Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 38).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-74)

Masters of Science - Msc (Physiotherapy) / Concussion is one of the most common injuries in contact sports such as rugby and hockey. Concussion awareness has dramatically increased over the last 20 years. Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury that often gets overlooked but can be fatal if not taken seriously. Early diagnosis and appropriate management of concussion is vital for safely integrating a player back into sport. Return to play guidelines serves to ensure the safety of the players. Even though a few studies have investigated the knowledge of concussion and the return to play guidelines amongst therapists, there are no South African studies focusing on high school rugby and hockey players.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect gender bias has in sports and howmarketing can be used to challenge gender bias. Design/methodology/approach – This paper will use data collected from 188 surveys from registered fans of the Linköping Hockey Club. Findings – This paper targets why female ice hockey is not as popular as male ice hockey. Theories such as marketing mix are used to identify the differences and similarities between thetwo teams as if they were products. Practical implications – Sports leagues and clubs with male and female teams could use the results to limit gender bias against women in sports. Originality/value – This will help limit gender bias through a marketing perspective, by specifically addressing gender bias in sports marketing.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Violence and aggression is a worldwide phenomenon in the sports industry, especially in team sports like hockey. Scant research has been done on the topic, namely how players of a team sport like hockey, experience aggression. This research aims to explore and describe secondary school learners' experiences of aggression in a sport like hockey. On the basis of the results, guidelines and recommendations were made to facilitate them in dealing with the aggression in the right ways. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews, observations and field notes. Tesch's (1990) method for data analysis was used and a consensus discussion held with an independent coder. The uniqueness of this study is the exploration and description of secondary school students' experiences of aggression in a hockey team. The results clearly show that aggression is experienced on a regular basis during training or playing a game. The contributory factors include that aggression in hockey is experienced as a positive or negative incentive to achieve certain goals in the game, the coach's handling of spectators’ influence, and characteristics that contribute to hockey being a sport for discharging stress. The consequences of the aggression to players are emotional, psychological and physical in nature. It takes the form of fear, anger, frustration, powerlessness, helplessness and hopelessness. Further consequences are players’ absence from practices and games, the development of an I-do-not-care attitude and injuries. Guidelines for the managing of this phenomenon and recommendations for future research are described.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to find, describe and analyse factors influencing the audience demand for Czech ice hockey extraliga matches and on the basis of the observed facts to try to suggest conceivable measures to increase such demand. There are especially mathematical and statistical methods widely applied in the practical part of the thesis. Particularly, arithmetic averages, correlation analyses and various kinds of specific coefficients are used. Average attendances and significance of individual factors are evaluated using the method of comparison, namely its factual, temporal as well as spatial form. The main contribution of this thesis consists mainly in the current mapping of the extraleague club fans' opinions and attitudes through the implementation of the comprehensive on-line survey whose results are contained in individual paragraphs.

ATTITUDES, INTERESTS AND SPORT SPECTATOR PROFILING: VARIABLES AFFECTING GAME ATTENDANCE IN A NHL FRANCHISE This study examined the literature on spectator profiling and evaluated current survey methodologies being used to profile hockey spectators and their preferences regarding NHL hockey game attendance. The research had two inter-related objectives. One was to investigate the consumer profiles of sport spectators associated with a specific NHL franchise, the Vancouver Canucks, and to relate these to game attendance. The second objective was to test and evaluate a questionnaire designed to incorporate latest thinking on variables that affect professional sports game attendance. Survey data were collected from 907 attendees at four Vancouver Canucks games and from 203 students at the University of British Columbia during the 2001-2002 NHL season. Two separate studies were conducted using the data. Study 1 investigated reasons for game attendance, and respondents' activity patterns and interests. Data analyses for study 1 included a confirmatory factor analysis for testing the validity of the game attendance items (reasons for game attendance), and a decision tree analysis for classifying spectators based on their reported game attendance frequencies, activity patterns, and interests. Results of study 1 indicate that the respondents' game attendance rates were affected by income, use of hockey websites, playing baseball when young, job, being accompanied by co-workers, ethnic background, perception of T.V. as the best promotional medium, personal fan history, and playing hockey when young. Study 2 investigated the relationship between spectators' opinions about sports and their game attendance, and attempted to identify potential predictors of game attendance levels. A confirmatory factor analysis was used in Study 2 to test the validity of the sport opinion items (opinions about sports), and a cluster analysis was used to identify unique spectator groups. Three distinctive spectator segments were identified, and the three groups varied on a number of dimensions including game attendance rates, sports participation history, and their opinions about the benefits of sports, community pride, cynicism about professional sports, attitude toward professional athletes, perceived time costs, role of government, and attitude toward amateur sports. The research found evidence of national cultural differences between Canadian sports spectators and their American counterparts. It is recommended that future research investigate national and regional cultural differences as well as differences between major and minor league sports and competitive factors in local sports markets. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate

