University students will play an important role in making decisions that will affect the environment, as future leaders of our society. Their level of sensitivity and environmental knowledge will play an important role in adequately facing future challenges. This article aims to measure the sustainability awareness of a sample of future graduates in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences in Spain. The literature supports that the sensitivity of these students can be estimated by using the Spanish adaptation of the SCQ-S. This allows for establishing the level of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour pertaining to sustainability in three dimensions: environmental, social and economic. The sample consisted of 170 students (58.8% males; 41.2% females) with a mean age of 20.5 years (±4.039). The overall Cronbach’s alpha showed a fairly good value (α = 0.836). The same was true for the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test values (KMO = 0.816) and Bartlett’s sphericity test (p < 0.001). The knowledge construct (4.56 ± 0.53) was the highest descriptive, followed by attitude (4.12 ± 0.59). The lowest value was behaviour (3.79 ± 0.66). By gender, girls obtained the highest sensitivity indexes. In addition, the place of habitual residence and physical activity in the natural environment were related to the overall behaviour of the university students. It is concluded that being in active contact with the natural environment allows us to have a higher level of awareness.
Understanding the future intentions of individuals who are part of a sport organization is a critical step for the success and the accomplishment of the goals of such organizations, particularly for sporting events that highly depend on the work of volunteers. Therefore, it is important to determine which factors motivate an individual to volunteer, as well as the intentions volunteers have to continue volunteering for sporting events or other similar organizations. This study conducted a systematic review of literature on studies that have examined the motivation and future intentions of volunteering in sporting events. The PRISMA methodology was used to develop this review. It included 30 studies from 2007 to 2020, and all the studies examined these two constructs using different types of quantitative methodologies. Moreover, most of these studies were conducted by scholars in the United States and Australia, and the VMS-ISE was the most used instrument for collecting data. Many of the studies did not include a theoretical framework relating motivation and future intentions to other constructs. The results of this systematic review provide new insights regarding the state of studies that have examined future intentions related to volunteering in sporting events, particularly regarding how to plan future investigations of volunteers’ motivation and future intention in the context of sporting events.
Small-scale sports events are a good strategy for communities seeking to attract visitors and are one of the major attractions of sustainable sports tourism. The aim of this study to determine which factors influence the future intentions of the tourist involved in small-scale sports events. The sample was composed of 236 subjects who participated in a half-marathon in Spain. The results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) provide support for the applicability of the tourists’ perception questionnaire in the context of sports events. The results of both validity (convergent and discriminant) and reliability (internal consistency) analyses were satisfactory. The results indicated that this scale had 18 items distributed in six factors (communication, staff, electronic wordofmouth, destination image, satisfaction and future intentions). The proposal model revealed that satisfaction is a mediated factor between staff and destination image with future intentions of repeating the event. Electronic word of mouth and satisfaction were influencing factors that predicted the tourists’ future intentions. This finding suggests that this questionnaire can be a useful tool in measuring tourist perception on a small-scale sports events scale, allowing a better understanding of the reasons that lead a tourist to select a certain destination and sports event.
Background: In the last two decades, the use of technology has been incorporated into taekwondo, changing the rules of the sport to employ a more objective scoring system. The current electronic Protection Scoring Systems (PSS) include sensors that register the number and power of the hits scored, but these may interfere with athlete’s techniques and tactics. This study aimed to analyze the technical-tactical differences in elite taekwondoists using two different PSS. Methods: We systematically observed 112 combats involving 224 athletes, and their actions were registered and analyzed using contingency tables. Results: Eight hundred twenty-seven effective actions were tagged, and differences were found in the types of kicks performed using different PSS. For the total sample, there were differences between PSS in technical actions (X2 = 36.08(10); p < 0.01; V = 0.21), tactical actions (X2 = 10.73(3); p < 0.05; V = 0.11), and hitting side (X2 = 30.97(1); p < 0.01; V = 0.19). In men, the differences in techniques and tactics between different PSS were found in technical actions (X2 = 27.15(10); p < 0.01; V = 0.25), guard position (X2 = 14.94(1); p < 0.01; V = 0.18), and hitting side (X2 = 11.07(1); p < 0.01; V = 0.16), while in women, significant differences were found in technical actions (X2 = 37.03(8); p < 0.01; V = 0.32), tactical actions (X2 = 24.45(3); p < 0.01; V = 0.26), guard position (X2 = 3.95(1); p < 0.05; V = 0.10), hitting side (X2 = 19.27(1); p < 0.01; V = 0.23), and laterality (X2 = 16.32(3); p < 0.01; V = 0.21). Conclusions: The present study evidenced a difference in the technical-tactical behavior of elite taekwondoists as a result of the PSS used in combat, with more marked differences in female athletes. These findings also suggest the need to adapt and review the PSS to effectively score in the same way.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has paralysed whole countries, which have had to confine their entire population and this changed people’s lives worldwide. The aim of this study is to identify the reasons for and the level of commitment to physical activity among the Spanish population during confinement and the return to the “new normal”. A sample of 1025 amateurs, 534 males and 491 females with an average age of 35 years old were interviewed using an online survey that collected their motives for practising sport and their commitment to physical activity. A cluster analysis combining hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods was performed, identifying three groups of amateurs: High Commitment (n = 650), Moderate Commitment (n = 324), and Low Commitment (n = 81). The main motives shown by the different groups were psychological motives related to an improved or managed general or emotional well-being. Regarding commitment, all the groups showed higher scores in enthusiasm for physical activity than affliction from sport. The variables referring to gender, educational level and sports habits showed differences that enabled the identification of the different groups. These findings highlight the importance of conducting segmentation studies that provide specific population profiles to improve the action strategies of governments and specialists.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the paralysis of the worldwide economy caused by the population’s lockdown to stop the virus spreading, making it difficult to do exercise. The aim of this study is to analyse the commitment to and feeling of insecurity related to practising sport, sports habits and the profile of the Spanish population during lockdown according to the level of addiction to exercise. The sample consisted of 1019 subjects with a mean age of 35 years old. The variables analysed were exercise addiction, commitment to and feeling of insecurity related to sport, and sport habits. Three groups were identified according to their addiction level to exercise: asymptomatic (n = 202), symptomatic (n = 756), and at risk of addiction (n = 61). The main results indicated that a higher addiction level was associated with a higher number of days and time spent on exercise per week. Six percent of the subjects were at addiction risk, and they had a lower feeling of insecurity towards sport. These findings provide information to governments on the need to promote physical activity programmes at home to promote adequate fitness and mental wellbeing in the population.