A New Dimension of Risks in Sports: The Cyber Domain

Author(s): Eyal Pinko / Language(s): English Issue: 4s/2021

The digital era and the increasing technological reliance of sport are showing a new face of threat and present a new challenge to the sports organizations – assuring the cybersecurity of the organization, the event, the team. While cybersecurity is a central topic during the design and implementation of the security of major sports events for more than a decade, the sports organizations get newly introduced in the domain, and unfortunately, some happen to learn lessons painfully – by suffering a cyber-attack. The present article aims to examine different kinds of cyber threats to which sports organizations are exposed by studying the most common types of attackers, motivation, and the means used for an attack. The applied methodology includes a literature review and case study performed on cases from three types of categories: major sports events; sports administering bodies, clubs, and athletes. The results of the analysis provide systematic information about the most common attackers’ types, motivations, and approaches which can be used as a foundation for further development of cybersecurity risk assessment of sports organizations.

A PLATFORM TO PROMOTE A MORE ACTIVE LIFESTYLE BETWEEN STUDENTS

Author(s): Imad Alex Awada,Irina Mocanu / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2020

Due to the current lifestyle, people in general and adolescents in particular are not physically active enough which put at risk their health. Immediate actions are needed to promote a more active lifestyle. This paper introduces a platform that aims to encourage students to have a more active life. The platform suggests for each user to perform specific physical activities/exercises based on the physical activities that the user had during the day, the duration of the sleep and his/her profile (preferences, performance history) as well as some health parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, weight). All these tasks are realized through a game with an avatar that is controlled by the user through the execution of the different physical exercises/activities in real life (e.g. the avatar is placed in an environment to collect different objects; to do that, the user will have to jump and to run in real life). The exercises performed by the user are acquired using an RGB camera. Images are processed and the skeleton of the user is obtained using the OpenPose library. To increase motivation, the platform gives different rewards (e.g. more points) for executing physical tasks and suggests some collective physical activities based on the profile of each user. The platform is multilingual, it supports Romanian and English languages, with the possibility to extend it to other languages. The platform integrates a multimodal interface that enables the users to interact through voice and touch-based commands as well as touch-free gestures. During the execution of a physical exercise, the platform tracks the performance of the user. The platform sends visual and phonetic notifications to the users’ phones to suggest the execution of some physical activities/exercises.

A Political Agenda of Sports?

Author(s): Irina-Ana Drobot / Language(s): English Issue: 14/2017

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the most recent running marathons in Bucharest to see whether they are part of a political agenda or not, and if yes, what are the reasons for this. Is this a way of allowing people to bond together, and to take part in charity? Is this part of the way media imposes its agenda on people, or vice-versa? Is it a way of political elites to control the masses and make them take part in welfare activities? The paper will take into account the hypothesis of sports and welfare holding communities together.

A serial path model between autonomous motivation, behavioral intention, action planning, and after school physical activity of university students participating in Physical Education classes

Author(s): Jae Young Yang / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

University students in the international regions show reduced physical activity levels compared to previous generations. Lack of physical activity in college population is a growing problem of modern society because over half of the population is faced with serious health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. An emphasis point of physical activity research is to get detailed information of motivational process for engaging in physical activity. This study tested a serial path model that the relationship between autonomous motivation and after school physical activity was proposed to be mediated by behavioral intention and the existence of action planning. A total of 203 students participating in physical education classes of two universities located at a metropolitan city in South Korea were selected. The participants completed four well-validated questionnaires at the end of the classes in one semester. The results of data analyzed using a structural equation modeling revealed that after school physical activity could be positively advanced by the sequential mediation effects of behavioral intention and action planning if students were internalized with autonomous motivation in the physical education classes. The findings highlighted that the action planning played as an effective strategy in leading to engagement in after school physical activity and provided useful information for university physical educators to increase physical activity levels of university students during out of school hours.

