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Abstract This study examines sports and physical activities among Chinese aged 18–65, using network analysis on a significant random sample. It categorizes sports into 11 groups based on public selection, with a community detection algorithm aiding classification. Variables like age, gender, and education were integrated, revealing how life stages, gender disparities, and social class influence activity participation. The mixed graph model shows both positive and negative correlations among activities, highlighting the role of sports as both a social integrator and divider, reflective of broader societal norms and inequalities. The exponential random graph model further illustrates a complex network of demographic-driven participation patterns. The purpose of this investigation is twofold: to advance methodological approaches in the study of sports-related social networks and to explore the broader implications such networks may have on individual and collective behaviors within this field.

This article aims to provide the reader with a brief introduction to Mário Filho's O negro no futebol brasileiro (The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer). While emphasizing the importance of this classic book, I will discuss a few of its central ideas, the context in which these ideas were produced, and how they came to shape the perception of sports and race in Brazil. Furthermore, in the last sections of this article, I will examine how issues of genre classification regarding Mário Filho's book have affected the way it has been read and interpreted over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary Works such as novels and stories depict a fictional world designed by creative writers. Reality, aestheticized by literary arts, appears in the text as “literary reality”. However, even Works woven with imagination and fantastic elements offer clues about the facts of the society in which they exist. “Humor” is a branch of literature that, with its irony-laden language, can undertake criticism of the social structure and system when appropriate, as an expression of the society it is in. As an opposition intellectual and humorist, Aziz Nesin criticized “modern sports”, an element of social structure, in his texts with his perspective of humor for the benefit of the public. In this study, it was aimed to analyze the author’s novel “King of Goals” from a sociological perspective. Rather than an understanding of analysis that takes into account text-related elements such as style, narrative elements, form and aesthetics; the “Sociology of Literature” method which focuses on penetrating the realities of society through fictional text has been adopted. In this context, the approach that took into account the “Literary Map”-“Objective Map” comparison suggested by Ömer Naci Soykan and the message of the novel was applied. In the novel the distorted understanding of sports is depicted and a sports system that is not beneficial to society is criticized. The corrupt relations network around the main characters, the heiress Sait Sarıoğlu and the tabloid figure Kerkenez Sevim and the intrigues in the football world are revealed in an ironic manner. The phenomena such as playful club managers, sloppy reporting and manipulatiin in the sports press, football-politics relationship, and match-fixing are a product of macro social system. Millions of people who make up the society watch and talk about sports rather than doing it for fitness, health and strengthening. Rather than focusing on the real country’s problems, the negative situations and people in a society where everyone from age to age are fascinated by sports pages and are addicted to football are portrayed. In the final analysis, it can be said that the work criticizes society through football.

Copyright of Sportif Bakış: Spor ve Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Sportif Bakis: Spor ve Egitim Bilimleri Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The modern world and Russia in particular is characterized by intensive migration processes. Ethnic, socio-cultural, religious conflicts and migrant-phobia are spreading in the countries that receive migrants. This requires a search for new means and mechanisms for the adaptation and integration of migrants, as well as the prevention of migrant phobia among the local population. The aim of the study is to give a sociological description of migrantophobia in Russia and substantiate the potential of the social values of the sports movement in its prevention. The content of the research is based on: 1) the analysis of bibliographic sources on the topic of the article; 2) a secondary analysis of sociological research on the perception of migrants and migrant phobia. Sociological studies demonstrate a downward trend in the level of migrantophobia in the Russian society, however, there is a need for new ways of preventing it. It has been concluded that sport as a social institution and such social values of sport as activity, self-realization, communication, respect, friendship, tolerance can play a significant role in the adaptation and integration of migrants, as well as in prevention of migrant phobia among the local population. Interpretations of the social functions of sports in relation to migrants have been given. The macro-, meso- and micro factors of the involvement of migrants in sports have been indicated.

