Invited Session: Urban Sport Landscape
Post by Karin Book.
The local organizers of the ECSS Congress 2015 in Malmö will endeavour to increase the number of sessions and presentations – of all kinds – within the Social Sciences & Humanities area. To that end we will utilize the blog to present some of the sessions, and later presentations, in this area.
Sport takes place – in huge purpose-built arenas, in sports grounds, sports halls, squares, parks, from one wall to another and in the fitness centre. Or, it doesn’t take place due to spatial deficits. The urban landscape and urban planning trends effect the opportunities for sports and physical activities, as well as the other way around; sport and activity trends effect the way the urban sport landscape develops. Sport should be understood in its widest sense. In this session the Urban Sport Landscape will be discussed from several different perspectives, from two perspectives:
The global sport landscapes in an urban context: spectacularisation of sports arenas, the popularity of sports events and the arena development linked to this, sense of place versus global sport trends, urban development effects of arena investments, etc.
The everyday sport landscapes in an urban context: the spatial opportunities and trends of everyday physical activity and sport. Included in this is active transports, the importance of green spaces, trends like skate boarding and parkour using the urban landscape in new ways, spatial aspects of the running trend, urban development effects of investments in everyday sport structures, etc.
Chair: Bo Carlsson, Professor, Department of sport sciences, Malmö University
Hans Westerbeek and Larissa Davies.
Invited speakers:
- Sport and ‘Glocal’ Urbanisation. Looking for Novel Sport Markets
Hans Westerbeek, Professor of Sport Business, Dean, College of Sport and Exercise Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Victoria University
- Who’s legacy? The urban development effects of investment in sports infrastructure
Dr Larissa Davies, Reader in Sport Management, Sheffield Hallam University - Planning for activity – Linking physical activity trends and urban development trends
Dr Karin Book, Senior lecturer in sport sciences, Malmö University
Excited to experience the best of Scandinavia – preparations are full on
Post by Tuulia Hokkanen
The headquarters of the European College of Sport Science together with the technical team visited the host city of the 20th annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science.
It is stunning to see how much the city of Malmö has developed in the past few years! The first time the ECSS Office visited Malmö was 2010 and at that time the Clarion Hotel and Congress Malmö Live was just a dream on paper. Now in November 2014 you can already recognize the huge construction when stepping outside from the Central Station. The congress venue really is centrally located!
ECSS office and the technical team at Turning Torso, Malmö.
During this three-day-trip to Malmö the ECSS Office met a lot of people from the local hosting team. The invited programme is already available on the congress website and the congress programme as a whole will be available 1st of April next year. The social programme is now finalized, demonstrating the diversity of Malmö as well as Swedish traditions. The city of Malmö will showcase the best of Scandinavia to the participants of the 20th annual congress of the ECSS.
Malmö by bike – and day.
At the Malmö Live the construction of the buildings has been remarkable! Now it was already possible to locate session rooms and reception accurately and it was necessary to get the feeling of the space that was available for us. We almost could imagine the plus 2.500 ECSS congress participants walking through the hallways and mingling in the exhibition areas.
Working on a building…
The congress presidents Susanna Hedenborg and Aage Radmann were terrific guides for the ECSS Office and we got to experience Malmö at its best! Even though the weather was a bit cloudy and rainy, bikes still were the best option to get around the city. Malmö is full of amazing restaurants and pubs. Especially the Little Square (Lilla Torget) will be an amazing place to hang out in the summer and enjoy the unique Swedish atmosphere, hospitality and culinary treats.
Carefully considering the whole situation.
Malmö is a great city. It has something to offer for everyone and especially as a sport enthusiastic it provides countless opportunities to exercise and enjoy physical activity. There are many parks in the city area, which give a great opportunity for a calm morning run. In addition, all the water sports and skateboarding are extremely popular. Still in November the salty sea provided a great platform for a morning dip – with or without sauna.
The congress party of the 20th annual congress will be a night to remember! Keep your eyes open and follow us on twitter to get the first hand information about the location! It will be announced early next year.
Getting an eyeful of Malmö dockside development.
