National parks have famously been called "America's best idea" and preserve the nation's natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment of all. One of the current working priorities of the National Park Service (NPS) is enhancing the relevancy and engagement of the national parks with diverse audiences, especially for underserved groups. To address this priority, transportation is needed to provide access to national parks, but transportation may not be equally accessible to all groups in society. Understanding the effects of transportation on visitation to the national parks by racial/ethnic groups is essential for the NPS to improve the accessibility of transportation systems and encourage greater visitation by racial/ethnic minority groups. Moreover, transportation can be more than a means of access, it can also be a form of recreation itself, providing opportunities for visitors to experience and appreciate parks and related areas. But, differences in desirability of transportation recreation opportunities across recreation settings and among racial/ethnic groups are rarely addressed. The intent of this dissertation is three-fold: 1) identify transportation related barriers impacting visitation to national parks by racial/ethnic groups, and the effects of transportation on the visiting national parks, 2) identify the differences in indicators of the transportation recreation opportunity spectrum among racial/ethnic visitors and across recreation settings, 3) measure spatial accessibility of national parks and the effects of spatial accessibility and other factors on visitation to national parks among racial/ethnic groups. The first phase of research is designed to identify barriers to visiting national parks that are related to marginality, subculture, and discrimination hypotheses, and examine the effects of transportation incentives on visitation among racial/ethnic groups. Study results found that racial/ethnic minority groups visited national parks less frequently than Whites. Hispanics were more likely to perceive transportation-related barriers to visiting national parks than Whites. Moreover, providing transportation incentives can increase visitation by Hispanics significantly. The second phase of research developed indicators for a transportation recreation opportunity spectrum (T-ROS), and examined the differences in desirability for T-ROS indicators among alternative transportation modes, different types of recreation settings, and different racial/ethnic groups. Study results identified the important indicators for transportation service in different types of recreation areas, which can help inform transportation planning and management for the NPS. The final phase of research examined the spatial accessibility of national parks from different geographic locations by incorporating geospatial analytics, assessed the spatial accessibility of different types of national parks among racial/ethnic groups, and estimated the effects of spatial accessibility on visitation to national parks. Results showed that Hispanics and Blacks had higher accessibility to national parks than Whites within short distance radii, however, Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to perceive distance as a barrier to visiting national parks than Whites. Study results can help the NPS understand the spatial structure of national parks, provide visual information for visitors about proximate national parks and recreation opportunities, and identified effective management strategies for enhancing visitation of racial/ethnic minority groups from different geographic areas.

This thesis is concerned with the character of popular recreations in late pre-industrial England, their place in society, and the changes they experienced during the period 1700-1850. The first chapter presents a descriptive survey of popular recreations in the eighteenth century. It focuses on two main themes: first, the principal events of the holiday calendar - parish feasts, pleasure fairs, hiring fairs, November the 5th, Christmas, Plough Monday, Shrove Tuesday, Easter, May Day, and Whitsuntide;and second, the most significant sports and pastimes of the common people - bull-baiting, cock-fighting, throwing at cocks, football, cricket, boxing, wrestling, cudgelling, and several other diversions. The second chapter examines the relationship between popular recreation and the larger society. It looks first at the social contexts of recreation and, in particular, draws attention to (a) the independent plebeian basis of some festivities, (b) the support which was often provided by genteel patronage and assistance, and (c) the recreational role of the public house. The second section of this chapter discusses some of the functional attributes of sports and festive occasions for the common people: the emphasis here is on recreations as outlets for tensions and hostile sentiments. The last two chapters are concerned with problems of change. Chapter III discusses the various attempts to suppress traditional recreations during the century before 1850. Special attention is paid to the attacks on animal sports, feasts, fairs, and football, and consideration is given to the motives and class biases underlying these attacks. Chapter IV is concerned more generally with the decline of popular recreations between the mid seventeenth and the mid nineteenth centuries. It concentrates in particular on some of the major trends which militated against the traditional practices: Evangelicalism, the increasingly rigorous attitudes concerning labour discipline, the enclosure movement, the decline of customary rights, and the breakdown of paternalistic habits. An effort is made here to relate the decline of recreations to some of the larger processes of social Change. Throughout the thesis, and especially in chapters II to IV, persistent emphasis is placed on the social relations which entered into, and gave shape to, the conduct of recreational affairs, most notably the relations between gentlemen and the common people. Recreations are seen, not in isolation, but in the context of the culture as a whole.