This thesis reports findings from a study that analyzed the sponsorship strategies, objectives, and benefits of the Canadian Hockey Association's women's ice hockey support program. There has been a notable increase in recent years in the number of women sport spectators and sport participants in ice hockey, which has increased the sport's potential for sponsorship. Women's ice hockey is Canada's fastest growing sport with approximately 40,000 females registered from coast to coast - an increase of over 400% in the last 10 years. (http://www. canadianhockey.ca). Although small in size compared to the men's program, (Women= 37,700, Men= 470,714) these numbers suggest that women's hockey is a good candidate for targeted sponsorship marketing approaches such as direct marketing and relationship marketing. Relationship and direct marketing are approaches to marketing and business communications that have emerged recently in the literature and can be used to enhance the benefits of sponsorship. Relationship marketing can be described as an integrated effort to identify, maintain, and build a network with individual customers and to continuously strengthen the network for the mutual benefit of all parties involved (McDonald and Milne, 1997). Direct marketing methods can be used to help identify, build and maintain relationships with customers and prospective customers using database technologies. According to Shani (1997), database marketing is a necessary tool to implement relationship marketing and involves the collection of information about past, current, and potential customers to build a customer database. The thesis study was designed to assess the marketing and sponsorship activities of thirteen major corporate partners involved in the women's program at the premier ($500,000+), broadcaster, or associate/program ($100,000+) levels. Eight corporate partners participated in the study. Interviews were conducted, in each case, in the offices of the respective corporations. Each interview was recorded and transcripts were prepared of the tape recordings. In addition to the audio recordings and transcripts, observations were made on-site and a wide range of sponsorship-related promotional materials were collected. The data were analyzed according to the corporate objectives, strategies and benefits obtained and the marketing & sponsorship methods that were utilized. Four major sponsorship objectives were found, ranging from traditional goals such as brand (and corporate) image & awareness and community involvement to more innovative objectives in sales and integrated promotions and advertising. Nine core corporate programs offered to the sponsors by the CHA are outlined in the thesis including: the Initiation Program; Skills Development Program; Experience a Dream; Fun Days; Medals of Achievement; Schools Program; PlayRight; the Coaching Certification, Development and Rewards Program; and Women in Coaching and Role Model Seminars. The research found a number of benefits of these core programs for the sponsors, including opportunities for relationship marketing, direct marketing, and niche marketing. Although for the most part CHA sponsors were very optimistic and supportive of the women's ice hockey program, there were a number of barriers and issues that concerned them. This research shows, however, that corporate partners for the most part were able to overcome these barriers and that they felt it was important to support the women's game of ice hockey in Canada. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate

Concerns about safety in youth hockey have been openly expressed in public and in academic circles. Sports injury literature continue to report that the prevalence of injury in hockey remains high at both the grassroots and elite levels. Much of this injury reporting, however, utilize injury reporting methods that provide very little about how and why these injuries are occurring. The comprehensive prospective observational approach utilized in this thesis proved most effective in understanding not only injury events and head contact events, but how and why they are taking place throughout the course of a hockey game. Knowing the contextual factors surrounding such events are important in building injury prevention strategies and to minimize all types of head contact. As evidenced in this research, the type of head contact being experienced differs according to age level, which means measures to reduce head contact must be targeted at specific age levels. With this said, given the amount of head contact that was documented throughout all levels of hockey, it does warrant further monitoring of the sport to ascertain the extent to which head trauma is impacting player brain development and to strive further in eliminating head contact altogether.

O hóquei sobre patins é uma modalidade desportiva muita praticada em alguns países e totalmente desconhecida em outros. A velocidade da patinação é considerada, entre os aspectos técnicos do hóquei sobre patins, um dos mais importantes, devido a natureza veloz de uma partida deste jogo. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar qual a técnica adotada para o aumento da velocidade de patinação pelos atletas de hóquei sobre patins mediante análise cinemática. A amostra foi composta por 8 atletas de hóquei sobre patins da equipe do Sertãozinho Hóquei Clube de cada categoria: mirim, infanto-juvenil, e adulto em um total de 24 atletas. O estudo utilizou como procedimento de análise a cinemetria associada a um medidor de velocidade e aceleração de atleta posicionado em um percurso total de 6 metros. Foi solicitado aos atletas que realizassem uma passagem com velocidade (V1) próxima a 2,77m/s (10Km/h), outra com velocidade (V2) próxima a 4,16m/s (15km/h) e outra com a maior velocidade possível (V3). Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que as técnicas adotadas para o aumento da velocidade de patinação pelos atletas de hóquei sobre patins foram o aumento da freqüência das passadas, o comprimento menor da passada 1 em relação a passada 2 e a passada 3, os comprimentos semelhantes entre a passada 2 e a passada 3 e um ângulo absoluto do tronco menor / Hockey on skates is a sport very well practiced in some countries and totally unknown in others. Due to the considered fast essence of hockey, skating velocity is regarded as one of the most important technical aspects of this game. The aim of this study was to evaluate, by means of kinematics analysis, which technique was employed by hockey athletes to increase the skating velocity. 24 hockey athletes of the Sertãozinho Hoquei Clube team, 8 from each category - preteen, teenager, and adult - composed the sample. The study used as analysis procedure the videography associated to a measurer of speed set in a total course of 6 meters. The athletes were asked to skate in 3 different velocities: 10Km/h (±2,77 m/s), 15km/h (±4,16 m/s) and as quickly as possible. The results showed that the techniques employed by the athletes to increase the skating velocity were: increase of step frequency, a smaller length of step 1 in relation to step 2 and 3, the same length for step 2 and 3 and a smaller absolute angle of trunk