The city of Centurion houses various sporting facilities such as SuperSport Park and Centurion Gymnastics Club as well as other training facilities. The proposed site for this thesis is on the edge of the Hennops River and forms part of the Lyttelton Agricultural holdings. It borders SuperSport Park as well as the Centurion Rugby club. The proposed site is located North of South Street in Centurion. Currently there is only one Hi-Performance Sport Centre in South Africa. It is located on the Sports grounds of the University of Pretoria. This centre, although only one year old, is already fully booked well into the year 2004. The overwhelming response to this sports facility is a clear indication that centres like these are in great demand in South Africa. One of the main reasons for its popularity is our appealing weather that attracts many foreign athletes. Another reason is the diversity of sport in one complex and the highly equipped training facilities. The athletes can be monitored throughout training with the proper nutrition and medical support. It is the only facility of its kind, combining a training facility with accommodation. This thesis proposes to provide the Centurion area with a similar centre and including improvements to the existing centre. According to the Centurion Integrated Development Framework the site and its surroundings should be used for sport development and recreational facilities. The surrounding sports grounds are another reason for the choice of site. The site is visible from the main road between Pretoria and Johannesburg (N1 Highway) which increases visibility. According to the Centurion Integrated Development Framework all the developments adjacent to the N1 highway should convey a hi-tech image. This thesis evolved as a comprehensive reaction to the immediate site and the physical, social, cultural and technological conditions. It is the amalgamation of these concepts and ideas that serves as metaphor for the architectural response and process. Since the thesis deals with the professional sport industry and high technological precision research and training, so too does this project focus on presenting this idea of "precision" throughout the architectural-, space-, and tangible experience. In totality, the proposed design is the synthesis of various interrelated influences. The product is site specific, individualistic and realistic. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Architecture / unrestricted

Bakgrund: Skador inom idrotten är vanligt förekommande, inte minst inom fotbollen. Många studier lägger fokus på den fysiologiska aspekten i rehabilitering. Det har dock visats att socialt stöd är av vikt för en lyckad skaderehabilitering. Det råder emellertid bristande forskning på upplevt stöd hos fotbollsspelare samt hur de upplever stödet vid återgång till idrott. Syfte: Att undersöka fotbollsspelares upplevelse av socialt stöd under rehabilitering samt hur skadefrånvaron påverkar deras upplevda statusposition i laget. Metod och design: Kvalitativ explorativ intervjustudie. Data samlades in med semistrukturerade intervjuer med 2 manliga och 2 kvinnliga fotbollsspelare i Uppsala. Intervjuerna analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Informanterna upplevde att de fick olika sorters stöd från olika personer. Stödet berodde på den roll och relation personen i fråga hade med informanten. Alla upplevde att stödet under en rehabilitering naturlig förändrades över tid, från tröstande och intensivt i början till mindre uttalat i takt med att informanterna accepterade i situationen. Vid återgång upplevde de att deras statusposition i laget förändrats som resultat av den långa frånvaron. Detta upplevdes generellt som en naturlig process där de ansåg sig behöva jobba sig tillbaka för att förtjäna den tidigare upplevda statusen i laget. Konklusion: Utifrån studiens resultat framgår det att fotbollsspelare behöver olika sorters stöd av olika nyckelpersoner för att hålla motivationen uppe under en långvarig rehabilitering. Det upplevdes även viktigt att få fortsatt stöd vid återgång för att känna sig välkomnad och återfå tilltron till sin egen förmåga att kunna komma tillbaka till tidigare prestationsnivå. / Background: Injuries in sports are common, not least in football. Many studies focus on the physiological aspect of rehabilitation. However, it has been shown that social support is important for successful injury rehabilitation. Furthermore, there is a lack of research on the perceived support of football players and how they experience the support when returning to sport. Purpose: To examine football players’ experience of social support during rehabilitation and how the absence due to injury affects their perceived status position in the team. Method and design: Qualitative explorative interview study. Data was collected with semi-structured interviews with 2 male and 2 female football players in Uppsala. The interviews were analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. Result: The informants felt that they received different kinds of social support from different people. The support depended on the role and relationship the person in question had with the informant. Everyone felt that the support during a long-term rehabilitation naturally changed over time, from comforting and intense at first to a more decreased form as the informants became more accepting of the situation. Upon return, they felt that their status position in the team had changed as a result of the long absence. This was generally perceived as a natural process where they felt they needed to work their way back to earn the previously experienced status in the team.                                                                                                                                     Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, it can be considered important that football players receive different kinds of support from different key persons to keep up the motivation during a long-term rehabilitation. It is also perceived important that football players receive continued support when they return to sport, in order to make them feel welcome and to increase their confidence in their own ability to return to previous levels of performance.

M. Tech. Architecture (Professional)

The Second Joint Research Conference of the Universities of Gloucestershire and Chemnitz took place at the Chemnitz University of Technology from 09th to 11th of September 2009. There were presenters from seven different nations in the lecture theatre. The very close partnership of the two institutions is characterised by a very active student exchange programme, joint teaching modules and some collaborative research which has been extended after the conference as well as several extracurricular guest lectures. In 2007 our friends from Gloucester invited us to our first joint conference and set the standard. The topics of the 2009 Conference were Public health and Sports with three main areas of interest: 1. Physiology and Biomechanics, 2. Philosophy and Social Science, 3. Prevention, Rehabilitation and Health Promotion. Many interesting and inspiring presentations were given by colleagues, PhD students and research students. One example of inspiration was the Clem Burke Drumming Project (S. Draper and M. Smith), which we were kindly invited to join. This is an example par excellence on how to conduct international research by simply using existing resources and talking to each other. It caused huge interest among colleagues across the whole university that Chemnitz did not only follow the example of our colleagues in Gloucester, but also widened the research interest into the application of different types of drumming as a means of therapy. This was the beginning of the DRUM BEAT Project (P. Wright of the Chair of Sports Medicine). Furthermore, both universities - Chemnitz and Gloucester - are trying to establish outreaching programmes with local communities which have practical implications of research in the context of public health and/or health promotion. One of the presentations for instance referred to a concept called the Healthy Town Project Tewkesbury, a similar project is planned for Chemnitz called Healthy Community. These two outreaching programmes and other research synergies could be part of an attempt of both universities to establish stronger international research links and in this context also submitting joint proposals to funding agencies, i.e. the EU. Since this conference a joint EU research proposal was submitted by colleagues in Gloucester. Also, talks were held on the topic of establishing a joint international degree. Understandably a project of this scale will take more than a couple of conferences and work on both sides is necessary and last but not least is also depending on the political and funding situation. However, first small step was taken after the conference by conducting a joint teaching module in the Ore Mountains /Saxony. Students from both institutions and colleagues conducted a research project comparing physiological and cognitive parameters of cross-country skiing and running. Social and intercultural processes were just as important during this winter camp. Some of the data is presented in this book. I trust that the colleagues of both universities do agree that this is an outstanding and very productive partnership with a lot of potential for future development and I am looking forward to many more joint schemes, projects and conferences to come - perhaps even an international degree. Prof. Dr. Henry Schulz