Predicting the Evolution of Sports Federation Membership: An Important Tool to Asses National Governing Bodies’ Strategic Planning

Quantifying the potential market of sports licenses is key in order for National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) to be able to design good strategic planning. We compared the classical methods of univariate prediction and the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) methods. Reliability of the available data was verified with the Time Series Regression with ARIMA Noise, Missing and Outliers (TRAMO) method, and the existence of a trend was verified using Daniel’s test. For the purposes of this study—the researches collected and analysed secondary data from a 40-year series in 45 sports in Spain covering a very long period of time in a variety of sport disciplines. The study shows that, with the available data, short-and mid-term forecasting is possible in a number of sports, but not in all of them. It also proves that Holt’s classical method of exponential smoothing is the one that yields best results. Golf, Basketball, Athletics and Hunting NGB show worrying prospects of decline levels and need an immediate change in the strategic plans. Other than for forecasting the evolution of athletes in the mid-term in order to improve strategic planning in NGBs, the present findings can be useful for public authorities to define their aid policies for NGBs, and they can also helpcompanies in the industry to anticipate market developments

Post-Event Volunteering Legacy: Did the London 2012 Games Induce a Sustainable Volunteer Engagement?

Abstract: The hosting of the London 2012 Olympic Games was seen as an opportunity to harness the enthusiasm of the 70,000 volunteers involved and to provide a post-event volunteer legacy. A total of 77 individuals who had acted as volunteers in London 2012 were contacted approximately four years after the Games and agreed to complete a web-based open-ended survey. The participants were asked to indicate their level of current volunteering engagement and whether volunteering at the Games had an impact on their current volunteering levels. The study found that the London Olympics were the first volunteer experience for most of the volunteers who completed the survey, with the main motivation to volunteer being anything related to the Olympic Games. Just over half of the respondents are currently volunteering. Lack of time is shown to be the main barrier towards further volunteering commitment. Only half of respondents had been contacted by a volunteering scheme after London 2012. The implications of the findings for a potential volunteering legacy are then explored

La cobertura mediática de las mujeres deportistas con discapacidad. Análisis de la prensa diaria de cuatro países europeos durante los Juegos Paralímpicos de Sidney 2000*

Las investigaciones sobre la mediatización de las mujeres deportistas muestran, por una parte, que éstas están menos representadas que los hombres, por otra, que su imagen está fuertemente sexualizada. Además, en contraposición a los hombres, los artículos de que son objeto las presentan generalmente en su papel de madre, mujer, etc.; es decir las enmarcan en ambientes no deportivos. Por añadidura, sabemos que en ciertos puntos el tratamiento mediático de deportistas con discapacidad es diferente al de quienes no la tienen. Pero ¿qué peculiaridades aparecen en el tratamiento mediático de las mujeres deportistas discapacitadas? El estudio de la cobertura de prensa de los Juegos Paralímpicos (Sidney 2000) presentado aquí (basado en un análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo de 108 artículos editados por periódicos alemanes, ingleses, españoles y franceses) muestra que, contrariamente a lo que se esperaba, las mujeres deportistas con discapacidad no están cuantitativamente menos representadas que los hombres. Por tanto, en este caso no hay estigmatización por ocultación específica. Sin embargo, ésta adopta formas más insidiosas. El análisis de los elementos cualitativos de los reportajes y de las fotos muestra que, efectivamente, las mujeres aparecen fuertemente “infantilizadas” y “trivializadas” (Jones, 1999) en los periódicos que cubren los Juegos Paralímpicos

La cobertura mediàtica de les dones esportistes amb discapacitat. Anàlisi de la premsa diària de quatre països europeus durant els Jocs Paralímpics de Sydney 2000*

Les investigacions sobre la mediatització de les dones esportistes mostren, per una banda, que aquestes estan menys representades que els homes, per una altra, que la seva imatge està fortament sexualitzada. A més, en contraposició amb els homes, els articles dels que són objecte les presenten generalment en el seu paper de mare, esposa, etc.; és a dir les emmarquen en ambients no esportius. Per afegiment, sabem que en certs punts el tractament mediàtic d’esportistes amb discapacitat és diferent al dels qui no la tenen. Però quines peculiaritats apareixen en el tractament mediàtic de les dones esportistes discapacitades? L’estudi de la cobertura de premsa dels Jocs Paralímpics (Sydney 2000) presentat aquí (basat en una anàlisi qualitativa i quantitativa de 108 articles editats per diaris alemanys, anglesos, espanyols i francesos) mostra que, contràriament al que s’esperava, les dones esportistes amb discapacitat no estan quantitativament menys representades que els homes. Per tant, en aquest cas no hi ha estigmatització per ocultació específica. Tanmateix, aquesta adopta formes més insidioses. L’anàlisi dels elements qualitatius dels reportatges i de les fotos mostra que, efectivament, les dones apareixen fortament “infantilitzades” i “trivialitzades” (Jones, 1999) als diaris que cobreixen els Jocs Paralímpics

A case study investigating the impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on participation in two non-traditional English sports, Judo and Fencing.

The hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOPG) brought with it detailed legacy plans aiming to ‘Inspire a Generation’. The idea that hosting a sports mega-event will encourage the host population to engage in more physical activity is commonly used by governments to justify the large investments they make. The aim of this research paper was to investigate the impact that hosting the 2012 Games had on grass-root sports participation within the host nation. This paper focuses on two non-traditional English sports, Fencing and Judo and investigated the changes in mass sports participation. The membership rate analysis of our sample highlighted an overall increase in participation between 2007 and 2013, in both Judo and Fencing. The data gathered from the interviews with the head office staff at the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and local club coaches suggested that the grass-root participation programmes were the most effective way of increasing participation, rather than the reliance, solely on the inspiration effect from hosting the LOPG itself. The study highlighted the importance of strengthening communication between local voluntary clubs and the NGB, to ensure sports could promote themselves and capitalise on this global sporting phenomenon, which provided unprecedented media coverage and opportunities for these non-traditional sports. This case study provides initial results relating to the effect that a major international multi-sport event can have in the development of non-traditional sports in the host population, in terms of membership variations, participation programmes and organisational dynamics

Actitudes explícitas e implícitas hacia la obesidad en estudiantes de Cultura Física

Las actitudes negativas frente a personas obesas constituyen, en sí mismas, un factor de riesgo para propiciar su participación y adherencia en programas que impliquen cambios en su estilo de vida. En este trabajo se estudiaron las actitudes frente a la obesidad en estudiantes de Cultura Física de Ecuador, comparados en función del género y semestres. Se trabajó con 80 estudiantes de Cultura Física, entre 18 y 33 años. Se aplicaron dos cuestionarios el (AFA) que mide las actitudes explícitas frente a la obesidad en tres dimensiones (aversión, miedo a engordar y falta de voluntad) y el Antifat Implicit Association Test (IAT) que mide actitudes implícitas. Se constató la existencia de actitudes negativas explícitas e implícitas hacia la obesidad en toda la muestra de estudio. La población femenina presenta mayor miedo a engordar que la población masculina. Los estudiantes presentan estas actitudes negativas explícitas e implícitas indistintamente del semestre que cursan.Negative attitudes towards obese people constitute a risk factor for their participation in, and adherence to, programmes involving lifestyle changes. This work studied the attitudes of Physical Education students in Ecuador towards obesity. Their attitudes were compared by gender and semesters. The sample in this study consisted of 80 Physical Education students between 18 and 33 years old. Two questionnaires were given - the Antifat Attitudes Questionnaire, which measures explicit attitudes toward obesity in three subscales: dislike, fear of gaining weight and lack of willpower; and the Anti-fat Implicit Association Test: to measure implicit attitudes. The main results show evidence of negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward obesity across the study sample. Moreover, the results indicate that the female population has a greater fear of gaining weight than the male population. The year of studies was not found to be a distinctive factor for either implicit or explicit negative attitudes.As atitudes negativas face a pessoas obesas constituem, em si mesmas, um factor de risco para propiciar a sua participação e adesão a programas que impliquem mudanças no estilo de vida. Neste trabalho foram estudadas as atitudes face à obesidade em estudantes de Cultura Física do Equador, comparados em função do género e dos semestres frequentados. Participaram no estudo 80 estudantes de Cultura Física, com idades compreendidas os 18 e 33 anos. Foram aplicados dois questionários (AFA) que mede as atitudes explícitas face à obesidade em três dimensões (aversão, medo de engordar e falta de vontade) e o Antifat Implicit Association Test (IAT) que mede atitudes implícitas. Verificou-se a existência de atitudes negativas explícitas e implícitas face à obesidade em toda a amostra do estudo. A população feminina apresenta maior medo de engordar que a população masculina. Os estudantes apresentam estas atitudes negativas explícitas e implícitas indistintamente do semestre que frequentam

The influence of health care providers’ emotions on clinical judgment regarding diagnosis of the terminally ill

