Sport and Physical Education: The Key Concepts PDF

S P O RT A N D P H YS IC A L ED UCATI ON: THE KEY CONCEPTS An accessible and fully cross-referenced A–Z guide, this book has been written speciﬁcally for students of Sport Studies and Physical Education, introducing basic terms and concepts. Entries cover such diverse subjects as coaching, drug testing, hoo- liganism, cultural imperialism, economics, gay games, amateurism, extreme sports, exercise physiology and Olympism. This revised second edition, including fully updated further read- ing and web references, places a greater emphasis on sports science, with new entries on subjects such as: aerobic and anaerobic respiration blood pressure body composition cardiac output metabolism physical capacity A complete guide to the disciplines, themes, topics and concerns current in contemporary sport, this book is an invaluable resource for students at every level studying Sport and Physical Education. Timothy Chandler is Dean of the College of the Arts and Professor of Sport Studies at Kent State University. Mike Cronin is Academic Director of the Centre for Irish Pro- grammes at Boston College in Dublin. His publications include Sporting Nationalisms: Identity, Ethnicity, Immigration, Assimilation (with David Mayall, 1998), and Sport and Nationalism in Ireland (1999). Wray Vamplew is Chair of Sports History and Director of Research in Sports Studies at the University of Stirling. His recent publications include Encyclopedia of British Horseracing and Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports (Routledge, 2005) ALSO AVAILABLE FROM ROUTLEDGE Sport Psychology: The Key Concepts Ellis Cashmore ISBN10: 0-415-25322-5 ISBN13: 978-0-415-25322-2 Primary Education: The Key Concepts Denis Hayes ISBN10: 0-415-35483-8 ISBN13: 978-0-415-35483-7 SPORT AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION The Key Concepts Second Edition Timothy Chandler, Mike Cronin and Wray Vamplew First published 2002 by Routledge This edition ﬁrst published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business # 2007 Timothy Chandler, Mike Cronin and Wray Vamplew This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Chandler, Timothy John Lindsay Sport and physical education: the key concepts / Timothy Chandler, Mike Cronin, and Wray Vamplew.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Sports—Encyclopedias. 2. Physical education and training—Encyclopedias. I. Cronin, Mike. II Vamplew, Wray. III. Title. GV567.C43 2007 796.03—dc22 2006034560 ISBN 0-203-96169-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-41746-5 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-41747-3 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-41746-4 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-41747-1 (pbk) CONTENTS Introduction vi List of Concepts xii KEY CONCEPTS 1 Bibliography 241 Index 261 v INTRODUCTION At the start of the 2001/2 football season in Britain, there was a mass of media comment about the amount of football that would be screened on television during the season. It was claimed that by switching between the different terrestrial, satellite and cable provi- ders, the avid fan could watch four live games every day, amounting to over forty hours of viewing per week. A fresh deal, signed in August 2004 with Sky television, and running for three seasons, netted the Premier League £1,024 billion for their television rights. This marked a massive increase on the ﬁgure for the previous deal, signed in 1998 and worth £670 million. Football is a booming industry, the home of multi-million pound players, the subject of huge media interest and a favourite of corporate advertisers. The 2006 World Cup ﬁnals in Germany were the product of E4.6 billion worth of infrastructure investment by the state and private business. During the tournament, while the eyes of the global television audi- ence were on Germany, some 2 million spectators and tourists visited the country, spending an estimated E600 million. The presence of the World Cup in Germany created 50,000 new jobs, half of which would be permanent and outlast the duration of the tournament. Adidas sold 15 million replica shirts around the world in the six months leading up to the ﬁnals, while ﬂag sales across Europe increased 1000 per cent as fans displayed their colours. As evidenced by the World Cup, the scale of sports activity across the world at the start of the twenty-ﬁrst century is immense. The multi-million pound ﬁgures that are paid for television rights, and to top performers in wages and sponsorship agreements, rely on the idea that there is an insatiable appetite amongst the viewing population for sport. Modern sport emerged as part of a range of social changes that were the product of the Industrial Revolution. In the ensuing cen- tury and a half since many of the major sporting associations came into existence, the sport and leisure industry has grown to be one of the biggest in the world. In recent years the continuing speed and vi INTRODUCTION scale of growth within the sports market on a global scale has appeared unstoppable. The costs of television rights for sporting events of all kinds have soared, sports clubs have been successfully ﬂoated on the stock market, and major events such as the football World Cup ﬁnals and the Olympics grow ever bigger and costlier. Whether sport can continue with its incredible level of success remains to be seen. The Athens Olympics of 2004 were not as successful as those held in Sydney in 2000. Mega events such as the Olympic Games and the football World Cup are fraught with planning and ﬁnancial risks. It remains to be seen whether South Africa will be able to deliver the World Cup ﬁnals to the high stan- dards of those set by Germany in 2006, and whether London will get everything ready in time for the Olympics of 2012. Other questions also continue to be asked of the sports industry. Will the viewers begin to desert televised football in large numbers? Will Nike continue to sign multi-million pound deals with sports stars to pro- mote its products? All the answers to these questions lie in the future. They are, however, indicative of the importance of sport within the global society, and illustrative of its social, economic and political importance. Sport, it can be argued, is everywhere. From children kicking or throwing a ball on any patch of ground, to the stars of the football pitch or basketball court, sport captivates us all. Its global presence is undeniable. We cannot turn on our television sets without seeing sport. General and dedicated radio stations keep us constantly abreast of the latest sports news, while the ever-growing number of daily sporting newspaper supplements and specialist magazines inform us of every minutia of sporting activity. The internet has been embraced by sports clubs and organisations, as well as fans across the world, as another medium through which sport can be promoted, discussed and enjoyed. In all forms of sponsorship and advertising, the sports star is dominant. There is not a product that is not connected to either individual sports players or an event. From Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods’ embrace of Nike, through to the N-Power Ashes series in test cricket, companies believe that the sponsorship of sport will bring them much needed publicity, raise their proﬁle and increase their sales. But big sponsors only remain with a sports star while they are successful. After his performance in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia, English cricketer Andrew Flintoff signed deals with Bar- clays, Red Bull, Volkswagen, and the Thwaites brewery, amongst others. If he continues to be the hero in the English side and results go their way, then the interest of sponsors in him will remain high. vii INTRODUCTION However, if stars like Flintoff suffer long term injury or lose form, the sponsors will desert them for the next big thing. Sport has a great cultural resonance. It is important in people’s daily lives, and serves to bring people together. For many, sport is central to their sense of identity. It provides them with a focus for their lives, a group of friends with a common interest, and a series of games and events around which they can organise and centre their life. Sport is centrally important as an activity that promotes physical health and well-being, and is embraced as such by education, welfare and medical systems across the world. Physical and sporting activity, at whatever age, is to be applauded for improving health and socia- bility, as well as providing many people with an outlet for their competitive streak. Sport then, has a myriad of different functions. From the school child throwing their ﬁrst ball as part of an educa- tional process, through to the multi-million dollar pitcher on a major league baseball team, sport is an important focus for, and a central part of, the society in which we live. Why sports studies and physical education? The argument of what actually constitutes a sport is one that will keep any discussion group, whether in a classroom or over dinner, talking for hours. The argument is not one which is central here. We have taken a broad approach to the subject of what constitutes sports studies and physical education, and are more concerned with an area of activity that has a multitude of different forms, styles and inﬂuences across the globe. The approach taken here is one which, along with the majority of academic studies, is centred on an understanding of sport and physical education within a predominantly Western context. This is not to deny that sport has a great importance within non-Western socie- ties, but a recognition that the majority of previous work has focused on Western sports, organisations and styles of play. The sports of the Western world, along with their sports stars, the products that they market, and the media that project them to the wider world, dom- inate the global sporting agenda. The work included in the text has sought to avoid an over-emphasis on elite forms of sporting practice, and to approach physical education and sports studies through an appreciation of activity at a variety of levels. However, one has to recognise that many of the dominant themes in contemporary sport, such as globalisation, can best be illustrated by reference to an elite performer, such as Ronaldo in football. As a result, professional or elite sport provides the majority of illustrations used in the text. viii INTRODUCTION Sports studies and physical education have become increasingly important within the curriculum at both school, college and uni- versity level. Education has recognised that sport is not simply a human activity that has no importance within society. It is an activity that is worthy of study, from a variety of disciplinary approaches, so that the impact and importance of sport can be properly assessed and understood. This book has been constructed so that all the major disciplinary areas that constitute sports studies and physical education are included. That said, there are undoubtedly topics and concepts that have been excluded. Such exclusions are not the product of oversight, but the result of boundaries that had to be set at the outset of the project. For this new edition of the