The use of a pattern of accumulated bouts of exercise has become enshrined in recent public health recommendations. Although there is epidemiological evidence to support this, the experimental evidence for such recommendations is limited. The four studies described in this thesis investigated the effects of different patterns of exercise on fitness, cardiovascular risk and selected psychological parameters.

Despite the ability for past studies to link various psychological factors to optimal athletic performances, the roles of specific factors have yet to be fully discerned. Using a phenomenological-constructionist approach, the present study aims to gather a sharpened understanding of the roles that confidence and focus have on elite sport performances. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Canadian and Norwegian high-level athletes originating from various sporting backgrounds. The athletes were interrogated about their general perspectives towards confidence and focus, inquired about the nature of their focus with regards to different game situations and asked to revisit their best and worst performances with the emphasis put on their confidence level and focus. The analysis of the interviews was inductive and followed Giorgi’s (1985) phenomenological methodology. Results suggested that an optimal focus is very often, if not always, present in best performances and largely absent during worst performances, thus suggesting that focus indeed plays a direct role on sporting exploits. Furthermore, confidence appears to serve as a powerful facilitator for the occurrence of optimal focus, leading to suggest that its relationship with performance might be more indirect. The increased understanding of the roles that both confidence and focus have on athletic performance that is enlightened by this study can serve as basis for practitioners in the development of performance enhancement programs in addition to stimulate future research on the possible relationship between confidence, focus and performance.

Parkour is a sport with a focus on overcoming obstacles. Parkour practitioners utilise specialised techniques relating to movements such as running, jumping, vaulting, climbing, swinging, rolling, and occasionally acrobatic manoeuvres in order to traverse a path through urban and rural environments. Parkour is a new sport, and as it continues to grow in popularity, there is an accompanying demand for parkour instructors. As a result, programmes to train parkour coaches have been created in various parts of the world. There has been minimal scholarly research conducted regarding parkour, and much of the current parkour research focuses either on parkour athletes, or the perceptions of parkour by non-parkour athletes. No research was discovered regarding parkour coaches. This exploratory study aimed to: (a) explore how parkour coaches learn to coach; and (b) explore the perceptions held by parkour coaches regarding parkour coach education programmes. In the first article, titled ‘How Parkour Coaches Learn to Coach: Coaches’ Sources of Learning in an Unregulated Sport’, participants’ responses related to the themes of: parkour coaching experience, previous leadership experience, experience as an athlete in parkour and other sports, other parkour coaches, non-parkour coaches, parkour coach education programmes, school, reflection, and the Internet. The second article, titled ‘What Does It Mean to be a Certified Parkour Coach? Parkour Coach Perceptions of Formal Coach Education Programmes’, shared participants’ perceptions of formal parkour coach education programmes, including: potential benefits and risks to participation in such programmes, modifications that could be made to the programmes, and parkour coach perceptions of coach education programmes for other sports.

The purpose of this dissertation was to address the degree to which social media can be utilized as a tool for stakeholder communication by not-for-profit sport organizations. Delimited to national sport organizations, specifically those in a Canadian context, and using a stakeholder theory approach, the project advanced three major research objectives: (1) determine what not-for-profit sport organizations are communicating to their stakeholders via social media, including identifying forces and pressures that impact content and messaging; (2) identify which stakeholders are positioned and advantaged in the social network of not-for-profit sport organizations; and (3) uncover the contextual factors that have enabled the use of social media channels by not-for-profit sport organizations. In order to accomplish these objectives, the dissertation was structured into three interconnected stages parsed into three research articles – each with its own supporting theoretical framework (i.e., institutional theory, network theory, and the contextualist approach to organizational change) – providing findings discussed using a stakeholder perspective. In the first article, the results found social media communication was predominantly used for promoting, reporting, and informing purposes, attributable to the coercive (e.g., funding partners), mimetic (e.g., salient organization routines), and normative (e.g., best practices) pressures at play. In the second article, fans, elite athletes, photographers, competing sport organizations, and local sport clubs were identified as key stakeholders with significant advantage given their position in the social media network of not-for-profit organizations. The final article revealed social media has yet to radically impact the operations of these organizations, highlighting some of the challenges related to social media communication. Cumulatively, the findings illustrate not-for-profit sport organizations can improve upon their current use of social media as a stakeholder communications tool. Through the implementation of a unique social media strategy composed of multiple philosophies, not-for-profit sport organizations could consider the variance in stakeholder groups while incorporating the immediacy and engagement social media requires. In doing so, organizations may create the conditions to satisfy stakeholder expectations and increase organizational capacity simultaneously. Concurrently, the findings represent a basis for future research using organizational theory frameworks to explain new trends and phenomena in the social media and sport domain.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the career transition from youth to senior in an elite football club based on both an organizational level and individual perspective. The survey is a case study of Östers IF, where both organizational, team representatives and players have been interviewed and club documents have been examined.   The result has been analyzed based on Stambulova's (2003) modified Sports career transition model and Martindale, Collins and Daubney (2005) factors regarding good talent development environments. Previous research (Stambulova 2009) has shown that the career transition from youth to senior is one of the most difficult transitions in an sport career and it can take up to four years to complete. However, a previous study by Morris, Tod and Oliver (2015) shows that clubs actively working with a career transition program have a better transition outcome and are more likely to succeed to get more players to step up as elite players.   The result of this study shows, among other things, that Östers IF lacks a career transition program and that the club lacks a clear working model that permeates the entire organization, from youth to senior. There is a well-developed player education plan in the academy, but a similar plan is lacking in the senior-team. The result also shows that the academy and senior team appear to live in two separate worlds with different approaches for exampel regarding  the motivational climate which seems to make the transition difficult. The players' experiences about their existence in the academy are generally positive. At the same time, the players wish for support during the career transition varies. However, several players emphasize the importance of having someone or some people responsible to follow up the young players over time. To get to play at  senior level also seems important, and several players have the opinion that an U21 team is a great way to experience senior football and more experienced players.

