Aleš Sekot

Sport and Physical Activities in the Czech Republic

Sport and Physical Activities in the Czech Republic The situation on the field of physical/sportive activities in Czech Republic has been affected in the course of recent decades with fundamental political, economical and cultural changes of transforming society and general situation of workforce in context of sedentary society in particular. To contribute to increasing knowledge of the present-day position of sport in the Czech Republic means to search the relevant relations of municipalities and their policies to various levels of sport. To discuss the situation of sport includes describing the present position and role of sport activities in different societal and demografic parts of society too. From the perspective of the situation in sport delivery at the municipal level it must be borne in mind that there are diverse voluntary sports organizations in existence within the municipality, and, naturally, there is also the private sector. Underlying health determinants of a socioeconomic nature play a major role in causing vulnerability to health risks, including obesity as relevant negative reflection of passive way of life. Representative documents retrieved on national and school policies reflected by findings of the PREVOB Project confirmed mutually dependent and interconnected topical issues like nutrition policy and physical activity policy. The phenomenon of physical/sportive activity is connected with lifestyle behaviours. The most critical policy area on physical/sportive activity is the sole fact of sedentary nature of contemporary society: a very high level of prestige of sport and sportive activities in Czech society is incompatible with a very low level of practical regular physical or sport activities.

Lifestyle and Living Physical Activity as a Part of an Active Way of Life in the Czech Republic

Lifestyle and Living Physical Activity as a Part of an Active Way of Life in the Czech Republic An integral part of a reasonable, creative, valuable, and positive way of life is also personal responsibility for individual physical and psychical shape and good health: a sound state of body and soul, freedom from disease, bodily conditions, and a wish for health and happiness. In this context we are increasingly aware of the great importance of sport not only as a part of mass culture, but broadly understood, for individual and social health and well-being. Physical activity of people plays an increasingly more important role in scientific interest regarding the way of life of contemporary society, and it is a very important factor in the process of officiating the level of a healthy and active lifestyle, quality of life, and health in general. The indispensable role of physical activity in the course of human life is permanently and scientifically confirmed in the context of the prevention of obesity. The development of a sedentary life style is the result of a socialization process towards physical inactivity developed in youth and continued into adulthood. At the present we face in our cultural settings an apparent tendency: people are more and more individualized, losing the beneficial impacts of community activities, involved in passive way of life, and lacking proper level of physical activities and active sport. The phenomenon of physical activity has also been considered from the perspective of the EURO-PRE-VOB project: accenting built environmental as an aspect of way of life. The Czech Republic is, on the level of mass sport, strongly influenced by the existence of new development of the city structure, including fitness centres, bicycling paths, roller-skating stadiums, beach volleyball playing fields, and golf courses. The national support of sport is, nowadays, divided into the support of top sports, performance sports, and new waves in sports (e.g. sports for everyone - for all), sports for school, which are then on the regional level (and by the various sport organizations) subsidized from other sources and, moreover, not coordinately.

Fair Play in the Perspective of Contemporary Sport

Fair Play in the Perspective of Contemporary Sport Sport as a socio-cultural phenomenon of modern times is often portrayed as a renaissance of the Olympic ideals. Today, however, we can see that sports in many cases contributes to the emancipation process, particularly in developing countries, offers opportunities for strengthening national identity and fosters respect for state symbols. A wider context of applying the principle of fair play in sports has its indisputable philosophical and ethical dimensions. The first expresses the widening gap between high performance sports and recreational sports. The importance of schools in the value modeling of the principle of fair play in general and at the level of sports is given by the fact that their very nature is aimed at socialization and education. Olympic Movement must ensure that the Olympic Games preserve both the Olympic values and the principles of protecting the environment, respond to the needs of the young generation of athletes and enhance gender equality and equal opportunities.

Physical Activity as a Sociological Phenomenon

Physical Activity as a Sociological Phenomenon We are living in a time when society, culture and science have become increasingly aware of the great importance of sport not only as a part of mass culture, but broadly understood, for individual and social health and well-being. Physical activity of people plays an increasingly more important role in scientific interest regarding way of life found in contemporary society; it is a crucial factor in the process of officiating the level of healthy and active lifestyles, quality of life, and health in general. An indispensable role of physical activity in the course of human life is also confirmed, both permanently and scientifically, in the context of obesity prevention. The development of a sedentary lifestyle is the result of a socialization process that is developed at youth and continued into adulthood, and leads to physical inactivity. At the present we face in our cultural settings an apparent trend: People are becoming more and more individualized, losing the beneficial impact of community activities, involved in passive way of life that lacks a proper level of physical activities and active sport. The phenomenon of physical activity has also been considered from the perspective of the Project EURO-PREVOB, highlighting built environmental aspects of ways of life.

