The increasingly entangled correlation between media, sport and activism in the United States has generated an upsurge in new media research that focuses on athletes’ political social media posts from an ‘outsider’s’ perspective. To clearer comprehend the complex relationship of media, sport and activism from an ‘insider’s’ perspective, this thesis aims to converse with collegiate athletes in the United States about how they experience their personalized politics on social media, as well as it observes the collegiate athletes’ activist practices on particularly Twitter and Facebook. As an auxiliary ‘prop’, I utilize former NFL (National Football League) player Colin Kaepernick’s approach to athlete activism to start the discussions about the topic with the collegiate athletes. Kaepernick’s kneel during the national anthem in 2016, prior to a football game displayed on national television, gained a variety of negative responses, but also sparked a difference in conversations about the politization of sport, and ultimately lead to a swift re-appearance of athlete activism on social media (Serazio and Thorson, 2020). Thus, by collecting interview data and observations of the media practices of collegiate athletes, the analysis draws on bottom-up framing and practice theory to better understand how such sportspersons experience the intersection between sports and politics on social media, the implications of athlete activism, and the media practices involved in such performance. Ultimately, the results of this study suggest that appearances of tensions, anxieties and pressures subsist in collegiate athletes’ activism practices on social media, making it an auspicious site for further research seeking to investigate the intersection of media, sport, and activism.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between estimated absolute and relative squat strength and a static jump protocol with potential to provide desirable training adaptation data to practitioners in the field of collegiate strength and conditioning. Forty-one young (20.80 ± 2.44 years), healthy volunteers reported estimated back squat 1RM’s based on the most recent training block and completed a static jump protocol. Males (n=19, est. 1RM 141.29 ± 32.02kg) and female (n=22, est. 1RM 71.56 ± 19.64kg) jump data revealed large to very large correlations between squat strength, mean jump heights of jumps and other calculated variables.

Background: Currently, body composition (BC) assessment is usually performed to diagnose disease states and accurately estimate certain types of tissues. In athletes, performing BC assessments helps gauge training and nutrition programs to see if they are adequately meeting the athlete’s needs to improve performance. Annual Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) scans before the start of an athlete’s season can help identify an athlete’s preparedness or health before training begins. Objective: To assess the preseason BC of four collegiate sports: Men’s basketball, men’s baseball, women’s volleyball, and women’s soccer, for Fat Mass (FM), bone mineral density BMD), Fat-Free Mass (FFM), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Methods: DXA (Lunar iDXA, GE Healthcare) scans were performed before the start of pre-season training for Men’s Basketball, Baseball, Women’s Volleyball, and Women’s Soccer. End-season DXA scans were performed after the end of the regular season for Men’s Basketball and Baseball athletes. Visceral Adipose Tissue was measured using CoreScan software provided by GE and Fat Mass Index (FMI) and Fat-Free Mass Index (FFMI) were calculated from scanned values. Results: Between the various sports, there were several significant differences that were apparent. Height and percentage of Fat Mass (%BF) were significantly different between all sports except Women’s Volleyball and Women’s Soccer. BMI, VAT, and FFMI were significantly different between males and females. Changes over a season showed increased BMD in Men’s Basketball (2.79 to 2.99 Z-score, pre to end of season scan respectively; p < 0.001). No other observations were noticed to be significant. Conclusions: Sports-specific training and sex have large influences on the body composition of athletes. FMI and FFMI are two indices that may have a stronger indication to health than parameters considered for those who are sedentary and non-active. Female athletes have little to no amounts of VAT and this warrants further investigation.

La protection s’est orientée vers la prévention des risques dans le sport de performance. L’athlète est inséré dans un fonctionnement dont la conciliation entre les différents intérêts entraîne une confrontation entre les buts, entre intervention de l’État et indépendance des institutions sportives, entre performance et protection, entre rationalisation de l’activité et sa personnification, entre dignité et réification. Sa soumission à cet ordre sportif est une condition à la fois de son activité sportive et de sa protection. Repenser la protection des intérêts du sportif sur le fondement de la dignité humaine, c’est lui offrir le respect de sa personne au regard des nouveaux défis relatifs à la lutte contre le dopage et aux conditions d’exercice décentes de son activité réconciliant, dès lors, la protection des intérêts en concours. Il sera étudié la protection des intérêts du sportif liée, d’une part, à l’environnement juridique de la pratique sportive et,d’autre part, à la personne du sportif. / Protection has been geared towards the prevention of risks in performance sports. Athletes are inserted into a system in which the conciliation of interests leads to a confrontation between goals, between state intervention and independance of sport institutions, between performance and protection, between rationalization of the activity and its personification, between dignity and reification. His or her submission to the sporting order is a condition of both his/her sport and its protection since it allows him/her to practice safe and supervised sports. Rethinking the protection of the interests of the athlete on the basis of human dignity is to offer him/her the respect of his/her person in view of the new challenges in the fight against doping and decent working conditions, reconciling the protection of the competing interests. In this perspective, this thesis examines firstly, the protection of the athletes through the legal environment of sport activities first part, and secondly, the protection through the personality of the athletes second part.

