Name: Complex Evaluation of Primary School Ski Courses in the Czech Republic Objective: The objective of this diploma thesis is a complex evaluation of a representative primary school ski courses in the Czech Republic according to the five following criteria, which are staffing of the course, content and organisation of the course, health and safety of the pupils, methodology of the training and economic side. The crucial aspect of the evaluation is the fact whether the working hypotheses will be proved or disproved. Methodology: Our thesis has the character of a qualitative research. Data that refer to the topic are collected in the form of non anonymous survey of at random chosen primary schools in all regions of the Czech Republic. For this purpose, a non-standardized questionnaire is used. It consists of open-ended, semi close-ended and close-ended questions. The questionnaire is compiled to enable a complex evaluation of ski courses in accordance with the areas of interest, which are staffing of the course, content and organisation of the course, health and safety of the pupils, methodology of the training and economic safeguarding. Collected data are analysed in Survio and Microsoft EXCEL® programmes; they are supplemented with graphs and commentaries. Results: Primary school ski courses were...

This master thesis deals with the issues of snowboard teaching of children at older school age. The master thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part describes the ride techniques and two fundamental but very different snowboard styles - freestyle and alpine. This part also presents the methodology of teaching and single elements of snowboarding methodical streak, that are acquired by motor learning. The motor abilities, skills and other factors that are related to snowboarding are explained here, too. Because this thesis is aimed at the snowboard teaching at elementary schools, the theoretical part is focused on integration of snowboarding into School Education Programme and on qualifications of teachers. The method of questioning used in the practical part tries to find out, if the snowboarding lessons for children at older school age are part of the school education in the region Tabor and what are the conditions of such an education. This part also deals with its technical and material provision. On winter training courses of one elementary school a research was done using the observational method and experiment. This research is aimed at snowboard teaching of pupils - beginners, who had different type and level of equipment and observes, how quickly are they...

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

With origins in skateboard and surfing culture, snowboarding has grown to become a mainstream recreational and professional sport, officially recognized in the Olympic Games. This popularity can be attributed to several factors, including the sub-culture of rebellion and self-expression it embodies and the daring, dynamic aerial maneuvers and stunts often portrayed in the media. However, the sport also exposes participants to a well-documented injury pattern, with injuries rates typically twice as frequent as those seen in skiing. While a number of studies have shown existing snowboarding safety products reduce the risk of injury, these readily available products are not widely used among participants who view them as “uncool” and “unnecessary”. Exploring how affective features and attributes can improve the desirability of a forecast snowboarding personal protective equipment (PPE) product, this thesis proposes that a primary requirement for these products must be desirability - to make attractive, to create a positive impression, to strengthen ones identity and engender appreciation. Responding to these emotional needs, this thesis presents a proposal for a product designed to enhance user-experience, challenging the current philosophy of safety products and their ‘uncool’ perceptions.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