Violence in Sports

Abstract Sport, as an important socio-cultural phenomenon, fascinates so many people because it performs its compensatory function as an opposite pole to the killing stereotype of the “predictability of life”. Sometimes violence and bad behaviour in sports can be understood as an effective way of bringing about victory. Thus, the medialized top-level sports that are attractive to spectators are seen as a possible outlet for human aggression: today’s medialized sports provide an experience of suspense rather than relaxation. In this context, four basic types of violence within the field of sports should be mentioned: brutal physical contact, borderline violence, semi-criminal violence and criminal violence. Strength-requiring highperformance sports sometimes use harsh physical contact in various manifestations of violence, brutality or intimidation as a part of the game strategy. Criminal or semi-criminal behaviour is condemned, while brutal physical contact on the verge of violence has become part of the rules of the game. The existence of violence among spectators evokes a number of questions. Perhaps the most cardinal one is: does sport provoke violence among spectators/viewers? Today, attention is paid to negative phenomena in the field of sports, particularly in the context of various forms and manifestations of deviation. However, it has to be taken into account the fact that diverse socio-cultural environments evaluate the same phenomena or behaviour in different ways, and consequently also apply different criteria regarding what constitutes deviation. In the field of sport, deviation is a behaviour that grossly violates the principles of fair play since it is a behaviour that is aggressive, often unlawful but tolerated, and in many cases is inflicted on purpose. As a symbol of the ideas of society, sport is seen as one of the most important markers of the identity of today’s world. Be it parents of children doing sports, fans of “their” teams, trainers of athletes: they all express typical emotions reflecting the present importance of sport. Tears of defeat and euphoria of victory provide evidence of the passion of sport. Captivated TV viewers, people crowding in front of giant open-air screens, the “boiling cauldrons” of sport stadiums, all these illustrate today’s culture of sports, and the nature of our contemporary world. It has been suggested that for fans of sport who are usually passive as regards physical exercise, sport can also create a source of grudges and hostility. Fanship in the field of top-performance sport that is attractive to the media (but also outside its framework) may both bring people together and also divide them due to an intensified polarization of likes and dislikes. In this context it is possible to define three large groups of sports fanship: sports spectators, sports fans and hooligans (hoolifans).

Sport mobility in a changing Europe: a global aspect

Abstract Modern sport is bound up in a global network of interdependency. Sport involvement in a changing Europe is an integral part of such a process: we can face an evident growth of the popularity of sport events and leisure clothing and intensification of a process of mutual relations of sports and mass media. Mutual relations of sport and globalization are not reflected directly, linearly and well balanced. In the emergence and diffusion of global sport, we face cultural structured processes of sophistication, rationalization and valorization of human expressiveness enhancing sport ethics associated with success and ultimate performance. The emergence of inequalities within and outside Europe produces a global sport power elite. Global sport as a mediator of global values has technological, migrational, economical, medial and ideological dimensions and implications. The sport and leisure industry can also be used to highlight how people’s consumption of cultural goods is bound to global processes. Cultural tastes in this context may not be totally controllable, but they can be heavily influenced. At this period of European history we have to remark an occurrence of sport labour migration and remind related problems of the production of indigenous sporting talent and respective exploitation of people from non-EU societies. Labour migration is an integral and established feature of the sporting scene. This movement of people changing their place or even position of their place of residence involves athletes, but also included coaches, officials, administrators and sport scientists. This accelerating phenomenon reflects a movement of sport people both within and between nations and continents. In the sociological centre of attention are in this context mostly questions tracing the patterns in sport migration, how and why these patterns occur, and what meaning and significance this migration has for those involved – either as “hosts” or “migrants”. We can postulate questions about attractiveness of given component sports for migrants, what professional athletes mostly experience along their journeys, what is the impact on host and donor countries. For most sport migrants their status and market value is derived from the ethos of hard work, differential rewards and win-at-all-costs approach.

Pohybové aktivity studentů VŠB-TU Ostrava v kontextu sedavé společnosti

Prezentace výzkumu pohybových aktivit v kontextu univerzitni tělesne výchovy na Vysoke skole baňske Technicke univerzitě v Ostravě.

Sociology of Sport: Conceptual and Topical Issues

Sociology of Sport: Conceptual and Topical Issues This paper is intended to encourage students and readers in general to think more critically about sports and how they are related to contemporary society. We emphasize socialization impacts of sports as well as increasing process of organization, commercialisation, and globalisation of sports. Sports are social constructions and particularly in a form presented in mass media are an integral part of modern way of life. It carries pleasure as well as sadness for millions of people. Sports are institutionalised competitive activities that involve rigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participant motivation, by personal enjoyment and external rewards. Global aspects of contemporary sports are discussed from the point of view of their technological, economical, medial and ideological dimensions.