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Adaptation, Learning, and Optimization 22
Iztok Fister
Iztok Fister Jr.
Dušan Fister
Computational
Intelligence
in Sports
Adaptation, Learning, and Optimization
Volume 22
Series editors
Meng-Hiot Lim, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
e-mail: emhlim@ntu.edu.sg
Dušan Fister
Computational Intelligence
in Sports
123
Iztok Fister Dušan Fister
Faculty of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Economics and Business
and Computer Science University of Maribor
University of Maribor Maribor, Slovenia
Maribor, Slovenia
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
Sport can be defined in two different contexts, i.e. broader and narrower. From the
broader context, it is treated as physical activity in general [1]. In line with this, the
aim of sport is to improve fitness, well being, social relationships, and competition.
In the narrower context, sport is a formalized, competitive, and physical type of
play [2]. The formalization of sport means that:
• Rules are set, controlled and monitored by organizations.
• Only professional athletes can maintain the tempo demanded by high-level
competitions throughout the season.
• Every athlete’s performance can be measured in some way.
• Acceptable equipment and tools are strictly defined and monitored.
• Competitors have the same formal rights to claim the prize if they win regardless
of gender, color of skin, political/religious affiliation, or the country for which
they play.
Unfortunately, the only accepted norm in sport today is competitiveness, where
players must play to win. This is possible only when both opponents are at the
similar skill level. When this is not the case, the weaker opponent may try to win
using strategy, which may be legal or illegal. For instance, a weaker soccer team
plays defensively against the stronger team. While this runs counter to the
Coubertain philosophical ideal “The important thing in life is not the triumph but
the struggle”, it is nonetheless all too fully in accordance with industrial capitalist
society, which looks on sport as production, where winning is connected with
material values. Finally, sport is referred to as a physical activity, where intellectual
values are not given priority of place, as they are in certain other types of games
(e.g., chess).
Sport cannot be dealt with outside of its social context. We might even say that
modern sport is a form of surrogate religion and popular theater, in which people
identify with the champions. Moreover, people make these champions into heroes
in order to escape the banality of ordinary life for a little while. Typically,
high-moral values such as honor, decency, courage, and loyalty are ascribed to
these idols. However, there is another side to the story. If these disseminate heroes
v
vi Preface
does not mean that the real trainer would be replaced by the artificial one in all
elements of the training. Rather, the artificial trainer is an intelligent system that
would be used in analyzing the big data generated during training sessions and
making the proper decisions about furthering the athlete’s development.
A lot of researchers have begun looking into sport domain recently.
Unfortunately, they have discovered what a hard nut to crack it is, especially for
beginners without the necessary domain-specific knowledge. This book is an
attempt to help all researchers to get into the sport more quickly. The book is also
intended to help students of computer science to recognize how computational
intelligence algorithms could be applied in solving the problems that occur in sport.
The book is divided into four parts. In the first part, the relationship between
sport and science is elucidated. The social aspect of sport is discussed in Chap. 1.
Chapter 2 reviews the state of knowledge discovery from data in sport. The first part
concludes with Chap. 3, which provides an overview of pervasive computing in
sport, i.e., technology that radically changes human lives and obviously has a big
impact on the development of modern sport.
The relationship between human beings and sport is analyzed in the second
part. In line with this, Chap. 4 focuses especially on principles of human movement,
where those functional systems in the human body are described that are respon-
sible for the motion. This chapter reveals how sports training can influence the
functional systems that enable the athletes to improve their performance.
The third part deals with the relationship between training and computational
intelligence. Initially, a theory of sports training is introduced in Chap. 5. Then, in
Chap. 6, the concept of the artificial sports trainer is introduced.
The last part focuses on the applications of computational intelligence in sport.
At first, the problem of generating sports training plans is presented in Chap. 7.
Chapter 8 deals with the adaptation of training plans due to unexpected events
disrupting the normal realization of the training plan (e.g., injury, illness, burnout
and so on). The subject of Chap. 9 is BatMiner, which is capable of association rule
mining. These rules serve to help identify the characteristics of an athlete in the
training process. Chapter 10 is devoted to a visualization of sports training sessions,
where the modern visualization approaches are applied. The last application
described in Chap. 11 touches upon the problem of sports nutrition, where the
dietary plan construction, based on the existed sports training plan, is illustrated
using differential evolution.
References
The authors would like to acknowledge all the reviewers for their valuable remarks
and comments, and all our colleagues and students for carefully reading the book
and their valuable remarks and comments that contribute significantly to its quality.
Among the colleagues, we would like especially to thank Dr. Samo Rauter of the
Faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana for reviewing the chapters on the
objectives of sport, and resident of infectious diseases Karin Fister, Ph.D. student of
Faculty of Medicine at the University of Maribor for reviewing the chapter on
human movement.
Special thanks go also to all the many professional and amateur athletes who
voluntary contributed their activity datasets, on the basis of which the experimental
studies were conducted. The book would not be completed without the help of
English Native speaker David Greenwald, who ensured for a smooth and under-
standable language.
We would like to thank editors of the Springer Verlag Dr. Thomas Ditzinger and
Dr. Dieter Merkle, series editors Dr. Ong, Yew-Soon and Dr. Lim, Meng-Hiot, and
Springer technical staff for their help and support by the book publishing. Finally,
we would like to thank our families for the patience, encouragement and support.
ix
Contents
xi
xii Contents
Modern society treat sport as very important part of people life. Nowadays, it has
become social institution with own norms, rules, and structures. In line with this,
sport beside athletes, coaches, referees and owners cannot survive without spec-
tators/fans that present the material source for normal operation of clubs. Modern
broadcast companies with preemption rights for transmission competitions play also
the important role in popularization of sports on the one hand and in filling the club’s
budget on the other hand. Sport is far to be amateur activity due to being involved in
all areas of human society.
This chapter provides the reader with sociological aspects of sport. In fact, the
sport have close connection with economy, because sports clubs have organized as
cartels with well defined hierarchy. During the history, it was a tool in the hands of
politics that exploited it for fulfilling their political interests. There can also be found
some similarities between sport and religion in the sense that sport has many of the
same effects on spectators as religion does. Recently, sport incorporates results from
different scientific disciplines. This aspect of sport is highlighted at the end of the
chapter.
and other deviant behavior. On the other hand, sport can also develop such positive
values in athletes as: team work, fair play, sportsmanship, hard work, rule following,
commitment, and loyalty.
Individuals are connected together in groups for at least the following reasons [1]:
• Individuals are social beings by nature, and it is easier for groups to provide defense
against animals and other environmental hazards.
• Individuals are socially determined, i.e., children depend upon the care of their
parents. “Trial-and-error” is the first learning method applied by children during
the game.
• Individuals select the social forms in which they live. Through collective action
individuals are capable of changing the structure of society and even the course of
history [2].
Competitive sport activity occurs between two self-interested opponents that com-
pete with each other in order to win. Victory brings the winning athletes glory and
thus confers social status. Play is a spontaneous or organized activity performed vol-
untary during leisure. However, this is a self-initiated activity consisting of all ranges
of movement that has unstructured, lax rules, e.g., the duration of the activity is not
important. On the other hand, sport is a formalization of play consisting of norms,
rules, and structures [1].
One of the most salient features of sports is that they always involve physical
exertion [4]. No play real exertion no sport. From this point of view, activities, such
as playing card cannot be considered as sport. Physical competition mandates that
physical activity and skills must be involved in order to determine winner and loser.
Sport is a kind of religion that can serve as the functional equivalent of a religious
ceremony bringing together a community. The participants in sports (i.e., owners,
trainers, fans) have an investment in the game they play. Their livelihood depends
upon success in the sports world. In line with this, owners can relocate their clubs
when they earn too little in their present location. However, this treatment is usually
not accepted by fans, because these are the primary supporters of clubs. Moreover,
they identify themselves with the players who usually become heroes.
The “win-at-all-costs” approach typically leads to an irregularity that normally
has nothing to do with sport. These irregular phenomena so typical in sports can be
divided into:
• deviance
• violence
• gender inequality
• racism and ethnicity
6 1 Introduction
There are also other social institutions that have a close relationship with sport.
These institutions include:
• economics
• politics
• religion
In the remainder of this chapter, the irregularities in sport as well as the relation-
ships with other social institutions are briefly described.
Deviance in sports is mostly associated with breaking the rules, which leads to deviant
behavior. Deviant behavior is caused by many environmental factors such as: family,
community and other social factors [1]. There are many types of deviant behavior in
sport. In order to achieve a celebrity, status, admiration and wealth in society, athletes
resort to prohibited means such as the use of drugs. Drugs include blood-doping,
performance-enhancing drugs, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. All
these drugs have negative effects on the athlete’s health. Another example of deviance
refers to a behavior of athletes off the field, namely sex scandals. An example of this
behavior is Tiger Woods who destroyed his brilliant golf career in 2012 by involving
himself in sex scandals with more than 12 women, while he was married. Finally,
deviant behavior can be detected also by spectators. The worst kind of deviance is
gambling, where predicting the results of games can lead to bankruptcy, and indirectly
produces unpleasant consequences for gambler’s family.
The phrase “win-at-all-costs” demands of athletes that they act according to philos-
ophy of Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian Renaissance politician and diplomat who
wrote the classic political treatise The Prince in 1513. His opinion is that one must
use every available means, including also deviant, in order to reach the desired goal.
In sport this means that athletes might also violate rules if they want to win the
game. The violence often results in broken bones, missing teeth, fist fights, blend-
ing, and occasionally death when playing sports [5]. These consequences are more
frequently observed in contact sports such as football, rugby, boxing, hockey and
basketball, where contact between competitors is typically permitted. However, vio-
lent behavior also occurs among spectators, where the most commonly witnessed are
verbal assaults, disrupting of play, objects thrown onto the playing field, and physi-
cal assaults on opposing players and fans [1]. These behaviors are usually connected
with alcohol consumption or personal frustrations.
1.1 Sport and Society 7
Throughout the history of sports, women have always been regarded as physically
weaker. Discrimination therefore started as far back as ancient Greece, where they
were forbidden from participating in the Olympic games. Traditionally, cultures
have viewed women as reproductive machines whose main task is to bear healthy
children. In line with this, extreme sports were not considered suitable for women [1].
Recently, the feminist movement changed this patriarchal belief in modern society,
and women leagues have been established even in sports that have traditionally been
regarded as being for men-only. For instance, the UEFA (Union of European Football
Association) Woman’s Champions League brings together the top football clubs in
different nations in Europe. This league was first played in 2001–2002. Practically,
this competition is the equivalent of the same competition for men which has existed
since 1955.
Racism and ethnic discrimination in sports are as old as sports itself. The belief that
white athletes are superior to and more intelligent than athletes of other races has led
to different forms of discrimination. On the other hand, distinctions between people
in society based on nationality, religion, language, geographic residences, etc. have
stratified groups of people into different categories. In line with this, a well-known
stereotype from American football holds that blacks are innately superior athletes,
but whites are more intelligent [6]. Such forms of racism have also served politicial
ends throughout history, with leaders proclaiming their own race as the superior one.
An excellent example of this belief was provided when Adolf Hitler, the leader of
Nazi Party, refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens after his victory at the Olympic
Games in Berlin in 1936. Although today’s scientists have proven that achieving
success in sports require more than just favorable genetics, it is very important for
sports trainers to identify athlete’s advantages over the opponents and to evolve these
during the training. Lance Armstrong, for instance, has a heart that is 20% larger
than of a normal person [1].
