Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Athletes require an appropriate balance between training, competition stress and recovery to achieve maximal performance. Previous studies have shown that exercise induced muscle damage has a negative influence on endurance running performance, and that these negative effects may be mediated by an increased perception of effort. There is a lack of evidence regarding the effects of ultramarathon distance races on running performance, and the optimal duration of the recovery period before returning to competitive running. The aim of this study was to determine the changes in running performance during the recovery period after an ultramarathon race. The specific objectives were: (a) to determine differences in running performance between the experimental group (runners participating in the 2011 Comrades Marathon) and a control group (distance runners not taking part in the 2011 Comrades Marathon) during the recovery period after an ultramarathon race; (b) to determine the differences in muscle pain, heart rate and perception of effort during a 5 km time trial between groups and over time before, and during the recovery period after an ultramarathon race; and (c) to determine if there were any relationships between prior experience, training history, and running performance during the recovery period following an ultramarathon race.

Includes bibliographical references.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-98). / Aims of this thesis: the research reported in this thesis consists of a literature review and two research parts. In the first research part, a descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted, to investigate 1) the epidemiology and 2) the nature of LBP in cyclists, and 3) possible risk factors associated with LBP in cyclists. In the second research part, a case control study was conducted, to investigate the association between LBP in cyclists and 1) flexibility and 2) anthropometric measurements, and 3) bicycle set-up parameters.

Given that sports teams follow the schedules provided by their respective league offices, there has been much debate in terms of a potential impact of differential rest intervals on a team's productivity. In general, workers of an organization need rest in order to optimally perform. Rest can also reduce workers' fatigue and stress, which can have a positive impact on worker performance and ultimately be a benefit to an organization. The same notion of rest is applicable to professional sport teams, as their abilities and performance are key to team productivity. Because a team's schedule is controlled by a sport league or association that organizes sporting events, it is common for team managers and coaches to complain about insufficient rest periods for their teams. Teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) follow an unbalanced game schedule in terms of rest days and the length of a home stand/road trip. The league does not prioritize each team's rest days when scheduling games. As a result, teams frequently play back-to-back games with little or no rest days, and when traveling play multiple games in a row during a regular season. A potential problem with an unbalanced league schedule is that zero or a small number of rest days increase players' fatigue, which could subsequently impair overall team productivity. It was unclear to what degree differential rest intervals impact team productivity in the NBA. This issue is important, because team productivity is associated with the competitiveness within the league, which can influence team revenue derived from attendance, television rights deals, and other sources. Based on this notion, I examined whether differential rest intervals and the length of a home stand/road trip impacted team productivity in the NBA. I tested three statistical models with three dependent variables, in order to approach team productivity from diverse perspectives. The three dependent variables were team performance measures, win/loss, and margin of victory. To operationalize the concept of rest in the NBA, I employed rest periods of each team. Two other measures of the concept of rest were also chosen: the length of a road trip and a home stand. As indirect measures of the concept of rest intervals, these two factors are also important assuming that a long stay at home (on the road) may advantage (disadvantage) teams, because travel is believed to increases players' fatigue. The NBA prioritizes a venue's availability when scheduling games, so some teams stay at home for multiple games whereas other teams have to travel to play multiple games on the road. Thus, I attempted to gain insight as to how team productivity may have changed depending on a team's rest interval, length of a road trip, and length of a home stand scheduled by the NBA. Rest intervals were only significant in relation to two performance metrics, field-goal percentage and steals, while a team's margin of victory and probability of winning did not change with rest days. The non-significant impact of rest intervals on a team's productivity in relation to its game outcomes demonstrate that rest intervals were not a key determinant of game outcomes in the NBA. The improvement in field-goal percentage and steals was too low to change game outcomes. In addition, the impact of the length of a home stand and a road trip on team productivity were negligible, regardless of their statistical significance. These results indicate that the NBA's priority for building a schedule—venue availability—has not been flawed in that no team was advantaged or disadvantaged by playing successive games at home or on the road. The empirical results of the current study are supportive of NBA teams' and players' efforts to reduce the negative impact of no or short rest days on team productivity. I also found that travel factors such as the length of a home stand and a road trip (elements thought to impact a home advantage) were not greatly influential to a team's wins. Based on the results of the current study, I provide directions for future research with diverse approaches to the concepts of rest, fatigue, and productivity in sports. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 1, 2015. / fatigue, NBA, productivity, rest, schedule / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey D. James, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Ryan Rodenberg, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Daekwan Kim, University Representative; Joshua Newman, Committee Member.

This study examined the applicability of the Sport Commitment Model for a group of elite, professional athletes. The model proposes that an athlete's commitment will increase as sport enjoyment, personal investments, social constraints, and involvement opportunities increase and will decrease with an increase in involvement opportunities. The influence of identification as an athlete, a determinant of commitment not included in the original model, was also examined. One hundred and eighty three professional football players from the Canadian Football League (CFL) (n = 121) and National Football League (NFL) (n = 69) participated in the study. Each subject completed a modified version of the original questionnaire developed to test the constructs in the Sport Commitment Model (Scanlan, Simons, Carpenter, Schmidt, & Keeler, 1993) during a team meeting. Internal consistency reliabilities for the final items in all seven scales were acceptable. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated marginal overall fit (AGFI = 0.757) demonstrating good construct validity and discriminant validity for each scale. Zero-order correlations between commitment and its predictor constructs were significant and in the hypothesized direction for all predictor constructs except social constraints. The correlation between commitment and social constraints was negative and nonsignificant. The simultaneous regression analysis results found the predictor constructs accounted for 38% of the variance in commitment. Identification uniquely accounted for the most variance followed by enjoyment, involvement alternatives, and involvement opportunities. Only personal investments and social constraints did not contribute a significant amount of unique variance to sport commitment. The importance and meaning of the relationships between commitment and its determinants for professional athletes are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

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Thesis (M.Sc.(Med.) in Biokinetics)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2014.

The evolving nature of the sport industry coupled with continually advancing technologies make it increasingly important to research and understand digital marketing and communication. This dissertation includes three essays that investigate digital marketing in the sport industry by considering the sport organization, context, and user as well as their interactions. Essay One critically examines the current use of Uses and Gratifications (U&G) Theory by examining what consumers do with sport social media. Findings from a qualitative analysis result in a proposed augmentation to U&G Theory to reflect that not all social media consumption is purposeful in nature, while also identifying a core set of motivations driving social media use. Essay Two identifies determinants of social media engagement using data mining techniques to unearth insights that can be leveraged by organizations to optimize marketing and communication strategies. Results inform the development of an updated Sport Experience Design (SX) framework to capture the complex and dynamic nature of sport consumption contexts. Finally, Essay Three examines advertising in multi-screen environments when the advertisement (ad) appears on the second screen, specifically considering the impact of timing on ad memory due to limited cognitive processing capabilities of consumers. Collectively, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of digital marketing and communication in sport management. This research lays a foundation for a stream of future work that will consider the intersection of information systems, consumer behaviour, marketing, and sports management, specifically, digital marketing and exploring the optimization and usage of mediated tools and techniques by organizations. / Tourism and Sport

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