We are looking forward to the 20th anniversary congress of the ECSS and are hoping to see you all there!
Please find more images of Malmö from our Flickr account and visit the congress website for more information.
Tuulia Hokkanen
Communication and Media Manager, ECSS
FEPSAC invited session: The development of expertise and competencies of applied sport psychologists in Europe
Post by Urban Johnson.
The local organizers of the ECSS Congress 2015 in Malmö will endeavour to increase the number of sessions and presentations – of all kinds – within the Social Sciences & Humanities area. To that end we will utilize the blog to present some of the sessions, and later presentations, in this area.
The invited session The development of expertise and competencies of applied sport psychologists in Europe is chaired by Dr. Uran Johnson, Halmstad University in Sweden, and the presenters are Paul Wylleman, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Chris Harwood, Loughborough University, and Vana Hutter, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Within the field of applied sport psychology (ASP), interest in professional practice is growing, and we are faced with the challenge of developing not only our professional status but also the competencies and level of expertise of providers. In three presentations, this symposium will highlight the latest research and the most salient aspects of ASP support provision in general, and the expertise and competencies required and used by ASP support providers, in particular.
Paut Wylleman, Chris Harwood and Vana Hutter.
In the first presentation, Professor Paul Wylleman from Free University, Brussels, Belgium will present “The Professional Development of the ASP Practitioner.” Using a qualitative methodology, 12 ASP providers were questioned about their competencies. Respondents felt novice professionals should attempt to acquire self-knowledge, knowledge on how to (initiate) work with people, and competencies with mental skills. Knowledge of (the requirements of) sport was related to mature ASP practitioners. Counselling, communication, and social/interpersonal skills were deemed important throughout the career. Diagnostic skills was more linked to the novice professional, whereas being able to work individually, use and learn from experience, and provide supervision were linked to the experienced professional.
In the second presentation, Associate Professor Chris Harwood from Loughborough University, England will present “Working Effectively in Youth Sport: Reflections of a Lead Sport Psychologist.” Childhood and adolescence are key stages within which psychosocial skills and identity are developing in young sports performers. In this presentation, the Lead Psychologist (with 18 years of experience) of a National Federation and a professional youth soccer academy will offer his reflections of the competencies required when working in youth sport settings. The synergy of humanistic and cognitive-behavioral approaches to sport psychology will be discussed along with the significance of self-concept, self-identity, and self-regulation to the health of the talented young person in sport.
In the third presentation Dr Vana Hutter from University Amsterdam, the Netherlands will present “Becoming a Competent Practitioner in Sport Psychology: Typical Challenges and Effective Learning Experiences.” Novice sport psychologists struggle with many challenges during their training and first professional steps. Analyses of 369 questions which novice sport psychologists asked their supervisors during supervised practice resulted in a model of supervisory issues in applied sport psychology. From this model implications are drawn for the education and training of sport psychologists. The methodology used is applicable to the education and training of other professionals in sport sciences, and therefore of interest to educators in (applied) sport sciences.
Urban Johnson
Halmstad University
Invited Session: Sport for Development and Peace – Critical Perspectives
Post by Niklas Hafen.
The local organizers of the ECSS Congress 2015 in Malmö will endeavour to increase the number of sessions and presentations – of all kinds – within the Social Sciences & Humanities area. To that end we will utilize the blog to present some of the sessions, and later presentations, in this area.
The invited session Sport for Development and Peace – Critical Perspectives is chaired by Cora Burnett, University of Johannesburg, who also is one of three presenters, the others being Simon Darnell, University of Toronto and Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst, University of British Columbia.
The last decade, especially since the United Nations launched the Millennium Development Goals, has seen a significant expansion in the use of sport as a means to initiate social change throughout the world. Projects (governmental and non-governmental) involving sport have included attempts to educate young people about health concerns, discourage anti-social and criminal behaviour, increase gender-awareness, as well as assisting with reconciliation of communities in conflict (Levermore & Beacom 2009). Scholars have referred to this trend as Sport for Development and Peace (SDP), which implies the intentional use of sport, physical activity and play to attain specific development and peace objectives around the world (Darnell 2012; Kidd 2008). One of the features of recent research in the field of SDP has been inter-disciplinarily, with scholars from management, sociology, education and policy studies all asking important questions and producing significant findings and criticisms. While this trend illustrates the growing depth of the field, it also has the potential to create silos within the research community, particularly between a monitoring & evaluation (M&E) approach on the one hand and critical analyses on the other.
