The Professionalization Of Action Sports

Action sports have undergone dramatic growth, commercialization, and institutionalization over recent decades. This book uncovers the social, political, economic and organizational dynamics of their professionalization. After sketching some of the main transformations at stake in the field, the contributors provide novel insights into the changing structures in the action sports industry and the effects on athletes, coaches, agents and the cultures more broadly. Such trends came to the fore in the inclusion of surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and BMX freestyle into the Tokyo Olympic Games. The book explores the working lives of action sports athletes, more specifically when it comes to their social media practices and the commercial pressure emerging from sponsors, and it also provides key insights into the institutionalization and professionalization of action sports amid ongoing processes of globalization, commodification and incorporation. Overall, the book reveals how different action sports (i.e., snowboarding, surfing, kiteboarding, parkour, climbing, skateboarding), and across countries, are at various stages in the professionalization process, with local, national and international responses and reactions to such trends differing considerably. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

The inclusion of action sports in the Olympic Games and gaining popularity may necessitate a professionalization of the associated sports organizations to effectively tackle the challenges and meet the expectations of various stakeholders. This study explores the professionalization of action sports newly included in the Olympics by focusing on skateboarding and surfing in South Korea. Data for this study included semi-structured interviews with key individuals (n = 17) and archival materials. The findings indicate that Olympic inclusion triggered the sports' professionalization at the field- and organizational-levels. There were changes in the institutional environment for the sports at the field-level, and the sports' central organizations underwent structural and procedural changes. This research provides implications to action sports organizations and stakeholders, especially those in countries where action sports are less popular, who wish to leverage the Olympic inclusion of their sports as an opportunity to establish a more professionalized system for sports.

Based on a decade of research by two leading action sports scholars, this book maps the relationship between action sports and the Olympic Movement, from the inclusion of the first action sports to those featuring for the first time in the Tokyo Olympic Games and beyond. In an effort to remain relevant to younger audiences, four new action sports, surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and BMX freestyle were included in the Tokyo Olympic program. Drawing upon interviews with Olympic insiders, as well as leaders, athletes, and participants in these action sports communities, the book details the impacts on the action sports industry and cultures, and offers national comparisons to show the uneven effects resulting from Olympic inclusion. It reveals the intricate workings of power and politics in contemporary sports organisations, and maps key trends in this changing sporting landscape. Action Sports and the Olympic Games is a fascinating read for anybody studying the Olympics, the sociology of sport, action sports, or sport policy.

This book examines how different stages of adult life affect participation in lifestyle sports and in the construction of identity. Drawing on multi-disciplinary perspectives, it explores how gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and location, in conjunction with age and stage in career, affect lifestyle sport practices and meanings. Tracing engagement with lifestyle sport across the lifecourse, from young adult to older age, the book examines the concepts of authenticity and identity in subcultural and alternative sports, exploring how individuals develop lifestyle sport identities, maintain authentic identities, and how they manage those identities as older adults. It presents a range of fascinating, cutting-edge case studies from around the world, covering sports as diverse as climbing, surfing, mountain biking, skateboarding and roller derby, and considers key contemporary issues such as professionalisation, sports labor, and digital technology. It also highlights political tensions and shifts that shape the identities of lifestyle sport communities. This is essential reading for anybody with a serious interest in alternative or lifestyle sports, the relationships between sport and wider society, or the development of subcultures and cultural identity.

This book addresses important topics of coaching in order to better understand what sports coaching is and the challenges that arise when assuming this activity. It provides the reader with useful insights to the field of sports coaching, and discusses topics such as coaching education, areas of intervention, and main challenges. With contributions by experts and well-known authors in the field, this volume presents an up-to-date picture of the scholarship in the coaching field. It introduces key aspects on the future of the science of coaching and provides coach educators, researchers, faculty, and students with new perspectives on topics within the field to help improve their coaching effectiveness.

With sport sustaining a prominent place in international development policymaking, discourse and delivery, this comprehensive Handbook provides a contemporary, multi-disciplinary overview of state-of-the-art scholarship in this critical space. It investigates the role that different sport initiatives – from community-focused projects to large-scale events – can play across a great variety of development contexts.

The Routledge Handbook of Coach Development in Sport is a comprehensive text that underscores the importance of learning and context for those who sculpt the environment in which people of all ages develop in and through sport. Coaches and those responsible for the development of coaches are best positioned as both learners and facilitators of learning. As sport becomes more globalised, the concomitant professionalisation of coaches necessitates ongoing learning and development to embrace new knowledge and understanding. Moreover, contemporary coach development presents as a wicked problem, in that it continues to evolve, it is contextually bound, and there is no single or obvious way to approach it. Problematically, there is often limited assistance available to support coaches and coach developers in their ongoing development. As such, this book provides a truly international reference point that brings together leading scholars and practitioners from across the globe to provide an overview of the theories and practices of coaches and coach developers that are impacting the quality of sporting environments. Therefore, this book is an important reference for researchers, scholars, and practitioners alike in the fields of Sport Coaching, Coach Development, Sport Development, Sport for Development, Physical Education and related disciplines.

With comprehensive, highly visual coverage designed for sports clinicians, team physicians, sports medicine fellows, primary care physicians, and other health care professionals who provide care to athletes and active individuals, Netter’s Sports Medicine, 3rd Edition, is an ideal resource for everyday use. Editors include three past presidents of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, it includes contributions from world-renowned experts as well as a rich illustration program with many classic paintings by Frank H. Netter, MD. From Little League to professional sports, weekend warriors to Olympic champions, and backcountry mountainside to the Super Bowl field, this interdisciplinary reference is indispensable in the busy outpatient office, in the training room, on the sidelines, and in preparation for sports medicine board certification. More than 1,000 superb Netter graphics, tables, figures, pictures, diagnostic images, and other medical artwork highlight easy-to-read, bulleted text. New coverage of esports, as well as other key topics such as travel considerations for the athlete, EKG interpretation, cardiac disease, diagnostic imaging and ultrasound, injury prevention protocols, and mixed martial arts. Up-to-date information on nutritional supplements, eating disorders, sports and pharmacology for chronic conditions and behavioral medicine, and extreme and adventure sports. Designed for quick reference, with a logical organization by both topic and sport. Online features include downloadable patient education handouts, and handy links.