Monthly Archive for June, 2011

Paralympic Legacies

Published on June 27, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Paralympic Legacies edited by David Legg and Keith Gilbert is now available as part of the  Sport and Society series.

Legacy remains one of the most important issues relating to multisport mega-events across the globe and it could be argued that the development of legacy is one of the most urgent imperatives in elite sport. In this regard the Paralympics is no exception to the quest for long term legacy; however, little in the way of documentation appears to be forthcoming from the International Paralympic community in this regard. This book reviews the concept of legacy across previous Paralympic Games by providing a series of chapters under the headings of ‘The Paralympic Legacy Debate’, ‘Paralympic City Legacies’, ‘Emerging Issues of Paralympic Legacy’ and ‘Reconceptualising Paralympic Legacies’. The issues arising are discussed in terms of a meta-analysis of the author’s work and offer interesting ideas which if taken up by the International Paralympic Committee, International Olympic Committee, Bid Committees, OCOG’s and major sports could change the face of Paralympic legacy towards the positive forever.

Could Chess-Boxing Defuse Aggression in Arizona and Beyond?

Published on June 14, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Andrea Kuszewski, Scientific American

Teleportation, cloaks of invisibility, smell-o-vision, 3D printing, and even holograms, were all ideas first imagined in science fiction—and now are real products and technologies in various stages of development by scientists. While this is common in fields like experimental physics, it isn’t as often that cognitive neuroscience and applied psychology score insights from this fantasy genre.

Chess-boxing, a hybrid sport combining chess and boxing, made its first appearance in the pages of a 1992 sci-fi graphic novel by Enki Bilal, Froid Equator, or Cold Equator. Combining what is described as the number-one physical sport and the number-one thinking sport into one completely new hybrid, chess-boxing was meant to be the ultimate test of body and mind.

In 2003, Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh wanted to give that idea life. He saw the potential for an incredibly challenging new sport that would require physical strength and agility, superior problem solving skills, and above all, unbelievable mental discipline and control. No longer just a sci-fi fantasy, chess-boxing is now one of the newest sport fads in Europe, quickly gaining popularity in the U.K. and the U.S.

To Read More…

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Sport and Society Journal Volume 2, Number 1 now available

Published on June 14, 2011 in Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments

sport_front

The first issue of Volume 2 of The International Journal of Sport and Society is now available.

Volume 2, Number 1 contains: