Access is how available something is. In certain areas of the country there are restrictions to access. Local sports centres may not have been designed to cater for the needs of disabled people etc. This could be overcome by building more disabled facilities in sports centres around the country. Natural resources such as beaches and mountains influence people to do specific sports because if you lived near a beach then this would influence you to do more beach activities because it is access.
Also of you lived in or near a snowy mountain then you may be influenced to do winter sports or any other sports that require a mountain because there is a lot of access to it and you hardly have to travel or make an effort to use it or get to it. If you lived in Cornwall then you would be more likely to become a surfer than if you lived in Great Wyrley because there is a lot of access to beaches and seas where you can practice whereas in Great Wyrley there isn’t any access to a beach at nearby. Elite clubs fit into this category because some people may not have a lot of access to them and they may influence what sports you do because they make them more fun and a whole family can do them together and may influence you to take the sport up.
The general attitude towards disability sports is that most people think that disabled people shouldn’t be allowed to participate in sports because they aren’t made too, but they still do the same things as non-disabled people. They still make friends and have fun. It is more difficult for an athlete with a disability to participate in some sports because if they lived in Cornwall and had no legs then they wouldn’t be able to participate in sports such as surfing.
Also they would find it harder to get to places and have access to some places. Attitudes towards disability sports are changing. An athlete that I know of with a disability is a girl that swam with no legs. I think that it was acceptable that she was able to participate in this because I think that every disabled person should be able to take part no matter what their disability is and they should have every right as much as a person without a disability.
Environment and climate is where people live and the conditions that they live in. The climate influences why and what sport people do because in some parts of the world climate is more extreme. If there is snow in the area the people are more likely to take up winter sports. On the other hand if you live near a beach or in very sunny places then you are more likely to take up beach sports. I think this country is more geared up for tennis than Australia because it is not that hot in the UK that we have to do sports inside and it isn’t too cold, whereas in Australia it would be too hot and people might get sun stroke. Sports like skiing and snowboarding are suited to specific countries such as Bulgaria and Austria and France. This is because when it snows, it snows heavily and there are huge mountains that are suitable for these kinds of sports.
Family and peer group might influence what sports we do because if our patents want us to do a certain sport really bad then they might force and push someone into doing it. If your parents put you in a club when you are young you are more likely to carry it on when you’re older. If your friends are doing a sport and they recommend it then you may want to join it too. It could be a good thing because if you join the club when you are really young the chances are that if you are still doing it when you’re a bit older then you will be really good at it and would have loads of time to practice it and you will be very good at it. However it may be a bad thing because you may only be doing the sport because your friends are or your parents are pushing you to, even if you don’t like it.
Sponsorship is the funding of sport activity for commercial gain. Sponsorship is to support an event, activity, person or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. Two examples are: Billionaire Ross Perot helped leg-amputee sprinter Tony Volpentest obtain high-tech leg sockets and paid for his training expenses for the year leading up to the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics. And, a group of over-60 cyclists competing in the Race across America were sponsored by Secure Horizons, the national’s largest health plan for Medicare recipients. SPORTSMATCH is an award scheme that supports grass roots sport projects that encourage participation at community level, especially youth groups.
Grass roots groups are a performance improvement company. Their aim is to help organisations achieve their goals through the provision of services in communication, education, measurement, rewards and events, for employees, channel partners and customers. Businesses help average local people, it plays a significant part in encouraging participation. Funding is made available to support young sportspeople. The snickers programme provides resources to increase participation and improve performance in school soccer. Sponsorship does drive down costs because it brings much needed cash into sport. However it increases participation and help keep games affordable. Sponsors such as Ford and Coca-Cola help a great deal and it has been thought that The Olympic game could not continue without these.
I don’t think sponsorship is potentially a bad thing because it has helped many organisations over the years. Sponsorship means that big prize money can be paid and events can be organised on a very large scale without the spectators having to pay huge admission prices. On the other hand sponsorship could be a bad thing because many sports become too dependent on sponsorship. When national league basketball was televised by channel 4, the sport was inundated with sponsors and a lot of money, but when channel 4 pulled out so did most of the sponsors and almost caused a collapse in the league. In history some governments have ‘won’ medals because in the 1960’s governments made a big impact on participation in sport. The leaders of the some countries had decided that everyone should have the opportunity to play games and sports from a very early age. Children who showed potential were trained very hard to become world-beating athletes.
I think this is ethical because die to this it meant that a more variety of ages and people participate in sport, however some of the children with potential were forced to train hard and this was not the case for other countries around the world and wasn’t fair. The eastern European experience shows that politics can make a big difference to participation in sport and recreation. In the UK today central government supplies local authorities with a large part of the money they have to spend on sports facilities. In the UK the national lottery funds a lot of sporting facilities and organisations. We are still some way from having an effective organisation for sport in the UK.
Tradition and culture is your religion or what you believe in. Tradition is an inherited pattern of thought or action. Culture is a particular society and the attitudes and behaviour in those societies. This influences sporting choices because in some Islamic cultures, some people think that women should not go out in public unless they cover their arms and legs. Due to this they, either take part in sport and get criticised or they don’t participate in sport at all. If something about sport is against or not with their culture or tradition then they are less likely to participate.
India and Pakistan have really good cricket teams. If you were to be in that culture then you would probably be more influenced to play cricket as this is the sport that they are mostly good at. Tradition may affect sporting choices too because back in 1993, the government thought that women shouldn’t mix with men at sporting activities and this may influence someone to do different sports than the boys because it was the tradition at the time.