A sportolási szokások és a tanulmányi eredményesség egy határmenti régió hallgatóinak körében

Author(s): Klára Kovács / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2015

A sportolást befolyásoló tényezők az általános iskolásoknál

Author(s): Gábor János Fintor,József Szabó / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2014

A study on the relationship between compulsive exercise, depression and anxiety

Author(s): Aviv Weinstein,Yitzhak Weinstein,Gavriel Maayan / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2015

Exercise and physical activity are beneficial both physically and psychologically but a few individuals use exercise excessively resulting in physical and even psychological damage. There is evidence for bidirectional relationship between exercise with depression and anxiety showing that exercise can reduce anxiety and depression, whereas a lack of exercise is associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression. Methods: This study used questionnaires assessing compulsive exercise, anxiety and depression among 20 professional regular exercisers and 51 recreational regular exercisers. Results: Results showed that ratings of compulsive exercise were associated with ratings of anxiety and depression among individuals who exercise for professional and recreational purpose. Secondly, individuals who exercise for professional purpose were more depressed than individuals who exercise for recreational purpose, but did not exhibit higher trait anxiety ratings. Thirdly, individuals who exercise for recreational purpose showed an association between ratings of compulsive exercise and depression but not with ratings of trait anxiety. Discussion: Individuals who exercise for professional and recreational purpose may use it as a means for alleviating depression and anxiety although this small sample of recreational and professional sportsmen showed clinical levels of anxiety and depression that may require further clinical treatment.

A study on the relationship between exercise addiction, abnormal eating attitudes, anxiety and depression among athletes in Israel

Author(s): Maayan Levit,Yitzhak Weinstein,Aviv Weinstein / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between exercise addiction, abnormal eating attitudes, anxiety, and depression among competitive and amateur athletes. Methods. Participants were 100 athletes of mean age 28.3 years (18–62), of which there were 67 males and 35 females. The sample consisted of competitive and amateur athletes who participated in individual and group sports. They filled in the Exercise Addiction Inventory, Body Shape Questionnaire, a questionnaire assessing Eating Attitudes Test, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results. Ratings of exercise addiction were positively correlated with BDI scores across the study sample. Exercise addiction ratings were associated with abnormal eating attitudes, but not with trait or state anxiety. Athletes engaging in individual sports scored marginally higher on depression scores than group athletes but there was no difference in depression scores between competitive and amateur athletes. Multiple regression analysis revealed that abnormal eating attitudes contributed significantly to ratings of exercise addiction and explained 7.7% of the variance. According to the Sobel test, the difference in the association between exercise addiction and eating disorder was significant. Therefore, body shape was a mediating factor between eating disorder and exercise addiction. Discussion and conclusions. This study extends our preliminary findings of an association between exercise addiction and depression. Second, abnormal eating attitudes may explain most of the variance of exercise addiction. This is a further support for previous evidence of comorbidity between exercise addiction and eating disorders.

A Systematic Review of Research on Sport Migration

Author(s): Jeferson Roberto Rojo,Renato Francisco Rodrigues Marques,Fernando Augusto Stareprav / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

Research on sport migration spans many disciplines and strands of inquiry, with some studies seeking to analyse the academic outputs. However, these studies sometimes are focused on certain specific contexts or offer only qualitative analysis. This present study aimed to analyse the literature on sport migration. Through a systematic review, we combined data from the articles to propose a classification of the sport migration research field. The results show that research in sport migration have focused on athletes who are mostly men, working in elite sports, and with attention to more globally practiced sports, such as football. Regarding migratory flows, they are often carried out from peripheral countries to central countries. Considering all advances in academic output on sport migration, this line of research needs to broaden, observing other dynamics involved, such as other migratory routes, groups of migrants, and social agents.

A Theory of Transition in Sports Career

Author(s): Hana Válková / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The article is oriented on explanation of the theoretical framework of the transition theory. The origin of this theory, terminology development and approaches how to adapt to it in practice are presented. Three basic approaches are developed in research and practice: a) a drop-out phenomenon between stages, b) a stage of involution and dual career, c) a long-term talent development. The acceptance of biodromal and holistic approach are stressed which means that the principles of sports training should be accompanied with the perception of importance of a social environment (parents, coaches, peers, sports club policy). A classic model of the theory consists of four developmental stages with typical markers in each stage (from early childhood up to the period of involution). The theory can be applied in both recreational participation in one’s daily life-span development, and in the sports talent development and professional sports career including the stage of involution.

