Title: Comparison of selected minority sports in the Czech Republic from the player, spectator and management aspects Objective: The aim of this work is to analyze the current situation in American football, frisbee and lacrosse in Prague and make suggestions for future improvements. Methods: The applied methods included the study of literature, collection of information, questionnaire examining players motivation and SWOT analysis. The research was conducted through surveys among athletes doing this sports. Results: Research has shown that the best prospects are waiting for frisbee, which benefits from minimum requirements for equipment and space. American football and lacrosse will probably never become mass sports, but using the above suggestions can improve their current position. Key words: amateur sport, american football, frisbee, lacrosse, SWOT analysis, motivation

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The thesis is searching for the possible connection between philosophy, theology and sports.

This bachelor's thesis in applied mathematics & industrial economics is an attempt to model drives in American football using Markov chains. The transition matrix is obtained through logit regression analysis on historical data from the NFL. Different outcomes of drives are modelled as separate absorbing states in the Markov chain. Absorption probabilities are calculated representing the probabilities of each outcome. Results are tested against a Markov chain with the transition matrix based on frequency analysis. Three scoring rules unanimously declare the regression based model to be superior. The application of the model pertains to live sports betting. With the insight provided by the Markovian model, a bettor should be able to make statistically informed betting decisions. The prospect of creating a start-up based on the Markovian betting model is discussed. / Denna kandidatuppsats i tillämpad matematik & industriell ekonomi är ett försök till att modellera drives i amerikansk fotboll med hjälp av Markovkedjor. Övergångsmatrisen fås genom logit-regressionsanalys av historisk data från NFL. Olika utfall av drives modelleras som separata absorberande tillstånd i Markovkedjan. Absorptionssannolikheter beräknas, vilka representerar sannolikheterna för de olika utfallen. Resultaten testas mot en Markovkedja där övergångsmatrisen fås genom frekvensanalys. Tre olika poängregler föredrar enhälligt den regressionsbaserade modellen. Modellens tillämpning berör sportbetting. Med hjälp av Markovmodellen bör en spelare kunna ta statistiskt underbyggda beslut i deras betting. Möjligheterna att skapa ett företag baserat på Markovmodellen diskuteras.

The objective of this research was to develop an optimal design for a polymeric American football helmet liner for concussion prevention utilizing experiments and high performance. Along with well-established injury criteria (HIC, SI, and Peak acceleration), localized brain injury mechanisms were explored by employing Finite Element simulations and experimental validation. Varying strain rate experiments (monotonic and hysteresis) were conducted on modern football helmet (Rush, Rawlings, Riddell, Schutt, and Xenith) liners and new possible polymeric foam liner materials. These experiments were used to characterize each material at low strain rates (0.1/sec; Instron), intermediate strain rates (100-120/sec; NOCSAE drop tower) and high strain rates (600-1000/sec; Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar). Experimental design optimization was performed on a football helmet liner by utilizing an exploratory Design of Experiments by National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) drop tests. FEA simulations of drop impact tests were conducted on a helmeted NOCSAE headform model and a helmeted human head model. Correlations were made between both models to relate localized brain response to the global acceleration and the dynamic-based injury criteria HIC, SI, and Peak acceleration). FEA simulations were experimentally validated by twin-wire drop tests of the NOCSAE headform using correlations for validation of the human head model. The helmeted human head simulations were used to explore a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) limits based localized brain response (e.g. pressure and impulse). Based on these limits, future FEA simulations will be used to explore these limits as helmet liner design criteria.

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Head injuries in American football is a serious issue regarding player health which is highly affected by velocity and its direction. Impact location can affect the severity of the head injury in both helmet-to-helmet impacts and helmet-to-ground impacts hence the understanding of concussive outcome from velocities and impact locations must be improved. In this thesis a video analysis resulted in simulation of five helmet-to-helmet impacts and two helmet-to-ground impacts, where velocity in each impact also was approximated with the method of least squares to avoid extreme values. The average velocity in helmet-to-helmet impacts was 5.1728 m/s for tackler player and 4.4766 m/s for tackled player and in helmet-to-ground impacts it instead was 6.1975 m/s. With the regression method an average velocity of 4.3982 m/s for tackler player and 5.3854 m/s for the tackled player in helmet-to-helmet impacts and 5.874 m/s in helmet-to-ground impacts. The simulations were performed with LS-DYNA and examined in LS-PrePost where head kinematics and the strain of brain tissue or more specific the maximum principal strain (MPS) was of interest. Further the MPS was scaled to its 95th percentile which determined the concussive likelihood for each impact scenario. The highest concussive outcome for an impact scenario was 100% and the lowest was 15%. The head kinematics of interest was linear acceleration, angular acceleration and angular velocity which in high risk for concussive outcome wasn't dominated by a single head kinematic. Impacts locations in helmet-to-helmet impacts didn't show any connection between impact location and high concussive risk. In helmet-to-ground impacts a connection between impact location at the back of the head and high concussive risk was observed. / Huvudskador inom Amerikansk fotboll är ett återkommande problem när det gäller spelarnas hälsa. Hastigheten och vart tacklingen träffar är starkt kopplat till hur allvarlig en huvudskada kan bli i både hjälm-mot-hjälm tacklingarn och hjälm-mot-mark. För att förhindra huvudskador måste förståelsen om kinematiken och vart tacklingen träffar förbättras.  I detta examensarbete gjordes en videoanalys vilket resulterade i fem hjälm-mot-hjälm simuleringar och två hjälm-mot-mark. Hastigheten approximerades också genom att använda uppskattnings metoden minsta kvadratmetoden. Medel-värdet av hastigheterna från videoanalysen blev 5.1728 m/s för spelaren som utförde tacklingen och 4.4766 m/s för spelaren som blev tacklad i hjälm-mot-hjälm tacklingar. I hjälm-mot-mark blev det istället ett medelvärde på 6.1975 m/s. Med uppskattnings metoden blev hastigheterna istället 4.3982 m/s för den tacklande spelaren och 5.3854 m/s för den tacklade spelaren i hjälm-mot-hjälm tacklingar. För hjälm-mot-mark blev medelvärdet av hastigheten 5.874 m/s med uppskattnings metoden. Simuleringarna av tacklings fallen gjordes med LS-DYNA och analyserades i LS-PrePost där huvudets kinematik och töjningen av hjärnvävnad är av intresse. Töjningen mättes av maximum principal strain (MPS) och den 95:e percentilen av MPS för att bestämma risken för hjärnskakning där den största risken för hjärnskakning var 100% och den minsta 15%. För huvudets kinematik var det linjär acceleration, vinkelacceleration och vinkelhastighet som var av intresse. Det fanns ingen koppling mellan endast en av kinematikerna och hög risk för hjärnskakning. Gällande vart tacklingen träffar fanns det ingen koppling mellan vart den träffar och hög risk för hjärnskakning i hjälm-mot-hjälm tacklingar. För hjälm-mot-mark tacklingar fanns det ett samband mellan att bakre delen av huvudet träffar marken och hög risk för hjärnskakning.