Title:Analysis of Physical Fitness of the Police of the Czech Republic Objectives:The main objective of this theses is to help find a solution of selected motoric ability among adults, particullary cadets, who study at the programm of Basic Professional Training at the Ministery of the Interior's school in Prague. Methods:To collect results of selected motoric abilities we used motoric test according to the UNIFITTEST 6 - 60. We used questionaires to collect basic data and data about physical and mental stress indicators. Results:We found out that performance of the Czech policemen is sometimes below average when compared with the general standards and that received data doesn't meet our expectation. Key words:Police of the Czech Republic, physical fitness, motoric ability, speed, strenght, endurance, motor tests, UNIFITTEST Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

FUNCTIONAL CHANGES OF PRAGUE VLTAVA ISLANDS The aim of this thesis is to document and analyze functional changes of Prague islands on the river Vltava, with emphasis on their use for free-time activities. This work focuses particularly on the development of Prague islands during the last decade. Directed interviews with main contemporary personalities who are performing their activities on the islands, standardized interviews with visitors on selected islands and knowledge from field research were used to accomplish the aim of the thesis. The work on this thesis also included collection of historical materials (maps, photographic documentation) for a planned exhibition as one of the outputs of this work which would be a way how to present scientific results by popular means. Keywords: Prague, islands, Vltava River, leisure time activities, exposition

Title: Analysis of customer satisfaction in the leisure center. Objectives: This thesis is focused on leisure center Offpark. The main goal of this thesis is to find out satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service in the leisure center. Offpark offer for its customer leisure activities - services which the thesis analyze and improve their individual aspects. The thesis compares the expected and the real value of individual aspects. This comparison will help deduce possible changes to improve the quality of services by major deficiency. The supporting aim is analyzing the thoughts and opinions of staff and a comparison with the ideas and opinions of real visitors. This comparison should discover distinction in opinions and views of visitors and instructors. The resulting differences in these two groups showed differences in understanding of the situation made by the visitors and the instructors, which was in some cases fundamental distinction. Method: A survey of service quality was investigated by using Servqual questionnaire, which was distributed by e-mail address database of visitors leisure center Offpark. The research was carried out at the end of season 2012, when the research was presented to visitors as a tool to improve the quality of service to the next year. The basic idea of this...

Title: Current youth sport participation in Jablonec nad Nisou town Objectives: The main objective of this work is to determine current situation of sport participation of youth population in town Jablonec nad Nisou. Subtasks were focused on finding the leisure activities of young people, their perceived incentives and barriers in sports, socio-demographic factors and description of sport background in Jablonec nad Nisou. Methods: The thesis includes the method of accessibility and convenience for reach the sample of students (High school "U Balvanu" and secondary Technical School). An anonymous questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 206 respondents. The questionnaire was inspired by the survey of Eurobarometer, WADA and research investigating the lifestyles of youth. To collect data focused on sports facilities in Jablonec nad Nisou, a method of analysis of documents (official material on the web) was used. Obtained data were processed by using basic descriptive statistics, relational analysis and explanation. Results: We found out that roughly half of the students are insufficiently ivolved to physical activity. The most frequently cited barriers are lack of time and motivation, handicap or illness and the absence of someone who would forced them. Physical activities has big...

Annotation: This thesis deals with the possibilities of using the project to work with adults with learning and mental handicap. In the theoretical part of the work the basic concepts related to mental disability is characterized. Furthermore, it comprises the conditions and possibilities of contemporary care for adults with mental disabilities. The practical part describes the preparation, implementation and evaluation of a specific project of leisure activities for clients of SPMP Modrý klíč School (Blue Key School) named "history windows open".

Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická fakulta katedra kulturologie DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCE Jana Velichová Volný čas jako fenomén dnešní doby Praha 2012 Vedoucí práce: PhDr. Ondřej Hubáček, Ph.D. 2 Abstrakt Leisure time is topical problem of the modern society, as well as a multidimensional phenomenon. It is associated with a number of other current issues that affect various areas of the life of the society. The thesis focuses on their identification, their historical development, and their reflection from the point of view of social sciences. It attempts to interpret them as socio-cultural phenomena. These problems manifest themselves in quite divergent areas, such as gender differences, influence of technology and the media on the society, economic behaviour of people, self- presentation, social activities, impact of new technology, dissemination of socially pathological phenomena, escapist functions of the media, creation and reproduction of social networks and social groups. The thesis applies an axiological and non- axiological approach to the examined phenomena. The solution of the topic is complemented with findings relating to the specified problems, which have been obtained through an empirical survery.

Game in leisure time of students of grammar schools, aprentice training schools and specialised high schools. The aim of the diploma thesis, "Game in leisure time of students of grammar schools, aprentice training schools and specialised high schools.", was to assess the impact of type of secondary school to pupils leisure activities, in particular, the favour type of leisure games. Within the diploma thesis there was realized empirical research. It was used questionnaire method. 326 respondents (15-25 years) were interviewed. Content is divided into two parts- theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with defining category of youth, introduce with the structure of secondary education in this country, below what it means leisure time for youth, how they spend it and definition of "game", its function and categorization. The practical part presents the results of research. Key words: game, youth, secondary school, leisure time.

This diploma thesis "New urban games and their players" treats the new phenomenon of urban games. The text is based on the classical games theory joined with the latest developments in the area and some relevant concepts of urban sociology. From a sociological point of view this thesis explores urban games as a new leisure time phenomenon and clearly states its characteristics as well as its definition. The main focus lies in examining the recent developments in Czech urban games and describing the variety present in urban games today. Other related topics of urban activities are also explained. The mechanics of urban games is explored in the case study of Compagnie, an urban game that took place in Prague in 2010. In the case study, the urban game basics are shown in order to help the general public to understand it. This work is concluded with a socio-demographic analysis of urban game players based on an enquiry done with the participants of the game. The whole text mixes theoretic approach with practical study of urban games, sociological analysis and participatory observation.