Aberantno ponašanje i kognitivna sposobnost predškolske dece

Author(s): Gustav Bala,Ankica Hošek-Momirović,Špela Golubović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2007

The sample included 712 preschool boys and girls at the age of 4 to 7 years (mean 5.96 decimal years and standard deviation .96) from preschool institutions in Novi Sad, Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica and Bačka Palanka. Information concerning 36 indicators of aberrant behavior of the children were supplied by their parents, whereas their cognitive ability was tested by Raven’s progressive colored matrices. Based on factor analysis (promax method), four factors i.e. generators of aberrant behavior in children were singled out: aggression, anxiousness, dissociation, and hysteria, whose relations with cognitive functioning and age were also analyzed by factor analysis. Aberrant behavior and cognitive abilities show significant interrelatedness. Owing to orderly developed cognitive abilities, a child understands essence and reality of problems, realizes possibilities and manners of solving them, and succeeds in realizing successful psycho-social functioning. Developed cognitive abilities enable a child to recognize and understand her/his own reactions in different situations and develop manners of reacting, which leads to strengthening psycho-social safety and adapting behavior in accordance with her/his age and abilities.

Ability of reproduction rhythm and sustain it in dancers

Author(s): Pavel Kapoun,Martin Zvonař / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

The aim of the study was with using peer review to determine how the active dancers can reproduce the rhythm and also to maintain this rhythm. The average age of tested people is 21,53 years ± 6,8. As motion – dance act of reproduction rhythm we chose simple locomototion, which is an essential element in dance and walk. Group of 102 dancers was tested on 4 different rates of the rhythm, so in order to determine their ability to reproduce the rhythm from slow to fast rhythms. We chose the rates 80 BPM, 100 BPM, 120 BPM and 140 BPM (Beat Per Minute). The evaluation was carried out by the method of expert assessment on the basis of scale. Testing was carried out by a qualified person with more than 20 years of experiences in the dance field. From the obtained data we found that the slower rate is for the person to be tested more difficult to reproduce it and keep up the rate. On the contrary, the faster rate is for the person being tested easier to reproduce and maintain the rate – Spearmann´s correlation coefficient of sequence is statistically significant, p-value < 2.2e–16. For evaluation of the faster rate of the rhythm we can explain this result, that reproduced rate is so fast that it may goes to some error in expert assessment. We demonstrated that this testing can be performed in any sport that puts high requirements on rhythm and rhythmic skills.

About Gymnosophy

Author(s): Sergiu Teodorescu,Aurelia Preda / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2014

The gymnosophy philosophy as a way to substantiate gymnastics; gymnastics and gymnosophy’s etymological explanation; the gymnosophy, considered "the wisdom of the naked" becomes, at some point, the philosopher's way of health and thereby gymnastics becomes practical way of obtaining health , nudity as a means of verifying the execution of exercise; gymnastics supplemented diet since antiquity; spirituality is found in bodily perfection of the gods of antiquity” "to pray for a sound mind in a healthy body"; legislating in antiquity, to gymnastics, to maintain health; physical activity, characteristic of contemporary, induces disease; sport, as a health way, acute need of every man.

Abstracts of the 1st International Conference on Behavioral Addictions

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: suppl.1/2013

Abstracts of the 1st International Conference on Behavioral Addictions; March 11–12, 2013, Budapest, Hungary

ACCURACY IN FOOTBALL: SCORING A GOAL AS THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE OF FOOTBALL GAME

Author(s): Dejan Milenković,Igor Stanojević / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2013

The study included 60 young football players aged 10 and 11 years with the aim to examine the influence of motor skills on a specific accuracy in football. The following tests for assessment of motoric abilities were used: Coordination: jumping over the horizontal rope, envelope test, figure „8“ with bending; Flexibility: forward bend-standing upper-body rotation-touch, the splits, side-stepping with a baton; Balance: standing on one leg along the balance bench, standing on one leg with eyes closed, flamingo test. Tests for specific accuracy in football included: elevational accuracy by foot - vertical target, elevational accuracy by foot - horizontal target, linear accuracy by foot - vertical target, the hits of ball by foot on the wall after it rebounces from the surface, elevational accuracy by head - vertical target and elevational accuracy by head - horizontal target. Results obtained by processing the data applying canonical correlation and regression analysis indicated the indisputable influence of motor abilities of young football players on the majority of specific accuracy tests.

Achillodynie u rekreačních běžců

Author(s): Soňa Vnenčáková,Jana Řezaninová / Language(s): English,Czech Issue: 2/2018

Running has become a modern trend and one of the most popular leisure activities. The popularity of running however results in an increased occurrence of cases of acute or chronic pain of the Achilles tendon in offices of doctors and physiotherapists. The cause of achillodynia in runners has not been conclusively established, hence it is important to warn about the risk factors and promote the importance of prevention.