book some of the broader organisational themes that appeared in the ﬁrst edition have been dropped in favour of a greater focus on sports science and physical education concepts. Also included are some general concepts, such as alcohol which, while not directly linked to sport, does impinge on the lives of ath- letes and has been a key issue in the area of sponsorship. Why this guide? The economic and cultural importance of sport, and the growth in popular and academic discussion of the topic, is the central justiﬁca- tion for the book. As the Key Concepts series is well established and admired, we felt that it offered the best vehicle for an exploration of the terminology and major concepts that are attached to the study of sports studies and physical education. There is, as the bibliography in this book illustrates, a mass of literature on different aspects of sport. Much of this literature is the product of academic endeavour, and was aimed primarily at the peer group of the authors. Such work has often been written using complex specialist terminology, or else is placed in the context of a variety of often unfamiliar theoretical approaches. Even those general texts, which seek to introduce the student or reader to a particular disciplinary approach, often hide their deﬁnitions of the key concepts within the narrative, so that they remain unclear. As a result, many readers ﬁnd it difﬁcult to grasp the central purpose or deﬁnition of the different terms, concepts or ideas. This volume seeks, as with the others in this series, to provide, in a readable and accessible form, a comprehensive guide to the key terms and concepts present in the broad body of writing within sports studies and physical education. As the study of sports and physical education embraces so many different disciplinary approaches, a deﬁnition of the key concepts is ix INTRODUCTION an ambitious undertaking. As such, all the concepts here have to be treated as introductions. They are not, and neither do they seek to be, deﬁnitive. The entries are designed to lead to a fuller engagement with, and usage of, the concepts and terms. It is hoped that all readers will make use of the extensive bibliography to further their under- standing of any given concept or term, and see this book as a tool which facilitates understanding and further investigation. In the ﬁrst edition we included a list of relevant website addresses, but as with many things on the internet, often these sites disappeared, were not maintained or else were renamed. Rather than provide a list of web- site addresses that might quickly become obsolete, we have taken the decision to omit them from this volume, and encourage readers to search for organisations and themes via a search engine. Concepts A concept, as used in this book, is a general idea, or class of objects. We have not been over-speciﬁc in our use of the term ‘concept’, so that we could include as many terms as possible that are important for an understanding of sports studies and physical education. The format of the book is alphabetical, but there are strings of related concepts that run throughout the book. These broad groupings include: theoretical paradigms and the methodological approaches asso- ciated with them. These include the major social and cultural theories, as well as the various ‘isms’, along with approaches such as anthropology or geography. At all times these concepts, as with all others in the book, are deﬁned and discussed within the con- text of sporting examples. research methodologies and typologies are explored to enable the reader to understand how academic and scholarly research into the area of sports studies and physical education is conducted, and how it can best be approached. key disciplinary areas are identiﬁed throughout the text. As the study of sports studies and physical education is such a multi- disciplinary undertaking, we have tried, where possible, to outline the importance of any given discipline, e.g. history, sociology, sports medicine, and so on, to the wider study of the whole subject. the sports business and sports organisations are increasingly powerful and important, and have a huge effect on the general area of sports studies and physical education. While not seeking to x INTRODUCTION exhaustively deﬁne all such operations, we have identiﬁed the main ones, and the inﬂuence that they exert within the area. associated businesses and themes such as the media, have been key to the history and development of sport; and do much to enforce other concepts like globalisation. The book has therefore identiﬁed the main external inﬂuences on the historic and on- going development of physical education and sports studies, and deﬁned them in the context of their sporting role. We have not listed individual sports such as cricket or baseball as concepts here, and neither have we listed any individual athletes. Where either sports or individuals are mentioned, they appear only as exemplars of concepts. For example, Michael Jordan is not an entry as such, but is used as illustrative of the force of globalisation. xi LIST O F CO NCEP T S Administration Body composition Adventure sports B-oxidisation Advertising Boxing debate Aerobic exercise Boycotts Aesthetics Branding Afﬁrmative action Brighton Declaration Ageism Bureaucracy Agents Burn-out Aggression Callisthenics Agility Cardiac output Alcohol Cartels Alexander Technique Categorisation ALT-PE Central nervous system Amateurism Character building Anabolic steroids Children Anaerobic exercise Choking Anatomy and physiology Circulatory system see anatomy Animal rights and physiology Animal sports Civil law Anthropology Class Arbitration Closed loop Archives Coaching Arousal Cognition Assessment Collective memory Athleticism Colonialism ATP (adenosine triphosphate) Colonisation Automatic nervous system Commercial deepening Bat and ball games see commercialisation Beneﬁts Commercialisation Biomechanics Commercial widening Blood pressure see commercialisation Body Commonwealth Games xii LIST OF CONCEPTS Competition Ethnicity Conditioning Ethnography Conﬂict theory Etiquette Consumption Exercise Control Exercise adherence Corinthians Exercise physiology Corruption Externalities Cosmetic sports Extreme sports Cost-beneﬁt analysis see adventure sports Criminal law Extrinsic motives Critical theory Factors of production Cultural analysis Fair play Cultural imperialism Fartlek Curriculum design Fatigue Dance Feedback Decolonisation Femininity Demand Feminism Demography Field sports debate Differentiation Figurational thesis Diffusion Finance Disability sport Fitness Discrimination Fitness adaptations Disrepute Fitness education Drill sergeants Fitness history Drugs Fitness methods Drug testing Fitness testing Duty of care Football in the community Economic impact statements Football sports Economic rent Force Economics Franchises Electron transport chain Free agents Emotion Functionalism Endorsement Gambling Endurance sports Games Energy Gas exchange Energy metabolism Gay games Energy systems Gender Engineering Geography Environment Globalisation Equality Goal orientation Equality of competition Government policy Ethics Gravity xiii LIST OF CONCEPTS Gymnastics Marketing Haemoglobin Martial arts Health Masculinity Health-related exercise Mass culture Heart rate Material culture Hegemony Maximum wage Heritage Media High culture Merchandising History Metabolism Hooliganism Militarism Hormones Mobility Inclusion Model course of 1902 Industrialisation Modernisation Industry Modern sport Information processing Moments Injuries/treatment Momentum Institutionalisation Monopoly Instrumentality Motion Internet see World Wide Web Motivation Interval training Motor skill Intervention processes Motor units Intrinsic motives Multi-cultural Invented tradition Muscular Christianity Investment Muscular system Jahn see anatomy and physiology Journalism Museums Key stages National Coaching Foundation Kick it campaign (NCF) Krebs cycle National Curriculum Lactate threshold Nationalism Landscape National Lottery Language Nervous system Law see anatomy and physiology Leadership Nutrition Leisure Obesity Levers Olympic Games see Olympics Limited channel capacity (ancient), Olympics Ling (modern), Olympism Listed events Olympics (ancient) Maclaren Olympics (modern) Management Olympism Manliness Open loop xiv LIST OF CONCEPTS Origins of sport Reproduction thesis Outcomes Residual volume Over-training Resistance thesis Ownership Respiratory system Patriotism see anatomy and physiology Patronage Restraint of trade Pedagogy Retain and transfer Periodisation Risk management Philosophy Risk sports Physical capacity Ritual Physical culture Rotation Physical education Rules Physical literacy Safety Physical training Salary cap Play Schema theory Politics Secular Post-modernism Seniors’ sport see ageism, Price veterans Private goods Sexism Private sector Shamateurism Process orientation Skeletal system Product development see anatomy and physiology see commercialisation Skill Product improvement Skill acquisition see commercialisation Social behaviour Professionalism Social capital Proﬁt Sociology Progressive resistance Specialisation Protective equipment Special Olympics Psychology Speed Public goods Sponsorship Public schools Sport Public sector Sport education Racism Sport for All Rationalised Sporting associations Rational recreation Sporting conduct Recreation Sporting deviance Reﬂection thesis Sporting heroes Regionalism Sport science Regulation Sportsmanship Religion Sports medicine Repetition training Spread betting xv LIST OF CONCEPTS Standardisation Tobacco State schools Topophilia Strategy for sport Traditional sports Strikes and industrial disputes Training principles Stroke volume Transfers Structuralism Types of practice Subsidisation Turnen Superstition Uncertainty of outcome Supply Unionism Swedish gymnastics Urbanisation Syllabuses of physical training Utility maximisation Symbolic interactionism Values Taste Veterans Teaching for understanding Violence Teaching styles VO2 max Technology Weather Television Wellness Tidal volume Worker sport Time World Wide Web xvi S P O RT AN D P H Y S I C A L EDUCATION T h e Key Co n c e p t s ADVENTURE SPORTS ADMINISTRATION The ﬁeld of sports administration is one that has grown rapidly throughout recent decades. With the emergence of modern compe- titive and organised sport, committees were formed to ensure the smooth running of any given sport, to draw up rules, organise ﬁx- tures and competitions and to discipline unruly elements. These early sports administrators were usually drawn from the upper or middle classes. At the national level they were to be found in organisations such as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews to oversee golf, the MCC to run cricket, or at the Football Association to control football. In this early form, administration relied heavily on former members of the public schools, or else, as Mason and Col- lins have demonstrated with respect to football and rugby, local businessmen. Whatever the social origins of such committees, the overwhelming majority of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sports administrators were amateur. As sports clubs and organisations developed and were increasingly run as businesses, so paid secretaries