Free sports are the phenomena that have rapidly developed from lifestyle activities to professional competitive sports over the last several decades. Known for distinctive counter-culture values, many popular free sports, such as snowboarding or BMX, have recently become largely commercialized and experienced significant organizational change. The main research question of this study is how free sports have organizationally evolved over time. This thesis focuses on patterns and mechanisms of structural change and evolution of values of these sports. The research utilized a multiple case qualitative methodology and is presented as a cross-case study of three international sports: competitive snowboarding, competitive skateboarding, and sport climbing. A review of existing literature identified the theory of new institutionalism as being particularly relevant to this study and thus, supplemented by resource-dependence theory, this forms the theoretical framework for this research. This study found that as a result of organizational evolution, informal organizational arrangements, which were historically typical for free sports, have not been uniformly replaced by formalized structural arrangements of mainstream sports. In addition, the organizational fields of these free sports are found to have adopted multiple logics, such as commercial, competitive, and traditional free sport logics. The notion of cultural legitimacy of international sport organizations appears to be central to explaining organizational evolution of free sports. As conflicts revolving over the “ownership” of international sports and the practice of “umbrella” governance are found to be of great concern in free sports, it is the relationship between cultural and regulatory legitimacy that these issues are addressed through. Finally, it is found that multiple power/dependence relationships existing in organizational fields of free sports are largely underpinned by commercial interests and strategies of the Olympic movement. In terms of contribution to theoretical knowledge, this study extends previous applications of institutional and resource-dependence theories to free sports and reveals that the process of institutionalization of sports does not necessarily lead to change of values in macro perspective. However, it can facilitate and foster a separation between two different “versions” of the same sports: competitive sports and traditional sports. This study contributes to wider practical sport management knowledge by raising a question of sustainability of culturally legitimate but unconventional international sport organizations in the global sport business. Another implication of this study is challenging the IOC as a source of regulatory legitimacy for sports and questioning the belief that all sports strive for the Olympic Games, which is taken for granted as the ultimate goal of evolution of sports in a global context. This is a major call of this study to both academics and practitioners, as governance of international sports is expected to remain the topic of a great debate in academic literature and popular media.

Skiing and snowboarding are popular recreation activities in New Zealand, as well as constituting important components of the winter tourism product. The 2001 snow season witnessed record visitor numbers. Skier days have increased by more than 10% compared with the previous year to 1.254 million. The traditionally “nature related” activity of skiing, however has increasingly often been discussed in the light of excessive resource consumption and pollution of alpine environments. Since no research on resource efficient management of ski fields has been undertaken in New Zealand, this study examined environmental awareness and actions of ski field managers, resource consumption benchmarks (water and energy use, solid waste production), along with resource use related visitor behaviour. Two separate surveys were undertaken to collect relevant information from ski field managers and ski field visitors. While a census of managers across New Zealand was conducted with a mail-back questionnaire (all 27 ski fields were contacted, response rate 44%), the visitor survey was undertaken on-site at six selected ski fields in Canterbury, South Island (total responses: N=259). Analysis of the survey results showed that managers generally acted to protect the environment and resources, however, at different levels for the various indicators measured. Energy use and air pollution were rarely perceived to be environmentally important. Accordingly, only few actions were undertaken to reduce energy use. This is surprising, since energy consumption proved to be a major feature of ski field management. Given the additionally large amounts of water consumed (mainly for snowmaking) and solid waste produced on the mountain, skiing has to be classified as a resource intensive activity. Resource consumption is intensified further, when the impacts associated with tourists being transported to, and from, the mountain are considered. Energy use for “ski trip transport” within New Zealand is two times larger (180 MJ) than energy use associated with ski field infrastructure use (90 MJ) on a per skier day basis. There are several options to improve the environmental performance of ski fields, ranging from modernising equipment, optimising snowmaking and providing efficient transport alternatives. Additionally, increased cooperation between ski field managers, local governments and research institutes could potentially result in environmentally smarter operational practices. Internationally, New Zealand’s ski areas compare relatively well, mainly because of limited on-mountain entertainment and accommodation development, which keeps resource consumption and pollution low compared with European and North American ski fields. However, this research also indicated that New Zealand’s ski field visitors increasingly demand facilities and services similar to those overseas, which in turn may result in larger environmental impacts. New Zealand is generally believed to be a green and nature-related destination and its ski areas still blend well into the natural environment. Hence, there is some potential for the New Zealand ski industry to develop a unique product in such a way that it is both, sustainable and distinguishable from other international markets.

Ape Boards is my own newly formed label, which manufactures snowboards and kiteboards. For this thing I have proposed a substantial logotype, which has a function as a unifying element across the whole brand and designs boards. Website (www.apeboards.com). A first collection of snowboards and kiteboards from which I had made 7 pieces for a thesis. Designs do not 'mass' lust, because the objective is not a big production or promotion, but based on what I liked. From the minimalism through the color geometry to the gorillas, according to which the brand was named.