Hearing impairment is a worldwide problem, and the World Health Organization estimated that 360 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss. Hearing impaired; inability to verbal function in daily life due to partial or total hearing loss. Speech and language delays in the hearing-impaired individuals and the problems in communication could affect the individual's life negatively. Self-esteem is important for mental health. Self-esteem is the value that the individual gives himself when he evaluates himself as a human being. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the level of self-esteem between hearing-impaired individuals who do sports and do not sport. Materials and Method: In totally 91 hearing-impaired individuals aged between 15 to 25 years who do sport (n=44, 48.4%) and do not play sport (n=47, 51.6%) participated in the study. The Turkish version of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to assess participants' self-esteem. The scale consists of 10 items measuring general self-esteem. Responses to the scale are evaluated with 0-6 points. It is accepted that 0 -1 points are "high", 2-4 points are "middle”, and 5-6 points are "low" self-esteem. Results: The average age of hearing-impaired individuals who do or do not play sports is 19,16 ± 3,18 and 20,34 ± 2,92 years, respectively. The average duration of participating in sports is 5.93 ± 3.39 years in the individual with hearing impaired who do play sport. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale average scores were 0,84±0,59 for who play sport hearing impaired group and 1,53±0,77 for who do not play sport hearing impaired group. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (p <0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that participation in sports activity improved self esteem in individual with hearing impairment. Self-esteem affects the quality of life of the individuals. Previous studies showed that people with disabilities are much more likely of living sedentary than are those without a disability. It is advised that to supported for active lifestyle by participating in sportive activities in order to improve the self-esteem in the individuals with hearing impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Movimento (0104754X) is the property of Movimento, da Escola de Educacao, Fisica, Fisioterapia e Danca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In recent years, the importance of sports in Russia has increased dramatically, which is determined primarily by the country’s hosting international sport events, in particular, the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup 2018. The influence of sports on social processes has increased, sports began to strengthen its position in public opinion as a prestigious sphere of employment and an important social category [24. P. 60]. Thus, there is an obvious need to identify the relationship of physical culture with society as a whole and with all elements of the social structure and specific social institutions. The article examines the origins and prerequisites for the formation of sociology of sport as a relatively independent scientific discipline; presents the issues of sports sociology in the historical perspective - in the context of both their social genesis and contemporary sociological theories; considers the social role and social functions of sport education and sports. The authors believe that the differentiated social distribution of sports practices is determined by the interconnections of the space of possible practices (supply) and the space of demand for certain practices. In the article, the well-known foreign scientists are presented in the new perspective - as sociologists who provided for both Russian and foreign authors the incentive and direction for theoretical studies of sports issues. The article also presents to Russian readers the original studies on sociology of sports conducted by famous scientists - Norbert Elias, Eric Dunning, Anna Ingram, Georges Hébert, etc.

Globalization has been researched and explained a lot over the past two decades and the sociology of sport has contributed a lot to it as the sport has been a highly important driver of globalization processes, for example through the mega-events such as the Olympics that have worldwide television audiences. As the sociologist Roland Robertson said, globalization ‘refers both to the comprehension of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole’. It was the same sociologist that added that globalization is a multi-faceted process featuring various cultural, social, political and economic dimensions. He emphasized that ‘local’ and ‘global’ are not in opposition to each other, but interdependent. Global sport can be discussed from political-economic points of view, as well as from socio-cultural aspects.