Nevertheless, racism and ethnic stereotype are still present especially in many
American sports. Whites generally have the last word as general managers, coaches
or trainers, while blacks involve themselves in sports as active participants.
The economic system is a social institution responsible for coordinating the produc-
tion, distribution and consumption of goods and services [7]. The social status of
8 1 Introduction
people living in modern capitalist society depends on their economic success. This
means that the more individuals earn, the greater their power, prestige, and social
status are. In fact, it determines how individuals use their nonproductive (leisure)
time on the one hand, and how they spend their disposable income on the other.
Sport represents a part of the entertainment business, the revenues from which
increase each year. Interestingly, not only owners, but also sponsors use sports for
marketing their products and services. Football stadiums, for instance, are full of
advertisements. Conversely, owners such as Ferrari in Formula 1, promote their
products (i.e., cars) direcly. Indeed, owners act as a cartel trying to keep their prof-
itable position in the market [8]. Additionally, football stadiums can improve their
own profitability by selling exclusive television broadcast rights. Furthermore, not
only owners, but also athletes and fans play an economic role. These groups can earn
huge amounts of money that enable them to move upward in socio-economic status,
and acquire more rights and freedoms by selecting their future playing clubs. Finally,
fans are customers of the sports-entertainment industry, and therefore decide where
to spend their money. In this aspect however, the superior teams and more popular
sports are preferred by the fans.
According to German sociologist and political economist Max Weber [9], the eco-
nomic success of individuals (measured according to income and wealth) can be
equated with an individual’s power, while social prestige (determined by variables
like family name, education, etc.) and political involvement bring social power. A
government governs society in the name of voters in democratic elections. The gov-
ernment is an authority that issues laws and enforces customs in order to maintain
public order. Sport brings a very large amount of money to owners on an annual basis,
which means that it can also be equated with power according to Weber’s model.
This fact is also recognized by politicians, who use sports as a tool for promoting
their interests. The more important football matches in the UEFA Euro 2016 com-
petition were watched live all over the world, and it is therefore not surprising that
politicians took advantage of this. These national games play at least two important
roles: they encourage a national identity among fans (e.g., Iceland’s ranking in the
UEFA Euro 2016 semifinals resulted in a national celebration) and give politicians
an opportunity for self-promotion (e.g., the reception of France’s football players by
president Francois Hollande after coming in second place in the UEFA Euro 2016
tournament). In some sense, the authoritative role of government is duplicated by
referees and officials enforcing the rules on the field.
1.1 Sport and Society 9
The connection between religion and sport is so deep that some sociologists have
argued that sport is a religion [10]. Although scientists today recognize that both
institutions have many similarities, these originate from completely different roots.
Durkheim [11] argues that the relationship between religion and sport represents
a meeting of the sacred and the profane. Religion depends upon a use of symbols
and rituals [12]. It is based on a belief system rather than on empirical science and
emerges from people’s need to explain life’s uncertainties. Religion binds adherents
into a social group and gives them a sense of identity [13]. Although sport represents
a secular, i.e. civil religion, the use of symbols and rituals is obvious also in sport.
However, there is one main difference between these institutions: while religion is
spiritual, sport is real [1].
The existence of sports in ancient Egypt, which was highly advanced society, has been
documented in written records as well as in wall paintings. A number of identifiable
sports were played at the time, including archery, stick fighting, wrestling, running,
swimming, and boxing [14]. One of the most popular sports in ancient Egypt was stick
fighting, where formal fighting contests were organized with crowds of spectators
watching the fighting.