Cora Burnett, Simon Darnell and Lyndsay Hayhurst
In his presentation “Approaching ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ as an Inter-disciplinary Project”, Simon Darnell attempt to reconcile these perspectives in productive ways. He suggests that M&E-focused research can inform a critical understanding of SDP by analysing the development effects of sport, both positive and negative. Vice versa, a critical sociology of sport-for-development – using, for example, macro theories of political economy and post-colonialism – can inform and improve SDP policy and practice by highlighting inequalities and challenging historical amnesia. Cora Burnett’s presentation “Local voices, sense-making and agency in the ‘uptake’ of ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ projects in Africa” follows an inductive approach with clustered themes of real-live experiences and ‘uptake’ from local constituencies. Issues of ‘empowerment’, ‘development’ and knowledge production are discussed and linked to methodological challenges. Various case studies will serve to mediate local voices as programmes inevitably have intended and unintended consequences, resulting in resultant socialization processes of exchange and agency. Finally, Lyndsay Hayhurst´s presentation “Making Transnational, Cross-Cultural (Dis)connections in Sport for Development and Peace: Exploring Multi-sited Social and Power Relations” draws on multi-sited, transnational and cross-cultural empirical studies of SDP conducted over the past years in order to highlight the importance of exploring complex social and power relations translated through diverse actors and contexts. Throughout the presentation, Hayhurst consider the ways that global and cultural flows – and multiple connections – expand across transnational SDP and ‘hold it together’ against the diverse forces of disparate social locations, interests, identities and access to resources.
Niklas Hafen
Dept. of Sport Sciences, Malmö University
Prominent guests from University of Southern Denmark and Michigan State University, in Malmö
Post by Aage Radmann and Susanna Hedenborg.
Yesterday, prominent guest speakers visited the the Research Seminar Series in Sport Sciences at the Dept. of Sport Sciences, Malmö University – which, in case you’ve missed it, is hosting next year’s ECSS Congress.
Karen A Pfeiffer’s (from Michigan State University) first area of research is measurement of physical activity; the second area is interventions to increase physical activity. These two research interests were nicely combined in the work she has been doing together with others in order to publish guidelines and an overview (review-review) of what research has to say about interventions with the aim to increase physical activity among children and youth that actually work. An important result was that enhanced PE seems to be the way to go. So what is enhanced PE? Well, it is not enough to increase hours of PA – PA has to have a certain quality too. It is important to learn skills – not only to be physically active. This is interesting and raises questions of how to make sure that children meet educated PE teachers! Pfeiffer also pointed to new research on the importance of building environments that people like to be physically active in. In conclusion, she talked about future research and the needs to concentrate on optimal age range for specific approaches, long-term follow-up, and that we need to compare effects across race, ethnicity and socio-ecnomic groups.
Check out the report that laid the basis for Karen Pfeiffer’s talk.
Lars Bo Andersen (University of Southern Denmark) took over the lectern after Karen Pfeiffer. Denmark has introduced 45 minutes PA per day during school hours. Except for presenting convincing research on the importance of increased PA, Anderson presented a few different studies on intervention projects. It should be easy to use the results from these studies to convince politicians in other countries! Even so, it is difficult to change people’s minds – we know PA is good for you, and how PA can improve health – this is still not enough to make people change their habits. Andersen will chair one of the sessions at the ECSS congress in Malmö – so, the discussion will surely continue! We look forward to it!!
Susanna Hedenborg & Aage Radmann
Congress Presidents
Karen Pfeiffer in action in Malmö.
Lars Bo Andersen reviewing the Danish situation.