Recent crises, from the economic and migratory to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, have dramatically affected all areas of individual and collective life - and sport and physical activity are no exception. The main aim of this special issue is to bring researchers interested in sports and physical activity to propose their works. The focus of this special issue lays in the new challenges that sociology of sports and physical activity have to face to understand these new complex scenarios, the main issues we had to face, the successes, the criticalities and the lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between sport, emotions and media is immediate. Football has a strong ability to emotionally involve huge masses of fans, thanks to the dramaturgical and ritualistic qualities of each match and thanks to the collective identification in footballer-heroes (Bifulco e Tirino, 2018). These qualities are further reinvigorated by media stories, which transform fans into media users (Gau, James e Kim, 2009). Due to the emergence of the SMS triangle (Sport, Media, Sponsor) (Martelli 2011, 2014) the figure of the fan is increasingly indistinguishable from the figures of the user and the consumer. However, football fans increasingly have the opportunity to participate in contemporary cultural production, for example by generating UGC to be disseminated in media environments such as social networks. Through the concept of "radical mediation", Grusin argues that the media are configured as emotional environments. On the other hand, social networks constitute a privileged territory of exteriorization of one's emotional commitment (Boccia Artieri et al. 2017). Starting from these sociological and mediological perspectives, the aim of our paper is to investigate media modalities and processes by which football fans' emotions are remediated, on social networks, through the production and dissemination of meme. Meme are relevant examples of user-generated content (Boccia Artieri, 2012, Jenkins, Ford e Green, 2013), and also are central media objects to understand the participatory cultures of web 2.0 and the typical logic of remix cultures. Our paper will try to highlight how these grassroots practices, within a new participatory aesthetic, elaborate the connection between mediation and affection (Grusin 2017), (social) media and emotions, football communication (mainstream and bottom-top) and fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Italy, initially the social sciences of Sport was considered a specialization to the macro-discipline of Sociology of leisure time, but today it boasts a tradition of pluriventennial studies. It is equally important to consider the number of this discipline among the studies on mass culture due to its extent of aggregating phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to examine the research trends of social sciences applied to sport in the Italian context. From a methodological point of view, a systematic review of the existing literature will be provided following the PRISMA guidelines both on the main research currents and on the main emerging topics in the contemporary specialist literature. Comparing application studies and empirical experiences, it can be suggested that the social sciences in Italy with an international scientific tradition play a key role in research applied to sports by specializing research tendencies towards specific topics of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of German Journal of Sports Medicine / Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Sportmedizin is the property of Verein zur Forderung der Sportmedizin Hannover e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current study used a quasi-experimental design to initially test a method for teaching about rivalry and fan behavior. Results showed that people who were exposed to and learned about rivalry and fan behavior using comic strips and cartoons on www.SportRivalry.com (a) rated rival fan behavior more negatively, (b) experienced less satisfaction when their favorite team beat the rival team, and (c) were more likely to stop someone attempting to steal a rival fan's belongings than people in the control group. Implications include support for the development of a curriculum to teach about rivalry and fan behavior. Future directions for research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a biographical-professional outline of the career of Núria Puig. The authors place this outline in the Spanish socio-political context stretching from 1976 until the present day. A brief biography is followed successively by descriptions of formal training, mentors, institutional projects, teaching experience, and research. In the conclusion, a general evaluation is made of her professional career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capitalism plays a significant role in the process of commercialization of sport. $e bureaucratization, professionalization, politics and policy change legitimate organizational activities (Oliver 1992). The external process of bureaucratization, which is 'the organizational manifestation of the rationalization of social life' (Slack & Hinings 1994: 806) transforms sport organizations. $e new environment of sport organizations moves them from voluntary organization to formal organizations with professional staff. This work identifies impact of external processes such as bureaucratization, professionalization and commercialization on sport organization. $e focus is on the environmental pressures which change practices (procedures) in sport organizations. $e article shows the changes in the field of sport and the processes of excluding voluntary, non-profit sport organization from competitions in elite sport. The last section of the article presents an alternative point of view on volunteers in sport industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in data-acquisition technologies have equipped team coaches and sports analysts with the capability of