Search

The present study was implemented in the context of the Erasmus+ program titled “AFTERMATCH - Life Beyond Sport”, the purpose of which was to investigate whether athletes acquire any skills from their involvement with sport that they can transfer in their profession after they finish their sporting career. The methodology employed was quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interviews). The sample consisted of 23 active athletes, 64 former athletes and 39 employers / HR managers of companies in five different European Union countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Slovenia). A descriptive approach was used for the data analysis. The results showed that athletes acquire certain skills from their engagement in sport and those who realize it and use them make their transition to the labour market easier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to carry out a preliminary validation of "Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale" in Greek educational context and specifically in relation to elementary school students. The participants of the research were 184 (101 male and 83 female) students of grades 5th and 6th from four elementary schools, in different geographical areas of Greece. The Greek version of Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale was used for the data collection. The statistical analyses that were applied included: descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and the One-way ANOVA analysis. The results showed that the questionnaire retains the structure of the four factors that its designers have recommended and the internal cohesion of the four factors was high (.85 the lowest and .90 the highest). Survey data revealed that the Greek version of the "Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale" is a reliable tool for the measurement of motivational climate in the Greek educational elementary school environment, and the gender determines the climate of motivation with male students scoring higher in task involving and autonomy factors whereas female students perform better in task involving and relatedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Media (SM) play an important role in the society and particularly in sports. Their versatile capabilities create wideranging virtual fan clubs around a sport event, a team, or an athlete, often influencing decision-making processes. This paper aims at: a) highlighting the concept and dynamics of SM, b) examining the SM's influence on sports and their role in democratizing the development of sport and more specifically of football and c) presenting the role of the fans that use the SM in shaping modern football into an interactive globalized environment. The case-study approach was adopted, involving the creation of a fan page in Instagram. The results showed that the SM influence on sport and more specifically on football increases and the role of the fans is enhanced, since they are no longer just spectators but they are actively involved in a team's activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a constantly changing world, performance improvement is high on the agenda of most organizations. The economic growth of the past century along with the technological progress and the new emerging trends have created new theories and practices for the profitability and the welfare of businesses, offering them a wealth of improvement models to utilize. The European Framework for Quality Management (EFQM), which is based on self-evaluation and requires commitment of all levels of the hierarchy, is a significant one of them. However, improvement and evaluation models are not widely spread in Greece and particularly in sport related entities. This study is an exploratory attempt to investigate the level of maturity of the Total Quality Management in Hellenic National Sports Federations (HNSF) using the EFQM model. Data for the present study was collected through a structured questionnaire from HNSF's Board members. The results showed that the HNSFs implement some of the management practices suggested by the EFQM; nevertheless, more effort is required in order for them to claim that EFQM is systematically implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games involve many individual and organizational stakeholders as well as an infinite number of tasks requiring technical competence; hence, they are complex to organize. On the other hand, there are constant principles in their organization that are determined by the rules of the 2014 Olympic Charter and the Host City Contract (HCC), which affect the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG), an entity of limited duration established with a single mandate: to organize the Games. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the organizational efforts of an OCOG are guided by Weber's tenets of bureaucracy: division of labor; authority structure; system of abstract rules; impersonality; and technical competence. In order to fulfill this purpose the authors used a case study methodology and investigated the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (ATHOC). The methodology also included review of relevant literature and official ATHOC documents, especially the 2004 Official Post Games Report. Moreover, personal experience of the first and second authors, who were contractually involved with the organization of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, was employed. It was concluded that ATHOC used Weber's tenets of bureaucracy to simplify its organizational efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games (OG) is a complex event project. This conceptual article aims at presenting the complexity o f the Games by virtue of a three-dimensional, graphic model depicting the event's stakeholders and the interrelationships among them from the perspective of an Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG). The model evolved from: a) content analysis of relevant literature (i.e., IOC organizational documents regarding the OCOG) and b) personal participation and observation of the authors in the organization of the Games. The model allows managers of OCOGs, especially those who do not have previous experience in Olympic matters, to quickly and comprehensively understand the complex and entwined organizational processes, as well the various stakeholder relationships that may not at first be readily apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many athletes from almost all countries prepare for years aspiring to participate in the Olympic Games (OG). The responsibility to select the athletes who will represent the country in the Games belongs to the respective National Olympic Committee (NOC). In order to select those who have better chances to perform well in the Games some NOCs have established selection criteria. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Hellenic Olympic Committee's (HOC) Selection Criteria System (SCS) for the athletes who participated in the Athens 2004 OG. The methodology used included review of relevant literature, interviews from key people and personal involvement in the process. The results showed that with the introduction of the SCS Greek athletes achieved better results at the international level, including the 2004 OG. It was concluded that the HOC succeeded in establishing fair and transparent selection criteria for the athletes aspiring to participate in the OG and allowed the organization to make easier and better decisions regarding the selection of the athletes who would participate in the 2004 edition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the value of education for High Performance Athletes, the challenges they face when they try to combine a career in sport with education and the opportunities available to educate themselves. The Socio-Ecological Model was applied to contextualize factors that inhibit their effort to get an education. It was found that such factors could be at individual, interpersonal, institutional and community levels, as well as state policies. However, the literature supports the argument that as life extends beyond a sporting career High Performance Athletes need to understand the value of education and by implementing a dual career strategy prepare themselves for the challenges of life when sport cannot be practised any more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the demand for the adoption of a corporate culture by not-for-profit festivals, festival organizations increasingly identify strategic planning process and stakeholder management as crucial components for successful events. The purpose of this article is to present a framework developed for categorizing ethnic festivals stakeholders from a functional role (i.e., marketing, administration, and production) and an ethnic origin (i.e., Greek, Greek-Australian, and non-Greek origin) orientated perspective. The proposed framework was developed and applied to the 20th Greek Festival of Sydney (GFS), which was held in 2002, by identifying, categorizing, and examining the role of its stakeholders in the management and delivery of the event. The identification of the type of stakeholders, the ways they influence the GFS organization, and the strategic implications that derived from their involvement are addressed. The methodology utilized to develop the stakeholder framework was qualitative in nature. It combined triangulated data that derived from a number of interviews with representatives from the GFS administration, participant observations, and content analysis of internal documents and reports. The GFS stakeholder analysis offered an understanding of the several marketing-, administration-, and production-related strategic implications to the organization and running of the festival, such as the impact on its content, participants, and future development. The proposed framework derives from the GFS case study, yet it has the potential to be used for the examination of stakeholders' strategic implications to other ethnic festivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]