and other administrators were appointed. At the highest level, sports associations began paying salaries and employing ofﬁcers to take care of areas such as press relations, marketing and sponsorship. Since the 1960s, sports administration has been a deﬁnite career choice, and one that is often made after studying aspects of the subject at college and university level. With the growth of allied areas within the sports business, such as law, economics, marketing and the media, sports administrators have continued to become more numerous and ever more important. They are vital in sports organisations, such as Sport England, in lobbying government for funding, and in administering whatever money they do receive. See also: bureaucracy, leadership, management Further reading: Collins (1998), Mason (1980) ADVENTURE SPORTS There is an ever-broadening array of activities that are outside the traditional mainstream of organised, codiﬁed, rationalised sport, termed ‘adventure’, ‘risk’ and ‘extreme’ sports. They differ from traditional sporting and physical activities in terms of their location, equipment, emphasis on endurance, and/or the degree of danger involved. The 3 ADVENTURE SPORTS fact that a number of these ‘extreme’ activities have been termed ‘outlaw’ sports is because they have been banned in certain places due to their level of danger. The terms ‘adventure’, ‘risk’, ‘extreme’, and ‘outlaw’ all bear witness to the search for thrills and the underlying ethos of freedom from authority and authority ﬁgures (such as coaches, managers, trainers and administrators who control traditional sport), which best exem- plify both the motivations and the attitudes of many extreme athletes. The list of adventure/risk/extreme sports continues to grow as such activities become more widely practised. Among the best known adventure sports are eco-challenge and sport climbing, both of which pit individuals against nature and the environment. In eco- challenge, contestants traverse difﬁcult and unfamiliar terrain, using canoes, rafts, kayaks and even mountain bikes as they challenge themselves over a number of days to complete a course. This test of man against nature is often conducted in exotic and ‘out of the way’ places, where control of the environment is limited and where pre- dictability of outcome is very limited. By contrast, sport climbing, while closely related to rock climbing, requires participants to climb artiﬁcial rocks, thereby standardising the events and offering some degree of uniformity of contest among participants who compete in tests of speed, strategy and difﬁculty. Amongst the major risk sports are those which have developed from recreational activities such as bungee jumping, sky surﬁng and even barefoot water ski jumping, where points are awarded on the basis of ‘stunts’ or tricks performed during the activity. In bungee jumping, this involves ‘diving-type’ moves such as twists, turns and somersaults, on which a performer is judged. Inspired by the vine jumpers of Pentecost Island, and ﬁrst attempted in Britain with jumps off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1979, this sport is thought to have developed in Australia. Sky surﬁng, which involves athletes being videotaped by a team-mate as they perform stunts on a surf- board whilst free falling from about 4,000 metres, was developed in France. However, while many Western nations, including Britain, have inﬂuenced the growth and development of extreme sports, none has been more inﬂuential than the United States. In the 1970s and 1980s, a teen culture of risk and rebellion against the established and traditional institution of sport was largely responsible for the growth of extreme sports, from recreational activities of a few ‘outlaws’ to the proliferation of such sports and the organising of them into festivals and games such as the X-Games and the Gravity Games. Activities such as BMX dirt biking and jumping, in-line skating, mountain-biking, street-luge, skate-luge and skateboarding, were 4 ADVERTISING largely developed as sports in California, where the landscape and the climate afforded opportunities for such activities and where the surﬁng culture of the 1960s was transformed with the development of tech- nology of a different sort to produce a broad array of on-land activities. BMX dirt biking, which got its start on the trails and ﬁre roads of Mount Tamalpais, involves racing, jumping over and off dirt mounds and riding on vertical ramps. Competitors are judged for difﬁculty, style and amplitude. In-line skaters compete in three types of events over three different courses. The vertical event uses a horseshoe- shaped half-pike ramp in which skaters perform jumps, twists, turns, spins and ﬂips, earning points for the quality and style of their per- formance. On the ‘street’ course, performers have to manoeuvre down obstacles such as stairs, along railings, up and down ramps and over walls, again earning points for style and difﬁculty of stunts. The down- hill course uses streets or roads, as do street and skate-luge competitions. While the World Wide Web has enabled extreme sports enthu- siasts to communicate more readily and thus develop a base of support for their activities, it has been the inﬂuence of the media through the development of the X-Games and Gravity Games, alongside the exploitation of these emergent sports and their appropriation by cor- porations such as McDonalds and Disney, which have changed these ‘outlaw’ activities into increasingly mainstream sports. As Pope and Rinehart note, enthusiasts in search of a unique recreational experience pioneered most of these sports. They developed local contests and championships as a means of testing their skills against others. It was only in the late 1980s that such activities began to attract media attention, and with this came sponsorship and career possibilities. The inclusion of snowboarding in the 1996 Winter Olympics typiﬁed the incorporation of extreme sports into the mainstream. Thus activities that began as recreational outlets for some of society’s ‘outsiders’ have increasingly become formalised, institutionalised sports with their own corporate sponsors, national and international competitions, records and heroes, and as such part of mainstream sport in many Western nations. Further reading: Allen (1993), Bane (1996), Donnelly (2006) Karinch (2000), McMillen (1998), Pope and Rinehart (2001), Wheaton (2004) ADVERTISING Advertising is the publicising of goods with the aim of increasing sales. It is the most visible sign of sport’s commercialisation, with 5 AEROBIC EXERCISE sports stars being used to endorse sports equipment and also non- sporting goods. This is nothing new. In the late nineteenth century the famous cricketer W. G. Grace was used to advertise not only cricket bats but also Colman’s mustard, and in 1934 the FA Cup ﬁnalists promoted trousers, shoe polish and Shredded Wheat. Whe- ther the public really believes that sporting success can be associated with and derived from buying the advertised product is a moot point. The development of televised sport has led to an expansion of the relationship between sport and advertising, with product logos on team shirts and playing surfaces, eye-catching revolving hoardings around grounds, and Formula One race cars becoming virtually mobile advertisements. See also: endorsement, sponsorship Further reading: Andrews and Jackson (2004), Groves (1987), Johnes (2000) AEROBIC EXERCISE The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) deﬁnes aero- bic exercise as ‘any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, and is rhythmic in nature.’ (1998) Aerobic means with oxygen and refers to the need for oxygen in the process of generating energy in muscles. The beneﬁts of aerobic exercise include improvement in heart and lung functioning, (such as lower heart rate and blood pressure,) increased VO2 Max, reduced body fat, improved weight control, and improved psychological well- being. See also: anaerobic exercise, exercise, ﬁtness, periodisation Further reading: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30, 6 June 1998. AESTHETICS Aesthetics is that part of philosophy which studies those values associated with beauty and ugliness. Beauty in sport is generally not rewarded save for appreciation by the cognoscenti. Most established sports have a ‘classical’ way of performing such as the timing of a drive in cricket, the smooth golf swing or the delicate drop shot in 6 AGEISM tennis. Yet these do not guarantee a win, for victory often goes to those who develop their own style, which may be less graceful but more effective. In some sports, however, such as ice-skating and synchronised swimming, marks are awarded for artistic interpretation. This raises the major issue of subjective judgement as there is no clear deﬁnition of artistry in sport. Further reading: Best (1995) AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Afﬁrmative action policies embrace the idea of positive discrimina- tion to increase the participation of groups previously marginalised or discriminated against. This has been central to United States sport since 1972, and European Union law now has provision for the introduction of such measures. So far it has not occurred in Britain, where attempts to challenge sex discrimination in sport have gen- erally used normal employment law to oppose such practices as unequal salaries for male and female administrators. See also: discrimination Further reading: McCardle (1999) AGEISM Sport has often been seen as the preserve of the young and the ﬁt. Developmental theory once emphasised the importance of the period of childhood and adolescence as central to the successful development of the adult. It was as a result of such thinking that much of the effort in promoting sport was centred on the young. Whether in nine- teenth-century English public schools, or through the modern educational curriculum, sport was used to teach young people good values and bring about ﬁtness and physical strength. For many older people, especially prior to the 1960s, active sporting participation was rare. There were no leagues for senior players, and no encouragement of the elderly to keep ﬁt through sport. It was argued by many sup- porters of developmental theory that as adults were already fully formed, they would not beneﬁt from the positive effects of sport as they need no further development. An additional problem for many 7 AGENTS willing older sports participants were the arguments of many in the medical profession. Prior to the Second World War many health specialists argued that sport was too rough and involved over-exertion that would damage the ageing body. Thankfully these negative views of the ageing body and sport have changed. People live longer, and most Western industrialised societies now have a dominantly elderly population that lives well beyond retirement age. The medical profession now argues that an active life, including sport and exercise, will give good or improved health to the elderly. The embrace of sport by the ageing population has been assisted by the rapid growth in the number of gym clubs across the Western world, and the provision of public facilities such as swim- ming pools. Role models have been provided by senior leagues in