Activation of Sponsorship Relationship – the case of Volkswagen and the Prague International Marathon

Author(s): Sasho Belovski / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The academia and the relevant industry seem to lack more complete and coherent literature and knowledge on the subject of sponsorship activation, and especially seek for more concrete business practices and feedback from the market. The goal of this work thus is to present a very relevant and up-to-date case study that will contribute to enriching the sponsorship activation literature and to better comprehending the business practices and decision makings. A scrutinized case study of such nature clearly requires a qualitative research method, concentrating on large amount of detailed and focused information, as opposed to analyzing bulk samples and statistics. The research question is being answered by collecting information from personal interviews, access to all necessary documentation and corporate material, as well as direct contribution of the author in all the negotiation and implementation processes of the sponsorship relationship.

Adaptační kurz jako nástroj změny sociálních vztahů ve třídním kolektivu

Author(s): Lucie Kalkusová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2017

The article contributes to the illustration of the importance of outdoor courses for development of social relationships in school classes. Following text is a pilot study for future research. The research sample consisted of 17 pupils of Grade 6 primary school, average age 11.24 years, who participated on a three-day outdoor course. The course focused on the development of team dynamics, cooperation and social relationships. The participants filled in the same questionnaire before and after the course which enabled to compare the changes. The questionnaires were based on rating all classmates according to the preferential relationships. The strength of these relationships was transformed visually in sociomaps showing the structure of social relationships. The sum of ratings given by the whole class increased from 1583 before to 1751 points after the course. The general colour of sociomap changed after the course showing increased sympathies between the classmates after the course. Sociomapping showed to be a useful and lucid method for illustration of positive impact of the outdoor course for the development of social relationships in the school class.

Adaptation of the academic motivation scale for future professionals in physical education and sports

Author(s): Iuliia Pavlova,Ivanna Bodnar,Vadym Shvets,Petro Petrytsa,Natalia Nalyvayko / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2022

The purpose of the research was to adapt the Academic Motivation Scale in the context of investigating students’ motivation to study physical education and sports, including the assessment of psychometric properties and experimental validation of the model tool. In this study, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was used. After comparison with alternatively possible models, the seven-factor model showed the highest correspondence. The test–retest factors were above 0.7 for all subscales, indicating high reliability of the questionnaire. The analysis of the participants’ results revealed that the highest indicators were for extrinsic and identified regulation and internal motivation related to knowledge acquisition. The obtained version of the Academic Motivation Scale is a valid instrument and has acceptable psychometric properties and can be used to study the learning motivation of university students, in particular future specialists in physical education and sports.

Adaptation of the Challenge and Threat in Sport Scale into Turkish: A Validity And Reliability Testing Study

Author(s): Bülent Gürbüz,Halil Erdem Akoğlu,Erman Öncü,Oğuz Özbek / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Athletes have to cope not only with their opponents but also with many psychological factors for success. The aim of this study is to test the validity and reliability of the "Challenge And Threat In Sport Scale” developed by Rossato, Uphill, Swain and Coleman (2018) for Turkish culture. The psychometric properties of the scale were tested on 75 female (27.3%) and 200 male (72.7%), total 275 (average age= 17.91±2.82) athletes. There are a total of 12 items and 2 subscales in the original of the Challenge And Threat In Sport Scale. To test the construct validity of the scale in Turkish culture, explatory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis was applied. Internal consistency co-efficients were calculated for each subscale of the measurement tool. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, it was seen that the Turkish version of the scale, as in the original scale, consisted of 11 items and 2 subscales: "challenge" and "threat". It was fastened down that the factor loads of the items that make up the scale varied between .40 and .81. According to the confirmatory factor analysis results, it was calculated as χ2 / df = 2.64, GFI = .94, AGFI = .90, CFI = .94, IFI = .94, SRMR = .07 and RMSEA = .07. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficients of the scale were calculated as .84 for the "threat" subscale and .80 for the "challenge" subscale. As a result, it can be said that the psychometric properties of "Turkish Challenge And Threat In Sport Scale" is an adequate measurement tool to evaluate the challenge and threat levels of competing athletes in various branches.