collecting and analyzing detailed data of team activity in the field. It is now possible to monitor a sports event and record information regarding the position of the players in the field, passing the ball, coordinated moves, and so on. In this paper we propose a new method to analyze such team activity data. Our goal is to segment the overall activity stream into a sequence of potentially recurrent modes, which reflect different strategies adopted by a team, and thus, help to analyze and understand team tactics. We model team activity data as a temporal network, that is, a sequence of time-stamped edges that capture interactions between players. We then formulate the problem of identifying a small number of team modes and segmenting the overall timespan so that each segment can be mapped to one of the team modes; hence the set of modes summarizes the overall team activity. We prove that the resulting optimization problem is $$\mathrm {NP}$$ -hard, and we discuss its properties. We then present a number of different algorithms for solving the problem, including an approximation algorithm that is practical only for one mode, as well as heuristic methods based on iterative and greedy approaches. We benchmark the performance of our algorithms on real and synthetic datasets. Of all methods, the iterative algorithm provides the best combination of performance and running time. We demonstrate practical examples of the insights provided by our algorithms when mining real sports-activity data. In addition, we show the applicability of our algorithms on other types of data, such as social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the planning and the evaluation of Spanish sport and physical activity instructors as well as to analyze and compare the two variables in terms of their gender, age, level of studies and work experience. This research falls inside the quantitative type methodology of descriptive cut through standardized interview using the standardized questionnaire: “Human resources of sport and physical activity”. It analyses the situation and performance of people working in functions of sport and physical activity. The questionnaire was completed by 600 sport and physical activity instructors from Spain. Key results revealed that 48.0% of them plan their classes and 58.17% assess. The study also found male university graduates between the ages of 60 and 70, with 10 years of experience or more spend the most time on planning and assessment. Daily classroom observation was the tool which physical activity and sport instructors used the most, followed by execution tests. The lesser used tools were theoretical knowledge exams, diaries and the personally created tests, across all of the variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people nowadays believe that combat sports and especially boxing, promote violence and aggressiveness. The mass media have played a major role in shaping the perception that the practice of martial arts in fact, attracts violent individuals or promotes aggressiveness especially in young people. Due to the conflicting nature of these kinds of sports, there have always been conflicting views regarding their influence on young people's behavior. The question is whether and to what extent combat sports can affect the rate of aggression among the young. The purpose of the present research is to evaluate the anger level as an element of aggression among boxing athletes and other sportsmen. The results did not indicate any difference between boxers and other sports athletes in terms of aggressiveness. Yet, research suggests there's significant deviation with regards to stress predisposition, which then correlates with some parts of aggressiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to compare the thoracic and lumbar curvatures and pelvic tilt in relaxed standing and maximal trunk flexion among highlytrained young athletes from three different sports disciplines. Thirty-two male canoeists, 30 male kayakers and 24 male tennis players were recruited for the study. The Spinal Mouse® system was used to measure the thoracic and lumbar sagittal spinal curvatures and pelvic tilt in relaxed standing and maximal trunk flexion in sitting with the flexed (McRae & Wright test) and extended knees (sit-and-reach test). Significant differences were found in maximal trunk flexion tests among athletes. Kayakers and canoeists showed increased anterior pelvic tilt compared to tennis players in the McRae & Wright (p<.01) and decreased posterior pelvic tilt in the sit-and-reach (p<.001) tests; however, canoeists had increased posterior pelvic tilt compared to kayakers in the sit-and-reach test (p<.01). Canoeists had increased thoracic kyphosis curvature compared to kayakers (p<.01) and tennis players (p<.001) in the sit-and-reach test. Spinal sagittal curvatures and pelvic tilt in relaxed standing did not show significant differences. In conclusion, specific sports training may be associated with adaptations in the sagittal spinal curvatures and pelvic tilt when maximal trunk flexion positions are performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an introduction to sports ethnography, and its purpose is to highlight the significance and applicability of ethnographic researchto sports studies. In this article, the authorwants to emphasize the importance of ethnography in sports research. The paper reflects personal points of view, but also relevantinformation extracted from literature. As a research strategy, ethnographyis idealto investigate the dynamic and complex activities constantly encountered in different sports cultures. Thus, from aerobic gymnastics to windsurfing, sport provides amultitude of cultural and social experiences, as well as a real perspectiveon the way in which we, as humans, act in everyday life through sport. The paper describes in detail the main characteristic feature of ethnographic research, namely fieldwork, achieving a deconstruction of the definition and the main stages of an ethnographic sports study. To assume that ethnography consists only in doing fieldwork and making observations is totally inappropriate and wrong. In other words, the ethnographer must penetrate beyond the initial field experience, where each aspect seems fascinating, any nuance seems to be in correlation with another one andeach small fragment he reads adds new ideas to thealready existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology is the property of Idokan Poland Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ido Movement for Culture. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology is the property of Idokan Poland Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objective of this study was to compare the views of spectators concerning the quality perception of the World Indoor Athletics Championships. The study group consisted of 568 spectators who watched the events. A measurement scale of event quality in spectator sports (SEQSS) developed by Ko et al. (2011) was used as a data collection tool in the study. In order to determine the views of the spectators concerning the quality of the Indoor Athletics Championships, the dimensions constituting the scale were compared according to the demographic features of the sample group. As a consequence, important differences in most of the dimensions of the scale were revealed with respect to the demographic data of the subjects. The most relevant finding of the study is that the dimension of "physical environment quality", which is one of the dimensions constituting the event quality, differed significantly in all comparisons that were made according to demographic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored changes in the postural preparation to stepping introduced by modifications of the initial coordinates of the center of pressure (COP). We hypothesized that the postural adjustments in the anterior-posterior direction would persist across all initial COP manipulations while the adjustments in the medio-lateral direction would be highly sensitive to the initial COP coordinate. Healthy subjects stood on a force plate, shifted the body weight to one of the initial conditions that spanned the range of COP coordinates in both directions, and initiated a single step or started to walk. No major changes were observed between the stepping and walking conditions. Changes in the initial COP coordinate in the medio-lateral direction led to scaling of the magnitude of the COP shift in that direction prior to stepping accompanied by a nearly proportional change in the COP shift in the anterior-posterior direction. Changes in the initial COP coordinate in the anterior-posterior direction led to scaling of the magnitude of the COP shift in that direction prior to stepping without consistent changes in the COP shift in the medio-lateral direction. We interpret the results as reflecting a neural organization using a small set of referent body configurations for the postural adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological responses during the time limit at the intensity of the peak velocity of the Carminatti's test (T-CAR). Ten professional futsal players (age, 27.4 ± 5.8 years, body mass, 78.8 ± 8.5 kg, body height, 175.8 ± 6.8 cm, body fat mass, 14.1 ± 2.6%) took part in the study. The players performed three tests, with an interval of at least 48 hours, as follows: the T-CAR to determine the peak velocity and the maximal heart rate; an incremental treadmill protocol to determine the maximal physiological responses; and a time limit running test at the peak velocity reached in the T-CAR. During the last two tests, a portable gas analyzer was used for direct measurement of cardiorespiratory variables. It was shown that the peak velocity was not significantly different from the maximal aerobic speed achieved in the laboratory (p = 0.213). All athletes reached their maximum oxygen uptake during the time limit test. The maximum oxygen uptake achieved during the time limit test was not different from that observed in the laboratory condition (51.1 ± 4.7 vs. 49.6 ± 4.7 ml.kg-1.min-1, respectively, p = 0.100). In addition, Bland and Altman plots evidenced acceptable agreement between them. On average, athletes took ~140 s to achieve maximum oxygen uptake and maintained it for ~180 s. Therefore, the peak velocity intensity can be used as an indicator of maximal aerobic power of futsal athletes and the time limit can be used as a reference for training prescription. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to compare playing intensity and performance changes within a water-polo match in players of different competitive levels. High-level (n = 7) and lower-level (n = 7) players performed a progressively increasing speed test of 5 x 200 m swimming and speed corresponding to lactate concentration of 4.0, 5.0 and 10.0 mmol• l-1 was calculated. Repeated sprint ability (8 x 20 m) was tested at pre-, the middle and post-match and a 400 m swimming test was completed at pre and post in five water-polo matches. A t-test and a two-way ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. High-level compared to lower-level players presented higher speed corresponding to lactate concentration of 4.0 and 5.0 mmol• l-1 (p < 0.05). Regardless of the sports level, the mean heart rate was reduced towards the end of the match. High-level players completed a shorter amount of match time with the heart rate lower than 85% of the peak heart rate (p < 0.05). However, when the speed corresponding to lactate concentration of 4.0 mmol• l-1 was used as a covariate, no differences were observed in the heart rate between groups. Both groups decreased repeated sprint and 400 m performance at post- compared to pre-match by 7 ± 3% and 7 ± 4%, respectively. High-level compared to lower-level players showed better performance in repeated sprints at the middle (p < 0.01) and in pre-, post-match 400 m tests (p < 0.01). It was concluded that high-level compared to lower-level players completed the match at a higher playing intensity and presented a lower