Understanding Of Sport Research Articles

Nutrition for sports performance: issues and opportunities

Diet can significantly influence athletic performance, but recent research developments have substantially changed our understanding of sport and exercise nutrition. Athletes adopt various nutritional strategies in training and competition in the pursuit of success. The aim of training is to promote changes in the structure and function of muscle and other tissues by selective modulation of protein synthesis and breakdown in response to the training stimulus. This process is affected by the availability of essential amino acids in the post-exercise period. Athletes have been encouraged to eat diets high in carbohydrate, but low-carbohydrate diets up-regulate the capacity of muscle for fat oxidation, potentially sparing the limited carbohydrate stores. Such diets, however, do not enhance endurance performance. It is not yet known whether the increased capacity for fat oxidation that results from training in a carbohydrate-deficient state can promote loss of body fat. Preventing excessive fluid deficits will maintain exercise capacity, and ensuring adequate hydration status can also reduce subjective perception of effort. This latter effect may be important in encouraging exercise participation and promoting adherence to exercise programmes. Dietary supplement use is popular in sport, and a few supplements may improve performance in specific exercise tasks. Athletes must be cautious, however, not to contravene the doping regulations. There is an increasing recognition of the role of the brain in determining exercise performance: various nutritional strategies have been proposed, but with limited success. Nutrition strategies developed for use by athletes can also be used to achieve functional benefits in other populations.

Two ways of conceiving time in sports

Background: This paper explores a foundational concept for our understanding of sport - the concept of time. Objective: The objective of this paper is to explain two different concepts of time in sport. Methods: Our methodology is philosophical, involving both conceptual and phenomenological analysis and the application of the outcomes to sports practice. Results: First, two concepts of time and their role in sport are discussed - time as linear, measurable, homogeneous and objective; and time as discussed in the philosophy of existence, namely in the work of Martin Heidegger, in which he introduces the concept of "original temporality". Second, sports are classified into four different groups depending on the role of time in them, and basic characterisations of each are worked out. While within the first three groups the concept of objective time is salient, a suggestion is made regarding the potential of the fourth group, which includes high risk sports, for the realisation of original temporality. Conclusions: The two concepts of time presented in this paper explain the basis of sport and show its relationship to the human experiencing of sport activities. The text shows that the concept of objective time is necessary for the practice of some sports, whilst other sports use it rather in a secondary way, e. g. for the comparison of winners. Original temporality as a basis of human experiencing is present in all sports. While in most of them it is limited by objective time, in some sports (especially in high risk sports) the possibility of the realization of original temporality is opened.

Når sport og motion bliver et spørgsmål om fysisk aktivitet

I artiklen undersøges hvorfor forskellen mellem andelen der i Danskernes motions- og sportsvaner siger at de dyrker sport eller motion og andelen der siger at de har dyrket mindst én aktivitet regelmæssigt indenfor det seneste år, er blevet mere markant siden 1993, samt i hvilke aktiviteter uoverensstemmelserne primært opstår i 2007.Quantitative research on sports participation among the Danish population has been conducted seven times between 1964 and 2007. The current study aims to find a better understanding of the ways the respondents reply to different questions about their sports participation. From the analysis it becomes clear, that the respondents reply very inconsistent according to the ways of asking. This inconsistency has grown remarkably within the last decades and men and people with short education levels tend to answer with more inconsistency than other population groups. The study discusses the impact of health interventions and an increased focus on physical activity as a cause of greater variety among the subjective understandings of sport and exercise – and thereby a change in the populations individual understanding of sport and exercise. Further the study suggests a greater consciousness about the purpose of these kinds of surveys when conducting them, because it has great influence in the following analysis from which perspective the design arises.

The sociology of sports: an introduction

In its second edition, this book takes a fresh approach to the study of sports, presenting key concepts such as socialization, economics, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, politics, the media and the role of sport in society. The authors offer a critical examination of sport but highlight also its many positive aspects. Each chapter concludes with a popular culture section, showing how films, television, video games, music and short stories have contributed to our understanding of sports' significance to our lives. Other features include up-to-date information - such as statistics on player and owner salaries - and a look at recent controversies in sports, such as performance-enhancing drugs, domestic violence, online gambling and the growing concern over concussions and post-career health problems. The value of sports for people with physical disabilities and special needs is discussed, as well as the development of sports studies programs and the continuing importance of sportsmanship. The final chapter explores how social media, as well as new forms of virtual reality and the prevalence of video gaming, are reshaping the concept of what constitutes sports.

