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1. Introduction

On 6th July in Year 2005, London has been selected as the host cit of 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games . The Olympic Games will be held on 27 July 2012, with the Paralympics following from 29 August 2012, (, House of Commons – Public Accounts – Thirty-Ninth Report) therefore, the organizations which have the provision of a fixed duration of the Olympic Games related. Progress has been made in a number of areas London was chosen to host the Games, in the key projects, re-routing underground Olympic Park, including the power line. (The Report of 2012 London Olympics, 2009) Olympic Delivery Authority has also begun the procurement activities, including the appointment of Delivery Partners, to support the management of Olympic Delivery in venues and infrastructure. (Annual Report and Accounts 2006-2007, Olympic Delivery Authority)

1.1Experiences of Olympic regeneration

l The failure of Helliniko Olympic Complex after 2004

There were 22 permanent new venues built for the 2004 game. The rest of the competition venues have been renovated to cater for larger audiences.

Only one out of the 33 competing venues was temporary and intended for removal afterward.

Helliniko Olympic complex (one of the two Olympic complexes):

—Six Sporting venues: Kayak, Hockey, Baseball, Softball and two indoor arenas.

—The complex has been left derelict since 2004.

l Successes in Atlanta

Before the Olympic, the Centennial Olympic Park’s neighbourhood was a run-down as is East London.

After the Olympics, the 21-acre park performs a dual mission as:

—Georgia’s lasting legacy of the Centennial Olympic Game

be located in Stratford, East London, Lower Lea Valley, and houses the main venue of the following:

The Olympic Stadium

The Aquatics Centre

The Hockey Centre

The Velopark (Containing Velodrome and BMX Circuit)

Four Multi-Sports Areas (in one building)

(Construction Projects of the 2012 London Olympics, 2006)

(London 2012 Constructing the Olympic reality, Andrew Bolton)

2. Construction Projects

For the construction industry, the London Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee said it would involve a 80,000 – seat Olympic stadium, an Aquatics Centre, 4 Multi-Sports Arenas, a Velopark, Hockey Center, as well as numerous training, catering broadcasting development and security facilities. (http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/trans-jap.html)With regard to the Olympic Village, the Committee also mentioned that it would consist of approximately 4,000 residential accommodation units, which will be the construction of housing 17000 athletes and officials, the formation of more than 200 nations.(Consrtcution Projects of the 2012 London Olympics,2006)

The most important is that these long-term achievements are very wide-ranging and, directly or indirectly related to property, redevelopment and construction activities, sustainability, regeneration and infrastructure.(http://www.constructuk.com,2006)

2.1 Master plan in Construction

From the report of “Construction Projects of the 2012 London Olympics”, explained, the Olympic Park master plan by the London Development Agency (LAD) and BuroHappold from leading industry consultants including engineers, project managers and architects Huokemeisi Team support to sports, Alies and Morrison, Foreign Office Architects, consulting Faithful and Gould and Mott MacDonald.(Construction Projects of the 2012 London Olympics,2006)

The overall plan for research, it is easy to find, the Olympic Games will be held at venues across the country with the main focus on the Olympic Park. The park will be located in Stratford, East London, Lower Lea Valley, and houses the main venue of the following:

The Olympic Stadium

The Aquatics Centre

The Hockey Centre

The Velopark (Containing Velodrome and BMX Circuit)

Four Multi-Sports Areas (in one building)

(Construction Projects of the 2012 London Olympics,2006)

(London 2012 Constructing the Olympic reality, Andrew Bolton)

2.2 The Strategy for Sustainable Construction

The sustainable construction strategy (http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/transportstrategy/hmtlsustaintranssys?page=2) is a joint industry and Government initiative designed to promote leadership and behavior change, as well as provide the benefit in the construction industry and the overall economy. Its purpose is to achieve sustainable development and construction of a common vision: to provide a clarity business-to-the Government’s position, so that a variety of regulations and measures for sustainability; Setting and commitment to higher standards in order to help achieve the specific areas of sustainability; Production industry and the Government’s specific commitments to take sustainable construction agenda forward. (The big build: structures Milestones to 27 July 2010, Olympic Delivery Authority, 2009)

3. Transportation

By the Sixth Special Report of Session 2006-2007, which belongs to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Transport concluded that in all of the plans to provide the delivery system acrossed all the model is fully established, they are expected to reach the propose which bellowed: (Transport for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games: The Draft Transport plan: Olympic Delivery Authority Response to the Committee’s Third Report of Session 2006-2007, the House of Commons, 2007) In order to make the best use of existing transport infrastructure, form improve service levels to achieve the best possible value for the money, and only the establishment of new infrastructure where it is vital and leaves a legacy. The use of cost-effective temporary solution, if necessary, to meet the temporary peaks which demand for the travel of the Olympic Games in the absence of inheritance. If the new infrastructure or services needed for the ODA’s strategy is to utilize existing expertise and processes to deliver them. The ODA has been delivered with partners in the UK under a series of agreements and Britain’s well establishment of transportation industries, offering on behalf of railway projects. Partners include Transport for London (TfL), Network Rail and Docklands Light Railway (DLR), each of the implementation of projects of all transportation experience. This experience has been further strengthened directly related to work into the management of recruiting a lot of experience in ODA transport team. (London 2012 Accessible Transport Strategy for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, May 2008)

3.1 The strategy for Transport

And about the strategy of accessible can use: The 2012 Olympic Games will be a catalyst to improve the whole of London and the UK’s transport network accessibility. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) target for 100% of the spectators’ access by public transport, cycling or on foot to the Olympic Games. And also make sure the ticket to the Games, including free travel by public transport in London for the activities of the day to encourage the spectators to use the transport system. There will be a 35 km pedestrian and cycle paths, an area of increasing. (These slides refer form London 2012 Accessible Transport Strategy for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games May 2008)

3.11 Docklands Light Railway (DLR)

Docklands Light Railway Limited (DLRL) (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/modesoftransport/1530.aspx)is the organization; with the railway’ own assets. In the Department of Transportation as part of its role is to oversee operation of the railway and program development to meet the needs of the east.

Form the report of the 2012 Olympics; it mentioned that ODA co-funding early procurement form 22 additional rail cars to 55 of the beginning of the formation of three-cars to run in 2012 (rather than two-cars operators).The new requirements, under-river channel expansion of Woolwich Arsenal’s official development assistance has made a contribution to the signal and power engineering. The first tunneling drivers southwards to Arsenal station completed in December last year. And also a wide range of infrastructure projects across the DLR; which affect a network of 17 to three-car trains in 2012 (in a 50 per cent of the capacity between Lewisham and the Bank to increase). To guaranteed the ability to Prince Regent Station and Customs House official station development assistance funds to serve the Excel event improvement works. Ensure that City Airport expansion on time and below the budget. Then the new platform of DLR and access in Stratford Regional Station to the service needs of long-term growth. ODA is co-financing of the North London Line into the operation of the DLR operation, South and East of Stratford Regional Station, which is in progress. (http://www.communities.gov.uk/thamesgateway/overview/london/lewisham,2009)

3.12 London Underground

All Line train lengthening the individual increase of 17 per cent capacity (has been already completed, in January 2006), moving block signals will be installed in order to reduce 25 percent in December 2009 journey time, further enhance capacity. In addition, there are several large background schemes between 2009 and 2012; including all District line trains refurbished fulfill the plan. (Transport for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: The Draft Transport plan: Olympic Delivery Authority Response to the Committee’s Third report of Session 2006-07, the House of Commons, 2007)

3.13 National Rail Projects

In particular, the ODA is essential to stable away from the Stratford Train parking facilities to the west of the Lea Valley railway lines. West Ham station enhances passenger service for mainline commuter station signals increase the capacity of trains per hour stopping. In a wide range of capabilities, more and more on the design and preparation of Stratford Regional Station to start the project site. In addition, there are eight local, regional or national railway projects schemes to improve railway transportation capacity, reliability and travel for all users (http://www.dgp.utoronto.ca/people/modjeska/Cities/lynch.html), the ambience, as well as the Olympic Games provide specific benefits, these include:

(1) Enhanced to a higher frequency among the metro style between Richmond and Stratford-service of the North London Line. (http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/transportstrategy/hmtlsustaintranssys?page=2) (2) By the summer of 2010 to extend the delivery and reconstruction of East London Line Highbury and Islington, connect with Stratford (http://www.railwaypeople.com/rail-projects/stratford-city-development-17.html), in the North and Crystal Palace in the south of London. (http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/transportstrategy/hmtlsustaintranssys?page=2) (3)Between the completion of St Pancras, Stratford International, Ebbsfleet and Paris/Brusseis, it has the high-speed connection. (Transport for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games: The Draft Transport plan: Olympic Delivery Authority Response to the Committee’s Third Report of Session 2007-2007, the House of Commons, 2007) (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmtran/484/48404.htm)

4. Community

It is clear that regeneration goal: into a new prosperous and sustainable society of the Olympic Park in east London, and as an investment and development opportunities, the success of the catalyst.

During the Olympics, in 246 hectares of Olympic Park facilities include permanent and temporary facilities, including the Olympic stadium, the aquatics center and velodrome. There will also be the Olympic Village, media center and new parks, all over the Lea Valley waterways. (, 2009)

After the Olympics, the park’s sports legacy will be in fulfilling our plans and to participate in community’s traditional elite sports core of the obligations. The focus of activities and its affiliated schools sports facilities will be retained for sports clubs and local communities, as well as the adaptation of elite and amateur athletes.

Another 1 million new homes will develop the Olympic Park itself. These 40% will be used for families; a large proportion of affordable housing.They will participate in all of the elements of a good community: schools, libraries, shops, cafes, restaurants, green space and community facilities, to the development of the major cultural and tourist attractions. (The budget for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Fourteenth Report of Session 2007-08, Home of Common Community of Public Accounts)

Has the improvement of transport services, and many parks are under way, including the Docklands Light Railway extension, an increase of the silver-line capabilities and Stratford Regional Station upgrade.Around the park, people enjoy through the canal Towpath, footpaths and cycle networks, greater access to parks and open spaces.

5. Case study

These cases play the significant role for the 2012 London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, which are Lewisham, Stratford, and Canary Warf.