performance decrement across the match as a result of their higher aerobic endurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y el Deporte is the property of Revista Iberoamericana de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y el Deporte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Many complex phenomena, from trait selection in biological systems to hierarchy formation in social and economic entities, show signs of competition and heterogeneous performance in the temporal evolution of their components, which may eventually lead to stratified structures such as the worldwide wealth distribution. However, it is still unclear whether the road to hierarchical complexity is determined by the particularities of each phenomena, or if there are generic mechanisms of stratification common to many systems. Human sports and games, with their (varied but simple) rules of competition and measures of performance, serve as an ideal test-bed to look for universal features of hierarchy formation. With this goal in mind, we analyse here the behaviour of performance rankings over time of players and teams for several sports and games, and find statistical regularities in the dynamics of ranks. Specifically the rank diversity, a measure of the number of elements occupying a given rank over a length of time, has the same functional form in sports and games as in languages, another system where competition is determined by the use or disuse of grammatical structures. We use a Gaussian random walk model to reproduce the rank diversity of the studied sports and games. We also discuss the relation between rank diversity and the cumulative rank distribution. Our results support the notion that hierarchical phenomena may be driven by the same underlying mechanisms of rank formation, regardless of the nature of their components. Moreover, such regularities can in principle be used to predict lifetimes of rank occupancy, thus increasing our ability to forecast stratification in the presence of competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that female athletes draw sexist and homophobic remarks, especially in contact sports, which are more highly valued and dominated by men. As such, female athletes have used a variety of responses to combat stigma they face; however, these responses have reaffirmed sexist and homophobic assumptions rather than contest them. In the last decade roller derby has emerged as a contact sport which is female-dominated and whose members seek to complicate gendered assumptions about sport. Analysis of semistructured, in-depth interviews with 17 female flat-track roller derby players shows that although skaters face similar challenges of sexism and homophobia skaters resist these challenges in innovative ways including demonstrating the legitimacy of the sport, educating outsiders on the diversity of players, shrugging off or defending themselves, and adopting new uniforms. This study concludes by arguing that roller derby, as a unique sport within the particular historical moment of increased LGTBQ acceptance, has implications for altering women's relationship to sport by resisting homophobic and sexist assumptions. The altered relationship includes skaters being more open to different expressions of sexuality and gender in sport, taking control over their athletic status, and fostering a more accepting place for female athletes. In addition, this resistance has the potential to impact female athletes in contact sports other than roller derby by identifying and adopting these resistive strategies creating larger change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre las competiciones de natación en los Juegos Olímpicos. La autora comenta sobre el desarrollo y la incorporación de tecnología en la natación, y examina el éxito de nadador estadounidense Michael Phelps en los Juegos Olímpicos de Pekín en 2008. También se consideran los aspectos sociológicos de los deportes.

El artículo discurre sobre la historia de la participación de mujeres en los Juegos Olímpicos. La autora comenta sobre las competiciones de fútbol para mujeres y examina las características sociológicas, así como cuestiones de género, en el deporte También se considera el rol del Comité Olímpico Internacional en la incorporación de mujeres atletas.

Copyright of Journal of Social Intervention: Theory & Practice is the property of Universiteit Utrecht and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of the current study was (i) to identify how important was a good season start in relation to elite handball teams' performance, and (ii) to examine if this impact was related to the clubs' financial budget. The match performances and annual budgets of all teams were collected from the Spanish Professional Handball League during ten seasons. The dependent variable was the difference between the ranking of each team in accordance to the annual budget and the ranking of each team at the end of the season. A k-means cluster analysis classified the clubs according to their budget as High Range Budget Clubs (HRBC), Upper-Mid Range Budget Clubs (UMRBC), Lower-Mid Range Budget Clubs (LMRBC) and Low Range Budget Clubs (LRBC). Data were examined through linear regression models. Overall, the results suggested that the better the team performance at the beginning of the season, the better the ranking at the end of the season. Each position in the ranking above expected in accordance to the budget of the teams in Rounds 3, 4 or 5 improved by 0.47, 0.50 or 0.49, respectively, in the ranking at the end of the season (p<0.05). However, the impact of the effect depended on the clubs' annual budget. For UMRBC, LMRBC and LRBC a good start to the season had a positive effect on the final outcome (p<0.05). Nevertheless, for HRBC, a good or a bad start of the season did not explain their final position. These variables can be used to develop accurate models to estimate final rankings. UMRBC, LMRBC and LRBC can benefit from fine-tuning preseason planning in order to accelerate the acquisition