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M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / This study arises from the common perceptive of teachers and coaches that the pupil who actively participates in sport and other extramural activities, are the better academic achievers as well. Education is aimed at the total development of the child (this includes the physical, intellectual, spiritual and social aspects of his/her development.) Besides the everyday personal questions and problems that form part of a pupil's life, the pupil is also expected to develop his/her physical capabilities, build up self-confidence and in the process acquire dignity and a sense of self. At the same time it is also expected that the pupil achieve academically. The study was carried out in two ways. Firstly, a literary survey was undertaken, dealing with child development in a sosiopedagogic perspective, with the accent falling on the important role that sport plays in t~e child's quality of life. Secondly, the literature survey serves as a foundation for the empiric research that was done by means of a questionnaire, to establish whether there is any connection between activity/achievement in sport and other extramural activities and the pupil's educational progress which is the sole purpose of this study.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse and evaluate the marketing strategy of a professional basketball club which currently acts in the highest competition in the Czech Republic Mattoni NBL and purpose its possible improvement. The thesis is based on theoretical knowledge of administration and financing of sports organizations and on marketing with the focus on sports. The practical part is based on marketing situational analysis and mainly on my own research. These will be the basis for the analysis and evaluation of each segment of the club's marketing strategy and also for purposing specific measures to enhance them and make them more effective.