Ancient Greek culture is divided into the Minoan and Hellenic civilizations. For
the Minoan world, the two primary sports were boxing and bull vaulting. Hellenic civ-
ilization admired the athletic body and thus developed sports like boxing, wrestling,
pankration (ultimate fighting), chariot racing, the long jump, the javelin throw, and
the discus throw [1]. In order to honor the winners in these sports, poems were writ-
ten by poets (e.g., Homer) to celebrate them. The ancient Greeks loved their sports,
which were usually combined with dancing, lyre playing and drinking. Unfortunately,
appearance at the games was forbidden to females.
There were four festivals in ancient Greece, where sports were played. The most
significant were the Olympic Games dedicated to Zeus. The Pythian Games at Delphi
were held in honor of Apollo. The Isthmian Games were held in Corinth for Poseidon,
while the Games at Nemea were also held in honor of Zeus. All games pursued the
same goal, i.e., to keep the Hellenic world unified, although they tend rather to divide
communities by sport.
The Romans looked at sport from a different point of view than the ancient Greeks.
While the Greeks treated sport as a philosophical activity, the Romans were more
military-minded. The main purpose of sport was to prepare Roman soldiers for wars.
In line with this, sports like training in marching, weapons proficiency, and weight
training were the most developed in ancient Roman state [1]. As a result, the most
famous sport was the gladiator contest, where gladiators entered the arena with the
10 1 Introduction
intention of killing each other. These games were organized for the spectators, who
usually decided the destiny of the loser. Romans had no need to work to survive,
because the state provided free food. The phrase “breed and circuses” reflected the
typical position of the Roman citizen, who becoming bored and restless without the
games and entertainment.
Sports in the Middle Ages centered on a variety of tournaments, hunting activities
and folk games [1]. However, participation in tournaments was reserved for the upper
classes of society, e.g. knights, and the death penalty was enforced. Two knights
would fight on horseback, riding towards each other at high speed, each trying to
throw his opponent from horse with a long spear. The losing knight often paid for
defeat with his life, and his property would then go to the winner. Activities involving
animals, e.g., cockfighting or dogfighting, typically led to the death of the animals.
Archery was also a popular sport in the Middle Ages and has remained popular to
this day. Interestingly, a number of folk games with ancient origin (e.g., the dance)
became very popular at that time. The game “la soule” originated in Normandy,
similar to modern rugby, united members of all classes, who usually finished with a
communal meal and put people on a more equal footing. In the Middle Ages, many
sports developed in ancient times were brought back, and some have evolved into
modern sports (e.g., football, hockey, handball).
In the pre-industrial age, the Protestant Reformation, Calvinism and Puritanism
became dominant forces in Europe and colonial America. These forces brought with
them a new view of sports, which they looked on as frivolous, profane, and a useless
distractions from religions observance. Puritans forbade the playing of sports on
Sundays, but permitted fishing and hunting when those activities were pursued for
food or to refresh the body [15]. When the Puritan influence diminished in colonial
America, the wealthy started to enjoy sports and leisure. Horse racing and sailing
became the “trendy” sports. Less wealthy people enjoyed sports like bowling and so-
called “bloody sports” like hunting. Sports also became popular at the universities,
although the time given to sports and leisure was limited by university officials.
The so-called “Renaissance man” achieved a balance between mind and body. At
that time, the enjoyment of sporting activities (e.g., swimming, running, archery and
wrestling) was reserved for elite students.
The Industrial Revolution of the mid-18th century transformed an agricultural
economy into an industrial one that was based on the transition from manual pro-
duction methods to machines. At the same time, this revolution was associated with
the immigration of farmers to cities, which consequently caused urbanization and
had a major impact on the traditional lifestyle. The revolution of sport followed the
industrial revolution, culminating in sporting activities as we known them today [1].
Golf, for example, emerged in Dutch after having first been played in Scotland in
the 15th century, and the formalized rules were developed at the Royal and Ancient
Golf Club in England in 1754. Boxing acquired its modern-day rules (e.g., rounds
in duration of 3 min) in 1860, while Friedrich Ludwig Jahn laid the foundation of
modern gymnastics in Germany at the beginning of 19th century. In the US, the
sports that had their origins in the colonial period prevailed during the industrial era.