sports such as tennis and golf, which receive money from sponsor- ship and are regularly aired on television. Olympics-style athletics gatherings that are based around the elderly allow for competition and record setting, as competitors are classiﬁed on the basis of their age. The most important effect of the embrace of sport by the ageing has been to challenge the assumption that old age necessarily means a life of inactivity and illness. This has been the most central challenge to the ageist argument that old age leads to the end of physical activity and sporting competitiveness. See also: discrimination Further reading: Wearing (1995) AGENTS Players are often at a disadvantage in negotiations with experienced management over the terms and conditions of their contracts. Addi- tionally, some players feel that direct negotiations might harm their working relationship with club management. In recent years both these factors have led to the employment of agents, specialised in the area, who represent their clients in discussions with clubs and other employers, usually obtaining a commission from any deals that they negotiate. They are in a ﬁduciary relationship with their clients and must always act in their best interest. Hence, for example, they can only act for one party within a negotiation. Although in the United States some agents have been guilty of manipulative practices to induce players to sign with them, this has not emerged as a major 8 AGGRESSION problem in British sport. In some sports, licensing systems have been introduced in order to ensure propriety. In Premier League football, for example, special permission to act as an agent must be obtained except for close relatives, FIFA-licensed agents and barristers and solicitors. Several restrictions are imposed, for instance, that agree- ments between agent and client must be in writing, can last only two years, and cannot be transferred to another parry. See also: sporting heroes Further reading: Greenﬁeld, Osborn and Taylor (2001), Steinberg (1991) AGGRESSION Despite the fact that many coaches will tell their players that they need to be more aggressive if they are to be successful, sport psy- chologists suggest that aggression is one of the most persuasive nega- tive aspects of sporting performance. Aggression can be thought of as ‘any form of behaviour directed toward a goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment’ (Baron and Richardson 1994: 7). In sport, an aggressive act is gen- erally deﬁned as an act performed to harm or injure, physically, verbally or psychologically. There have been three classic approaches to explaining aggression: instinctual, drive reduction and social learning. Instinct theorists contend that aggression is innate and that sports, and particularly contact sports, may well attract those who are naturally aggressive, since it is an aggression-releasing environment, and the opportunity for catharsis or aggressive relief. Drive reduction theories reﬂect the belief that aggression is a response to some external drive, such as a build-up of frustration caused by the inability to attain a desired goal. Thus we ﬁnd that aggression is more likely to occur late in a contest when players realise that they are not going to attain their goal of winning. Social learning theory suggests that aggression is a learnt behaviour, and therefore that coaches who encourage players to be aggressive and reward it are increasing the likelihood of aggression. This theory also suggests that when an athlete plays aggressively and perceives that such a style leads to a successful outcome (rather than frustration) then they are more likely to continue to play aggressively. The same three theories apply to spectators as well as players, and various forms of typical spectator aggression have been identiﬁed, 9 AGILITY such as rowdyism, exuberant celebration and riots. A large body of work on football rowdyism and hooliganism suggests that the key factor in triggering spectator aggression is the presence of a leader. See also: motivation, violence Further reading: Bandura (1973), Baron and Richardson (1994), Gill (1986), Marsh (1983), Wann (1997) AGILITY A key component of motor-performance-related ﬁtness, agility is deﬁned as the ability to change direction of the entire body in space with speed and accuracy and is related to athletic performance potential. Further reading: Pate (1983) ALCOHOL The relationship between sport and alcohol is a long-standing one. Historically, the publican played an important role by organising sporting events, providing a meeting place for sports teams (often sponsoring them), and offering a results service. In the nineteenth century, attempts to reform sport and render it less disreputable forced the drink trade to realign itself with new forms of ‘respectable’ sport. Darts, snooker and lawn bowls, among other public-house sporting activities, replaced brutal animal and human blood sports as an attraction to a drinking clientele. As team sports emerged among the working classes, sponsorship came from landlords and hoteliers, and at the elite level, as sports clubs adopted limited liability company status, those in the drink trade came to the fore as shareholders and directors. In the twentieth century the alcohol sector has promoted its wares through sport via media advertising; promotion at the event itself on perimeter boards, shirt fronts and the actual playing area; and in the naming of leagues, races and other competitions. Today it is recognised that alcohol depresses the nervous system, impairs both motor ability and judgement, reduces endurance, and, as a diuretic, can cause dehydration, none of which are conducive to sports performance. In the past, however, the drinking of alcohol, 10 ALT-PE particularly ales and porters, was positively encouraged as a perceived aid to strength and stamina. The UK Sports Council has legislated against the use of alcohol as a performance-enhancing drug in those areas where there is an advantage to be gained from its use as an anti- anxiety drug, an isometric muscular strengthener, and for improving steadiness in ‘aiming’ sports. Undoubtedly the alcohol industry has brought beneﬁts to British sport: at the elite level via major sponsorships of events, teams and leagues; and lower down the sporting pyramid by assistance in the construction of club premises and the support of junior coaching. Yet at the same time there have been less positive aspects to the rela- tionship through crowd disturbance from ‘lager louts’, the promotion of drinking to excess, and the risk of alcoholism to sportspersons and others. Further reading: Collins and Vamplew (2002), Dixon and Garnham (2005), Vamplew (2005a) ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE The Alexander Technique was devised in the late nineteenth century by Frederick Matthias Alexander, a Tasmanian actor who suffered from vocal cord problems that threatened his career. He found that if his head and body were properly aligned he no longer had difﬁculties with his throat, and his breathing, voice and posture all improved. It is not a form of exercise, but a method of moving that realigns the limbs and improves balance and coordination. By reducing physical tension, it also helps ease stress and create feelings of calmness and conﬁdence. Central to the technique is learning how to loosen the neck and allow the head to balance freely on top of the spine. ALT-PE A useful means of accessing current views/data on physical education worldwide is to look at ALT-PE. It is part of the newsgroup service carried by most e-mail browsers and requires the user to ‘subscribe to newsgroups’. This is a free service but, as it does not appear to be moderated, caution should be exercised in utilising the contents. In North America and elsewhere ALT-PE (Academic Learning Time Physical Education) also refers to a unit of time in which a pupil is 11 AMATEURISM engaged in activity set by the teacher at an appropriate level of difﬁ- culty. Early studies conducted in the 1980s using this measure showed that students in physical education classes were not spending a great deal of time (about one third of class time) engaged in appropriate practice of physical skills. While more recent research has shown that practice time is one important factor in predicting learning outcomes in physical education, ALT-PE researchers have also discovered that other factors such as the quality of practice are also important in promoting the learning of physical skills. See also: World Wide Web Further reading: Rink (2002) AMATEURISM Amateurism is a British invention, its growth being largely reﬂective of a lengthy process of appropriation and gentriﬁcation of sport from the late eighteenth century onwards. It began as an ideal and ended as an ideology. In its strictest sense – amateur as ‘lover’ or absolute enthusiast – it represented the peak of intention rather than the manner of performance. The ideal became consolidated in the gen- tlemanly activities of public schoolboys in the ﬁrst half of the nine- teenth century, so that, as Wigglesworth (1996: 85) notes, ‘by 1868 Trollope could suggest that playing billiards was an amusement of a gentleman but to play billiards eminently well is the life’s work of a man who in learning to do so can hardly have continued to be a gentleman ‘‘in the best sense’’’. It was in trying to further the distinction between the sporting gentleman ‘in the best sense’ – the sense of the amateur as the ideal, and the sportsman concerned with performance – the professional player of the game, that other distinguishing features of being a pro- fessional emerged. These included: ﬁnancial reward, occupation and social class. And it was in attaching social class characteristics and overtones to the concept of the amateur, and fostering a simple binary of amateur and professional to match the upper and lower class, gentleman and non-gentleman, respectable and not-respectable designations, that provided the basis for these terms as important ‘social markers’. The terms amateur and professional also became instruments of social control, epithets of support and disdain, and measures of social standing and moral worth. 12 AMATEURISM The key people behind the development of amateurism appear to have been the new Victorian administrative elite. As Holt (1989:110– 11) notes, Just as the civil service was now open to all who had the classical education required to pass the entrance examination, so the run- ning of sport was in practice conﬁned to those with the necessary time, income and organisational experience. Very few outside the liberal professions had such qualiﬁcations and even then a mea- sure of social inﬂuence via the old-boys network was important. Thus we ﬁnd institutions such as the Amateur Athletics Association, the Football Association and the Amateur Rowing Association being set up and run by such individuals during the mid-to-late Victorian era. It is important to note that amateurism was never an uncontested notion, nor were negative responses to it always provided by profes- sionals or the working classes. In the split between the Northern Union and the Rugby Football Union over broken-time payments, we ﬁnd a geographic fault line in the amateur versus professional debate. In the split between the Amateur Rowing Association and the National Amateur Rowing Association, we ﬁnd a split based on occupation and not on social or economic circumstances. Huggins suggests that in the years from 1850 to 1910 few sports were purely amateur. Occasionally, upper-middle class amateurs founded organi- sations speciﬁcally to preserve the nature of their activities and limit access to them. Wandering cricket clubs such as the Band of Brothers and the Free Foresters are examples. In other cases, such as in the founding of the Corinthians Club, the Barbarians Rugby Football Club and the I Zingari Cricket Club, they wished to distance themselves from developments in association football, rugby union or cricket that they found to be diminishing or tarnishing the amateur ideal. Throughout the twentieth century, the amateur ideal has been eroded as high-level performance has become increasingly important in sport, as sport has become increasingly available to the masses, and as working at sport has become laudable and to be a professional athlete (as opposed to a ‘rank’ amateur) has been a sign of prestige. Being an amateur was an ascribed status, being a professional is an achieved status. See also: professionalism Further reading: Allison (1980; 2000), Cannadine (1998), Collins (1998), Holt (1989), Huggins (2000), Taylor (2006), Wigglesworth (1992; 1996) 13 ANABOLIC STEROIDS ANABOLIC STEROIDS Anabolic, or tissue-building, steroids are synthetic forms of the male sex hormone, testosterone, and are one form of steroids. They were ﬁrst developed in the 1930s for medicinal purposes such as building body weight for the malnourished, treating gastrointestinal disorders, anaemia, and even osteoporosis. Anabolic steroids work by accelerat- ing the natural cellular processes that build and replenish muscle. It is for this reason that athletes have been attracted to them in their search for improved performance, particularly in activities requiring both strength and speed. While it is clear that athletes have been using anabolic steroids since the 1960s, and their use was banned by amateur athletic asso- ciations and the International Olympic Committee in the 1970s, it was not until the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, that the issue of drugs and drug testing, and more particularly the wide- spread use of steroids, became widely discussed. It was in the blue ribbon speed event, the 100 metres, at the 1988 Seoul Olympics that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson achieved a world record time of 9.79 seconds and the title of fastest man on earth, only to be stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for drugs. Concern over the issues surrounding the use of anabolic steroids have continued ever since. Among the reasons for widespread concern beyond the issue of cheating have been the purported health problems and severe side effects which use of these substances can entail. In addition to their being addictive, the use of anabolic steroids has been associated with sterility, increased aggressiveness, heart disease, and kidney and liver dysfunction in males. In females such use has been associated with increased facial and body hair, a deepening of the voice and disrup- tion of the menstrual cycle. See also: drugs Further reading: Williams (1998), Yesalis (2000) ANAEROBIC EXERCISE Anaerobic exercise refers to the initial phase of physical activity, or short burst of effort, where energy is generated without the use of oxygen. Such exercise employs muscles at high intensity and a high 14 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY work rate for a short period of time and is used as a means of increasing muscle strength or developing speed. As such, weight- lifting, jumping and sprinting are the most common forms of anae- robic activity. The beneﬁts of anaerobic exercise include increased caloric consumption, increased metabolism and building lean tissue or muscle mass. See also: aerobic exercise ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY In order to understand the workings of the human body, biologists have focused on the body’s structure (how it is put together) and its function (how it works). Anatomy is the study of the body’s structure, and ranges from the study of cells (microanatomy) to the study of parts and systems (gross anatomy). Physiology is the study of the function of cells, organs and systems. Anatomists typically divide the body into nine systems when ana- lysing structure. These systems are: the skeleton, the muscles, the circulatory and respiratory systems, the nervous system, the glandular system, the digestive system, the urinary system, the reproductive system, and the skin. Physiologists study the functions of these systems and how they interact. A basic tenet of physiology is that the body tends to make internal adjustments so that its internal environment remains as stable and unchanging as possible. This is known as homeostasis. Physiologists study the ways in which the body achieves and maintains homeostasis. For those interested in sport and physical activity the skeleton, muscles, and the nervous system and the circulatory and respiratory systems are perhaps the most critical. The skeletal system The skeleton is a combination of bones, joints and cartilage. Its function is to support and protect the organs of the body and the soft tissue that surrounds them, while providing points of attachment or insertions for the muscles that enable us to move our bodies. Some of the body’s 206 bones also produce blood cells in the bone marrow. Joints provide various forms of movement, and cartilage serves as a protective material between bones to cushion and facilitate that movement. 15 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY The muscular system Muscles enable such movement to take place through their contrac- tions since they are attached to bones by tendons. The control of such movement requires the development of motor skills in which the nervous system provides the necessary control of muscle activity. Unlike striated muscle which facilitates human movement, the two other forms of muscle found in the human body, smooth muscle and heart muscle, are not under conscious control. The nervous system The nervous system, which includes the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, controls the body’s activities. While the lower part of the brain controls autonomous functions such as breathing and heart rate, the higher part of the brain directs voluntary muscular activities and performs the important integrating and processing functions required for skilled movement. The brain receives and sends information to the nerves via the spinal cord, processing such information in order to provide appropriate and integrated movement that we associate with displays of sporting skills and excellence when conducted at the highest levels. The control of movement or motor control is an important area of sport science research. The circulatory and respiratory systems These provide the body with the nourishment and oxygen necessary to function and grow The circulatory system includes the heart, blood vessels and blood. The respiratory system includes the trachea, lungs and alveoli. The constant delivery of oxygen is necessary to sustain life. The respiratory system functions to bring oxygen into the blood for use at the tissues, as well as being responsible for the disposal of carbon dioxide. Regular exercise produces important changes in the circula- tory system. Thus exercise undertaken to enhance endurance serves to increase blood ﬂow to the working muscles, thereby providing the muscle cells with increased fuel and oxygen. Endurance training also increases the number of red blood cells and the volume of blood, both of which also enhance the capacity of the working muscles to perform. See also: biomechanics Further reading: Mottola (1992), Peronnet and Gardiner (1992), Wells and Luttgens (1976) 16 ANIMAL SPORTS ANIMAL RIGHTS Activists for animal rights argue for the dissolution of the ethical boundaries separating people from animals, thus mandating the moral consideration of animals and their protection from human exploitation. They question the morality of sportspeople who interact with animals, not merely in hunting, shooting and ﬁshing, but in show-jumping, sheepdog trials and pigeon racing. In the nineteenth century some brutal animal sports such as cockﬁght- ing and bull baiting were made illegal, but this owed more to attempts to civilise the urban working class than to the precursors of the modern animal rights movement, the antivivisectionists. There are three strands within the animal rights activists: the wel- farists who believe that animals deserve compassion and protection but allow that there are some boundaries between species; the pragmatists who argue that animals deserve moral and legal con- sideration, with a balance between human and animal interests, and who accept that there is some hierarchy of animals; and the fun- damentalists who believe that animals have absolute moral and legal rights to autonomy with equal rights for all species. Obviously their goals and strategies vary. The welfarists aim to avoid cruelty and thus support reformist legislation and humane education; the pragmatists wish to avoid all unnecessary animal suffering but are prepared to negotiate and accept short-term compromise; the fun- damentalists seek total and immediate abolition of animal exploita- tion and are prepared to use direct action and civil disobedience to support their protests. See also: animal sports, ﬁeld sports debate Further reading: Collins et al. (2005), Franklin (1999), Kean (1998), Thomas (1983) ANIMAL SPORTS Animals have featured in sport as combatants, as prey, and as perfor- mers. Most of the ﬁrst category have now been outlawed but, from the seventeenth- to the early nineteenth centuries, bull, bear and badger baiting, where dogs were set on a staked animal, were part of the sporting scenery. Cockﬁghting and matches between vicious dogs, often to the death, also offered opportunities for wagering and 17 ANIMAL SPORTS public entertainment. The animals were bred and trained especially for this combat. Throwing objects at cocks where a tethered bird was stoned to death also provided cheap entertainment in an era where concerns over animal welfare were minimal. Ratting too was a pop- ular urban sport, in which a dog was timed in the killing of a number of the vermin in an enclosed pit. Now such activities are minor, clandestine affairs rather than the popular, public sports that they once were. Hunting, shooting and ﬁshing were more associated with participation than with betting or watching, although sometimes involvement was restricted by social position. Coursing is one of the oldest of animal sports and involves competition between a pair of hunting dogs, usually greyhounds, in pursuit of live prey, usually a hare but sometimes a rabbit. Generally this sport has given way to groups of dogs chasing a mechanical hare around a track, though the Waterloo Cup, established in the 1820s, is still competed for with live quarry. Other sports involving animals performing include pigeon racing, horse racing, and other equestrian activities such as polo, show-jumping, and