Boos, Bans, and other Backlash: The Consequences of Being an Activist Athlete

Athletes today are often criticized for their aberrant and deviant behavior; however, when activist athletes act with integrity and sincerity by promoting social and political justice, they often face a hate-filled backlash of scorn and contempt. In this paper I explore the negative consequences of being an activist athlete. Using in-depth interview data and secondary accounts, I examine reactions to athletes who engaged in social or political protest. I focus specifically on athletes who have protested against war, sweatshop labor, and racism. The study of activist athletes is important to sociologists for a number of reasons: It highlights the significance of analyzing sport sociologically, it makes explicit the connection between sport and politics, it identifies some of the personal consequences to activists as a result of their protests, and it has the potential to reshape our understanding of sport as a vehicle for progressive social change.

Renegotiating the Primary School: Children's Emotional Geographies of Sport, Exercise and Active Play

The current UK policy concern with children's health has led to primary school practices of sport, exercise and active play aimed, in particular, at constructing children's bodies as ‘healthy’. Qualitative explorations of children's own values and experiences however, reveal that their understandings of sport in school differ considerably from its potential to be healthy, instead emphasising emotional geographies of pleasure and enjoyment. This article aims to develop a better understanding of children's ability to modify and reconstitute discursive corporeal regimes through their own agency, thus highlighting the fluid nature of the primary school as an institution. Adult discourses and children's bodily challenges to these mingle and intersect, creating spaces of competing values and discourses that work to transform and renegotiate the primary school. Although this article focuses particularly on the UK context, the findings will be relevant for any country in which child obesity is of current concern for social and education policy.

Gender, Social Class, and the Sporting Capital–Economic Capital Nexus

In “Do High School Athletes Earn More Pay?” Curtis, McTeer, and White reopened an important line of inquiry about the conversion of sporting capital to economic capital. They found associations between adolescent participation sports and adult income for Canadian men and women with some college education. The present study revises and extends Curtis and colleagues’ understanding of sport as cultural capital and its relation to economic capital, tests the nature of the high school varsity sport–adult income relationship for the United States, and examines gender and class differences in the degree to which adult sporting practices mediate the varsity sport–adult income relationship. The results show that American class and gender patterns of income and participation are similar to those found by Curtis and colleagues and that adult participation in sports more strongly mediates this relationship for men than for women. I conclude by proposing a gendered theory of sports as cultural capital to explain those differences.

Moral thinking, sports rules and education1

The purpose of this study is to resolve ‘moral conflict’ in sport and to present a better approach with respect to right actions for sports participants. While acknowledging that there are many positive values or principles (e.g. Olympism) in sport, some ‘moral conflict’ in sport might still arise and therefore cannot be easily resolved. By introducing Hare's two levels of moral thinking (i.e. intuitive level and critical level), I first clarify the question ‘Why do moral conflicts appear?’ That moral conflicts may arise normally is because people or philosophers tend to think that moral principles ought to be simple and general. In the general situation, it would be fine to follow these kinds of principles when there is no conflicting situation. But in a particular context, there might be a problem. It would be impossible to resolve a conflicting problem if we do not think critically. Second, I suggest that ‘keep the rules’ can be seen as a prima facie principle or duty for sports participants. However, this prima facie principle may not be sufficient or appropriate to resolve the problem of conflict by using the intuitive thinking, since one might face a conflict between ‘keep the rules’ and ‘not to keep the rules’ and s/he cannot select in between. Thus, critical thinking is needed. Third, I try to differentiate critical thinking from intuitive thinking. Critical thinking aims not only to select the best set of prima facie principles for use in intuitive thinking, but also to resolve conflicts between them. So, if we are able to think critically, a prima facie duty sometimes can be overridden by other more important duties (sound and ethical) in a particular situation. However, as not all sports participants are capable enough to think critically, moral education regarding how to develop athletes' ‘critical thinking’ in sport is needed. It may be recommended that virtue ethics play an important role in sport not just through initiating participants into rule‐following but also in cultivating certain dispositions and educating their desires. As it is, what we also need is a good sports education system which can enlighten people toward a better understanding of sport and its values.

Sejrskode, økonomi og politik som begrundelse for sundhedsfare og regelbrud - doping-historie og doping i DDR

Dopinghistorien som normativ og rekonstruerbar.Victory code, economics and politics as grounds for health dangers and infringement of rules – the history of doping and doping in the DDRDoping has a history – and that history can be reconstructed. This emerges from a sports science report on what was in part a depressing past in the DDR. This recognition, however, gives also cause for cheer. Like the historical debate in Germany about the understanding of sport under National Socialism, systems of doping and sports in the DDR, the pros and contras of the doping debate, have special significance. Recognition of normative tendencies (such as the Frankfurt school’s) permit at the same time also a value judgement and in that way provide help in not repeating mistakes already committed. In the best instances it can even succeed in correcting structural defects. Contemporary history as critical social science has an express enlightening role here and can at the same time to a considerable extent be action-oriented. That is to say, that its results can be used in practice.