For instance, horse racing became as much a sport as a business. The popular English
1.2 History of Sports 11
sport cricket was and continues to be played under the guidance of the American
Cricket Club. At the beginning of 20th century, bicycle racing also became popular.
In line with this, the first Tour de France saw the light of the day in 1903.
The technological improvements of the 20th century that resulted in the so-called
“information revolution” have had a major influence on all domains of human activ-
ity. The progress seen in communication technologies, especially the Internet, have
made sports pervasive. On the local level, sport encourages loyalty of fans to their
hometown and stirs nationalistic emotions at the global level. Typically, comparisons
among cities are made locally, while comparisons among nations are made at the
global level.
According to Allen Guttmann [16], there are seven characteristics of modern
sports:
• secularism
• equality
• specialization
• rationalism
• bureaucracy
• qualification
• records
The modern sport is secular, i.e., nonreligious. In line with this, it is more simi-
lar to Roman than Hellenic sports, because of the emphasis on show and spectacle.
In modern sports, each athlete can be involved regardless of gender, nationality, or
social status. In order to achieve the best result, the athletes practice only their primary
sport. A modern athlete is rational, i.e., he/she adheres to the principles and practices
of the sports science and avoids the temptations of an excessive social life [1]. The
role of bureaucracy in modern sport has increased, because it is a goal-oriented orga-
nization for fulfilling rational goals. A good example of such organization presents
the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that has grown into a
powerful global organization recently. Qualification (statistics) refers to measuring
and keeping performance records in modern sports. Keeping accurate records facili-
ties progress, as each athlete is driven to break the currently established records and
thus be “the best ever” for some time.
Billiards is one of the more popular sports of the last century and has its roots in
the ancient activity of the lawn game. A similar game was played in England and
France in the 14th century. Tennis and golf are some of the more popular individual
sports in the world, in which a lot of money is circulated. Nowadays, football is
considered as the top marginal thing in the world that attracts enormous numbers of
fans to the stadiums and a very large television audience.
12 1 Introduction
Traditional sports have often become too burdensome, due to their restrictive rules,
the narrow specialization of athletes, and serious competitiveness and selectivity.
The young generations today are exploring alternatives, i.e., extreme sports, which
represent one of the most prevalent alternatives to traditional sports.
The term “extreme sports” refers to more recently-developed sports activities that
involve risky, dangerous, and adrenaline-boosting actions. Some of these activities in
themselves are not even necessary sports. The phenomenon of extreme sports began
with the live television broadcast of “X Games”. Thus, in-line skating, bicycle stunt
riding, snowboarding, sky surfing, street luge, and skateboarding [1] were introduced.
One of the most dangerous extreme sports is BASE, wherein participants parachute
from stationary objects like buildings, bridges or mountains. The acronym BASE
stands for Buildings, Antenna, Span and Earth. Ultimate fighting is one of the more
brutal extreme sports and is an amalgamation more traditional sports such as karate,
wrestling, boxing, and kickboxing. An inspiration for this extreme sports is found in
pankration game that originated from ancient Egypt.
The Ironman is nowadays becoming one of the hardest endurance sports. It first
came into being on February 18, 1978, when fifteen men decided to combine three
events—the “Waikiki Rough Water Swim”, the “Around the Oahu Bike Race” and
the “Honolulu Marathon”—into a one-day race on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, where
the disciplines were performed one after another [17]. The rules for this new sport
were written on three sheets of paper and were very simple. Each athlete had to
complete 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of cycling and 42.195 km of running. After
successfully completing all three, the athlete was awarded the Ironman designation.
The first Ironman challenge was successfully completed by eleven athletes. The
winner was Gordon Haller, a taxi driver and fitness fanatic, who finished in 11 h, 46
min and 58 s.