5.1 Lewisham

Lewisham as one of the closest geographical neighbors to the host boroughs, Lewisham represents a gateway to the games and the capital.

Lewisham town center is the city’s major retail area and an important railway hub with mainline, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and bus interchanges.

Lewisham Couil is ready to care the realization of the Gateway scheme focuses on the city center plan of action. The scheme will provide 1,000 new homes, new shopping and improve the environment. (http://www.communities.gov.uk/thamesgateway/overview/london/lewisham/lewishamtown/)(http://www.communities.gov.uk/thamesgateway/overview/london/lewisham, 2009)The Gateway development is the key to eliminate the existing roundabout to make better use of land is currently surrounded by traffic.

Rearrange the road at the junction of the railway line; new development opportunities are being created. This will create a well-designed transport interchange, new housing and new employment opportunities; enhance the existing town center links. (http://www.communities.gov.uk/thamesgateway/overview/london/lewisham2009)In the further investment plans of the High Street, this center with regard to the expansion and reconstruction of Valley shopping center and public areas renovated.At the appropriate time, in the Lewis Grove Island and Engate Street redevelopment may occur as soon as possible. Other areas, the planning consent of more than 200 homes each year, including Thurston Road and Venson Sites.

5.2 Stratford

This massive development plan will bring nearly 5,000 homes and 30,000 jobs to Stratford, and has obtained outline-planning consent. Newham Council’s Development Control and Licensing Committee approve the Stratford City development; will change rundown rail lands as a major shopping and commercial area. ()

The plan includes 465,000 square meters of offices, about 11,000 people, 150,500 square meters of retail space, up to the 2000 hotel bedrooms in 4,850 new homes. There is also a drop-in in health centers and primary health care center, plus community facilities including an employment bureau and youth facilities. (,2009) There will be a four-form of primary and secondary school, which could for 900 students, a four-classroom nursery and facilities for lifelong learning, plus a large number of public open spaces, games areas and water features facilities. A library, tourist information centers, nurseries, day-care facilities, public services and security offices, offices and civil society groups and religious sites, facilities, facilities are being planned. (http://www.contractjournal.com/constructionspace/photos/olympic-park/olympic-park-projected-view-looking-south-982.aspx, 2009)

The application will now be referred to the Mayor of London, Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and the Secretary of State for Transport. (http://www.contractjournal.com/constructionspace/photos/olympic-park/olympic-park-projected-view-looking-south-982.aspx, 2009)

Also must rise to a legal agreement between all parties in order to reduce environmental and transport network development. Newham accepted as part of the agreement at any time ?150.4 million pounds welfare of the community.

The project covers an area of 73 crosses the railway land, has become with the railway industry to reduce redundant. (http://www.contractjournal.com/constructionspace/photos/olympic-park/olympic-park-projected-view-looking-south-982.aspx, 2009) Consultation exercise has been going on between the local planning authorities, statutory undertakers, transport bodies, the major landowners and local communities.

Stratford City scheme, including 4500 for the 11,000 inhabitants, 46.5 million square meters of commercial office space and 15 million square meters of the town center, a total of three department stores and 120 shops and cafes. (http://www.contractjournal.com/constructionspace/photos/olympic-park/olympic-park-projected-view-looking-south-982.aspx, 2009) The development surrounds the Startford Channel Tunnel Rail Link international station, which will open in 2007. The proposed of Stratford City will begin construction in 2006, completed in 2009 following the development of the city center and 2020, the stage of completion. This will create a new business area as a gateway to Europe, only 2 hours from Paris to London. The new Stratford International Station will be placed within easy reach of the railway in Europe. (http://www.rao;waypeople.com/rail-projects/stratford-city-development-17.html, 2009) The development will create local employment opportunities for local people, including the 15000 construction jobs and up to 30,000 retail and office work.

5.3 Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf is home to a high concentration of headquarters and is an established financial services centre rivalling the City.(Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games— Risk assessment and management, Thirty-ninth Report of Session 2006-2007, House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts

) Companies, including Barclays Bank, Reuters, Citigroup, HSBC and Morgan Stanley. About 65,000 people work here and the region is expected by 2010, employing 10 million people- including 3,000 employees, to 70,000 volunteers and a lot of contractors. ()

To the area offer most affordable rates for a number of commercial and industrial property accumulations in London. The A13 and A2 corridors either the River Thames east side of the corridor is more active regions running the new industrial and logistics development. Canary Wharf offers some of the best office space in London. (http://www.telegrapgh.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/london2012/5925603/london-2012-olympic-legacy-company-set-to-create-new-east-london-community.html, 2009) Contrast to the Commerce: from High-Profile, award-winning range of the region’s Canary Wharf development in a well-developed environmental technology, manufacturing, R & D, logistics and distribution centers of industrial facilities.

East London City Airport is designed for business travel. Quick check-in service, management personnel can sit less than 30 minutes after the aircraft left the desk. London International Airport is all within 60 minutes of Canary Wharf. The Jubilee line connects Stratford and Canary Wharf’s major railway terminals, while the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to connect Canary Wharf and other East London City and direct. This station serves the heart of Canary Wharf’s financial and media district. It architecturally stuns station, includes over 200 shops, waterside bars and restaurants. (http://www.thinkinglondon.html, 2009)

6. Conclusion

As we have known, the Olympics take more effects to London, to UK. However, from another side, whether we think about the slides below:

The movement of middle class families into urban areas causing property values to rise and having the secondary effect of driving out poorer families

The Docklands regeneration was criticized for reinforcing the social divide between rich and poor

With 30% post-games housing being affordable to low income families, there will be an imbalance of rich and poor in the society

Will the area revert to poverty or gentrify?

Maybe above all the slides told that everything has two sides, good and bad. At present, from this research project, it proved that most of the direction of Government doing were advantage, those will bring more effects to people, although bring some Negative aspects. They are unprecedented for a development of this nature.

Case Study B

Modern life is becoming increasingly sedentary realizing the fact that inactivity contributes to health problems (Blair, 1997; cited in Sallis & Owen, 1999). Controlled research on physical activity interventions is a relatively new area of investigation for exercise scientist. However “there is increasing recognition that interventions to change behavior should draw on theories of behavior and behavior change in their development” (Michie et al., 2008, p.661). Particularly it is preferred using theory-based interventions because the evidence that they include indicate further understanding on how to develop interventions. After acknowledging the theory, comes the modeling phase of the intervention (Michie et al., 2008). The modeling develops the actions that need to be taken, in order to achieve the preferred behaviors by hypothesis and testing its target. The present study will examine a 39 year old, obese male with type 2 diabetes and mild depression, with the purpose of maximizing his adherence to the doctors’ recommended scheme. Reinforcing strategies in adopting exercise are complex because people react differently to the same reinforcement (Weinberg & Gould, 1999). Therefore the unique needs of the client should be considered.

The most important health behavior theories include self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a proximal and direct predictor of intention and of behavior (Schwarzer & Luszczynska, no date). According to Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1997) self-efficacy is a personal sense of control that facilitates a change of health behavior. Schwarzer & Luszczynska (no date) state that “self-efficacy beliefs are cognitions that determine whether health behavior change will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and failures” (p. 1). In addition self-efficacy influences the effort one puts forth to change risk behavior and the persistence to continue striving despite barriers and setbacks that may undermine motivation. Self-efficacy is directly related to health behavior, but it also affects health behaviors indirectly through its impact on goals behavior (Schwarzer & Luszczynska, no date). Therefore to maximize the client’s adherence to the exercise scheme; the client needs to develop a strong self-efficacy. The way that is suggested to the client to develop self-efficacy is through the Health Belief Model (HBM).

According to the HBM when people are feeling vulnerable to a disease wouldn’t take immediate action to prevent it unless the disease was to be perceived as severe to them (Weinberg & Gould, 1999). It is critical then to indicate to our client his present medical condition and prove to him the future severity of his condition if he does not follow the doctor’s exercise scheme. For the client’s obesity problem they should be pointed out some evidence-based interventions. For instance that obesity is linked to various cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and cancers. Statistics have found that 17.5 million people died from cardiovascular diseases only in 2005 (Anne, J, 2008). Also another study has found that high-fit men reduced their risk of dying by 71%, compared with the low-fit men (Barlow et al., 1995; cited in Sallis & Owen, 1999). This study can be presented to the client as vicarious experience and show him that it is not impossible to become fit. A severe fact for our client that should be concerning is that between 60-90% of cases of obesity, develop diabetes II (Diabetes Data Group 1979; cited in Shephard, 1997). In addition, to signify the clients’ severe position, evidence suggests that depression plays an important role in the worsening of diabetes (Talbot & Nouwen, 2000; cited in Sacco et al., 2005). Therefore these findings should be used in order to facilitate the HBM to act upon our client and make him realize the necessity of the immediate action that needs to be taken.

By now, if the previous strategy is applied to the client; he should have developed a positive attitude and motivation regarding exercise. Even though, according to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen & Madden, 1986) his intention to exercise will likely to be weak unless he has a positive subjective norm towards exercise and perceived behavioral control (Weinberg & Gould, 1999; Schwarzer & Luszczynska, no date). “This subjective norm is the product of beliefs about others’ opinions and the individual’s motivation to comply with others’ opinions” (Weinberg & Gould 1999). For this it is suggested to the client to inform his social circle that he is taking an exercise program. Consequently he would not want to fail his social circle expectations and this would boost him with some extrinsic motivation. Therefore the support of his social environment is crucial on developing a positive subjective norm. Schwarzer & Luszczynska (no date) acknowledge self-efficacy and behavioral control as almost synonymous constructs and therefore there is no need for further implementations.

Having mild depression, our client has symptoms that affect negatively his mood. Having depressive mood is generally accepted that not only you have disturbed psychological well-being but also connections between mood and health have been discovered (Melamed, 1995; cited in Berger & Motl, 2000). As the doctor prescribed to the client the alternative treatment of exercise we can understand that exercise is related to desirable changes in mood (Berger & Motl, 2000). The type of exercise for mood enhancement is more effective when it is enjoyable (Berger & Motl, 2000). However, Berger & Motl suggest that four aspects of exercise mode are the most important for mood improvement: abdominal and rhythmical breathing, absence of competition, closed or predictable activities, and repetitive and rhythmical movements (Berger, 1996; Berger & Owen, 1988; cited in Berger & Molt 2000). These should be taken in account for the clients exercise so he can maximize the benefits of exercise. For the frequency of the exercise literature suggests a regularly weekly schedule with a minimum of five days and duration of 30 minutes. The exercise suggested for the type II diabetes and obesity patients should be of moderate intensity (Department of Health, 2007).