three-day eventing – which is still referred to in many parts of Europe as ‘militaire’ as it evolved from cavalry exercises in which horses had to prove their obedience, boldness and ﬁtness. Generally it is accepted that humans have become more civilised in their treatment of animals, though this has necessitated the interven- tion of the law to ban bull baiting in 1800 and cockﬁghting and other cruel animal sports in 1835. The use of RSPCA inspectors has aided the modern enforcement of this legislation, but certainly cockﬁghts are still held surreptitiously in some areas. Hunting gen- erally escaped legislation because of its friends in high places, but also because a case could be made for its importance in the rural econ- omy. In recent years the debate over the alleged cruelty of hunting in its several forms has resurfaced, and Parliament has now outlawed most of its varieties. Live pigeon shooting, a sport in the 1904 Olympics, has given way to the clay variety. As in most British leisure activities there is class differentiation. It occurs in the distinction between owning greyhounds or thor- oughbred racehorses; in practising coarse angling or ﬂy ﬁshing; and in shooting grouse rather than rabbits. See also: animal rights Further reading: Collins et al. (2005), Franklin (1999), Kean (1998), Scherer (1995), Thomas (1983), Vamplew (2005b) 18 ANTHROPOLOGY ANTHROPOLOGY Anthropologists study the interaction of human culture, biology and environment; and while they are concerned with the study of the individual human, they are also concerned with broader comparative analyses of these elements, both across time and across different cul- tures. In studying human biology and human culture, anthropologists have developed two major sub-areas of focus: cultural anthropology and physical anthropology. Cultural anthropologists have demonstrated that play, sport and physical activity are universal features of cultures past and present and yet, in their individual forms, these activities represent opportunities for assessing a particular culture and provide a way of assessing that culture’s qualities and social problems. Early anthropologists of sport, such as Tylor and Culin, looked at the sports and games of non- Western tribal and pre-literate peoples. From these initial efforts, anthropologists have developed sophisticated studies of sport from a cross-cultural perspective. They have described and deﬁned sport and physical activity in a range of cultures, analysing its language and symbols in an attempt to illustrate the depth, complexity and mean- ing of sport and physical activity in human society. TAASP (The Association for the Anthropological Study of Play), founded in 1974, signalled the growing interest in this area of study. Blanchard has noted a number of major theoretical concerns that guide anthropologists studying sport and physical activity. These include the following: Sport is an integral part of culture and, as an institution, comple- ments other aspects of culture. Thus to watch a game of cricket in the West Indies provides insight into the broader culture of those islands. The importance of the play aspect of sport in studying sport and physical activity. The fact that continuity and change in sport are both reﬂective of and yet factors in continuity and change in a culture. Thus while cricket continues to provide a sense of sporting and cultural continuity, the introduction of American football to the UK suggests change. Anthropologists can help provide solutions to social problems such as violence because of the unique insights that they bring to such behaviour. The issue of soccer hooliganism has provided them with a rich area of study. 19 ARBITRATION Physical anthropologists are interested in understanding biological variation and attempts to interpret meaningfully the wide range of variability characteristics of humans. In physical education and sport this concern is manifested in studies of human growth and develop- ment in relation to physical activity, and increasingly in studies of how our environment impacts our biology. Thus the effects of modern technologies such as the motor car, the computer and other labour-saving devices, have had an impact on the levels of physical activity of the populace in general, but certainly on the activity pat- terns of children (and thus on their growth and development) in particular. It is in this area that scholars such as Malina have made signiﬁcant contributions to our understanding of the signiﬁcance of physical activity to normal growth and development, and the impact that both excessive and minimal amounts of appropriate physical activity can have on the human organism, its structure and function. Further reading: Blanchard (1996), Culin (1907), Huizinga (1950), James (1963), Malina (1983), Marsh (1983), Tylor (1879) ARBITRATION The idea of avoiding legal process and expense by turning to arbi- tration for the resolution of disputes has been slow to emerge in sport, though the International Olympic Committee has established a Council of Arbitration for Sport based in Lausanne, Switzerland and Sydney, Australia. In the UK the Central Council for Physical Recreation is considering the introduction of a similar body for British sport. See also: law Further reading: Fewell (1995) ARCHIVES Alongside the preservation of sporting venues and memorabilia in personal and public collections, one of the most important ways of understanding the sporting past is through archives. Without archival material, it is difﬁcult for researchers wishing to understand sport in a historical context to conduct their work. As the awareness of the 20 AROUSAL importance of sports history has increased, since the 1970s, so more sports clubs, associations and organisations have preserved material relating to various aspects of their operations. Unfortunately, as with museums, very few sporting archives can afford the luxury of pur- pose-built facilities or the employment costs of a professional archivist or librarian. There is, however, a wealth of material available both in private and public collections throughout the world. Much archival material is held by sporting clubs, but increasingly national reposi- tories and libraries have begun to collect sports-related material. Many international sporting bodies, such as FIFA and the IOC, have archives dedicated to collecting all material relating to their activities. AROUSAL In the sport psychology literature, arousal has been deﬁned in a variety of ways but is generally thought of as a physiological state of readiness to perform. As such, arousal is viewed as neither positive nor negative and as having both beneﬁcial and detrimental effects on an athlete’s performance. For humans, physiological arousal is a homeostatic process in that each individual has an optimal level of arousal. Arousal should not be confused with stress, which is an individual’s response to an environmental demand. The fact that stress can, and often does, induce physiological arousal does not mean that the terms are interchangeable. And while some types and levels of stress can produce positive outcomes, they can also induce arousal in association with the negative form of stress we term anxiety. Interest in the relationship between arousal and athletic perfor- mance has led to two major theories: drive theory and the inverted- U theory. Drive theorists posit that there is a positive linear rela- tionship between arousal and performance. The higher the level of arousal, the higher the level of performance. Inverted-U theorists state that athletic performance will be facilitated by moderate levels of arousal. An athlete’s performance will be less than optimal if they are either under-aroused (or ‘not up for it’) or over-aroused (‘over the top’). Additionally, such theorists have also noted that different activities require different levels of arousal. Thus, for a biathlete to be successful, they need to be able to alter their levels of arousal when skiing and when shooting for optimal performance. Recent research has focused on the anxiety/performance relationship and on an individual’s subjective understanding and interpretation of anxiety because it seems that successful athletes tend to view their anxiety as a 21 ASSESSMENT means of helping rather than hindering their performance. They like the ‘big occasion’ and seem to be able to rise to the challenge which an anxiety-inducing situation, such as an Olympic ﬁnal, can provide. See also: aggression, psychology Further reading: Landers and Boutcher (1986), Wann (1997), Yerkes and Dodson (1908) ASSESSMENT Assessment is a means of quantifying ability, performance or progress in practical and/or theoretical areas of the subject. It can be on- going, which measures progress (formative assessment), or it may represent a ﬁnal attainment (summative assessment). Some assessments may be objective, such as a distance or a height attained in an athletic event, and any awarded marks or grades would therefore be self-evident to both the assessor (e.g. teacher or examiner) and the subject (e.g. the performer or student). In other cases, assessment is almost entirely subjective (e.g. tactical ability in a game or a performance in dance), and this type of assessment must be supported by a clear and well structured framework of objectives or characteristics against which performance may be interpreted and measured with some con- sistency. In physical education, assessment occurs most commonly within the framework of the National Curriculum and in GCSE examinations for students up to the age of sixteen years, and in AS, A2, GNVQ, etc. examinations for sixth-formers. Under the rules of the recent qualiﬁcations framework, assessment is conducted through unit based systems of credit accumulation and transfer. ATHLETICISM During the nineteenth century, as sports and games grew in popu- larity in the public schools, the ideal of athleticism emerged. For the schoolmasters who were promoting sports, their decision to have boys playing football or doing gymnastic exercises was ideological. Sport was not played solely for its own good, but was a method of inculcating the boys with Christian values through physical exercise. The core value was the promotion of muscular Christianity. Key amongst the early proponents of athleticism was Thomas Arnold at 22 AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM Rugby School, who argued that by playing games and sport, boys would channel their excess energies. Such physical preparation made the boys better citizens, and kept their minds and bodies away from damaging pursuits which challenged the social order. Effectively, athleticism was about the development of good character and an instrument of social control. Athleticism taught the boys loyalty, integrity, obedience, magnanimity in victory, dignity in defeat and fair play. Although initially promoted in certain leading English public schools such as Rugby or Charterhouse, the concept of athleticism was one that was rapidly diffused throughout the educa- tional system, and eventually across the British Empire. It was held that boys who were trained in all the good virtues of athleticism would be good leaders in education, business, the military and throughout the empire, and would use their experiences