Gender and cultural diversity in sport organisations

A diversity audit is used to profile gender and cultural diversity in selected Australian community sport clubs. The assessment aims to create a better understanding of sport and cultural diversity and provide the data to facilitate awareness of these issues in sport. The present study focussed on five team sports and their associated community clubs. Fifty clubs were surveyed about their policies, practices and attitudes to gender and cultural diversity. To complement this information interviews were undertaken with ten club officials and thirty-seven players to gain their perspective on the issues at hand. The data revealed that most clubs were aware of gender considerations and were actively trying to increase female participation across all dimensions of club activity from players to broad members. However, very few clubs had explicitly addressed aspects of cultural diversity and increasing diversity was not given a high priority. In a country with a high level of cultural diversity such attitudes and approaches seem incongruous with progress. Inclusion of cultural and gender diversity offers sporting organisations a broader mixture of players, volunteers and employees and increased stakeholder benefits.

On problems of the emotions in sport and leisure: critical and counter-critical comments on the conventional and figurational sociologies of sport and leisure

The subject of this paper is the emotions which are aroused in sport and leisure and their significance for a full sociological understanding of sport and leisure behaviour and sport and leisure institutions. The paper deals more with sport than leisure in general and is primarily conceptual and theoretical in its focus. It advances the claim that a ‘figurational’ (or ‘process-sociological’) approach, above all Elias's theory of ‘civilizing processes’ (Elias, 1939; l994a), whilst by no means representing a panacea for all of sociology's current problems, does represent a means of circumventing and hopefully overcoming some of the dilemmas on the horns of which practitioners of our subject recurrently become impaled.

Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process: Critique and Counter-Critique

Figurational sociology is associated with the writings of Norbert Elias. In his theory of 'the civilizing process' and his work on the activity of sociology, Elias devised an approach to the study of human life which is now recognized as one of the major contributions to twentieth-century social science.Working in collaboration with Eric Dunning, Elias developed a series of writings on sport and leisure. These have been so influential that in some circles they are identified as the leading approach in the field. However, the figurational approach has also been widely criticized. For some critics it exhibits all of the worst features of the now discredited 'liberal,' 'functionalist' school of sociology.This collection provides a major critical assessment of the figurational approach to our understanding of sport and leisure. Contributors explore the distinctive features of such an approach and show its application to matters of sport and leisure. However, this is not a one-sided collection. The editors invited critics of figurational sociology to set out their points of view. Feminist and neo-Marxist contributors, for example, spell out why they judge the approach to be of limited value. The concluding chapter, written by Eric Dunning, offers a major statement of what figurational sociologists argue and how their arguments differ from other leading approaches both generally and in the field of sport and leisure. This unique and accessible collection is an important contribution to the growing area of sport and leisure studies.

Shifting Patterns of Working-Class Leisure: The Case of Knur-and-Spell

This article presents a single case study in the context of an exploration of social and cultural change and the major influences affecting patterns of working-class culture in interwar and postwar Britain. The case study is of knur-and-spell, a form of working-class sport (also known as tipping or poor man’s golf) in the northwest region of England. The study draws upon newspaper and oral sources. It is presented as evidence of the unevenness of cultural change, and so in one sense as a challenge to overgeneralized conceptions and theories of social and cultural change. The case study is also a reminder that mainstream and dominant understandings of sport may in themselves be merely partial contributions toward any truly comprehensive history and sociology of ludic culture.

Towards a sociological Theory of Sport and the Emotions: A figurational Perspective

The need for a sociological theory of sport, leisure and the emotions is advocated. The contribution of figurational sociology is critically reviewed. While this perspective has arguably advanced our understanding of sport and leisure, in this regard with respect to the emphasis placed on the principal function of sport and leisure being the quest for pleasurable forms of excitement, certain re-emphases are advocated. This involves reference to humanistic psychology and a greater probing of the issue of 'agency' and self identity in figurational dynamics. What is also required is a greater recognition that the modern quest for "exciting significance" is contoured by both interdependency chains inherited from the past and by contemporary cultural relations. Common ground is sought between figurational sociology and other 'critical' approaches to sport, culture and society.