Hypothetically if the client succeeds in achieving the recommendations of the strategy mentioned before, Prochaska et al (1992; cited in Weinberg & Gould 1999) argues that individual’s progress is moving back and forth through stages of change while trying to adapt in an exercise program. This is the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and it has five stages. First stage is where our client is at the moment and it’s called the pre-contemplation stage. In this stage the client has little or no intension to start exercising and he is uninformed about the long term consequences of his present behaviour. The second stage is where the client needs to be after the exercise adherence strategy is introduced to him for the first time. In this stage he is still inactive but he is considering starting exercising. With the help of the HBM on improving his self-efficacy towards exercise, the client will then move to the third stage which is the preparation stage. In this stage he will be exercising but not as much as he is suppose to. When his self-efficacy is strong enough then he can move to the fourth stage; the Action stage where the client is expected to perform his weekly exercise routine but with a great risk of relapse. The strategy for preventing the relapse from happening that will be use in our clients case is the method of reinforcement. Positive reinforcement should be use in the case of a potential relapse as “psychologists highly recommend a positive approach to motivation to avoid potential negative side-effects of using punishment as the primary approach” (Weinberg & Gould, 1999). In our clients case the positive reinforcement should be achieved using feedback that motivation serves as a stimulus for positive feelings (Weinberg & Gould, 1999). With the positive reinforcement the client should be motivated in continuing the exercise scheme for longer duration than the doctor subscribed him; leading him to the Maintenance stage of the TTM. In this ideal stage the client will be exercising regularly for more than six months with a low risk for relapse.

For further understating of the TTM, Self Determination Theory (SDT) could be useful because they motivation given to the client progress though stages with the ideal stages of intrinsic motivation. However much of what people do is extrinsic motivated by i.e. social pressures, rewards etc (Deci & Ryan, 2000). According to SDT when a person initiates certain behaviour, his motivation type can range from amotivation to intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Therefore applying this to our client; different motivation needs throughout the stages 1 and 5 of the TTM are needed in order to get the wanted behaviour. This can be achieved again through different types of reinforcement. During the initial stages of the exercise program, desirable outcomes should be rewarded (Weinberg & Gould 1999). This will facilitate an extrinsic motivation but as the client progress from stage 4 to stage 5 of the TTM, intrinsic motivation could be more helpful through feedback (Weinberg & Gould, 1999).

In this assignment we have seen how from theory interventions are extracted in order to facilitate our client maximize his adherence to the suggested exercise scheme. To sum up our clients’ strategy to do so we start with that basic framework of the TTM. In this 5 stages of the model the client will need to develop strong self-efficacy in order to progress. To achieve strong self-efficacy we used the HBM that according to; people that are feeling vulnerable to a disease wouldn’t take immediate action to prevent it unless the disease was to be perceived as severe to them. The HBM with the assistance of reinforcement methods will help initially the client to adhere to the scheme but he will be extrinsically motivated until the 4th stage of the TTM. For the client to move to the 5th and final stage his motivation towards exercise should be intrinsic for avoiding relapse. Consequently the most important part of the strategy is gaining strong self-efficacy before starting exercising because self-efficacy is what influences one’s effort to change risk behavior (Schwarzer & Luszczynska, no date).

References:

Anne, J (2008) ‘Cardiovascular Diseases’, www.articlesbase.com [online]. Available at: 546624.html (Accessed: 12 March 2009).

Berger, B, G, & Motl, R, W (2000) ‘Exercise and Mood: A Selective Review and Synthesis of Research Employing the Profile of Mood States’ Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 12, pp.69-62.

Deci, E, L, & Ryan, R, M (2000) ‘Self Determination Theory and the facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social development and Well-Being’, American Psychologist, 55(1), pp. 68-78.

Department of Health (2007) ‘DH Statement on Exercise Referral’, 7930.

Michie, S, Johnston, M, Francis, J, Hardeman, W, & Eccles, M (2008) ‘From Theory to Intervention: Mapping theoretically derived behavioural determinants to behaviour change techniques’, Applied Psychology: an International Review, 57(4), pp. 660-680.

Sacco, W, P, Wells, K, J, Vaughan, C, A, Friedman, A, Perez, S, & Matthew, R (2005) ‘Depression in Adults with type 2 Diabetes: The Role of Adherence, Body, Mass Index, and Self-Efficacy’ Health Psychology, 24(6), pp.630-634.

Sallis, J, F, & Owen, N (1999) ‘Physical Activity & Behavioral Medicine’ London: SAGE publications.

Schwarzer, R & Luszczynska, A (no date) ‘Perceived Self-Efficacy’, National Cancer Institute [online]. Available at: http://dccps.cancer.gov/brp/constructs/self-efficacy/index.html (Accessed: 12 March 2009).

Shephard, R, J (1997) ‘Aging, Physical Activity and Health’, USA: Human Kinetics.

Taylor, C, B, Sallis, J, F, & Needle, R (1985) ‘The relation of physical activity and exercise to Mental Health’ Public Health Reports, 100(2), pp. 195-202.

Weinberg, R, S, & Gould, D (1999) ‘Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology’ 2nd edn. USA: Human Kinetics.

Introduction to globalisation

The aim of this paper is the processes what has led football to globalisation and discuss how these processes manifest in the modern football. That essey will introduce reader to globalisation in general, early diffusion and development based on Therborn’s 6 wave model, contemporary model of globalisation, as well as movement of players, commercialisation of global football, global football in sponsorship, advertising and the media. Althought you can find answers on the questions like: How media affect to the football? What was before and after entering TV companies such as BSkyB and ITV to the football? Football – whose game is it now? Evaluetion a series of global processes and their effects on football globally as well as establishment of global governing organisations and global tournaments. All of that with facts and evidence, analysis and reserch you can find below in that essey.

We live in an age of globalization. The term ‘globalisation’ evokes many responses both positive and negative. What exactly is ‘globalisation’, who are the main players and what are its economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts? Globalisation has developed out for a long term of social processes. As pointed out by Guilianotti and Robertson (2004) the recent history of football in particular, can serve both as an illustration and as an indication of the extent of transnational interconnectedness. Football is something much bigger, rather than game or even a way of life. This distinct reflexion of inconsistent tendencies of the modern world with all its pleasures and grieves. Football represent not geographical zones but social classes and political ideas. Unlike baseball or tennis football bears cargo of century hatred and historical biases. It is sports with real rates. It is capable to break ruling modes and to generate liberation movements.

Early diffusion and historical development

Football’s international diffusion occurred during the late 19th century. The contemporary history of the world’s favourite game spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football Association in England was formed – becoming the sport’s first governing body. Football, following the path of modern industrialism, spread from England to Europe (Duke 1995), North America (Waldstein and Wagg 1995) and South America (Guttmann 1994), and eventually the African continent (Stuart 1995). Accounts of the diffusion of the game to different parts of the world underline the intrinsic interrelation between football and industrial globalisation. As more and more regions became integrated into the emerging capitalist global economy (Pohl 1989) the leisure practice of football standardized in its rules and nationalized in its demands on time and space – continued the cultural equivalent to the changing processes of industrial production. Robinson observes, for example, that global elites, regardless of their nationality, increasingly tend to share similar lifestyles and interact through expanding networks of the transnational state. Globalization is in this way unifying the world into a single mode of production and a single global system and bringing about the integration of different countries and regions into a new global economy and society. But the new global capitalism is rife with contradictions, such as the growing rift between the global rich and the global poor, concludes Robinson. (W.I. Robinson 2004).

Globalizations are not new phenomena. At least six historical waves, beginning with the spread of world religions, may be identified. An attempt is made to systematize the effects of globalizations on different world regions and social actors. Issues of governance are raised, focusing on states and norms. Accroding to the Therborn’s six wave model in the first wave we can see first mass migration of people, the same situation we can find in football industry. As Wagg stated, football seems to belong to everyone and, on the other, the game – rather like the land in the enclosure movements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries – has been taken from the people and used for profit. In this later formulation, then, the nation of British football’s social and political history, from the Second World War to the turn of twenty-first century, is founded in ideas of social exclusion. (Wagg 2004).

The contemporary model

Nowadays football is the most popular and highly globalised sport on the planet, Mr Blatter also said the global football market, by Fifa’s calculations, was one of over one billion people. According to the Delloite report the European football market alone was worth 14.6 billion Euro in 2008. England’s Premier League clubs now pay their stars over a billion in wages, it has been revealed.The colossal bill – equivalent to 1.2 million pounds per player – emerged as figures were issued for the season before the current one concludes.Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea paid out the most in wages – 172 million pounds. Runners-up Manchester United had a salary bill of 121 million pounds. Third-placed Arsenal forked out 101 million pounds, followed by Liverpool, whose players earned 90 million pounds, according to football finance analysts Deloitte. These football clubs are now identified as a global brands, for example Manchester United fan base is 75 million people around the world. The contemporary model is also marked by a series of global migrations, at the moment in the English Premier League playing about 50% of foreighn players, but in 1992 there was just 11 registred players from overseas.

Media and commercialisation of global football

Along with the technology of the industrial revolution that produced the steamboats, railroads, and mass transit that moved people to leisure events, the rapidly evolving technology of mass media brought the drama and the exticement of sporting events to the people. The mass media, more than anything else were responsible for promoting organized sport from a relatively minor element of culture into a full-blown social institution. (Lever and Wheeler 1993:126).

By the time television first appeared on the scene in the mid to late 1930’s the patterns of “mobile privatisations” were already established. Television was part of a second generation of mass media that reinforced the structures of decentralised, private and suburban life. As Silversone argues, ‘the space for television had been created by a social and cultural fabric already prepared’. This social and cultural fabric was in turn an expression of the ever more central role of rationalised mass consumption in capitalist societies. Thus the social, cultural and economic premises of the rise of television were interrelated with those of the rise of modern football.