to control and educate others. The muscular Christian ethos of athleticism, with its accompanying embrace of manliness, was central in transferring leadership, gentlemanly conduct and fair play from the playing ﬁeld to the wider world. See also: muscular Christianity, public schools Further reading: Brailsford (1992), Holt (1989), Lowerson (1993), Mangan (1981) ATP (ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE) ATP, the body’s major source of energy, is a complex nucleotide. It is found in all cells in the body, but chieﬂy in muscle tissue. When ATP breaks down into adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and an inorganic phosphate (Pi), energy is released. See also: energy metabolism, energy systems AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM The autonomic nervous system (ANS), sometimes known as the visceral or automatic nervous system, regulates individual organ function such as control of heart rate, blood vessels and glands. The ANS is divided into two separate divisions, the parasympathetic and the sympathetic systems. Physiologically the parasympathetic system is 23 BAT AND BALL GAMES concerned with the conservation and restoration of energy, whereas the sympathetic system enables the body to be prepared for ﬂight or ﬁght, and controls such responses as heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac output. BAT AND BALL GAMES Scholars have puzzled endlessly over the origin of ball games, and have come to no solid conclusion about the genesis of these activities, which are to be found in all cultures and which we know have exis- ted in various forms across time. Henderson has suggested that all modern games played with bat and ball come from one common source – an ancient fertility rite observed by priest-kings in Egypt. He notes that in practically all early cultures we ﬁnd traces of reli- gious rites practised in spring involving two parties that dramatised the conﬂict between winter and summer and in which the ball represented the sun, source of life, warmth and energy and fertility for the growth of crops and thus food. Primitive and ancient sports, such as the ball games of the Mayans and the Aztecs, were played within the sacred precincts of a temple, and were probably forms of worship. They ended with an act of human sacriﬁce. The ritual quality of such activity has led Sansone to suggest that sport can be best thought of as the ritual sacriﬁce of human energy. These pagan games took on religious signiﬁcance in a Christian world. We ﬁnd ball games played in churchyards and against the walls of churches between buttresses, games which are precursors to handball, ﬁves and other ‘wall’ games. By contrast, in Greek and Roman societies, the ball was generally used as a means of conditioning the body – the medicine ball – although harpastum is thought to be a forerunner of football and perhaps hurling. As Money (1997: 2) notes, the ﬁrst possible mention of football in England is in William Fitzstephen’s ‘Descriptio nobilissimoe civitatis Londoniae’ (1174) written as a preface to his Life of Thomas Becket. Fitzstephen notes that ‘Every year on the day which is called Carnival [now Shrove Tuesday]... the entire youth of the city goes into the ﬁelds for the famous game of ball’. Ball games that involved kicking a ball or hitting a ball with the hand required very little equipment and could thus be readily played by people of all classes. Thus, we ﬁnd calcio in Italy, la soule in France, but we also ﬁnd hurling in Cornwall and in Ireland, and shinty in Scotland. With the development of bats and later rackets, 24 BENEFITS the traditional hitting, catching and throwing games could be enhanced. The development of different types of balls – wooden, those of leather or cloth ﬁlled with stufﬁng, and those made from animal bladders and ﬁlled with air – led to further variations on the themes of kicking and hitting, catching and throwing. Games such as bandy, shinty, croquet, cricket, hockey, golf, base- ball, rounders, stick ball, bat and trap, trapball, lacrosse, stoolball and bowling all required particular types of open space in which to be played. Some required speciﬁc ‘goals’. Tennis, rackets, ﬁves, handball, squash and pelota all require spaces with particular structures (walls, buttresses, etc.) to facilitate play. As we have moved from traditional to modern societies, these spaces and structures have undergone the kind of modernisation which Guttmann describes in his treatise on the nature of modern sport, so that the rationale behind the playing of bat and ball games in Western societies has changed from being for ritualistic purposes to the achievement of records. The degree of technical sophistication and rationality now attached to bat and ball games bears continuing witness to this development. In trying to classify bat and ball games, no obvious system has emerged or been developed. Categorisation has been attempted in a number of ways varying from number of players (team vs. indivi- dual) to type of equipment and facilities (racket games, net games, court games, wall games) to the goal of the game (invasion games). None of these categories helps codify clearly the broad range of bat and ball games played in cultures and countries around the world, suggesting the diversity of contexts, motivations, meanings and ben- eﬁts which bat and ball games offer. Further reading: Brailsford (1992), Guttmann (1978), Henderson (1947), Money (1997), Sansone (1988) BENEFITS Beneﬁts provide an additional source of income for sportspersons. Usually they have taken the form of the net proceeds from either a specially organised ‘friendly’ match – most common in the football codes – or from a competitive championship ﬁxture. This was risky as expenses were ﬁxed but revenue was not. Sometimes clubs might guarantee a minimum sum in case of bad weather or unanticipated events lowered expected attendance. In the past this was not always the case and some county cricketers actually lost money when rain 25 BIOMECHANICS prevented play. To counter this problem, supplementary fund-raising events are now often held alongside beneﬁt matches to generate more revenue and to spread the ﬁnancial risk. Beneﬁts originated in cricket in the nineteenth century as money- raising events for veteran professionals nearing retirement in an era when there were no state pensions. The intention was to provide a nest-egg to enable players to set themselves up after retirement from the sport, usually at an age when their contemporaries were still employed. Initially beneﬁts were designed to encourage player loyalty, only being awarded after many years’ service. Historically this was around ﬁfteen years for cricketers and ﬁve or more for footballers. More recently, there has been a trend for star players rather than the journeyman professionals to be offered a beneﬁt; indeed many such players have this written into their contracts. This has, of course, changed the nature of the beneﬁt from a tax-free one to being part of expected income and thus liable to normal taxation procedures. Players now commonly employ professional fund-raisers to arrange and run their beneﬁt appeals. It is likely that the beneﬁt will become less important as personal, portable and contributory pensions come on stream for professional sportsmen. See also: economics, sporting heroes Further reading: Vamplew and Sandiford (1999) BIOMECHANICS Often described as involving the interrelationship of the biologic and material properties of the skeletal, articular and neuromuscular sys- tems and the laws and principles of mechanics, biomechanics is con- cerned with factors that affect movement of the body both internal (e.g. muscular form) and external (e.g. gravity, friction). In sport and physical activity, it is also concerned with the movement of imple- ments or equipment used in athletics, exercise, games and sports. Efﬁcient and effective human movement is dependent upon the coordinated integration of the skeletal, muscular and nervous systems. Thus appropriate neural stimulation activates muscular contraction that in turn generates muscular force which moves our anatomical levers. When combined with mechanics, which is the branch of physical science which deals with the physical laws and principles relating to objects at rest or in motion, biomechanics is the study of 26 BODY the body in motion (dynamics) and in equilibrium (statics), and pro- vides both descriptive (kinematic) and force (kinetic) analysis of human movement. Applying biomechanical analysis in sport and physical education generally takes one or more of three forms: teaching fundamental movements; improving performance techni- ques; and/or remediating or re-establishing movement patterns after illness or injury. See also: anatomy and physiology Further reading: Adrian and Cooper (1995), Bartlett (1999), Hay (1993) BLOOD PRESSURE Blood is carried from the heart to all parts of the body through the arteries. Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. It is at its highest when the heart beats and is called systolic pressure, and then drops when the heart is at rest (i.e. between beats) and is called the diastolic pressure. Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg) and is expressed as sys- tolic pressure/diastolic pressure. Normal pressure is 120/80 mmHg. Physical activity increases systolic blood pressure and can typically reach 200 mmHg with heavy endurance exercise. By contrast dia- stolic pressure changes little with exercise. Normal pressures above 140/90 mmHg are considered to be indicators of hypertension. See also: heart rate BODY Studies of the body, and its importance within sport and physical exercise, have become increasingly important since the late 1980s. Researchers across a range of different disciplines realised that the body could no longer be considered an unchanging and constant fact, but was something that had to be assessed within the context of its social and cultural setting. Historically and contemporarily, it has now been realised that the body is deﬁned and constructed by its social setting. Therefore our understanding of the female body, and its capacity to participate in sport, is radically different at the beginning of the twenty-ﬁrst century, to how it was conceived a hundred years 27 BODY COMPOSITION ago. If we are open to different conceptions and constructions of the body, then we have to rethink, as Coakley (1998: 11) argued, about ‘sex, sex differences, sexuality, ideals of beauty, self-image, body image, fashion, hygiene, health, nutrition, eating, ﬁtness, racial clas- siﬁcation systems, disease, drugs and other things that affect our lives’. In essence, studying the body, in the context of sport and physical ﬁtness, offers a whole new way of thinking about human beings and their interaction with society. Sport has encouraged us to think of the body in a variety of different ways. Sports medicine and training have made bodies stronger and ﬁtter, and many elite bodies are artiﬁcially tailored for their sports. Sports such as aerobics, which are essentially concerned with body image, and concepts of beauty, offer challenges as they seek to change the shape and style of the body. Sports sociologists, by examining the body, have been able to question the idea of what we mean