Discourses on the Gender/Sport Relationship

In any developing field such as the one that began as "women in sport," key developments can be traced through the evolution of the language we use and the concepts we develop to express our new understandings. Thus the discourse has moved from considerations of sex differences and sex roles, to gender differences and gender roles, to the sex/gender system, and finally to patriarchy and gender relations, and we have progressed from seeing gender as a variable or as a distributive category to conceiving of it as a set of relations created through human agency and sustained or reproduced through cultural practices including, but not limited to, sport. At the same time, our understanding of sport has grown from seeing it as a static social institution, defined in terms of its separation from the real world, to the comprehension of sport as a social practice produced through human agency and reproduced through ideological work. Finally, our view of gender relations has moved from a focus on sex differences, conceived as relatively innate, to an outraged response to sexism, to a deeper understanding of just how complex and culturally situated are the relations of domination and subordination that characterize gender relations in partriachal cultures. As our consciousness has grown, our questions have changed from "why aren't more women involved in sport?" to "why are women excluded from sport?" to "what specific social practices accomplish the physical and ideological exclusion of women from sport?", "how and why have women managed to resist the practices that seek to incorporate them?", and "how do women work to transform sport to an activity that reflects their own needs as women?" The study of gender relations and sport has come a long way in a short time. In less than 20 years, the field has transformed itself from often angry, always well-intentioned, but generally atheoretical investigations of the patterns of women's involvement and the psychological factors that kept women from full participation, to a theoretically informed, critical analysis of the cultural forces that work to produce the ideological practices that influence the relations of sport and gender. Clearly, the direction for the future lies in the development and application of more critical analyses capable of capturing the complexity of the gender/sport relation.

A Prospective View of the Journal of Sport (and Exercise) Psychology

This article has two major purposes, to discuss the general scope and direction of the Journal of Sport Psychology (JSP) and to describe the basic editorial review process. During its first 7 years the journal has developed into the premier scientific publication in sport psychology. The journal will continue to emphasize theoretically based research. Various psychological approaches and research methodologies are appropriate as long as the information advances our understanding of sport and exercise behavior. The typical editorial and review processes are described for the benefit of prospective authors who may wish to become familiar with these standards and procedures before submitting manuscripts to JSP.

How the Print Media Affect Sports and Violence: The Problems of Sport Journalism

In the research on the influence of the media it is generally assumed that the presentation of violence in the media promotes violent behavior. However, there is no empirical evidence of how this takes place. Problems in sport reporting concern particularly its journalistic self- understanding, its understanding of sport and its presentation of violence. This paper discusses the low prestige and the great influence of sport journalists, and reports on the results of research on the literature on sport and violence in the print media. The search for profit-increasing captions and texts leads to overemphasis of the unusual and scandalous. Unfairness and aggressiveness on the part of successful athletes, as well as spectator violence, are accentuated and appear normal. Here reporting reflects a development to which it itself contributed.

Computers in sport

Computers are becoming increasingly common in sports applications particularly since the development of the low-cost microcomputer. They have numerous roles to play but can be identified as a major mechanism for easing the burden associated with data gathering and information processing. This information in turn can be used for developing a greater knowledge and understanding of sport. After tracing a brief history of the computer in sport, this paper considers specific areas of application covering sports research, competitive sport, sport and recreation management, education in sport, and the sport and leisure industry. In each of these areas examples are used to illustrate the variety of applications in which the computer has been used successfully and the benefits which have resulted from its use.

A Critique of Non-normative Sport Sociology in the United States

American sport sociology is in a crisis state. Non-normative sport sociolo gists perceive themselves as the vanguard out of the present wilderness. It has been argued here that the normative center (nee non-normative) investigators have actually contributed to the crisis. They have distorted the proper under standing of methodology, both because they were mimicking ideas once extant in mainstream sociology but also because by so doing they were attempting to en sure their own academic legitimacy and survival. These survival efforts, however, are being quickly undermined by the Center's inability to produce significant theo ry. Loy's definition of the nature of sport symbolizes the problem. As an early effort to conceptually organize the field, it appears impressive. But the respect it has gained and the stature it has achieved since it was first written depend on one crucial factor. Heretofore, the work has never been critically examined. Upon examination, the definition can be seen to be rife with inconsistencies, inad equacies, and ambiguities. Consequently, these same problems are abundant in the body of knowledge of the normative center. Stated succinctly, the situation is this: the normative center has not offered a single concept or theory which pushes understanding of sport beyond that gleaned by the insightful fan from the mass media.