Equestrian sport has a long history, with its origins in the military and farming communities, both strongly masculine locations. However, equestrianism is highly unusual within competitive sport as it is the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete against each other on equal terms. Although equestrian sport is seen as an area of gender equality, there has been a decrease in male participants both internationally and in South Africa. This difference is most noticeable at the entry levels of the sport where women dominate, but is less noticeable at the upper levels where men and women are almost equal in numbers. This study aimed to identify the motivational differences between males and females in equestrian sport and how this influences the rate of participation in equestrian sport. It asks the question “How does equestrian sport construct gender identities?”, and “What can be done to keep male participants in equestrian sport to enable them to reap the benefits inherent in the sport?” Although the gender role of the athlete may be an important reason for young males dropping out of the sport other motivations may play a role and should be researched. Motivation in popular sports have been researched extensively, however, little research has been done into the motivation to participate in equestrian sport. Specifically there has been little research into the gender differences in motivation for participation. The research was qualitative with data obtained from semi-structured interviews with both male and female equestrian participants. The interviews focused on the gender role identities in equestrian sport, motivation for participation as well as the participant’s perceptions of the sport as either a male or female sport. The research found that apart from expected findings regarding gender roles there also seems to be a difference between the way gender roles are perceived between different cultural groups, for example the sub-discipline of dressage is perceived amongst Afrikaans speaking athletes as more feminine whereas English speaking athletes view this as an example of good discipline in sport. It also was found that the relative “dirtiness” of equestrian sport (for example dust and mud) not only attracts male athletes but also female athletes who see themselves as “more masculine”. / Ruiter sport het ‘n lang geskiedenis, met sy oorsprong in militêre en landbou gemeenskappe, beide ook dan met ‘n sterk manlike inslag. Boonop is ruiter sport uniek aangesien dit die enigste olimpiese sportsoort is waarbeide mans en vroue teen mekaar meeding op gelyke voet. Dit laat die verwagting dat hierdie sport soort ‘n voorbeeld behoort te wees van geslags gelykheid. Nadere ondersoek toon egter dat, op beide ‘n Suid Afrikaanse en internasionale vlak, daar ‘n beduidende afname is in die aantal manlike deelnemers wat veral sigbaar is by die sportsoort se intree vlak waar vroulike deelnemers oorheers, maar interessant genoeg nie op gevorderde vlakke waar manlike en vroulike deelnemers ongeveer dieselfde verteenwoordiging toon nie. Hierdie studie poog om die motiverings verskille tussen manlike en vroulike deelnemers aan ruiter sport te identifiseer asook hoe hierdie verskille deelname beïnvloed. Die studie poog om die vrae “Hoe impakteer ruiter sport deelnemers se geslagsidentiteit op deelnamet”, en“Hoe kan manlike deelnemers behoue bly vir die sportsoort ten einde hulle in staat te stel om voordeel te trek uit die sportsoort se inherente voordele?” te beantwoord. Alhoewel die geslagsrol van die ruiteratleet ‘n belangrike rede mag wees vir jonger mans om die sportsoort te verlaat, speel ander motiverings faktore moontlik ook ‘n rol. Sodanige faktore behoort beter nagevors te word. In teenstelling bestaan daar heelwat navorsing wat die rol van motiverings faktore aanspreek wanneer dit by meer populêre sportsoorte kom. Ongelukkig bestaan daar weinig navorsing wat spesifiek op ruiter sport fokus, veral as dit kom by motiverings verskille tussen geslagte van deelnemers. Hierdie navorsing was kwalititatief van aard met data wat verkry is uit semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met beide manlike en vroulike deelnemers. Sodanige onderhoude het spesifiek gefokus op die rol wat geslag speel in deelname aan ruiter sport, ander moontlike motiverings vir deelname sowel as die ruiteratleet se persepsies van die sportsoort as manlik of vroulik georienteerd. Bevindings van hierdie navorsing het gevind dat, behalwe oorkoepelende bevindings ten opsigte van geslag, daar ook verskille is tussen kulture se geslags persepsies, so byvoorbeeld is bevind dat die sub-tipe ruitersport dresseer onder Afrikaanse ruiters as vroulik getipeer word, terwyl Engels sprekende ruiters dit weer tipeer as ‘n toonbeeld van dissipline deur die atleet. Ander bevindings dui daarop dat die betreklike “vuilheid” (stof, modder, ensovoorts) nie net manlike ruiters aantrek nie maar ook sekere vroulike ruiters. / (Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / MA / Unrestricted

Many youngsters dreams about becoming a professional football player and to play in front of thousands of supporters screaming your name. You should never stop someone’s dream, but many youngsters misjudge the amount of time a footballer must do on the football pitch to fulfill the journey of becoming a professional football player. The investment in football for youngsters begins in high school, where youngsters can combine studies with football. The only thing high school students thinks about are the next training or game and sooner or later the high school student will lose his or her identity to football and football will always go first and studies comes in second hand. Sadly, there aren’t many that will become fulltime footballers and when they will have it confirmed, many students don’t know what to do. The reason why they don’t know what to is because of football and the students only think about football for many years and they have lost their identities to football. They are far behind in studies which can lead to long-term unemployment and bad mental health. The meaning of this study is to find about how high school students experienced the combination between football and studies during high school. I chose to do a qualitive study, where I had interviews with a total of 6 persons and the distribution between gender was equal. My respondents were former football high school students who now studies on university and they combined football with studies during high school. My main results are that my respondents confirm that you focus a lot on football and not on school. Considering these coaches have a big part on the pressure it is on young football players on high level during high school. Furthermore, high school students don’t think about future without football if the parents don’t keep reminds them about it. All my participants confirmed the importance of support from parents and coaches for their wellbeing. If my students had the possibility to reject the football programme the majority would have rejected the football high school. All my participants could confirm that it was hard to define yourself without in your life. My conclusion is that high school students who give everything football will lose their identity to football. Even football communities have their part in this, football federations don’t help the individuals that will make it and only helps the talents who probably will be professional football players. This will lead to long-term unemployment and bad mental health.