These standardized practices of mass consumption reflected in the rise of television and radio were epitomised in the economic regime of Fordism. Regular Fordist work and leisure patterns led to the manifestation of the weekend as place of consumption for the Victorian wage-earner, combining ‘both social identity and privacy’ (Cross 1997:120). The establishment of half-Saturdays had been a cruicial premise for the rise of professional football in Englang. Now, the extended leisure time of the Fordist weekend became the focal point of the consumption of mediated sports. This is underlined by the rise os Saturday afternoon sports magazines on American and British television (Goldlust 1987;Whannel 1991). Fordism, suburbanization and mass consumption thus constituted a triangle whereby both television and football were soon firmly integrated into the every day life of millions of viever. Television incorporated the stable and cyclical sports calendar into its schedules and thus reproduced and reinforced the temporal organisation of Fordist leisure practices.

In the modern football, for example, Premiership clubs are being bought at a time when the income of each of the league’s 20 teams is set to soar following a recent record-busting overseas television rights deal. Booming demand from Asia and the Middle East has allowed the league to tie up contracts worth ?625 million for broadcasting rights for the next three seasons, boosting overall media income to ?2.725 billion; 60 percent above previous levels. (Delloite: football industry report). Several Leagues (such as the French, German and English leagues) have recently renegociated broadcast contracts and have secured significant revenues for their clubs for a number of years. In Spain, Superclubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona have individually negociated broadcast contracts. The Premier League is the most popular and the most lucrative domestic football league.

The sports goods industry is dominatd by Nike, Adidas and football ‘kit wars’ regularly occur at the World Cup and in the leading national leagues. The major TV leagues are in Europe – the big five and the lesser five or six. Football has become a significant ‘content filler’ in the age of new TV technology – satellite, cable digital, telephony and internet. As Rupert Murdoch referred to it – ‘a battering ram’ for opening a new markets (Cashmore 2003:64). Alongside this are the stars and star clubs who benefit from almost constant commercial and media exposure – especcially, but not only, Beckham, Ronaldo, Real Madrid, and Manchester United. These players and clubs are representative of a new trend in the international financing of football. After the colapse of the football bubble economy in 2001, clubs have tried to explore new income sources by expanding their customer base worldwide. In particular, the economically vibrant East Asian regions has been a preferential destination for marketing managers and promotion tours. As Shimizu points out that David Backham’s two visits to Japan in summer of 2003 were mainly commercial – promoting endoresments for TBS (beauty salons), Meiji Seika (confectionery), Castrol (oil) and Vodafone (mobile phones) in June and his new team Real Madrid in August. According to a report by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, one reason most top clubs have continued to see revenue increases and post strong profits is that they have lucrative multi-year broadcasting and sponsorship deals that have not been affected by the recession. BSkyB and Setanta pay out roughly $1.8 billion a year for Premier League rights. Arsenal, Liverpool and Schalke 04 have multi-year deals with Emirates, Carlsberg and Gazprom that pay these clubs over $15 million a season. More than half of the 20 clubs with the highest revenue signed current uniform sponsors within the last two years. The deals are good through 2013, on average, protecting teams’ biggest source of sponsorship revenue (along with stadium-naming rights). On the broadcast side, German, English and the top Spanish clubs all have deals in place through 2014, with French rights due for renegotiation in 2012 and Italy set to return to centrally sold rights in 2010.

At the turn of the twentieth century, centralized, urban leisure started to compete with more decentralized forms of consumption aided by the rise of new technologies such as the telegraph and railways (Ingham and Beamish 1993). New communication technologies helped to establish the national dimension of sport by enabling sports results to be communicated instantly over long distances. Radio reporting was immediate and, crucually, national rather than local. When Preston North End won the FA Cup in 1938, many listeners in Britain could for the first time follow the event on their radio sets simultaneously. Thus mass communication crucially contributed to the social and territorial diffusion of football.

Sports has become more commercialised in the past twenty-five years. Equally it is almost passe to say that contemporary football is big business. In 1994 Sepp Blatter claimed that football was bringing in US$163 billion annually, more than General Motors could make selling cars (cited in Smith 1997:144). Elsewhere the commercial development of football, and especially the economic aspect of the World Cup, has been assesed in great detail (Guilianotti 1999). When Bourdieu argued that television has acted as the ‘Trojan horse’ for the introduction of the commercial logic into football he was only partly accurate since commercial interests have always been present in sport. The development and growth of the global media was one of the main reasons of commercialisation of football as well as people who have money and time to spend and invest for a long time perioud.

Television sport throughout the world is dominated by football. There is football and then the rest sports. FIFA’s empire has grown accordingly. Several Leagues (such as the French, German and English leagues) have recently renegociated broadcast contracts and have secured significant revenues for their clubs for a number of years. In Spain, Superclubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona have individually negociated broadcast contracts. The Premier League is the most popular and the most lucrative domestic football league. The most significant process which helped to increase global commercialisation of football, is development of a global media profile. Because just after big TV deals football became a billion game just because of media football players can earn millions pounds. For example, in Britain, since 1992 rights fee’s have increased enormously from 191.5 millions pounds to 1 billion 700 millions pounds, and every year the amount of money coming from the TV rights is growing up. As Delloite financial specialists argued that the outcome of the Premier League broadcast rights negociations and the values achieved is likely to be a key driver in determining the ranking of English clubs in the Money League in future seasons.

Money led to foreighn players

The globalisation of football has been marked by a considerable increase in the recruitment of foreign players throughout various leagues. But not only a players are moving around the world, in June, Manchester City became the eighth current Premiership club to be taken over by foreign investors. Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Portsmouth and West Ham United are also owned by foreign businessmen. As Giovani Trapattoni argued: “Really, there has been a globalisation of football, and my view is that it has been good for the game. If you look at football in Europe especially, the standard is now very high”. A lot of money has come into the game in these leagues and it has been used to combine all these different cultures in some exceptional teams. According to figures released by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), no fewer than 857 players left the country’s sunny shores for foreign leagues in 2004. Though just short of the previous year’s record, the number is further proof that Brazil’s dream academy is alive and well. Answer on tthe question why foreighn players migrate around the world, is simply – money. But in some cases money is’t a first factor when player make a decision where to move, a good example can be Russia, salaries in Russian Premier League are on the same level like in Big Five leagues in Europe. So when player make a choice where to move Spain or Russia for equivalent amount of money, his choice usually will be Spain. The major factor to make this decision is cultural engagement and geographical reasons.

Conclusions: Diminishing contrasts and increasing varieties?

The world’s richest clubs are prospering despite the global recession. The financial crisis has yet to derail the world’s most valuable football teams. Forbes Magazine’s calculations shows the top 25 teams are now worth, on average, $597 million, 8% more than the previous year.

“The outcome of the Premier League broadcast rights negociations and the values achieved is likely to be a key driver in determining the ranking of English clubs in the Money League in future seasons”.

These clubs posted operating income (in the sense of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $42 million during the 2007-2008 season, 20% more than the top 25 clubs earned the previous year. There are now five clubs (Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Liverpool) worth at least $1 billion. Only the National Football League (American Football) has more billion-dollar teams (19).

“With its capitalistic bent, European soccer rewards the best-performing clubs with higher broadcasting revenue,” the magazine said in a report Thursday. “Leading the charge is the world’s most valuable sports franchise: English Premier League champions Manchester United, worth $1.87 billion.”

Indeed, Forbes reports Manchester United posted $160 million in operating income, with its stadium, Old Trafford, pulling in more than $200 million in ticket and concession revenue last season.

Spain’s Real Madrid ranked as the second most valuable at $1.35 billion, followed by another English club, Arsenal at $1.2 billion, Germany’s Bayern Munich at $1.11 billion, and England’s Liverpool at $1 billion, according to Forbes.

By comparison, the most valuable Major League Baseball team is the New York Yankees, worth an estimated $1.3 billion as of last April, while the most valuable National Football League team is the Dallas Cowboys, valued at $1.6 billion last September, according to Forbes.

“Burnished by that relative stability and by the sport’s growing popularity throughout China and Southeast Asia, big-ticket investors have continued to pour money into England’s Premier league,” the magazine points out, noting the sale last fall of England’s Manchester City to Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan for nearly $385 million.

“The value of European football is still there,” said sports banker Robert J. Tilliss, founder of Inner Circle Sports. “The demand from broadcasters and sponsors has continued to rise.”

References:
Globalisation

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Mental Toughness: What is the Real Difference Between Winning and Losing?

When it comes to being successful, you can never find a substitute for hard work. In the corporate world, you need to learn the ropes of the business and spend countless hours on reading books and attending seminars on self-improvement. In sports, you have to train consistently in order to reach your full potential.

But what if during an important business meeting, you suddenly had a mental block and anxiety followed? As a result, you forgot to mention an important point and because of it, the business deal fell apart. Same thing can happen in a Jiu-jitsu practice session where a sudden lapse in judgment could lead to a reversal, and in a matter of seconds, you were the one tapping out. How come we can be so prepared in doing something and then lose just like that?

UFC 117: Anderson Silva Vs. Chael Sonnen

Sonnen dominated the first four rounds of this championship match by using his wrestling skill. In round 5, Sonnen went for another takedown. Almost two minutes is left, and the audience is in awe. A new champion will be crowned, the long-time reigning champion will be defeated, the one considered as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) will lose— the unthinkable will happen! Sonnen is on the guard again and continued with the ground and pound to add more damage to his opponent. Silva threw a few punches from the bottom and Sonnen lifted his left arm to block. In the process, Silva quickly positioned his leg behind Sonnen’s neck and a leg triangle was in place. Silva secured the hold and one of the greatest comeback fights in sports happened….Sonnen tapped out! He was only 1 minute and 50 seconds from being a champion.

A lot of professional fights end up this way; one lapse in judgment can make or break a career. Some fighters learned from it but some of them never recovered. Concentration makes you apply everything that you have learned in training. Success starts in the mind but unfortunately, not everyone can sustain that concentration during a fight. When two combatants face off, you can take advantage of your skills and concentrate on executing it. However, if both fighters have a similar skill set and conditioning, the only deciding factor here is how mentally tough they are. Who will break first? Who will make the first mistake? That’s when you need to be mentally tough more than physically tough.

