Sports are activities enjoyed by many across the globe, regardless of age. The existence and promotion of youth sports has often been based on various assumptions about its value and role in society. Sports participation is assumed to be fun and good and is assumed to contribute to the development of young people. As a result, sports are often seen as an essential part of life for youth. Participation in sports and physical activity is assumed to help young people to develop in a context in which they are able to learn important positive societal values (Fraser-Thomas et al., 2005; Holt, 2008). Although there is a widespread belief in the positive dimensions of sports participation for young people, there is a need for research and theory that identifies and critically looks at the processes through which sports participation by youth is experienced and shapes their lives (Coakley, 2011). I return to this critical perspective after I elaborate on the ways sports are viewed as important effective activities for positive youth development.
Paralympic wheelchair athletes solely depend on the power of their upper-body for their on-court wheeled mobility as well as for performing sport-specific actions in ball sports, like a basketball shot or a tennis serve. The objective of WheelPower is to improve the power output of athletes in their sport-specific wheelchair to perform better in competition. To achieve this objective the current project systematically combines the three Dutch measurement innovations (WMPM, Esseda wheelchair ergometer, PitchPerfect system) to monitor a large population of athletes from different wheelchair sports resulting in optimal power production by wheelchair athletes during competition. The data will be directly implemented in feedback tools accessible to athletes, trainers and coaches which gives them the unique opportunity to adapt their training and wheelchair settings for optimal performance. Hence, the current consortium facilitates mass and focus by uniting scientists and all major Paralympic wheelchair sports to monitor the power output of many wheelchair athletes under field and lab conditions, which will be assisted by the best data science approach to this challenge.
The purpose of this article is to explore the determining factors of household expenditures on sports participation. Due to a relatively large amount of zero-expenditures, simple regression methods are not suited. Because of methodological reasons, the two-step Heckman approach is used over the Tobit approach and the Double Hurdle approach. The participation decision (spend money or not) is influenced by sports participation of the parents, family income, education, sports club membership, and sports frequency. Determining factors of the intensity decision (amount of money that is spent on sports participation) are family income, sports participation of parents during their youth, sports club membership, sports frequency, age of youngest child, and household size. Moreover, the results indicate that a two-stage approach is needed because it gives a more in-depth insight in the household spending behavior. For example, higher educated households more often spend money on sports participation. However, this research demonstrates that once higher educated households have decided to spend money on sports participation, the amount of money spent does not differ from lower educated households.
Developing and realizing an innovative concept for the Active Aging campus in two years, where students, teachers, companies, residents of surrounding Campus neighborhoods will be invited to do exercise, sports, play, meet and participate. This includes, on the one hand, providing input with regard to a mobility-friendly design from an infrastructural perspective and, on the other hand, organizing activities that contribute to Healthy Aeging of the Zernike site and the city of Groningen. It is not only about having an Active Aging campus with an iconic image, but also about the process. In the process of realization, students, teachers, researchers, companies and residents from surrounding districts will be explicitly involved. This includes hardware (physical environment / infrastructure), software (social environment) and orgware (interaction between the two).
Veel kinderen in de leeftijdsgroep van 8 tot 12 jaar haken af op de sportclub door slechte ervaringen met goedbedoelende, maar vaak onvoldoende deskundige jeugdtrainers en door de soms negatieve sfeer op en rond sportvelden. Dat geldt vooral voor kinderen die moeilijk-te-verstaan (‘lastig’) gedrag vertonen ten gevolge van milde psychosociale problemen. Het project beoogt een gedragsverandering bij jeugdtrainers te stimuleren en daarmee bij te dragen aan een veilig en inclusief klimaat voor kinderen op de sportclub. Getracht wordt om professionals zoals buurtsportcoaches en clubkadercoaches, te voorzien van een gebruiksvriendelijke digitale tool voor het begeleiden van jeugdtrainers. Daartoe wordt via een social design-benadering gefaseerd gewerkt aan de verdere ontwikkeling van de digitale tool App4Support, waarvan we recent in een eerder project een Proof of Concept (PoC)-versie tot stand hebben gebracht. De verdere ontwikkeling van App4Support vindt plaats binnen drie werkpakketten: 1. Participatie en co-creatie – Sportprofessionals, jeugdtrainers en ouders ontwerpen gezamenlijk gedragsinterventies voor jeugdtrainers die aansluiten bij de realiteit op de sportclub; 2. Gedrag en empowerment – Via interactieve workshops beoordelen sportprofessionals, jeugdtrainers en ouders gezamenlijk op basis van praktijkervaringen in hoeverre de ontworpen gedragsinterventies daadwerkelijk positief gedrag stimuleren en negatieve interacties ombuigen; 3. Waardecreatie en opschaling – Gunstig beoordeelde gedragsinterventies worden geïntegreerd in de digitale tool App4Support, met bijzondere aandacht voor de gebruiksvriendelijkheid van de app, de prioritering van adviezen en de toevoeging van gamification-elementen. Dit éénjarige project wordt uitgevoerd door Hogeschool Windesheim in samenwerking met Feeton als bedrijf uit de creatieve industrie, met In Opbouw, Intraverte en Sportservice Zwolle als organisaties uit de sector sport en gezondheid, en met enkele sportverenigingen. Vanuit een social design-benadering worden pedagogische inzichten, innovatieve methodes, gebruikerswensen en digitale technologie gecombineerd ter stimulering van positieve sportervaringen voor kinderen met milde psychosociale problemen.
Digital innovations in the field of immersive Augmented Reality (AR) can be a solution to offer adults who are mentally, physically or financially unable to attend sporting events such as premier league football a stadium and match experience. This allows them to continue to connect with their social networks. In the intended project, AR content will be further developed with the aim of evoking the stadium experience of home matches as much as possible. The extent to which AR enriches the experience is then tested in an experiment, in which the experience of a football match with and without AR enrichment is measured in a stadium setting and in a home setting. The experience is measured with physiological signals. In addition, a subjective experience measure is also being developed and benchmarked (the experience impact score). Societal issueInclusion and health: The joint experience of (top) sports competitions forms a platform for vulnerable adults, with a limited social capital, to build up and maintain the social networks that are so necessary for them. AR to fight against social isolation and loneliness.