1 Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the issue of a status of professional athlete from a perspective of Labour law. The main goal of this thesis is try to find an answer to a question whether the activity of professional team sports athlete should be considered as dependent work of an employee. The first part is theoretical and focuses mainly on definitions of sport, sports law, sport legislation and professional athlete. The second part deals with the current position of professional athletes in our legal system. In practice, professional athletes can act as self- employed, as employees or as professional soldiers. At the same time, the author tried to outline the advantages and disadvantages of these individual statutes. The main of part of the thesis is dedicated on the definition of dependent work in terms of the Labour Code and the questions of basic institutes of labour law, which are essential for proper comparing with the status of a professional athletes. The author came to the conclusion that the sports activity performance of most professional team sports athletes can be considered as a dependent work in terms of labour law. Following this fiding, the author then analyzed several basic provisions of the Labor Code that would be incompatible with sports practice. The fourth part of this...

Title of thesis: Sport and labour law Abstract The subject of this thesis is to review the possibility and scope of the application of labour law regulations of the Czech legal order in the area of legal relations arising during the performance of professional sport activities in team sports. The topicality of this issue is due to the fact that the legal status of professional athletes in the Czech Republic differs from the practice applied in most other European countries, where it is common for professional athletes in team sports to enter into an employment contract with the sports club and thus receive employee status. By contrast, in the Czech Republic, in the vast majority of cases, professional athletes have the status of self-employed persons. In the first and second part of the thesis there is given a general view on the definition of sport, overview and systematics of sources through which sport is regulated, as well as a basic overview of the organization of sports sectors. The main part of the thesis deals with the possible legal regimes of the status of professional athlete and is mainly focused on the assessment of the nature of professional athlete activity in the context of the definition of dependent work and application of the Labour Code regulation. In this part, the author of the thesis...

While conceived to examine key factors affecting post-retirement career advancement of retired elite athletes in South Korea, the purpose of this paper is to report how English, as a de facto global lingua franca, functions as a powerful gatekeeper in the sports administration field.

The countermovement jump (CMJ) is a reliable and noninvasive test of lower-body neuromuscular performance. Many of the investigations used to establish the reliability of CMJ have been conducted in a controlled environment (i.e., laboratory setting). To better inform coaches, reliability of key CMJ variables should be examined in a practical environment. This study assessed intrasession and intersession reliability of CMJ variables in NCAA D-I volleyball athletes. Eleven female volleyball players (age = 19.8 ± 0.8 years, height = 1.75 ± 0.07 m, body mass = 71.6 ± 8.9 kg) performed twice weekly CMJ testing on force platforms across 14 weeks of training. Dependent variables were CMJ height (CMJH), reactive strength index modified (RSIMOD), relative peak power (rPP), and countermovement depth (CM depth). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), coefficient of variation (CV), and typical error (TE) were calculated, along with Pearson correlation coefficients. Intrasession reliability revealed excellent reliability values for CMJH (ICC = 0.94, CV = 2.9 ± 2.4%, TE = 1.25) and RSIMOD (ICC = 0.93, CV = 4.7 ± 4.9, TE = 0.03). Good reliability values were observed for rPP (ICC = 0.79, CV = 6.1 ± 10.9%, TE = 4.48), with only moderate reliability for CM depth (ICC = 0.61, CV = 7.1 ± 10.9%, TE = 16.9). Intersession reliability indicated excellent reliability for CMJH (ICC = 0.92, CV = 3.2 ± 2.8%, TE = 1.4) and RSIMOD (ICC = 0.92, CV = 5.4 ± 4.3%, TE = 0.03). However, poor reliability was observed for rPP (ICC = 0.41, CV = 10.4 ± 15.4%, TE = 7.95) and CM depth (ICC = 0.39, CV = 7.7 ± 10.8%, TE = 6.42). These results suggest that in the context of weekly athlete monitoring, measures such as CMJH and RSIMOD exhibit the greatest reliability. Conversely, measures such as CM depth and rPP exhibit high levels of variability. Practitioners seeking to track jump performance over time should be cognizant of CM depth variability and its potential impact on CMJ variables.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between body composition, strength, power characteristics, sprinting, jumping, and intermittent endurance performance in collegiate male players. Twenty-three players participated (19.7 ± 1.6 yrs; 71.8 ± 7.1 kg; 176.5 ± 5.1 cm). Measurements of interest in body composition included body fat percentage (BF%), lean body mass (LBM), and body mass (BM). Power characteristics were measured with an unloaded squat jump (SJ0) and loaded SJ at 20 kg (SJ20) and 40 kg (SJ40), and unloaded countermovement jump (CMJ0). Power assessments included peak power (PP) and PP allometrically scaled (PPa). Strength characteristics were assessed using isometric mid-thigh pull. Strength assessment included isometric peak force (IPF) and IPF allometrically scaled (IPFa). Performance measures included 10m and 20 m sprint time, CMJ0 jump-height, and Yo-Yo intermittent endurance test level 1 distance. Significant correlations ranging from moderate to very large were found for LBM and CMJ jump height (CM0 JH) (p = 0.01, r = 0.50); BF% and sprint times at 10 m (p = 0.03, r = 0.44) and 20 m (p = 0.02, r = 0.50). PP and PPa from SJ0 and CMJ0 were significantly correlated to 10m sprint time (p < 0.05, r = −0.45 to −0.53) and 20 m sprint time (p < 0.05, r = −0.40 to −0.49). Our findings agree with previous literature in that body composition and power characteristics are directly related to soccer-related performance.