Relaxation and Concentration

Mental toughness encompasses not just fighting sport but all competitive sports and other areas in our everyday life, including our job. Several competitors can be so good in practice but underachieves in the actual competition when the pressure of the game starts to mount up. Lebron James was called “Lechoke” before, and it only stopped when he won an NBA championship not just once but twice. Now, people in the media and fans think that he can surpass Michael Jordan and be the GOAT in basketball.

Concentration is the ability to have that laser-like focus on what’s important and to let go of all distractions. However, in order to concentrate, you should be relaxed. Relaxation is defined as the state of being calm despite pressure. Take note that relaxation and concentration are interacting mental skills—they work hand in hand. You cannot be mentally tough if you don’t have both.

Float like a butterfly (be relaxed) and sting like a bee (concentrate and hit the target). That’s how Muhammad Ali became the GOAT in boxing! Keep in mind that being relaxed means that you are excited in a good way. If you are totally relaxed, you will fall flat during the competition. You need to be pumped up and ready for action. Like physical conditioning and learning skills, being relaxed also takes practice—the more time you invest in it, the more it will develop.

During boxing, if you are relaxed, you can see the incoming punches and you will be able to dodge them easier. If you are nervous and under pressure, you are more likely to close your eyes as the opponent’s gloves hit towards your face. If you are too anxious, your body will tighten up and you won’t be able to execute all of the skills that you have learned during practice. That is the reason why fighters have their entrance music as they walk their way towards the ring or the octagon—it makes them feel relaxed.

Another way to relax is to embrace and accept nervousness. It’s very normal and once you accept the reality, then you will be calmer. Pre-competition rituals such as mumbling repeated words and doing rhythmic movements that could take the fighter’s focus away from distractions are also of great help.

When it comes to defense, breathing plays a very important role. You can be the best striker but without oxygen, you will be like a race car without a fuel. Thus, deep, slow breathing is needed before and during the competition. Throwing combination punches and kicks or going for a reversal during a jiu-jitsu match requires a lot of air in your oxygen tank. If you don’t breathe properly, you won’t be able to recover and soon, your legs will feel heavy, your arms will start falling, and it’s your turn to get punched in the face.

Laser-Like Concentration

A laser pen doesn’t dance all over the place when you focus it on an object; it will stay there as long as you allow it to. Concentration is all about focusing on the present situation. Recalling failures in the past or worrying about the future will not help. Do what you need to do at that very moment. Before you drink water, you don’t try to determine where it came from or think whether you will sweat it out or urinate afterwards. Be honest. You just drink it, right? Likewise, when you are competing, you can only control the present. So, focus on what needs to be done right now and focus on it like a laser!

Don’t Drift Away

Losing your focus can happen during a match but it’s up to you if you want to drift away or return to focus. A bad call from the referee, trash talk, boos from the crowd, intimidation by your opponent and a lot of other stuff like these can break your concentration. However, remember to compete the way you have been trained. A secured submission can slip by if one of the basic jiu-jitsu techniques is not well-executed. A sure win can turn to a loss, so the focus should be within YOU – you may drift away but return as quickly as you can.

Conclusion

All your hard work will become futile if you are not mentally tough. Remember that a sharp mind can cut deeper! So, the pain, the struggle, the exhaustion, the thought of giving up— all of these will take your game or career to the next level!

The Lakers were founded in 1948 and named after Minnesota. They were named after Minnesota because it was the land of ten thousand lakes. The Lakers have become a great franchise because of their player and their great sportsmanship. Pro Basketball has been around since 1898, only seven years after the game was invented.

The Lakers hired John Kundla as their first coach from Saint Thomas College. The Lakers then won the 1948 NBL Championship. The next year the team moved to BAA (which is another basketball league) and also won the Championship. In 1979 they moved to California. The old Lakers owner traded the team, The Forum and the Kings to Jerry Buss for a 70 million dollar deal.

After the purchase, Jerry Buss wanted the Laker games to be the most exciting event in Los Angeles, so he introduced the Laker girls dance team. This attracted many viewers. In their half century of basketball, the Lakers have had many outstanding players and many memorable games. This has made many Los Angeles residences die hard fans.

Their team colors are, purple gold and white. They have played in many world wide arenas. The following arenas are, Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis Armory, L.A. Memorial Sports Arena and the Los Angeles Forum. The Lakers currently play at the Staple Center located in down town Los Angeles. Which can hold up to18,997 people per game.

The NBA was formed in 1949 and the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers is Phil Jackson. The Lakers have 14 championships, 29 conference titles and 28 division titles. They are currently in the Pacific Division, also in the Western conference. The Lakers are currently in the NBA finals vs the Boston Celtics.

Some of the Lakers best memories began on, November 5^th when the Lakers beat Baltimore and went onto winning 32 more games in a row. They lost their first game on January 9^th to the Milwaukee Bucks ending their 32 game winning streak. In one of the many playoff games. In the playoffs the Lakers swept the Bulls. In the finals the Lakers played the Knicks. New York won the first game but that was it. The Lakers reeled off 4 straight victory wins.

In 2000, 2001 and 2002 the Lakers wons back to back Championships. The Laker bacame the NBA’s first Champions in the 1949 -50 season. In 1984 through 1985 Lakers finally beat the Boston Celtics in the finals. Over the years the Lakers have had many all star players on the team.

The Lakers have one of the most exciting players, who is known as now MVP player Kobe Bryant. Bryant rose to national prominence in 1996 when he became the first guard in league history to be drafted out of high school. Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002.

Since O’Neal’s departure following the 2003-04 season, Bryant has become the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise, and was the NBA’s leading scorer during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second highest number of points scored in NBA history. He was awarded the season’s MVP in the 2007-08 NBA season after leading his team to the 2008 NBA Playoffs as the first seed in the Western Conference.

In 2003, Bryant made headlines when he was accused of sexual assault at a ski resort in Eagle, Colorado by a hotel employee. Bryant admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with the accuser, but denied the sexual assault allegation. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser informed them that she was unwilling to testify. Bryant’s accuser brought a separate civil suit against him that was ultimately settled out of court.

Later in the season, it was reported that Bryant would change his jersey number from 8 to 24 at the start of the 2006-07 NBA season. Bryant’s first high school number was 24 before he switched to 33. After the Lakers’ season ended, Bryant said on TNT that he wanted 24 as a rookie, but it was unavailable, as was 33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bryant wore 143 at the Adidas ABCD camp, and chose 8 by adding those numbers.

During the 2006-07 season, Bryant was selected to his 9th All-Star Game appearance, and on February 18, he logged 31 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 steals, earning his second career All-Star Game MVP trophy.

Here are some of the well known players in the Laker history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlin, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Jerry West. Jerry West became the only player in the NBA on the loosing team of the finals to win the MVP award. This is to show you how good the players were on the team, even though they lost. Jerry West picture is the NBA logo. It was taken when he was in college.

The Los Angles Lakers are the 2^nd most valuable team in the U.S.A., valued at 568 million dollars. They also have the 2^nd most Championship following Boston. The Lakers are notable for having (at the end of the 2005-06) the most wins (2,905), the highest winning percentage (61.5%), the most finals appearances (28) of any NBA franchise, Lakers are still continuing their legacy and keeping their fans happy and proud. I’m proud to say that I’m a die hard Laker fan.

^Sources

www.wikipedia.org
^{The Los Angeles Lakers Basketball Team By William W. Lace
www.nba.com/lakers/history/history.html#36}

Q1.

a) The reasons that prompted Nike to change its approach to demand forecasting:

Nike’s growth from being the 12th largest shoe manufacturer in 1984 to the world leader in the footwear industry by mid 1990’s increased the intricacy of its manufacturing schedules.
The demand forecasting adopted by Nike prior to considering the new approach saw the retailers placing an order six months ahead of the delivery. Due to the six months lag in delivery Nike could not forecast whether the ordered shoes would be in demand after six months once they reach the store shelves[1].
The existing forecasting technique failed in identifying the quantity of order to be placed with such a long lead time. And had to depend solely on their brand name and hoped that the product would sell.
The expanding market demanded a faster delivery, thus pressurizing Nike to shorten the lead time from the standard shipping time of six months.
The 27 order management systems that formed Nike’s supply chain crumbled under pressure to develop accurate demand forecasts, these factors lead Nike to implement a new demand forecasting.

b) Outcomes of the new demand forecasting system.

The vigorous demands indirectly affected the new demand forecasting system, resulting in excess manufacturing of some products while developing inventory shortages for others as they struggled to cope up with the customer demands.
Nike ended up ordering US $90 million worth of shoes which were in low demand like Air Garnett II, also a shortfall of US$80 million to US$100 million on popular models, like Air Force One.
Nike filled the back orders that were to be supplied and disposed of excessive inventory through discount sales and ‘bargain basement prices’ through its outlet stores. This continued for about 6-9 months to neutralize the incorrect proportions in inventory and two years to overcome the financial losses.
Nike’s share prices dropped considerably due to the losses and faulty forecasts. Costing Nike more than US$100 million in lost sales, there by lowering its stock prices by 20% and also leading it to a series of legal battles.
Q2.

a) The reasons that resulted in such a huge gap between demand and supply at Nike:

The implementation of i2 had adverse effects for Nike, since I2 were inexperienced in providing supply-chain systems for the footwear and apparel industry.
Nike’s higher demand data meant heavy customisation was done on i2 this clogged up the software thus by slowing it considerably to such an extent that a single screen would take 3 minutes to load[2].
Further analysts stated that Nike was installing SAP software to help take orders from customers and get those orders through manufacturing. This led to queuing which led to the complexity in matching up of information from SAP and i22.
Thus Nike had erroneous orders being sent to the manufacturers and was unable to recover from the errors until it was too late.

b) According to my opinion this situation could have been avoided:

If Nike would have considered the facts of acquiring actual data from retailers like direct point-of-sale integration rather than software algorithms.
By developing a better collaboration with the far east manufacturers to reduce the overall lead time there by converting the supply chain from make-to-sell to make-to-order.
Nestle and Nike: ‘How they almost failed’ by Gene Leshinsky…February 18th, 2008
Long Strange Trip: Nike Finally Regains Footing: By Larry Barrett

In the modern day sprint training is the most common method in the new age of sports training, to enhance the ability of an athlete to run at optimum speed, sprint training must be an essential part of an athlete’s training regime (McKenna, M et al, 1997). As equipment advanced so did training methods, therefore to improve performance a certain amount of resistance was added to further enhance an athlete’s performance therefore improving an athlete’s overall speed this was named “Resisted Sprint Training” (RST) is defined by Alexander 1989 as running at top velocity while resistance forces work in the opposite direction. There is countless ways of applying an opposing force; weighted clothing, sleds containing weights, parachutes with different surface areas and common hills are all used to counter act the sprints being undertaken by the athlete. Due to the research that has gone into this area of RST it has provided coaches with more options to experiment and implement with their athlete. The author of this review will be analysing literature and research into sled training commonly shortened to ST and whether the common usage of this in a training programme is an effective method to improve certain variables such as acceleration, maximum velocity, force application and finally stride length/frequency. As RST is a popular method for most modern day sports people from low to elite levels, it has an uncertain concluding factor as to the links to improve sprint kinematics.

