ABSTRACT
The measure of physical isolation adopted during a pandemic affected the daily routine of the whole world, including in the sports environment. Therefore, the study sought to compare the coping strategies used by Paralympic boccia athletes during the pandemic period. The sample consisted of 43 athletes (30 men and 13 women) aged 29.95-11,76 years. To identify and measure coping strategies, the ACSI-28 (athletic coping skills inventory) questionnaire was used in its version adapted to Portuguese and added to an electronic form. In data analysis, normality was verified by the Shapiro-Wilk test. After that, all inferential comparison analyzes were measured via nonparametric statistical tests with paired post-hoc DSCF tests. Thus, the results showed that there were significant differences between comparisons in terms of experience, "+10 years", "5 to 10 years", and "1 to 3 years" on the subscales "goals and mental preparation" (6.00+or-1.75 vs 5+or-1.50 vs 5+or-1.50;p<0.05;ES: 0.26) and "trainability" (9.00+or-3.25 vs 6.00+or-0.500 vs 8.00+or-3.00;p<0.05;ES: 0.19). More and less experienced athletes in the boccia modality showed superiority in facing the pandemic period, as they obtained better indices in the "goals and mental preparation and trainability" dimensions of coping strategies compared to their peers with less experience.
ABSTRACT
Despite the high number of crises encountered within sport, crisis communication management in sport remains understudied. Operational crisis communication in particular can be considered an uncharted territory, regardless of its potential significant effects on sport organisations' reputation. In this study we explore the themes used in FIFA's communication during the Covid-19 pandemic, to understand how operational organisational crisis communication was managed by football's leading sport organisation in this unprecedented climate. Content analysis is conducted in all FIFA's press releases and Twitter messages related to Covid-19 from March 5th to July 3rd 2020, in order for insights to be offered to the content and meaning of FIFA's operational crisis communication, their attempts to emphasise the organisation's positive traits and actions, and the links built with managing and improving the organisation's reputation. The analysis of the themes used indicates that proactive planning of crisis communication management had been conducted, while lessons from previous handling of crises appear to have been learned. By outlining the crisis communication strategy adopted by FIFA, we offer insights to the unexplored area of operational crisis communication in sports, while presenting a roadmap for operational crisis communication management for other sport organisations and future studies exploring the topic. HIGHLIGHTS The study highlights the main themes used by FIFA, focusing on positive traits of the organisation. FIFA's crisis communication management deviates from pre-prescribed recommendations.A roadmap for operational crisis communication management for sport organisations is offered.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to examine the relationship between the level of compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures and the COVID-19 impact on the quality of life of the candidate students in the Faculty of Sports Sciences, based on their gender, whether they are athletes or non-athletes, and whether they are individual athletes or team athletes. The study included 1083 candidate students, including 364 females and 719 males. The Social Distancing Scale and the COVID-19 Impact on Quality of Life Scale were used to collect data. The results showed that the degree of compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures between athletes and non-athletes was also discovered to differ in favor of non-athletes;and the COVID-19 impact on the quality of life of athletes and non-athletes was similar, being below the average. The level of compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures in individual or team athletes was higher, and the negative impact of COVID-19 on the quality of life of both groups was below the average. There was no relationship between the level of compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures and the COVID-19 impact on the quality of life of athletes, and there was a weak negative relationship between the level of compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures and the quality of life of non-athletes. Because these findings show that people who engage in movement and sports are less affected by COVID-19-related negatives, it is essential not to restrict people's movement and sports activities while taking precautions for COVID-19 and similar emergencies.
ABSTRACT
The new pandemic lifestyle advocates new rules for sport at all levels, from amateur to elite. Consequently, it has transformed the ways in which sports are performed and consumed, provoking demand for new technologies and/or the development of existing ones. This paper aims to identify, describe, and visualize the process of sport transformation as radical internal and external industry changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended to qualitatively explain the current 'metamorphoses' in the field and subsequently answer the question of how the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed all aspects of sports and physical culture. The literature and empirical dataset (qualitative open-ended written interviews, N = 147) were analysed in the spirit of grounded theory, referring to the holistic approach. The results demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on sports by touching on all aspects, levels, and stakeholders. The paper also outlines challenges and opportunities for the industry in these extraordinary times. The key dimensions of transformation are identified and explained. The findings of this research have significant implications for the understanding of how COVID-19 gave rise to the transformation of sports in different aspects. This study adds to the growing body of research on the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on sports, new technologies demand, and the transformation of sports.
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to explore the impact of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Chinese sport and Chinese society as well as the international Olympic Movement and Games. It asks three questions: What have been the purported impacts of the Beijing Games on China's sport culture and practice? Did the 2008 Beijing Games contribute to the development of the Olympic movement? What, if any, social progress has been achieved through the Beijing Games? In answer to the first question, the paper explores how the Games sought to bring Olympic ideals and spirit to China and the Chinese sports authority used the Games to popularize Olympic ideals within the country. Olympic education programmes played an important role in spreading and popularizing Olympic knowledge and culture during the Beijing Games as well as during the post-Beijing Olympics era. The Games also provided a platform for the development of a volunteer programme which gave direct support to the hosting of the Beijing Games, but also developed a voluntary workforce which has continued to serve China's social and cultural development. In answer to the second question, China used the opportunity to help the world to understand China, its history, its people, its cultures, and its ambition, and future direction. China's promotion of an Olympic slogan and the three themes: One World and One Dream, the Green Olympics, and the Technological Olympics and Humanistic Olympics took the Olympic Movement and the Games to foster an intercultural Olympism, of 'One World' a twenty-first century phenomenon. Thirdly, the Games reflected economic and cultural changes since the 1980s when China opened its door to the outside world. However, the Games did not bring changes to the political system or to social structures in Chinese society. Nevertheless, it did give China the confidence to join the international sports community and gain rich experience to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Beijing, therefore, will become the first city to have hosted Summer and Winter Games in Olympic history, but the hosting of the 2022 Games will take place with China having grown in confidence and strength since the 2008 Games. The country is sufficiently confident to stage a successful Games despite the context of dealing with the Covid pandemic, the diplomatic boycott instigated by the USA, the objections of the sporting world to the treatment of the Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai, and the environmental problems resulting from having to manufacture artificial snow.
ABSTRACT
This proceedings consists of 42 selected papers presented at the Annual International Scientific Conference in Quality of Sport. Some of the topics being discussed are: Optimization of the structure of the speedway team in the presence of regulation and financial constraints application of machine learning and integer programming to the Polish league case;Determinants of the development of shooting sports in Poland;Local governments' financial support for sport during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the example of Torun municipality;and Public-private partnership as a source of financing of sport and recreation infrastructure in Poland.