by ‘natural’, have allowed us to place the excesses of training and preparation in context, and have forced us to explore the possible costs of current sporting technologies that are used to manipulate the body. Many new areas of research are still being uncovered, especially with relation to the cultural and historical understanding of the body. Further reading: Booth (2001), Coakley (1998), Hoberman (1992), Loy et al. (1993), Shilling (1994) BODY COMPOSITION The human body is composed of a variety of different types of tis- sues, which are generally categorized as ‘lean’ tissues, including bone, muscle and organs, and adipose or ‘fat’ tissue. Total Body Composi- tion is a lean-to-fat ratio and is generally referred to as the percentage of body fat. The average percent body fat is 15–18 per cent for men and 22–25 per cent for women while amongst highly trained endur- ance athletes these ﬁgures may be as low as 5 per cent for men and 12 per cent for women. Figures below this are considered unhealthy as are ﬁgures over 25 per cent for men and 32 per cent for women since they correlate highly with illness and disease. Body composition can be estimated and assessed in a number of ways. Among these, hydrostatic or ‘underwater’ weighing is considered the ‘gold stan- dard’. Bio-impedance is a more easily conducted but controversial assessment technique. Use of skin-fold measurements is still among the most widely employed and reliable techniques when performed 28 BOXING DEBATE by a trained and skilled tester. While body composition is based in part on heredity, per cent body fat is related to lifestyle and can be altered through nutrition and exercise. b-OXIDATION The process by which fats are broken down in the mitrochondria to generate Acetyl-CoA. See also: Krebs cycle BOXING DEBATE Boxing is a controversial sport that has always drawn criticism from physicians and moralists alike. The moral controversy that surrounds boxing is embedded in two differing ethical stances, the one stressing individual autonomy, the other paternalism. Based on the harm principle, those arguing for individual autonomy conclude that boxing should be allowed. Those arguing that we have a paternalist duty to protect each other argue that boxing should be banned. For those who believe that boxing should be allowed, the arguments are straightforward. Those who freely choose to box, knowing full well the potential injury and damage they can cause themselves and their opponents, should be granted the autonomy to do so. Others have no right to prevent such freedom of choice, and freedom of action and activity, among fully informed and consenting adults. Furthermore, risk of death or brain damage is in fact less than in other high risk sports such as hang gliding, sky diving and motorcycle racing. For the paternalists who argue against boxing, the argument is very different. While some paternalists would argue that they have an obligation to prevent an individual from boxing because they are likely to harm themselves, all paternalists would agree that boxing involves the intentional harming of another. Since such harms are morally objectionable in a civilised society and we claim to be a civilised society, then boxing should be banned. The British Medical Association, which has long argued against boxing, can provide evi- dence to support their claim that there are serious neurological, and non-neurological, injuries which occur as a result of boxing and that these injuries constitute signiﬁcant ‘costs’ to society, the boxer’s family, etc. In response to the intractability of this debate, both sides 29 BOYCOTTS have attempted to make boxing safer by encouraging the use of pro- tective equipment, limiting bouts and increasing medical surveillance. Further reading: Jordan (1993), Rose (1988), Sugden (1996) BOYCOTTS With the advent of international sporting competition, such as the Olympics, it was perhaps inevitable that politics would enter sport. Rather than making political capital on the battleﬁeld or in diplo- matic negotiations, it was easier for nations to score political points in the sporting arena. As interest in sport grew from the media, and television coverage was extended to become international, so any political actions were instantly relayed to the whole of the world. The act of boycott, simply refusing to attend a sporting event, is an immensely powerful weapon. Any major sporting event bestows honour, prestige and attention on the host nation or city. By refusing to attend the event, a nation effectively withdraws support and legitimacy and makes the whole spectacle less impressive. A policy of boycott was discussed by many nations in the context of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, but rejected. As a result Hitler was able to claim that he had hosted one of the greatest games to date, that was fully attended. Such attendance, it was argued, legitimised his regime internationally. On the international stage, two events in the second half of the twentieth century provoked boycotts of international sporting events and ﬁxtures. The ﬁrst was the politics of the Cold War, which led to the refusal of many Western nations to attend the 1980 Olympics in Moscow in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In response, the Soviets led a reciprocal boycott by Eastern Bloc nations of the 1984 games in Los Angeles. The second issue, that of South Africa and its policy of apartheid, caused many more problems. The 1976 Olympics in Montreal was the victim of boycotts, as were the Commonwealth Games of 1986, in Edin- burgh. Whether the decision to boycott a major sporting ﬁxture or event actually changes any government’s policy is hard to say. What is clear is that such decisions demonstrate the importance of major international sporting events, and their clear link with politics. See also: government policy, politics Further reading: Hain (1982), Ramsamy (1984) 30 BUREAUCRACY BRANDING The creation of a brand image is important for any business that hopes to secure repeat sales via customer recognition and apprecia- tion of its product. This objective did not have much impact on sport until the advent of merchandising of ofﬁcial club products revealed a potential important source of revenue, in addition to the more tra- ditional gate receipts and season tickets. Logos now feature on a host of endorsed products, many of them not at all connected with sport. As clubs increasingly move into non-sports areas of marketing, it is likely that sport branding will shift to a more generic club or com- pany name. As is often the case in the business of sport, Manchester United have paved the way and have now dropped the FC from their logo, leaving chocolates, beer and numerous other goods branded simply as an ofﬁcial Manchester United product. See also: marketing, merchandising BRIGHTON DECLARATION The Brighton Declaration took its name from the English seaside resort that hosted the ﬁrst World Conference on Women and Sport in May 1994. The conference was attended by 280 delegates who represented sports, governmental and educational institutions in 82 countries. The Declaration was a statement of principles with the objective of developing a sporting culture that enabled and valued the full involvement of women in every aspect of sport – as athletes, administrators, coaches and ofﬁcials. To some extent it was a wish list with no practical operational mechanisms but with the aim of being a useful tool to persuade those who could make decisions to allocate resources and take other action. Further reading: White (2001) BUREAUCRACY In the nineteenth century, alongside the birth of modern sport, there emerged a growing dependence on the need for bureaucracy in sport. During the period when sport ﬁrst emerged in its modern form, sports were steadily codiﬁed, leagues and cup competitions organised 31 BURN-OUT and gate receipts, wages and other income had to be accounted for. In Britain, the middle and upper classes were central in the formation of committees that would oversee the drawing up of rules, and who presented themselves as the custodians of sport. While such commit- tees, the ﬁrst embodiment of sporting bureaucracy, were amateur, this work rapidly became professionalised: club secretaries, accountants and other ofﬁcers were appointed on a paid basis to ensure that any given sport, association or club ran smoothly. In the post-Second World War era, as the sports business rapidly expanded and became increasingly global, so paid ofﬁcials became ever more important. No major sporting organisation can now function without an extensive bureaucracy, which is able to lease with television companies, players, agents, national governments and international federations. See also: administration, management Further reading: Hall (1987) BURN-OUT Unlike over-training, burn-out can affect both athletes and coaches alike, because it is as much, if not more, related to individual factors as it is to job or activity demands. Burn-out tends to accompany those with a high need for success. These individuals have a tendency to shoulder responsibilities themselves, and often believe that the only way to get things done properly is to do it themselves. They tend to take total responsibility for success (and failure) and thus carry enormous pressures and burdens. For professional coaches at the highest levels, in particular, where a job is dependent on on-going success, the tendency to burn out is particularly strong. The impact of burn-out on inter- personal relationships amongst players or between players and coaches tends to be one of alienation, so that coaches and athletes tend to become less concerned about others and more concerned about them- selves. Feelings of lack of appreciation and a tendency towards ‘blaming’ – either others, themselves or the situation – are typical responses to such problems and are indicative of burn-out. Appropriate emotional, psychological and social support, along with ‘well deﬁned’ periods of involvement in sport (a limited-term contract) are some of the methods being used to limit burn-out amongst players and coaches at the highest levels. However, it should be appreciated that burn-out can take place at all levels of sporting performance and amongst athletes 32 CARDIAC OUTPUT of all ages. Examples of young athletes suffering burn-out after being pushed by parents and coaches to succeed, abound and offer sobering examples of the impact of the pressure for success. See also: over-training Further reading: Dale and Weinberg (1990), Henschen (1996), Kallus and Kellman (2000), Weinberg and Gould (1999) CALLISTHENICS Callisthenics is a form of free body exercise. Callisthenics emerged in the nineteenth century and was promoted by pioneers in the modern gymnastic world such as Adolf Speiss and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. Although having its original base in the European nations of Sweden and Germany, callisthenics spread around the world. In the United States, Catherine Beecher was an important ﬁgure in its promotion and development. Beecher promoted callisthenics as an ideal form of exercise for women, but ultimately it would appeal to both sexes. Although some light apparatus is sometimes used (s

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