(Faccioni, 1994a) “The benefits of the use of resisted sprint running is that it recruits more muscle fibers, requires more neural activation” therefore due to this quote the effects of ST have been probed and primed for many years, especially the way the way it influenced the acceleration on track athletes. After completing a study using males taking part in resistance using 10% plus of the participants body mass, a decrease in stride frequency and stride length was evident, while performing the tests other visual physiological differences were evident such as increased muscle flexibility especially in regards to the hip flexors. When concluding their findings in 1994 they found that when carrying a heavier load. Stress was evident on the participants body therefore hampering the test, this is why a lower weight was used to improve acceleration when using ST for RST.

Murphy et al 2003 study was establishing the load for sprint training with sled towing in the maximum velocity phase. 12 athletes participated in the study. They ran 30 m flying sprints, an unloaded sprint and sprints pulling loads of 6%, 10%, and 15% of their body mass, on a synthetic track surface wearing spikes, they found that this equitation lets coaches and strength trainers to calculate the load for resisted sprint training with sled towing due to the increase in Mean maximum velocity, 30-m sprint time. These findings support another study that was done in 2004 by LeBlanc, J. S.et al who studied the comparisons and differences between free sprint training and resisted in relation to the key attributes of sprinting in the top phase of the athletes speed. Both results show significant differences and shows signs towards ST being beneficial for sprinters top speed phase.

When looking at the literature published the main area of study which has been evident is whether ST increased maximum speed and overall acceleration Hansen, K. T.et al (2006).found that RST with 8% body mass sled towing for 4 week improves transition performance (16-31 m), while traditional sprint training improves performance in the maximum velocity phase (31-51 m) in elite athletes.

In contrast to improving overall acceleration and maximum speed studies have been done to improve sprint specific strength Ettema, G. J. C. (2006) et al stated that RST does improve this evidently in the lower body being the legs and lower back, having this strength is always going to beneficial due to the strength of the lower limbs. The way this evaluation was concluded was down to using and comparing a weighted belt for the athlete to wear, a parachute to provided resistance to the athlete and finally the sled to be able to place weights on to provide a resisted force when completed 30 metre flying sprints. It became evident that the sled training was best for developing maximum sprint strength, however the literature contradicts itself when talking about biomechanical properties which could affect the athletes speed therefore further biomechanical analysis needs to be undertaken to provide a coach with exact biomechanical movements to fully utilise the ST.

After researching the literature which is available to get a good insight into ST, when talking about biomechanical influences in the ST, the practioners should be using 3D analysis software to enable them to have a clear view of the correct posture and movements in each phase especially when the athlete is being specific to stride length, stride frequency and velocity also as other areas in the forever changing world, further research will give myself a better and broader insight into the ability of ST in relation to RST. Putting a focus into the specifics of each ST session such as sets and repetitions of the training being undertaken this therefore would need to client specific as previously stated the weight of each ST is set to a fix rate, however increasing this could either have a positive or negative effect on success and sustainability. When focusing on the suggested correct amounts of training when concerning sets and reps, no previous research has actually indicated a set number to work from. This is why variation and expert analysis needs to be scrutinised to enable a benchmark to be set for initial improvement.

References

Alexander, M.J.L. The relationship between muscle strength and sprint kinematics in elite sprinters. Can. J. Sport Sci. 14:148–157. 1989.

Cronin, J. B., and Hansen, K. T. (2006). Resisted sprint training for the acceleration phase of sprinting. Strength Cond. J., 28, 42-51

Faccioni, A. (1994a). Assisted and resisted methods for speed development: Part 1 Modern Athlete & Coach, 32, 3-6.

Kristensen, G. O., van den Tillaar, R., and Ettema, G. J. C. (2006). Velocity specificity in early-phase sprint training. J. Strength Cond. Res., 20, 833-837

LeBlanc, J. S., & Gervais, P. L. (2004). Kinematics of assisted and resisted sprinting as compared tonormal free sprinting in trained athletes. Proceedings of the 22th International Symposium onBiomechanics in Sport, Ottawa, Canada 536.

Lockie, R. G., Murphy, A. J., and Spinks, C. D. (2003). Effects of resisted sled towing on sprint Kinematics in field-sport atlethes. J. Strength Cond. Res., 17, 760-767.

McKenna, M. J., G. J. F. Heigenhauser, R. S. McKelvie, J. D.MacDougall, and N. L. Jones. Sprint training enhances ionic regulation during intense exercise in men. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 501: 687–702, 1997

Murphy, A. J., Lockie, R. G., and Coutts, A. (2003). Kinematic determination of early acceleration in field sport athletes. J. Sports Sci. Med., 2, 144-150.

Critically discuss interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to sport and exercise science within the professional experience undertaken in term 1. Support your answers with relevant literature and theory

Research within sport and exercises science is done in many different disciplines. The majority of published research, however, is mono-disciplinary (from a singular discipline) in nature (Burwitz et al. 1994). A professional experience was undertaken to assess the approaches to inter and multi-disciplinary within sport and exercise science research. The experience was of a sport science nature which involved assisting in an undergraduate research project of 3D biomechanical analysis of a gymnastic vault using CODA, focussing specifically on the approach and springboard take-off. Sports biomechanics uses the scientific methods of mechanics to study the effects of various forces on the sports performer (Bartlett, 2007). It is important to monitor technique in gymnastics to help prevent injury and improve performance. It is then possible to feed this information back to coaches to highlight strengths and weaknesses of individual athletes.

Multi or inter-disciplinary research requires a combination of methods and knowledge from more than one sub-discipline (Burwitz et al. 1994).

This essay will outline what multi and inter-disciplinary approaches to sport and exercise science are, compare how similar they are and then show how they differ. It will then outline how the two approaches can be applied to the professional experience undertaken.

An interdisciplinary approach within sport and exercise science involves a partnership of coaches with sport and exercise scientists such as physiologist or psychologists. Smith (2005) split sport science from exercise science due to differences of individual needs from elite athletes to members of the public. Smith (2005) described sport science as being characterised by collaborations with coaches and performance directors and exercise science as being characterised by collaborations with general practitioners and professionals allied to medicine. Interdisciplinary research needs to involve a strong integration of information from more than one sub-discipline of sport and exercise science from the outset of a particular research programme (Burwitz et al. 1994). Williams and James (2001) stated that a sport or exercise team should have a scientific basis. Williams and James (2001) also developed a model to demonstrate inter-disciplinary approaches, where the goal of the sport or exercise is affected by each area involved.

Multi-disciplinary research involves less integration of the sub-disciplines of sport and exercise science. Each discipline tends to work in parallel on a common topic (Burwitz et al. 1994). Miles et al (1997) adapted Burwitz et al. (1994) definition to state that multi-disciplinary research involves sport and exercise scientists working together to solve a problem in an isolated unitary fashion and co-coordinated manor. In a multi-disciplinary approach each sub-discipline will look for problems to a solution from within only that discipline, for example a biomechanist will look at technique. Then each discipline will collate their results, whereas in an interdisciplinary approach the biomechanist may work with a physiologist to look at technique changes due to fatigue (Burwitz et al. 1994). Multi-disciplinary research may be the result of a lack integration of sub-disciplines from the outset of sport and exercise science, and so it is harder to integrate then together when trying to bring about an inter-disciplinary approach to problem solving.

Multi and inter-disciplinary research are both ways of improving research and developing is away from mono-disciplinary work in sport and exercise sciences. The majority of sport and exercise research is mono-disciplinary (Burwitz et al 1994) which is when research looks solely at one sub-discipline and provides answers and conclusions from only that discipline. Both multi and inter-disciplinary approaches endeavour to link sub-disciplines, such as psychology and biomechanics, together to improve the ability to solve problems such as injury, fatigue and poor technique. Both approaches work in teams or groups (that include the sport and exercises scientists, coacher or practitioners and the athlete or patient) to combine knowledge and methods from their different areas.

Despite these similarities there are still major differences between the two stated approaches. The inter-disciplinary approach appears to be the best way to bring about improvements as it integrates the sub-disciplines which takes the form of ‘bridge-building’ (Squires et al 1975) which requires a combination of specialist knowledge from various disciplines focusing on a specific problem. Contrastingly, multi-disciplinary approaches collate rather than combine knowledge; therefore the sub-disciplines work separately during research processes before coming together to attempt to reach a conclusion about a stated problem (Burwitz et al 1994). It is also believed that an interdisciplinary approach will reveal potential conflicts between the sub-disciplines (Burwitz et al 1994). As there is immediate interaction between sub-disciplines, an opinion given by one area is disputed by another. This is less likely to occur in multi-disciplinary approaches as sub-disciplines do not work in direct contact with one another.

Despite the above examples no clear definition is given of the distinctions between the two approaches because many sport and exercise scientists have regarded multi and inter-disciplinary as synonymous terms (Burwitz et al 1994).

The professional experience was involved with sport science which smith (2001) described as being characterised by collaborations with coaches and performance directors. It was first and foremost a biomechanical approach.