The Football Capital of Scandinavia
Post by Aage Radmann and Susanna Hedenborg
For the second year running the two Malmö football teams, Malmö FF (the men’s team) and Rosengård FC (the women’s team), won their respective Swedish top leagues for association football clubs. Both teams play in this year’s Champions League. Football is the most popular sport for children and young people in Sweden – both boys and girls play football. Some of you may have heard of Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Malmö FF used to be his team. Maybe you have heard of his book too, it has been translated into several languages – in Sweden it actually gave rise to a sort of “Harry Potter effect” when it comes to reading and boys. Sport can really play many different roles!
Other popular sports that you may encounter on your visit to Malmö are floor ball, golf and horse riding – they are very popular sports here as well. Floor ball was developed in Sweden in the 1970’s and is a kind of floor hockey. At the Department of Sport Sciences at Malmö University it is played every Friday between 12 and 1 PM – make sure you try it while visiting the ECSS Congress next year!
There are several golf courses in the region and golf players from northern Sweden envy the opportunities to (almost) all year golf in this southernmost part of the country.
Guests from abroad are often surprised that horse riding is one of the most popular sports for girls and women. Horse riding has really changed since the beginning of the 20th century. A hundred years ago, horses were used in agriculture, forestry and the transport sector as well as in the army. Most horses were draught horses and working with horses was connected to masculinity. Today young girls and women occupy the horse riding clubs and compared to many other countries, horse riding in Sweden is not an exclusive occupation for the upper classes. Why not try a ride on an Icelandic horse in one of the small forests not far from Malmö while visiting the conference!
In addition, there are good jogging opportunities close to the conference venue – not least along the beautiful beach at Ribersborg. That’s where we’ll host a Conference Run in honour of Bengt Saltin – come join us!
Susanna Hedenborg & Aage Radmann
Congress presidents
Eight months to go and a house to finish
Post by Susanna Hedenborg
In only eight months time…
we hope to see you all here in Malmö! The Swedish autumn has been fantastic – and part of our crew (read the congress president Aage Radmann) is still swimming in the Öresund sea. We feel sure that next year some of you will take the opportunity for open sea swimming, since it’s mere minutes away from the congress site. Who will be the first one – and the last…?
Only eight months….
Right now there is a building site instead of a congress center where we will convene. Is it a worry? Not really! A week ago the Department of Sport Sciences at Malmö University was invited for a visit to Malmö Live – the conference center to be. The guided tour at the site demonstrated that these houses are worth waiting for. It is fascinating to follow the work on the tower that will contain the hotel rooms (including a sky bar), the congress building and the concert hall. We were also introduced to the food concept of which a Swedish giant among international chefs is responsible – Marcus Samuelsson, of Harlem fame. Malmö Live will open on the 2nd of May 2015 and the congress site will host a couple of congresses before ours. In other words – they will be well prepared for the ECSS visit.
Some minutes away…
The ECSS Congress delegates will have easy access to the conference as Malmö central station is only a few minutes walk from Malmö Live. To get to Malmö by plane go to Copenhagen Airport, get a train across the sound, and you will arrive at the Malmö central station in less than 20 minutes. In Malmö you can walk, catch buses and why not experience the very flat city by bike?
So… the Congress site soon to be finished (check out some images from the visit of sport scientists below, hard hats and all), plenty of good food, and easy access to all parts of Malmö – what else can we ask for? Well, the most important ingredients in a good congress is of course you, the participants. We are looking forward to see you all in Malmö on June 24–27 next year.
Susanna Hedenborg
Congress President
The sport studies scholars from Malmö University are changing for the adventure, with hard hats, proctective clothing and shoes, and high-visibility vests.
Our guide, to the left, is the head of marketing at Malmö Live, Peter Ek, and at his side Congress President Aage Radmann.
“We’re heading thataway.”
No actual bar in the Sky Bar, but a breathtaking view of Malmö, with famed Turning Torso (by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava) in all its splendor.
Checking out the balcony view over one of the larger conference halls.
At the end of the day, Congress Presidents Aage Radmann and Susanna Hedenborg seem quite happy and content with what they’ve seen.
