Sport Management from a Legal Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the essential elements of sport management in Australia in the 1990's. The essential purpose is to view these elements from a legal perspective. In the past 12 months there has been at least three conferences in the sports law area. The majority of this paper has been allocated to the area of legal liability, especially the legal relationships evolving between the player and his co-participant, the player and his club, the player and his coach, and the duties and liabilities of the coach and the club. The area of insurance will also be discussed as it is a vital element in protecting the players, coaches and clubs in the event of any litigation. A well publicised case was that of Rogers v Bugden where the plaintiff Steven Rogers, who was a first grade rugby league football player for Cronulla, suffered a broken jaw and sued his co-participant Mark Bugden and Bugden's employer Canterbury/Bankstown District Rugby League Football Club. It was held that there was a contract of employment and Canterbury/Bankstown was found to be vicariously liable and was ordered to pay Rogers the sum of $68,154.00. The legal actions in tort and negligence are increasing. Sports managers will need to investigate thoroughly the protection available for their clients.

Extreme sports as a facilitator of ecocentricity and positive life changes

Extreme sports and extreme sports participants have been most commonly explored from a negative perspective, for example the 'need to take unnecessary risks'. This study reports on findings that indicate a more positive experience. A phenomenological method was used via unstructured interviews with 15 extreme sports participants and other first hand accounts. The extreme sports included B.A.S.E. jumping, big wave surfing, extreme skiing, waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering and solo rope-free climbing. Results indicate that participating in activities that involve a real chance of death, fear and the realisation that nature in its extreme is far greater and more powerful than humanity triggers positive life changes, and an eco-centric standpoint.

Extreme sports as a precursor to environmental sustainability

Extreme sports have unfortunately gained a reputation for being risk focused and adrenaline fuelled. This perspective has obscured the place of the natural world, making extreme athletes appear to seek to conquer, compete against or defeat natural forces. In contrast, this paper explores findings from a larger hermeneutic phenomenological study that suggests extreme sports can initiate a positive change in participants’ relationships with the natural world. Data sources include first-hand accounts of extreme sports participants such as biographies, videos, papers and journals as well as interviews with ten male and five female extreme sports participants. Reports indicate that extreme sport participants develop feelings of connection to the natural world and describe themselves as being at one with the natural world or connected through a life enhancing energy. The paper draws on theoretical perspectives in ecopsychology which suggest that feeling connected to nature leads to a desire to care for the natural world and contributes to more environmentally sustainable practices.

Role of exercise in the prevention and management of lymphedema after breast cancer

Swelling or lymphedema of the limb, trunk, or breast is considered the most problematic and dreaded concern after treatment for breast cancer and has significant physical, psychological, and social ramifications. Conservative incidence estimates suggest that 20%-30% of breast cancer survivors will experience lymphedema, with the majority of cases (up to 80%) occurring within the first year after surgery. The etiology of secondary lymphedema seems to be multifactorial, with acquired abnormalities as well as preexisting conditions being contributory factors.

Exercise, appetite, and energy balance: The interactions between energy expenditure and intake, and the implications for weight management

This book disseminates current information pertaining to the modulatory effects of foods and other food substances on behavior and neurological pathways and, importantly, vice versa. This ranges from the neuroendocrine control of eating to the effects of life-threatening disease on eating behavior. The importance of this contribution to the scientific literature lies in the fact that food and eating are an essential component of cultural heritage but the effects of perturbations in the food/cognitive axis can be profound. The complex interrelationship between neuropsychological processing, diet, and behavioral outcome is explored within the context of the most contemporary psychobiological research in the area. This comprehensive psychobiology- and pathology-themed text examines the broad spectrum of diet, behavioral, and neuropsychological interactions from normative function to occurrences of severe and enduring psychopathological processes

Children, Obesity and Exercise: Prevention, Treatment and Management of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity

Throughout the developed world there is an increasing prevalence of childhood obesity. Because of this increase, and awareness of the risks to long term health that childhood obesity presents, the phenomena is now described by many as a global epidemic. Children, Obesity and Exercise provides sport, exercise and medicine students and professionals with an accessible and practical guide to understanding and managing childhood and adolescent obesity. It covers: overweight, obesity and body composition; physical activity, growth and development; psycho-social aspects of childhood obesity; physical activity behaviours; eating behaviours; measuring childrens behaviour; interventions for prevention and management of childhood obesity. Children, Obesity and Exercise addresses the need for authoritative advice and innovative approaches to the prevention and management of this chronic problem.

Exercise, appetite and weight management: understanding the compensatory responses in eating behaviour and how they contribute to variability in exercise-induced weight loss

Does exercise promote weight loss? One of the key problems with studies assessing the efficacy of exercise as a method of weight management and obesityis that mean data are presented and the individual variability in response is overlooked. Recent data have highlighted the need to demonstrate and characterise the individual variability in response to exercise. Do people who exercise compensate for the increase in energy expenditure via compensatory increases in hunger and food intake? The authors address the physiological, psychological and behavioural factors potentially involved in the relationship between exercise and appetite, and identify the research questions that remain unanswered. A negative consequence of the phenomena of individual variability and compensatory responses has been the focus on those who lose little weight in response to exercise; this has been used unreasonably as evidence to suggest that exercise is a futile method of controlling weight and managing obesity. Most of the evidence suggests that exercise is useful for improving body composition and health. For example, when exercise-induced mean weight loss is <1.0 kg, significant improvements in aerobic capacity (+6.3 ml/kg/min), systolic (−6.00 mm Hg) and diastolic (−3.9 mm Hg) blood pressure, waist circumference (−3.7 cm) and positive mood still occur. However, people will vary in their responses to exercise; understanding and characterising this variability will help tailor weight loss strategies to suit individuals.

Extreme sports are good for your health : a phenomenological understanding of fear and anxiety in extreme sport

Extreme sports are traditionally explored from a risk-taking perspective which often assumes that participants do not experience fear. In this paper we explore participants’ experience of fear associated with participation in extreme sports. An interpretive phenomenological method was used with 15 participants. Four themes emerged: experience of fear, relationship to fear, management of fear, and fear and self transformation. Participant’s experience of extreme sports was revealed in terms of intense fear but this fear was integrated and experienced as a potentially meaningful and constructive event in their lives. The findings have implications for understanding fear as a potentially transformative process.

Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance information : a study of two global clothing and sports retail companies

This paper investigates the social and environmental disclosure practices of two large multinational companies, specifically Nike and Hennes&Mauritz. Utilising a joint consideration of legitimacy theory and media agenda setting theory, we investigate the linkage between negative media attention, and positive corporate social and environmental disclosures. Our results generally support a view that for those industry‐related social and environmental issues attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention, these corporations react by providing positive social and environmental disclosures. The results were particularly significant in relation to labour practices in developing countries – the issue attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention for the companies in question.

What do we know about recovery interventions used in the management of delayed onset muscle soreness?

Since the pioneering work of Hough in 1902 (1) the term ‘delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)’ has dominated the field of athletic recovery. DOMS typically occurs after exercise induced muscle damage (EIMD), particularly if the exercise is unaccustomed or involves a large amount of eccentric (muscle lengthening) contractions. The symptoms of EIMD manifest as a temporary reduction in muscle force, disturbed proprioceptive acuity, increases in inflammatory markers both within the injured muscle and in the blood as well as increased muscle soreness, stiffness and swelling. The intensity of discomfort and soreness associated with DOMS increases within the first 24 hours, peaks between 24 and 72 hours, before subsiding and eventually disappearing 5-7 days after the exercise. Consequently, DOMS may interfere with athletic training or competition and several recovery interventions have been utilised by athletes and coaches in an attempt to offset the negative effects...