Biomechanics is a highly scientific and mathematical based sub-discipline, usually looking at technique, and problems with technique, as causes of problems such as injury and failure of achievement. Gymnastics is a sport that utilises these methods frequently as it is a very technical sport where injuries can be common. This is due to the fact that gymnastics encompasses a seemingly endless quantity of movement skills (George 1980). During the professional experience questions were putt to the researcher regarding the involvement of other sub-disciplines to determine the dimension of the research. These questions were: ‘are there any sport scientists or performance director present for sub-disciplines other than biomechanics to help assess the primary information gathered from the research?’ ‘Will the results of the research be collated with other sub-disciplines and fed back to the performer?’

From the answers given to these questions it was concluded that the research being carried out was mono-disciplinary as there was no interaction, in any way, with other sub-disciplines. As discussed above there is an increasing need from multi or inter-disciplinary research in sport and exercise science, this study may have been improved by the introduction of other sub-disciplines and the feedback given to an athlete would have increased in value.

The research itself was looking at the approach and take off of the gymnast during the vault, as well as having technique assessed biomechanically, the researcher may have advised the athlete to be assessed by a physiologist or physiotherapist, this may produce results that show differences in muscle pair which could lead to injury, for example one calf being larger than the other, which could mean production of force at take of is unbalanced. This could then be fed to the biomechanist who has also found that during takeoff the gymnast has been unbalanced and therefore the athlete would need to undergo strengthening in the shorter calf to get it up to a similar size to the other calf.

This would create a multi-disciplinary approach as sub-disciplines of sport science will have collated data after the research to improve feed back to the performer.

It may also have been helpful to have had a psychologist present at the time of testing who had watched the subject in competition and seen if their routine or performance differed between in and out of competition performance. It may be possible that the pressure of performing in competition had led the athlete miss time a move which led to a decrease in performance; the psychologist could then work with the performer to help improve confidence during competition and therefore improve the athlete’s performance.

This would create an inter-disciplinary approach as sub-disciplines of sport science will have integrated during research to improve feed back to the performer.

If the approach’s dimension was changed to either a multi or an inter-disciplinary approach it will give the gymnast a much better chance of improving performance in competition.

The professional experience undertaken was shown to be mono-disciplinary as it was a piece of research focusing solely on the biomechanics of the approach and take off of the gymnastics vault. As discussed above introducing further dimensions to the research may have been more beneficial to the athlete as they may receive more feedback. However the piece of research was an undergraduate study which had a primary focus on biomechanics and introducing other sub-disciplines may have confused the findings and taken away from the aims of the research. This essay has described multi and inter-disciplinary approaches within sport science and described their application within a sporting context.

Critically discuss interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to sport and exercise science within the professional experience undertaken in term 1. Support your answers with relevant literature and theory’

The advance in sports professionalism and the increasing intensity of competition has made a scientific approach to sport vital to monitoring and improving performance (Campbel. 2007). British expertise in sport and exercise science is reflected in the growing number of postgraduate qualifications that offer the chance to study new and exciting developments.

The applications of scientific principles are studied by examining three branches of science – biomechanics, physiology and psychology – although this knowledge is applied differently to each of the sport and exercise disciplines. Sport science largely offers expert scientific backup for top sport training and performance, while exercise science has a central role in physical programmes aimed at improving general health (Campbel.2007). The qualified sport and exercise scientist can expect to have a broad technical, physiological and psychological knowledge, and stands to benefit from current developments within the field offering a professional status.

Although research within sport and exercise science is done in many different disciplines, the majority of published research is mono-disciplinary. Burwitz et al (1994) defined mono-disciplinary as a singular discipline in nature. A professional experience was undertaken to assess the approaches to inter and multi-disciplinary within sport and exercise science research. The experience was of a sport science nature which involved the participation of a newly created test, designed to monitor endurance performance. The test focused on heart rate response, ground contact times and oxygen uptake whilst running on a treadmill at sub maximal speeds. The data collected from this test will, as a result, be used to better the understanding of factors that contribute to endurance performance and importantly to easily be able to measure these factors. A similar study created by Blackadar et al (2001) found that the measurements of ground contact times and heart rate response during level running at chosen speed can provide accurate estimates of maximal aerobic power. Carpenter and Ledger (2004) suggests that an understanding of physiological factors is essential for anyone involved in sport (coach or performer), appreciation of this is vital in developing effective training programmes and optimising performance.

This essay will outline what multi and interdisciplinary approaches to sport and exercise science are. It will then delineate how the two approaches can be applied to the professional experience undertaken.

An Interdisciplinary approach within sport and exercise science involves a partnership of coaches with sport and exercise scientists such as physiologists or psychologists. Miles et al (1997) defines an interdisciplinary approach as more than one area of sport and exercise science working together in an integrated and co-ordinated manner to solve a problem. Interdisciplinary research needs to involve a strong integration of information from more than one sub-discipline of sport and exercise science from the outset of a particular research programme (Burwitz et al. 1994). Williams and James (2001) developed a model to demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches, where the goal of the sport or exercise is affected by each area involved.

Multidisciplinary research involves less integration of the sub-disciplines of sport and exercise science. Each discipline tends to work in parallel on a common topic (Burwitz et al. 1994). Just like interdisciplinary, it involves more than one sport working together but the difference being they work together in an isolated, unitary and co-ordinated manner (Miles et al 1997). In a multidisciplinary approach each discipline will look for problems to a solution from within only that discipline, for example, a physiologist will look at how the body responds to exercise; each discipline will then assemble their findings. Alternatively in an interdisciplinary approach, the physiologist may work together with a biomechanist to look at if rate of fatigue changes with different technique (Burwitz et al. 1994). The deficient in the integration of sub-disciplines from the outset of sport and exercise science may be resultant to the multidisciplinary research, thus, making it harder to integrate them together whilst trying to bring about an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving.

The majority of sport and exercise science research is mono-disciplinary (Burwitz et al 1994) but introducing the involvement of multi and interdisciplinary research will help to improve the overall standard of research. It will bond together more than one discipline of sport and exercise science such as physiology and biomechanics, consequently, improving the ability to solve problems such as injury, fatigue and poor technique. More than one approach working together as a team will combine their knowledge and methods from their different areas to be able to solve a problem.

Regardless of these resemblances, fundamental disparities between the two stated approaches are still apparent. Interdisciplinary approaches look to be the best in terms of bringing about improvements as it incorporates the disciplines which take the form of ‘bridge-building’ (Squires et al 1975). This requires an amalgamation of expert knowledge from diverse disciplines concentrating on a precise problem. Contrastingly, multidisciplinary approaches gather rather than combine knowledge; consequently the sub-disciplines work independently during the research processes before coming together to reach a conclusion about a stated problem (Burwitz et al 1994). Burwitz et al (1994) believes that an interdisciplinary approach will disclose possible conflicts between the disciplines. As there are direct dealings among sub-disciplines, a view given by one area could be disputed by another. This is less likely to occur in multi-disciplinary approaches as the disciplines do not work in direct contact with one another.

Despite the above examples, no clear definition is given of the distinctions between the two approaches because many sport and exercise scientists have regarded multi and inter-disciplinary as synonymous terms (Burwitz et al 1994).

The professional experience undertaken was involved with sport science; Smith (2001) describes sport science as being characterised by collaborations with coaches and performance directors. The experience undertaken was first and foremost a physiological approach.

Researchers have amassed so much knowledge about physical activity that it is now a separate academic field of study within the biological sciences (Katch et al 2000). Physiology of exercise can be defined as the study of how the body responds and adapts to exercise and importantly identifies physiological characteristics that explain rather than simply describe performance and also focus on ways to improve performance (Bromley et al 2007). Middle distance running is a sport that utilises this definition very well. In this event, oxidative phosphorylation represents the principal energy-producing metabolic pathway and, therefore, it is not surprising that the parameters of fitness which correlate most closely with performance are those related to oxygen uptake (VO2max), the various oxygen uptake required to run at different speeds (running economy), and the oxygen uptake that can be sustained without appreciable accumulation of lactate in the blood (Jones. 1998). Understanding the principles of these factors will contribute to improving endurance performance, and as a result enable an athlete to overcome these issues and improve them. During the professional experience questions were put to the researcher regarding the involvement of other disciplines to determine the dimension of the research. These questions were: ‘are there any other areas of sport and exercise science e.g. biomechanist, psychologist, etc, other than yourself (a physiologist) present to help assess the data gathered from the research?’ ‘Will the results of the research be collated with other disciplines and fed back to the performer?’ The response from the questions asked clearly demonstrated that the research being carried out was of a mono-disciplinary nature as there was no interaction with other disciplines of sport science. As discussed, an increase in the need from multi or interdisciplinary in sport and exercise science, would have much improved this study as more than one are of sport and exercise science being involved would have given feedback to an athlete, therefore increasing the value. The research itself was looking at the reliability and validity of a heart rate by looking at its response to ground contact times whilst running on a treadmill to see if it can be used to predict endurance performance. As well as being assessed physiologically, the researcher may have advised the athlete to be assessed by a biomechanist, this may show results that running technique could affect fatigue, for example, the biomechanist could get the athlete to run over a force plate, and the force generated on the plate could show that too much force is being exerted and as a result making you fatigue more quickly. This could then be fed back to the physiologist whereby a solution could be put together to rectify this and therefore the enabling the athlete to have a better running efficiency. This would create an interdisciplinary approach as more than one discipline is working together in an integrated fashion thus improving feedback to the athlete and as a result give the athlete a much better chance of improving performance.

The professional experience undertaken was shown to be mono-disciplinary as it was a test focusing solely on the physiological changes of an athlete whilst performing a treadmill run. As discussed above, introducing further dimensions may have been more beneficial to the athlete as they receive more feedback of ways to improve. However the test was a funded study by a recognised middle distance running corporation (The British Milers Club) to specifically look at the monitoring of endurance performance and the introduction of other disciplines may have confused the findings and taken away the aims of the study.

PDG.

Understanding Injury in Sport and Exercise Settings – Self-Selected Case Studies

Introduction

In this case study we shall consider three athletes who are superficially similar and have presented with injuries as a result of their sport. The athletes will be referred to as Mr.A, Mr. B and Mr. C. Each is in their twenties and are club standard runners. Mr.A fell during a training run and sustained an inversion injury to his left ankle. Mr. B presented with a pre-patella bursitis of his right knee and Mr. C could not compete because of severe metatarsalgia.

