescents resistance train in schools, health clubs, and sport training centers, it is imperative to determine safe, effective, and enjoyable practices by which resistance training can improve the health, fitness, and sports performance of younger populations.The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recognizes and supports the premise that many of the benefits associated with adult resistance training programs are attainable by children and adolescents who follow age-specific resistance training guidelines. The NSCA published the first position statement paper on youth resistance training in 1985 () and revised this statement in 1996 (). The purpose of the present report is to update and clarify the 1996 recommendations on 4 major areas of importance. These topics include (a) the potential risks and concerns associated with youth resistance training, (b) the potential health and fitness benefits of youth resistance training, (c) the types and amount of resistance training needed by healthy children and adolescents, and (d) program design considerations for optimizing long-term training adaptations. The NSCA based this position statement paper on a comprehensive analysis of the pertinent scientific evidence regarding the anatomical, physiological, and psychosocial effects of youth resistance training. An expert panel of exercise scientists, physicians, and health/physical education teachers with clinical, practical, and research expertise regarding issues related to pediatric exercise science, sports medicine, and resistance training contributed to this statement. The NSCA Research Committee reviewed this report before the formal endorsement by the NSCA.For the purpose of this article, the term children refers to boys and girls who have not yet developed secondary sex characteristics (approximately up to the age of 11 years in girls and 13 years in boys; Tanner stages 1 and 2 of sexual maturation). This period of development is referred to as preadolescence. The term adolescence refers to a period between childhood and adulthood and includes girls aged 12-18 years and boys aged 14-18 years (Tanner stages 3 and 4 of sexual maturation). The terms youth and young athletes are broadly defined in this report to include both children and adolescents.By definition, the term resistance training refers to a specialized method of conditioning, which involves the progressive use of a wide range of resistive loads and a variety of training modalities designed to enhance health, fitness, and sports performance. Although the term resistance training, strength training, and weight training are sometimes used synonymously, the term resistance training encompasses a broader range of training modalities and a wider variety of training goals. The term weightlifting refers to a competitive sport that involves the performance of the snatch and clean and jerk lifts.This article builds on previous recommendations from the NSCA and should serve as the prevailing statement regarding youth resistance training. It is the current position of the NSCA that:

Lithuanian physical activity strategy: The culture of the body or the body cult?

The article is devoted to disclosure of the tendencies in the promotion of Lithuanian physical activity. During the Soviet times, Lithuanian sports politics was oriented to elite sport and it is still. The attempts to foster physical activity of the population lie on the movement "Sport for all," but the results of the movement are not effective enough, because only a small part of the population (approximately 6%) took part in it. No one governmental institution has full and clear responsibility for the results of physical activity promotion. The poor environment of physical activity results in poor possibilities to be physically active in leisure domain. Differently, the huge expansion of the private sport, health, and beauty industries fosters the adoration of the body and overemphasizes the meaning of body image in the society. Physical activity is represented as the measure to achieve ideal body image or good health, but not as the measure of the overall culture of the human or society. CONCLUSIONS. The long-lasting, health-related physical activity-oriented national strategy is essential to foster physical activity, health, and quality of life at the national level. The multiplicity of possibilities in the physical activity would foster lifestyle activity instead of adoration of body image and would improve the psychological and physical well-being of the population.

Deporte y democratización en la Barcelona contemporánea: apuntes para un estudio. (Sport and democratization in the contemporary Barcelona: notes for a study)

From a historical point of view, the spanish transition to democracy during 1975-1982 was a framework of deep juridical, social and political transformations related to sport phenomenon, much more than a simple liberalization of the private sport system or a gradual extinction of the Franco system institutional structures.. Barcelona’s case studied in this paper –paradoxical in relation to other spanish capitals– the democratization involved unheard of changes in the social perception of sports performing, the local administration involvement, the linked social movements, the sport sociability patterns and the presence of sport in the streets. Finally, this paper is the result of the first part of a research study belonging to a future PhD tesis about the transformation of the social phenomenon of sports during the spanish political transition in the case of Barcelona. It included several general considerations that shape the basic interpretation of the study, concerning the link between the political democratization and the characteristics of the overcrowding process of sports.

Customer Satisfaction: A comparison between Public and Private Sport and Fitness Clubs in Greece

Customer Satisfaction: A comparison between Public and Private Sport and Fitness Clubs in Greece

A Study on the Policy for Public and Private Sport Facilities in Korea

A Study on the Policy for Public and Private Sport Facilities in Korea

Participation in High School Competitive Sports: A Subversion of School Mission or Contribution to Academic Goals?

Longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of 10th graders (National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 First Follow-Up) were used to assess the net effect of athletic participation on student outcomes after controlling for student background and 8th-grade measures of the dependent variables. The analyses show positive effects of sport participation on grades, self-concept, locus of control, and educational aspirations, and a negative effect on discipline problems. Analysis also shows that athletic participation is unequally distributed across gender and socioeconomic groups: Males, students from higher socioeconomic levels, students attending private and smaller schools, and those with previous experience in school and private sport teams are more engaged in high school competitive sport.