Martin Schnitzer

Quality of life, coach behaviour and competitive anxiety in Winter Youth Olympic Games participants

Background To ensure the highest technical performance, speed, safety, excellent control and to improve competitive performance, a successful regulation of competitive anxiety is necessary. Therefore, it seems crucial to identify factors influencing competitive anxiety of adolescent athletes. Research suggests that people reporting high quality of life are more capable to cope with stressful and challenging situations than others. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of quality of life, the involvement of parents in sports career and coachs leadership behaviour on competitive anxiety in Winter Youth Olympic Games participants. Methods During the first Winter Youth Olympic Games 2012 in Innsbruck/Austria, 662 (316 women) participants completed questionnaires and single items to assess quality of life, coachs leadership behaviour, parental involvement in sports career and competitive anxiety. Results Multiple regression analysis revealed positive influences of high quality of life and useful coach instruction on competitive anxiety. Conclusions The relationship between quality of life, coach behaviour and competitive anxiety in young elite athletes competing at the first Winter Youth Olympic Games should be considered in long-term programmes for reducing competitive stress.

Sports injuries and illnesses during the 2015 Winter European Youth Olympic Festival

Background The prevention of injury and illness remains an important issue among young elite athletes. Systematic surveillance of injuries and illnesses during multi-sport events might provide a valuable basis to develop preventive measures, focusing especially on adequate information for youth athletes. Aim To analyse the frequencies and characteristics of injuries and illnesses during the 2015 Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (W-EYOF). Methods All National Olympic Committees were asked to report daily the occurrence or non-occurrence of newly sustained injuries and illnesses on a standardised reporting form. Results Among the 899 registered athletes (37% female) with a mean age of 17.1±0.8 years, a total of 38 injuries and 34 illnesses during the 5 competition days of the W-EYOF were reported, resulting in an incidence of 42.3 injuries and 37.8 illnesses per 1000 athletes, respectively. Injury frequency was highest in snowboard cross (11%), Nordic combined (9%), alpine skiing (6%), and ice hockey (6%), taking into account the respective number of registered athletes. In snowboard cross, females showed a significant higher injury frequency compared to males (22% vs 4%, p=0.033). The lower back (16%), the pelvis (13%), the knee (11%), and the face (11%) were the most common injury locations. About 58% of injuries occurred in competition and about 42% in training. In total, 42% of injuries resulted in an absence of training or competition. The prevalence of illness was highest in figure skating (10%) and Nordic combined (9%), and the respiratory system was affected most often (53%). Conclusions Four per cent of the athletes suffered from an injury and 4% from illnesses during the 2015 W-EYOF, which is about twofold lower compared to the first Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012.

The Role of a Relative Age Effect in the 12th Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in 2015

The aim of this study was to define the role of the relative age effect in the 12th Winter European Youth Olympic Festival 2015. The birth dates of all 899 participants and anthropometric data of 655 participants were analyzed. A significant relative age effect was present in the total sample and among the male athletes but not in the female athletes. Additionally, a significant relative age effect was present in strength- and endurance-related sports but not in technique-related sports. Statistically significantly more older athletes won medals. Relative age had a strong influence on participation in strength- and endurance-related sports as well as on performance.

Athletes’ Expectations, Experiences, and Legacies of the Winter Youth Olympic Games Innsbruck 2012

The first Winter Youth Olympic Games held in Innsbruck in January 2012 attracted about 1,000 adolescent athletes aged between 14 and 18. At large-scale events such as the Youth Olympic Games, coaches, chefs de mission, and others accompany athletes and, therefore, gain a deeper insight into their behavior. This study aims at assessing young elite athletes’ perceptions of the Youth Olympic Games experience from the point-of-view of different stakeholder groups. Qualitative data was retrieved during the games from 12 athlete and 4 other stakeholder focus groups. The data analyzes sports and educational legacies and indicates that social leveraging is another central benefit for the young athletes.

Measuring the impacts of the Winter Youth Olympic Games 2012 the impact - stakeholder approach

Research on mega and other large-scale events started becoming popular more than 30 years ago, especially in the field of tourism and leisure. Scholars mainly discuss the economic impact of these events1 whereas studies commissioned by event organisers often attempt to justify the use of taxpayers’ money in staging these events.2 Literature reviews show that events may also create other impacts or, what is frequently defined as legacies , in the social, environmental, infrastructural, touristic or sporting fields. Legacy …

Politicians’ perspective on the community-related impacts of major sports events – a case study for Innsbruck-Tyrol