of optimal performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is focused on the strategies adopted by Italian 'Serie A' soccer clubs during the non-competitive period. Thus, duration (i.e., number of days) of the specific non-competitive periods (i.e., off- plus pre-season, off-season, pre-season, summer camp), the number of games (i.e., friendly, official and polled games) and days between games (i.e., ≤ 3, 4-5, or ≥ 6 days between two consecutive games) of the entire non-competitive period were recorded and compared by clubs participating in the European Championships (EU), only 'Serie A' (A) and promoted from 'Serie B' (B) during five and single seasons (i.e., 2009/10-2013/14). Due to the short B off-season duration (2009/10-2013/14, 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, p≤.001), effects between clubs emerged also for the off- plus preseason (2009/10-2013/14, EU vs A, p≤.01, EU vs B, p≤.01, A vs B, p≤.001; 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, p≤.001). Nevertheless, no difference between clubs resulted for the pre-season. Reduced duration of summer camps was reported by the EU (i.e., 2009/10- 2013/14, 2009/10, 2013/14, p≤.001). A higher number of official games were played by EU than A (i.e., 2009/10- 2013/14, p≤.001; 2010/11, p≤.01). No effect emerged for the days between games. Therefore, despite the longer 'Serie B' schedule and EU preliminary UEFA games that determined the off-season restriction, clubs demonstrated the tendency to guarantee satisfactory pre-season duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of secondary incentives by evaluating agent behaviour in a professional sport that rewards multiple outcomes. Our analysis focuses on the Super Rugby competition, which awards four points for a win and bonus points for scoring four or more tries and/or losing by seven or fewer points. Using binary response models, we find that significantly more tries are scored by teams late in matches when they can earn the try bonus point with one more try, but only when the match result itself is already likely decided. This result offers important evidence on multitasking by professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many games and sports, including races, involve outcomes in which competitors are rank ordered. In some sports, competitors may play in multiple events over long periods of time, and it is natural to assume that their abilities change over time. We propose a Bayesian state-space framework for rank ordered logit models to rate competitor abilities over time from the results of multi-competitor games. Our approach assumes competitors' performances follow independent extreme value distributions, with each competitor's ability evolving over time as a Gaussian random walk. The model accounts for the possibility of ties, an occurrence that is not atypical in races in which some of the competitors may not finish and therefore tie for last place. Inference can be performed through Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation from the posterior distribution. We also develop a filtering algorithm that is an approximation to the full Bayesian computations. The approximate Bayesian filter can be used for updating competitor abilities on an ongoing basis. We demonstrate our approach to measuring abilities of 268 women from the results of women's Alpine downhill skiing competitions recorded over the period 2002-2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide a method for calculating the implied volatility of the outcome of a sports game. We base our analysis on Stern's stochastic model for the evolution of sports scores (Stern, H. S. 1994. 'A Brownian Motion Model for the Progress of Sports Scores.' Journal of the American Statistical Association 89:1128-1134.). Using bettors' point spread and moneyline odds, we extend the model to calculate the market-implied volatility of the game's score. The model can also be used to calculate the time-varying implied volatility during the game using inputs from real-time, online betting and to identify betting opportunities. We illustrate our methodology on data from Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers and show how the market-implied volatility of the outcome varied as the game progressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many children are not physically active enough for a health benefit. One avenue of physical activity is modified sport programs, designed as an introduction to sport for young children. This longitudinal study identified trends in participation among children aged 4-12 years. Outcomes included continuation in the modified sports program, withdrawal from the program or transition to club sport competition. Methods: De-identified data on participant membership registrations in three popular sports in the Australian state of Victoria were obtained from each sport's state governing body over a 4-year period (2009-2012 for Sport A and 2010-2013 for Sports B and C). From the membership registrations, those who were enrolled in a modified sports program in the first year were tracked over the subsequent three years and classified as one of: transition (member transitioned from a modified sport program to a club competition); continue (member continued participation in a modified sport program; or withdraw (member discontinued a modified program and did not transition to club competition). Results: Many modified sports participants were very young, especially males aged 4-6 years. More children withdrew from their modified sport program rather than transitioning. There were age differences between when boys and girls started, withdrew and transitioned from the modified sports programs. Conclusions: If we can retain children in sport it is likely to be beneficial for their health. This study highlights considerations for the development and implementation of sport policies and programming to ensure lifelong participation is encouraged for both males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]