Bakgrund:  Idag erbjuds idrottsutbildning på runt 200 skolor i Sverige för elever som vill kombinera sina gymnasiestudier med elitsatsning inom sin idrott. Aktuell forskning visar en hög prevalens av skador hos unga elitsatsande idrottare samt att skador är en av de vanligaste orsakerna till att unga slutar med sin idrott. Medicinskt stöd på idrottsgymnasium kan minska konsekvenserna av att vara skadad samt förebygga nya skador och det är därför motiverat att dessa skolor har tillgång till detta. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka tillgång till medicinskt stöd vid riksidrottsgymnasium (RIG) och nationellt godkända idrottsutbildningar (NIU) i Sverige.  Metod Studien genomfördes med en tvärsnittsdesign och omfattade RIG och NIU i Sverige. Data samlades in genom rektor eller annan ansvarig som besvarade en webbaserad enkät på uppdrag av skolan. Totalt bjöds 180 skolor in att delta i studien varav 86 besvarade enkäten och inkluderades i studien. Datainsamling pågick under perioden 211122–220204. Statistisk analys gjordes med Fisher exact test och Chi-square test för att jämföra tillgång till medicinskt stöd på RIG och NIU. P-värde ≤ 0,05 valdes som statistiskt signifikant. Resultat Av de 86 skolor som svarade på enkäten hade 73% tillgång till medicinskt stöd och 52% hade tillgång till fysioterapeut.  Det förelåg ingen skillnad gällande medicinskt stöd mellan de som endast erbjuder RIG och endast NIU (p=0,554). Det fanns 35 olika idrotter på de skolor som deltog i studien. Följande professioner fanns representerade på skolorna: fysioterapeut, sjuksköterska, läkare, psykolog, kurator och dietist.  Konklusion Denna studie visar att majoriteten (71%) av skolorna som erbjuder idrottsutbildning i Sverige tillgång till medicinskt stöd men endast hälften (52%) hade tillgång till fysioterapeut. Det behövs mer samlad information om vilka skolor som erbjuder idrottsutbildning samt fler studier för att utvärdera vilken betydelse medicinskt stöd har för elevernas hälsa och risken för skador. / Background There are 200 schools in Sweden for students who wants to combine their high school studies with elite sports. Today many are specializing in competitive sports at young age and current research shows a high injury prevalence in young elite athletes. Injuries is one of the main reasons many quit their sport at a young age. Medical support can reduce the consequences of an injury and prevent new injuries. Thus, medical team in sports high school programs could be strongly recommended. The aim of this study was to investigate access to a medical team at national sports high school (RIG) and nationally approved sport educations (NIU) in Sweden,    Method The study was a cross-sectional study and included RIG and NIU in Sweden. Data was collected by a web-designed survey. A total of 180 schools were invited, 86 responded to the survey and were included in the study. Data was collected from December 2021 to February 2022. Statistical analysis was done with Fisher exact test and Chi square test to compare access to medical support at RIG and NIU. P-value ≤ 0,05 was selected as statistically significant.  Result A total of 86 schools replied to the survey, 73% of these stated that they had access to medical support and 52% had access to a physiotherapist. There was no disparity between RIG and NIU regarding medical support (P= 0,554).  There were 35 different sports at the schools and the following professions were represented: physiotherapist, nurse, doctor, psychologist, curator, and dietician.  Conclusion  Based on this study most (71%) sports high schools in Sweden seem to have access to medical support but only 52% had access to a physiotherapist. More information is needed regarding which schools offer a sports education and there need to be more studies to evaluate the importance of medical support for students’ health and the risk of injury.