Mechanism and pathophysiology of injury

If we consider the aetiology and mechanisms of each injury we can see that although they are largely sports related and, to a degree sports specific, each is fundamentally different in terms of presentation, cause, treatment and outcome.

Let us consider Mr. A. who fell during training. He was a modest club runner who ran sporadically for personal enjoyment. He sustained an acute inversion injury which resulted in a partial tear of the lateral malleolar ligament. This ligament effectively joins the Tibia to the talus and calcareous and is largely responsible for the lateral stability of the joint. (Clemente C D 1975). There was immediate pain and subcutaneous swelling and, although he could weight bear immediately after the injury, Mr.A could only walk with great pain. Lateral distortion of the joint was extremely painful. The fundamental aetiology of the injury was a sudden inversion stress to the ankle which was greater than the ligament could withstand and this resulted in rupture of some of the collagen fibres of the lateral ligament together with the underlying joint capsule. This allowed substantial bleeding to track into the surrounding tissues which, together with both extravasation of synovial fluid and accumulation of tissue oedema, led to the clinically apparent swelling over the lateral malleolus.

Mr. B, by contrast, was a fiercely competitive sub-elite runner who noticed his injury developing more slowly over a period of about ten days. He was preparing for a race and had increased his running schedule both in intensity and distance covered. Initially he was aware of a discomfort in the anterior aspect of his knee which felt superficial. This was apparent at the end of his training sessions and persisted for a few hours while travelling home. As the training sessions intensified, the pain grew more persistent until it occurred throughout his running session. Although it was a nuisance, it was not severe. By the end of ten days it had become very severe to the point that there was demonstrable swelling over the lower pole of the patella which was tender to the touch and constantly painful. The mechanism of this injury is typical of the overuse injury seen with overtraining. It is believed to arise initially from micro tears within the body of the patella ligament which become inflamed and the constant stresses involved with training do not let the injury heal sufficiently and the inflammation becomes accumulative to the point that histology would show inflammatory changes occurring throughout the ligament and this, in turn, causes friction on the surrounding structures. (Hewett T E et al. 1999)

This is manifest as a constant progressively painful swelling localised in the region of the patella ligament and is aggravated by movement of the knee joint. It is tender to the touch and limits exercise.

Mr. C was a club runner of modest ability, but with an over optimistic appreciation of his own ability, who trained with the elite runners at the club. He frequently complained of minor injuries that were blamed for his particular lack of performance in races. On this occasion he presented with pains in his forefoot over the metatarsal heads which was very specific and occurred when the toes were flexed but not when they were extended (an unphysiological finding). He could run, but complained bitterly of forefoot pain after the race and could be seen hobbling off the track and around the changing rooms after the race. Examination of his foot was completely unremarkable and no consistent physical abnormality could be found. It was noticeable that Mr. C vociferously blamed this problem for his inability to perform well. No physical diagnosis was made but the aetiology of his complaint was thought to be a psychosomatic manifestation of his anxiety relating to his inability to beat the better runners at the club. This equated to a mechanism of cognitive distortion and denial together with a compensatory conversion symptom complex to rationalise his poor performance. (Patel D R et al. 2000)

In short we see three competitive runners with common presentations of injury, but three very different mechanisms of pathophysiology and aetiology. Each will require a different approach to treatment and will follow a very different illness trajectory.

Psychology of sports injury

There are a number of different theoretical concepts (with differing degrees of security of evidence base) that can be usefully employed in describing sporting motivation and are therefore relevant to the incidence of sporting injury. (Wigfield A et al. 2000)

The literature on these subjects is very extensive and beyond the scope of this essay to consider in any degree of detail. Reversal theory (Apter M J 2001) is commonly utilised in this regard and can describe relationships between the personality characteristics and motivational stimuli. Paratelic dominant athletes commonly enter the paratelic motivational state and are typically arousal seekers and engage in high risk and highly competitive sports (viz Mr. B )(Cogan N A et al. 1998)

Mr.A, by contrast is the typical telic dominant athlete who tend to be arousal avoiders, who plan and consider their training carefully and prefer low intensity experiences. (Kerr J H et al. 1999)

Let us start this consideration of the psychology of sports injury with an assessment of Mr. C who presents with a primarily psychological complaint

Mr. C has an overtly psychosomatic presentation. This can be conveniently described in terms of reversal theory (Apter M J 2001).

and the paratelic concept (Murgatroyd S et al. 1978). There are aspects of the metamotivational states described in the theory which are relevant to Mr. C’s perception of his motives for continued participation in running even when he was clearly failing to achieve his set targets.

If appears that Mr. C has developed a variation of a paratelic protective framework with somatic constructs. He needs the high arousal gratification of the paratelic dominant athlete by lining up on the starting line with the elite athletes, but has developed his idiosyncratic phenomenological frame as a coping mechanism which allows him a sensation of safety from his perception of failure with a series of somatic excuses for his failure to perform. (Kerr J H 2001)

One psychological technique that has been demonstrated to work in this type of case is a form of cognitive behaviour therapy which allows a realisation of the implications of an action to be re-evaluated by the client. (Fowler D et al. 1995) This was combined with a strategy of the setting of “step-by-step” short term goals. This effectively allowed the client to consider his need to unrealistically compare himself with the elite athletes and to allow him to achieve progressive attainable targets, thereby recognising and capitalising on achievement rather than ruminating on poor past performance comparisons with other (better) athletes. (Pain M et al. 2004). The idea is that by setting and achieving some short term goals, the client can focus on the present, make small progressive steps, and recognise new achievements, instead of ruminating on past performance level. (Hall H K et al. 2001). Complicity by the clinician in agreeing that his symptoms may actually be physical can be completely counterproductive in this type of case (see on)

Injury management

The object of management of any injury is clearly to maximise the degree of recovery possible and to limit and residual disability that may occur as a result of the injury. In broad terms we can consider the immediate (first aid) treatment and the subsequent longer term management as separate issues. (Hergenroeder A C 2003)

In the case of Mr.A’s acute injury the essential elements of treatment (once the diagnosis has been confidently made) should be to prevent further tissue damage and bleeding by immobilisation of the joint (splinting), prompt cooling to reduce the tissue reaction to the injury, analgesia to relieve the pain (but with the caveat that pain relief should not be an indication to stress the joint) and pressure to minimise blood and tissue fluid accumulation. The longer term considerations should be that weight bearing should be kept to a minimum for about 7-10 days. Mobilisation should then begin in a graded fashion over about four to six weeks. Running on flat surfaces could realistically begin (possibly with an ankle support) after that time. Mobilisation (both active and passive) is necessary to ensure that the fibroblastic activity of the ligament repair mechanism does not restrict movement of the joint to the degree that the long term restriction of movement becomes a problem. (Orchard J 2003)

Mr.A would be well advised to avoid running on uneven surfaces for a period of many months and to undertake a course of physiotherapy involving modalities such as wobble board training to improve his proprioceptive capabilities. (Lephart S M et al. 1997) Because of the injury, Mr.A should always regard himself as more prone to get a recurrence if he were to have another fall.

Mr. B should be treated in a distinctly different way. There is no “acute” first aid treatment as such, as the critical factor here is to recognise that the injury is the result of overuse of a joint. Rest, or in some cases simply a reduction in the training schedule, is often all that is needed to allow the condition to resolve.

(Krivickas L S 1997)

There is some evidence to suggest that the use of NSAIAs may help to reduce the inflammatory reaction and thereby increase the speed of recovery but their use must be undertaken with caution because of the propensity of runners to consider that the analgesic properties of the NSAIA group can be equated with evidence of suppression of the pathophysiology of the lesion, and therefore they can start to increase their training schedule thinking that the inflammation has settled because the knee is pain free. (Nickander R et al. 2005)

Some clinicians would recommend the use of steroid injections in the paratendon tissues. It has to be noted that this is contentious because of the risk of tendon damage if the steroid is injected into the wrong area.

Mr. C requires no immediate physical treatment. Indeed on an intuitive basis, physical treatment could be considered counterproductive as it could be viewed as reinforcing his aberrant adaptive and compensatory mechanisms by colluding in the physical nature of his pathology. By entrenching his position, the clinician could be actually aggravating the problem. Once confidently diagnosed, Mr. C should be promptly referred to a competent sports psychologist for treatment along the lines that we have outlined above.

Lecture to club

The first serious examination of sports injuries as a specific entity was carried out by William Haddon in 1962 (Haddon W et al. 1962). The growth in interest since then has been exponential. In terms of general observation about sports related injuries we can observe that it is generally accepted that one of the common predictive factors for an injury is a history of previous injury. (Watson A W 2001) ( Lee A J et al. 2001) Various studies have reported increased odds ranging from 1.6 to 9.4. (Chalmers D J 2002). In order to accommodate this information it is clearly important to know the other risk factors involved

The practical problem is that in order to assemble a coherent evidence base on this issue it is vital to have well designed and robust trials to consider. In short, there are very few of these. (Parkkari J et al. 2001). A critical analysis of the literature on the subject reveals that there is a surprising paucity of evidence for any significant preventative measure for sports injury. Part of the reason for this is that if there is anecdotal evidence that a procedure reduces the risk of injury then it is likely that a substantial proportion of participants will already be using it. This makes double blind trials almost impossible. Van Mechelen ran a trial of the prophylactic value of warming up and down only to find that over 90% of participants were using the technique already. (van Mechelen et al. 1993)

It is clearly of dubious ethical possibility, quite apart from a practical possibility to get a control group of athletes not to warm up just to see if they are more likely to get injured.

The management of sports injuries is therefore largely a combination of intuition based on anatomical and physiological principles, guided by experience and validated by what scientific evidence base there is on the subject.

The three case studies presented above have all occurred in similar status club runners for completely different reasons. This therefore exemplifies the need to undertake a holistic assessment of each case in order to be in a position to make a confident and accurate diagnosis. One should note that there are occasions when the injury or the pathology is blindingly obvious, but it is more common to have to undertake further investigations in order to firmly establish the diagnosis. Mr.A might require X-Rays to exclude a chip fracture of his lateral malleolus. Mr. B might require some blood tests to exclude a connective tissue disorder and Mr. C may need further assessment in order to be confident that there is no genuine physical pathology.

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