In this article we consider the development of parkour in the South of England and its use in public policy debates and initiatives around youth, physical activity and risk. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with participants and those involved in the development of parkour in education, sport policy and community-based partnerships, we explore the potential of parkour to engage communities, particularly those traditionally excluded from mainstream sport and physical education provision. We discuss how the perceived success of parkour in these different contexts is related to the culture and ethos of the activity that is more inclusive, anticompetitive and less rule-bound than most traditional sports, and to its ability to provide managed risk-taking. More broadly, the article highlights the emergence of lifestyle sports as tools for policymakers and the potential role these nontraditional, non-institutionalized lifestyle sports can make in terms of encouraging youth engagement, physical health and well-being. Our article therefore contributes to ongoing debates about the (in)ability of traditional sports to meet government targets for sport and physical activity participation
In spite of the well-known benefits that have been shown, few studies have looked at the practical applications of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on athletic performance. This study investigated the effects of a HIIT program compared to traditional continuous endurance exercise training. 24 hockey players were randomly assigned to either a continuous or high-intensity interval group during a 4-week training program. The interval group (IG) was involved in a periodized HIIT program. The continuous group (CG) performed moderate intensity cycling for 45-60 min at an intensity that was 65% of their calculated heart rate reserve. Body composition, muscle thickness, anaerobic power, and on-ice measures were assessed pre- and post-training. Muscle thickness was significantly greater in IG (p=0.01) when compared to CG. The IG had greater values for both ∆ peak power (p<0.003) and ∆ mean power (p<0.02). Additionally, IG demonstrated a faster ∆ sprint (p<0.02) and a trend (p=0.08) for faster ∆ endurance test time to completion for IG. These results indicate that hockey players may utilize short-term HIIT to elicit positive effects in muscle thickness, power and on-ice performance.
In this essay we seek to engage with the emerging research agenda related to the analysis of deviant activities performed in times and spaces conventionally associated with leisure. Using a reading of Mikhail Bakhtin’s seminal work on the governmental structures informing medieval festivals, we suggest that much leisure research has misunderstood the role of deviance in the performance of social relations. Rather than the superficial commodification arguments routinely advanced on behalf of Bakhtin, we argue that his work reveals a much deeper message about the hegemonic regulatory function performed by the licensing of deviant practices within such festivals. With reference to the contemporary example of the regulation of public sexual practices, we argue that the public legitimation (and relaxed policing) of private ‘deviance’ (performed in public places) is a cornerstone of the enduring governmental tactics used to licence illicit behaviours according to strict temporal and spatial boundaries. We conclude that Bakhtin’s work remains highly relevant to the deconstruction of contemporary social relations, but through the analysis of, for example, the ‘playful deviance’ of illicit sexual practice, rather than through simplistic comparisons of medieval and contemporary festivals
This paper addresses recreational conflict between anglers and boaters in England. While recognising that interpersonal conflicts between individual anglers and boaters exist much as they do in other countries, the paper argues that the position in England is mediated through complex land and property rights that position the stakeholders asymmetrically, as legal rights holders (anglers) and moral rights claimants (boaters). Under this scenario, negotiated attempts to increase access for boaters are interpreted not primarily as a means of addressing the asymmetry, but as a mechanism for underwriting the dominant property power of the anglers. Using data collected from focus groups involving stakeholders the paper suggests that, in cases where recreational access to natural resources is mediated through socio-political institutions such as law, weaker stakeholders have very limited options in terms of the legal or social mechanisms through which the can pursue or assert their claims.
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