Great Expectations: Voluntary Sports Clubs and Their Role in Delivering National Policy for English Sport

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University. DOI: 10.1007/s11266-009-9095-yVoluntary sports clubs (VSCs) account for about a quarter of all volunteering in England. The volunteers work in a mutual aid, self-production, self-consumption system whose main purpose is identifying and nurturing high-level performers. But the new HMG/Sport England strategies leading to London 2012 expects volunteers to make a major contribution to sustaining and extending participation. The study utilized six focus group sessions with a total of 36 officials and members of 36 clubs across the six counties of Eastern England to assess whether and to what extent government policy objectives can be delivered through the voluntary sector. The study focused on the perceptions and attitudes of club members about being expected to serve public policy and the current pressures they and their clubs face. The results lead the authors to question the appropriateness, sensitivity, and feasibility of current sport policy, particularly the emphasis on VSCs as policy implementers.Peer reviewe

Mokinių sporto traumos kūno kultūros pamokose ir jų prevencija

Sportas ir fizinis aktyvumas yra svarbūs veiksniai vaikų sveikatai ir gerovei. Tačiau sportuojant gali būti patiriamos traumos. Jų galima išvengti taikant sporto traumų profilaktikos priemones. Tyrimo tikslas buvo ištirti 3–4 gimnazijos klasių mokinių kūno kultūros pamokose patirtų sporto traumų ypatumus ir numatyti tokių traumų prevencijos būdus. Tyrimo metu atlikta apklausa raštu. Tirti 596 Vakarų Lietuvos 8 gimnazijų trečių ir ketvirtų klasių mokiniai. Tyrimas atkleidė, jog apie trečdalis mokinių buvo patyrę traumą(-as) kūno kultūros pamokų metu, daugiausia – 6–8 klasėse. Traumas dažniau patiria vaikinai nei merginos: vaikinai – žaizdami krepšinį, futbolą, merginos – tinklinio metu ir užsiimdamos kita sportine veikla. Dauguma mokinių patyrė labai lengvas ir lengvas traumas ir 16,3 proc. – vidutinio sunkumo traumas. Dauguma mokinių teigė, jog kūno kultūros mokytojas(-a) jiems aiškino apie saugų elgesį pamokos metu, supažindino juos su judesių atlikimo technika, demonstravo teisingą ir saugų jų atlikimą. Daugiau rajono/kaimo nei miesto mokinių pažymėjo, kad mokytojas kūno kultūros pamokų metu mokinių nepaliko be priežiūros. Ne visi mokytojai suteikė žinių ar pakankamai diskutavo su mokiniais apie sporto traumas. Be to, ne visada sporto įrenginiai yra pakankamai saugūs, mažai mokinių sportuodami dėvi apsaugas. Sporto traumų prevencijai ir saugos stiprinimui mokykloje būtina skirti pakankamai dėmesio.Sport and physical activity are important factors in children’s health and well-being. However, during sport activities children could be injured. Anyway, sport injuries could be avoided when injury prevention measures are used. The aim of this study was to investigate sport injuries during physical education classes in schoolchildren, and to provide the ways of sport injury prevention. The survey was conducted at eight gymnasiums in Western Lithuania. The survey involved 596 children of third and fourth gymnasium grades. The study revealed that about one-third of the schoolchildren were injured during physical education classes, mostly – in grades 6th to 8th. Boys were injured more often than that of girls. Boys were injured mostly when playing basketball and football, and girls – when playing volleyball, and during other sports activities. Most of the students suffered from not serious injuries – a very mild and mild injury, and 16.3% – from moderate injuries. Most of the students said that the teacher of physical education informed them about safe behaviour during lessons, introduced them movement technique, and demonstrated the correct and safe performance during classes. District/rural schoolchildren more than urban ones noted that the physical education teacher left them unattended during classes. Not all teachers provided knowledge or discussed sufficiently with students about sports injuries. In addition, the sports facilities are not always safe, and very few schoolchildren go for sports wearing guards. Sport injury prevention and safety promotion at school needs more attention

The role of the Asia Pacific Partnership in discursive contestation of the international climate regime

Climate change, Asia Pacific Partnership, APEC Sydney Declaration, UN climate regime, Ecological modernisation, Discursive contestation,

On the (In)Consistency of Citizen and Municipal Level Indicators of Social Capital and Local Government Performance

Social capital, Consistency, Ecological inference problem,