Abstract While scholarly attention with respect to the social impacts of sports events has increased in recent years, there is still little research discussing the wide-ranging community-related impacts stemming particularly from major sports events. Local political leaders, as (elected) representatives of the community, are important stakeholders within this context and face the challenge of balancing diverse interests in the implementation of major sports events. The purpose of this study is to assess the importance politicians attribute to event impacts that create sustainable outcomes for residents living in a host city. Based on a content analysis, a list of general event impacts (outputs and legacies) produced by major sports events was created and subsequently discussed with scholars and experts in the field to classify the criteria as community relevant or not. A final number of 56 criteria (34 of which are considered community relevant) was then used in the assessment of the politicians’ (representing either the State of Tyrol or the City of Innsbruck) attitude towards these impacts. The findings of the study indicate that, though aware of community interests, politicians nevertheless prioritize economic and touristic benefits for the host city/region such as place marketing. Moreover, politicians seem to have a better understanding of tangible impacts (e.g. infrastructure), underestimating the important intangible impacts (e.g. voluntariness) closely related to community issues. Thus, the research in hand outlines the need to sensitize governments to community interests when planning and implementing major sports events.

Youth multi-sport events in Austria: tourism strategy or just a coincidence?

ABSTRACT Impact and legacy research of touristic issues has become more popular with the appearance of manifold approaches to examining tourism. In recent years, the region of Western Austria has successfully staged multi-sport youth events, with two being staged in Innsbruck, Tyrol (YOG 2012; ICG 2016) and one in the region of Montafon, Vorarlberg (EYOF, 2015). This leads to the assumption that the high frequency of youth sports events in these regions necessitates and therefore also follows a set hosting policy or at least a strategic approach to event bidding and staging. To examine these assumptions, a mix of desk research and qualitative interviews was chosen, encompassing bidding files, final reports, official tourism statistics, press releases from tourism boards, political working papers, internal documents and interviews with organising committee members, event experts and political representatives. Staging youth sports events is found to have left legacies in Western Austria such as generating immediate overnight stays in the low season and creating a positive image for the host regions, depending on the frequency with which events are staged and affirming the purpose of using events to boost tourism. The host areas lacked a written (youth sport) strategy and unexpectedly, the existing strategies do not include the youth sports events. However, it can be assumed in the case of Innsbruck that a hidden event strategy exists. In conclusion, the study reveals the importance of sharing events and their benefits among the various local stakeholders, thus branding the region as a host city.

Do the Youth Olympic Games promote Olympism? Analysing a mission (im)possible from a local youth perspective

Abstract On the basis of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), we assess if and how the youth in the communities of the YOG host cities have been influenced concerning their perception of the Olympic values (OV) and the Olympic movement (OM). Special attention of the study is paid to the analysis of intervention mechanisms which the local youth underwent (e.g. attending the YOG on-site, participating in school programmes). Our study was conducted among 1004 adolescents living in the host region three years after the Innsbruck 2012 YOG had been staged. Our analyses extend the corresponding literature by (1) showing that the YOG and the involvement of the local youth in such an event have the power of creating an interest in the OM and its events, but do not have the power to influence the young citizens’ perception of the OV significantly; (2) illustrating that the perception adolescents have of the OV depend mainly on their socio-demographic background, their a priori interest in sports events, social capital (norms, institutional trust) and the extent to which the youngsters follow the event in the different media; and (3) corroborating the hypothesis that intervention programmes (e.g. school programmes) for promoting (Olympic) values and ideals should not be single, obligatory and isolated activities. We conclude that it is not surprising that the International Olympic Committee has reformulated the goals for the YOG in the Olympic Agenda 2020, as some goals relating to the promotion of the OV might have been a mission impossible.

Comparing the expectations, experiences and legacies of volunteers at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo 2011 and Val di Fiemme 2013

Volunteers play an important role in delivering events, especially events over a longer period of time. As example the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships (Nordic WSC) take place every two years in a member country of the International Ski Federation (FIS). These events usually last 12 days and combine competitions in cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic. Furthermore volunteers do also represent one of the biggest groups of stakeholders taking part at the event. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the experiences and legacies as perceived by volunteers at two events of the same type (Nordic WSC), but staged in two different places and two different cultural settings. Therefore, 29 volunteers were interviewed, whereat half at got interviewed at the FIS Nordic WSC Oslo ant the other half at the FIS Nordic WSC Val di Fiemme. The interviews underline that people volunteer for many different reasons, whereat Norwegian volunteers displayed a more individualistic orientation. Italian volunteers have a greater commitment to their local community. In addition Italian volunteers feel that FIS acknowledge them for the good organisation of the events. Other differences can be found in the field of community acknowledgement. Norwegian volunteers added that the Norwegian economy does not appreciate this type of experience and in Italy also Students had to volunteer, which was also appreciated by community. The results show that the retention rate may be higher in Val di Fiemme due to the WSC being a project-based undertaking. Hence, local community loyalty or simple hobbies could show an increase in retention. For future events further research should be undertaken in this field of research.