Human rights violations in sports reveal that athletes are continuously exposed to violence. In Korea, the negative effects of its sports powerhouse paradigm are increasingly apparent. Although discussions on human rights in sports have progressed, academic research on this has not. Sourcing information from Korea’s Press Foundation’s big data news system from 2006 to 2023, this study used term frequency, term frequency-inverse document modeling, topic term matrix extraction through latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), and LDAvis to analyze sports human rights issues and policies over time. The results revealed topics in three timeframes: in the first policy establishment period (2006–2010), the topics ranged from “Sports Human Rights Education” to “Minimum Education for Student Athletes”. In the policy transition period (2011–2018), the topics included “Strengthening Sports Human Rights Education”, “Women’s Human Rights Issues in Sports”, and “Government-Level Investigation into Sportsdom Controversies”; and in the second policy establishment period (2019–2023), the topics included “Athlete Harassment”, “Sportsdom #MeToo Movement”, “Guarantee of Student Human Rights Convenience Facilities”, and “Guarantee of Sports Human Rights”. Better mid- to long-term plans, national efforts, and education that improve awareness of human rights in sports are needed for sustainability.

OBJECTIVES This study aims to explore how Esports can serve as a form of welfare for the senior generation, focusing on its impact on their cultural, recreational, and health-related well-being.METHODS A review of literature and case studies on Esports participation among senior citizens was conducted. Domestic and international examples were analyzed to identify potential benefits and challenges.RESULTS Findings indicate that Esports can enhance social participation, cognitive engagement, and recreational satisfaction for seniors. The generational familiarity with digital technology supports the integration of Esports into senior welfare programs.CONCLUSIONS Esports has the potential to become a valuable tool for improving the cultural and recreational welfare of the senior population. As seniors increasingly embrace digital lifestyles, Esports initiatives tailored to their needs could contribute to their overall well-being.

Continual exercise has become an important concept for mental as well as physical health, with sporting industries and communities interested in promoting exercise adherence. This study examined the causal relationship among sports ability-beliefs, achievement goal orientation, and exercise adherence among Korean recreational golfers. Data from 806 golfers were collected after Institutional Review Board deliberation and approval. To reflect the characteristics of frequent participation, golfers were limited to those who had been registered members of a golf practice facility for more than three months. The measurements included the sports ability-belief scale, the achievement goal orientation scale, and the exercise adherence scale, with evidence of construct validity based on confirmatory factor analysis. The research questions were verified through a measurement model and structural model validation. The results showed that the learning factor under incremental beliefs explained task orientation (β = 0.417, p < 0.001). Conversely, the gift factor under entity beliefs explained ego orientation (β = 0.169, p < 0.001). Thus, the significant relationship between learning and task orientation implied that consistent practice and effort in golf could enhance the positive meaning of golf participation and the perception of achievement in golfers. Conversely, the static explanation of ego orientation of gift suggested that individuals with strong beliefs in their innate golf abilities or the influence of their motor skills on golf performance experienced a sense of achievement by comparing themselves with others. Secondly, when the sub factors of sports ability-beliefs were controlled, both task orientation (β = 0.420, p < 0.001) and ego orientation (β = 0.159, p < 0.001) were statistically significant in terms of exercise adherence. Thirdly, in the relationship between sports ability-beliefs and exercise adherence, both task orientation (indirect effect: 0.074, p < 0.001) and ego orientation (indirect effect: 0.012, p < 0.05) had complete mediation effects. Ultimately, the study confirmed that the relevance of sports ability-beliefs and achievement goal orientation for exercise adherence in elite sports could also be applicable in the realm of recreational sports.

Background: Adolescence is when health behaviors, namely, physical activity (PA), mental health, and hygiene management, are established. As the young represent our future societal welfare, their health requires attention, particularly in the face of a pandemic. We explored changes in Korean adolescent PA, mental health, and hygiene management before and after the COVID-19 pandemic to identify recommendations for improving adolescent health. Methods: We collected 2019–2021 data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency for 166,590 middle and high school students (2019: 57,069; 2020: 54,809; 2021: 54,712). We analyzed seven variables (regular PA, high-intensity PA, and strength exercise participation, stress recognition, sleep-time satisfaction, brushing practice, and handwashing practice) to examine changes in adolescent behavior during these years. Results: The findings indicated statistically significant differences in all seven variables over the three years (P<0.05). Specifically, regular PA was higher in 2019 and 2021 than in 2020; high-intensity PAs were highest in 2019, followed by 2021 and 2020; strength exercises were the highest in 2020, followed by 2021 and 2019; stress recognition was higher in 2019 and 2021 than in 2020; sleep-time satisfaction was the highest in 2020, followed by 2021 and 2019; brushing practice was the highest in 2019, followed by 2020 and 2021; and handwashing practice was the highest in 2020, followed by 2021 and 2019. Conclusion: The results recommend the need to encourage structured moderate-to-vigorous adolescent PA and systematic health education to improve Korean adolescent health behavior after COVID-19.

In contemporary society, the discourse on body image is increasingly emerging as a notable social issue. In particular, the body positivity movement is promoting healthy body image and self-esteem through various means. This study was conducted to analyze the discourse on sustainable body image in Korean society. User-generated content from 1 January 2014 to 31 July 2023 underwent data refinement and term frequency (TF), TF–inverse document frequency (TF–IDF), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) analyses. The number of blog posts in 2020 was nearly triple the number in 2019. Thus, the analysis period was divided into first (from 2014 to 2019) and second (from 2020 to 31 July 2023) periods. The TF–IDF analysis showed that shooting, photo, diet, exercise, goal, and challenge were among the top words in the first period, while Instagram-related words were mosr frequent in the second period. This finding suggested that social distancing policies significantly affected social media usage. The LDA analysis revealed five topics that were common in the first and second periods and three topics that emerged in the second period. Overall, while Western societies tend to idealize specific body types, body image discourse in Korea is centered around exercise as a means to achieve “photography” or “photo shoot”-related goals. Exercise is perceived as an activity performed for pleasure rather than attaining a particular body shape. Furthermore, there is a desire to document one’s body beautifully and maintain exercise habits in the long run. The results of this study could serve as foundational material for establishing and sustaining a positive body image culture.

This study investigated whether machine learning could classify baseball-hitting techniques and whether artificial intelligence feedback could improve the motor task outcome and movement coordination. For the machine learning model, 48 skilled athletes and 440 novices were recruited. A support vector machine was used as a machine learning method for skill classification. For the pre-test, practice, post-test, and retention tests in motor learning, additional 42 general adolescents were recruited, aside from the already included 488 participants. Motor learning participants were randomly divided into three groups: a control group (N = 14), an artificial intelligence feedback (AIfb) group (N = 14), and a general feedback (Gfb) group (N = 14). Machine learning successfully classified the skill level of baseball hitting. The absolute error of the launch angle was smallest in the Gfb group during the post-test, while the variable error showed the greatest decrease in the AIfb group. The exit velocity was higher in the AIfb than in the Gfb group after practice. The AIfb group exhibited the highest ratio of sequential accelerations among the pelvis-torso-left elbow joints. The number of principal components decreased to three and two in the AIfb and Gfb groups, respectively. As for the loading data, AIfb commonly included the upper limbs, pelvis, and the lower limbs in the group with coordinated movements; for Gfb, after motor learning, the coordination pattern of the lower limbs was eliminated, and the coordination pattern involving only the upper limbs was also removed after practice. Consequently AIfb contributed to improved movement coordination and could effectively change the dynamical degrees of freedom. This technology could benefit coaching in a real-life setting and aid in understanding the human movement coordination structure.