In Spain, the dying process is sometimes described as «bad» or even «awful». There are many reasons for this situation, the most important being the difficulties health care professionals have to face with death and their lack of ability to help and assist patients to go through the dying process. The influence of the current cultural context regarding death and the way people die is paired with other factors. These factors are both clinical and professional in nature such as for example: the moment of diagnosis of a terminally ill patient that entails important emotional implications for the health care professionals, the patient and their family. All these factors have a direct influence on the health care assistance. We conducted Grounded Theory-based, phenomenological, qualitative research using a final sample of 42 indepth interviews with doctors and nurses from different fields in Granada (Spain) in order to understand their point of view, as health care providers, on the assistance given to terminally ill patients. The results were analysed with Atlas-tí software using thematic coding. The results show the effect the emotional factor has on the clinical judgment of health care professionals and support the need for broader and more comprehensive study. En España, el proceso de morir se describe con frecuencia como «malo» o incluso como «muy malo». Entre los motivos, destacan las dificultades de los profesionales de la salud para afrontar la muerte y para asistir y acompañar en el proceso de morir a sus enfermos. A la influencia del contexto cultural actual en cuanto al sentido de la muerte y al modo de morir, se unen situaciones de carácter clínico y profesional como el momento del diagnóstico de una enfermedad terminal, con importantes implicaciones emocionales para el profesional, el enfermo y la familia, y un efecto directo en la respuesta asistencial a la situación. Planteamos un estudio cualitativo de tipo fenomenológico, fundamentado en la Grounded Theory, sobre una muestra final de 42 entrevistas en profundidad a médicos y enfermeros de diferentes ámbitos asistenciales de la provincia de Granada (España), para conocer, en su propio contexto, el punto de vista de los profesionales implicados en la atención al enfermo terminal. Los datos se analizaron con el software ATLAS.tí siguiendo una codificación temática. Los resultados muestran el efecto que el factor emocional tiene en el juicio clínico del profesional y justifican la necesidad de ampliar y profundizar en su estudio

Are mega-events a solution to address physical inactivity? Interrogating the London 2012 Paralympic sport participation legacies among people with disabilities

Understanding why non-active people with disabilities have not participated in more sport since the London 2012 Paralympic Games is the focus of this paper. This research reviews the constraints preventing people with disabilities from participating in more sport, and the role the London 2012 Paralympic Games plays in this. Eighty-one people with disabilities in England who are non-active completed an online questionnaire exploring their constraints to participating in more sport. The data suggests attitudes towards the London 2012 Paralympic Games were not an important reason for the lack of sport participation: instead, systemic and social barriers are more constraining to participation in more sport. A factor analysis identified four components that constrain non-active people with disabilities: sport provision; economic; unawareness of how to include people with disabilities in sporting activities; and access to sport participation opportunities. The four components explained 72.93% of the total variance. It is recommended mega sporting events are not used as a policy intervention to increase sport participation of people with disabilities, as this does not account for constraining social and systemic barriers to sports participation. Instead, bottom-up solutions designed and managed in conjunction with people with disabilities may be more effective

Breaking Ice: An In-depth Examination of China's Winter Sports Participation in the Wake of Beijing 2022

Is there evidence from secondary data to suggest advancement towards Beijing 2022's objective of "Motivating 300 million individuals to engage in winter sports"? This study explored the Beijing 2022 sport participation legacy by adopting a quantitative approach with triangulation. The preliminary findings highlight the multifaceted and complex nature of evaluating the sport participation legacy goal of a Sport Mega Event (SME). The broad definition of the goal to "Motivate 300 million people to engage in winter sports," as well as the characteristics of the political mission's cultural and systemic context, were some of the factors that played an important role when trying to assess this target. Moreover, this paper revealed three crucial mechanisms trans-mitting the passion of winter sports from SME to mass participation legacy, through quantitatively examining the promised target. There were "Leveraging sports policy", "Provision of facilities accompanying the integration of sport and education", and "Cooperative stakeholders` alliance strengthened by media power and technology". We anticipate that this study will make a valuable contribution towards addressing the challenges posed by the broad and ambitious nature of Beijing 2022's goal, whilst facilitating further investigations on the transformative strategies

Leveraging the sport participation legacy of the London 2012 Olympics: Senior managers’ perceptions

The purpose of this study was to understand how a sports mega event (SME) was leveraged to try and increase participation, through the investigation of national governing bodies (NGBs) opinions and atti- tudes. Critical realism (CR) was used as a tool to aid understanding of leveraging and legacy conceptualisation, through an empirical investiga- tion. An extensive, mixed method online survey was conducted post London 2012 with senior staff members of NGBs, the main delivery agent chosen to support the participation initiatives associated with the London 2012 Olympics. This research provides valuable findings surrounding the use of CR as a tool to investigate legacy creation, whilst at the same time offering insights to enhance the policy implementation process within the sports development sector. The importance of com- munication, competitive nature of sports system, media, club engage- ment, organisational capacity and monitoring and evaluation were highlighted, which provided useful insights into the multidimensional constructs that can aid future leveraging strategies prior to hosting SMEs