Ironman was popularized by the US television network ABC, which has been
broadcasting the events since 1980. ABC captured a lot of legendary moments that
were transmitted to their viewers all around the world. Julie Moss crossing crawling
across the finish line to come in second place is just one of them. Later, she won the
hearts of millions of viewers and thus further popularized this sport.
Nowadays, there are a lot of Ironman’s races worldwide where amateur athletes
can compete with professionals for slots that enable them to compete in the final race
held in Kona, Big Island on Hawaii. This final race symbolically represents a return
to the roots of Ironman and as the course passes through volcanic land in extreme
heat, one can imagine the grand challenge for each athlete!
1.3 Sports Science 13
At a first glance, science and sport do not have a lot in common. The former deals
with an exercise of the mind, while the other with an exertion of the body. However,
both philosophy and sport have their common origins in ancient Greece in the form
of the Olympic Games [18]. The Greek philosopher and teacher Isocrates (436–338
BC) researched some of the parallels between philosophy and athletics, arguing in
his speech treatise Antidosis that they are twin arts by which masters prepare their
minds to become more intelligent and their bodies to become more serviceable.
Interestingly, the same conclusion was reached in ancient China, where martial arts,
consisting of several hundred fighting styles (e.g., kung-fu), were developed [19].
The Chinese martial arts grew out of the need for self-defense and include training
methods for body and mind inspired by Chinese philosophy, religions and legends.
Nowadays, the gap between science and sport is diminishing. Sport is interesting
for more and more scientific disciplines and serves as a modern intellectual topic for
consolidating mind and body capabilities when doing sports activities. Consequently,
this topic is especially involved in modern extreme sports (e.g., triathlons) and require
that the athlete not only be fit, but also mentally stable. However, this approach
demands a complete treatment of sport in association with other scientific disciplines.
Simon Rea [20] argues that sports science is about applying scientific principles
to sport and using scientific research to understand it.
control, strength and conditioning, and sports nutrition—are the core coaching sci-
ences. Physical activity and health are an answer to the question of maintaining health
in these stressful modern times. The coaching sciences have become too complex
and too difficult to be considered as common sciences. Therefore, the latter have
been divided into more specialized disciplines, enabling easy and complete treat-
ment of athletes in training. Indeed, computer science has incorporated in all areas
of sports science recently. In the remainder of the chapter, the connections between
the aforementioned disciplines of sports science are analyzed and their connections
to the core sports sciences are exposed.
Sociology is a systematic study of society that focuses on social institutions and the
behavior of people within a given society [1]. Thus, an endeavor of sociology is to
reveal the influence of social forces on life. Sport is a social institution that reflects
social values, norms and culture. The sociology in sport deals with the relationships
between sports and society. It emerged in 1899 with pioneer work of Thorstein
Veblen [21], who treated sport as an activity of the wealthy. However, the role of
sports and recreation has grown in recent times, and interest in studying the influence
of sports on the behavior of social groups has increased in modern societies.
Social theory tries to discover interactions, patterns and events in the social envi-
ronment and explains the observed phenomena. Auguste Comte, the French philoso-
pher, is regarded as the father of modern social theory. He classified six fundamental
1.3 Sports Science 15
Philosophers have paid surprisingly little attention to sporting matters since the
ancient Greeks [18]. Very few philosophers dealt with sports until 1973, when the
philosophy of sport began to take shape. In line with this, a lot of publications cov-
ering this area have emerged, e.g., the Journal of Philosophy of Sport, which was
founded in 1973 and merged with the journal Sport, Ethics and Philosophy in 2007,
The Philosophy of Sport in 1973, Social Philosophy of Athletics in 1979, etc.
Modern philosophy considers sports from three perspectives, as follows [18]:
• logical definition or categorization
• ethics
• aesthetics
The first approach is strongly based on the theory of games by Wittgenstein [26]
that views sport as problem of logical definition or categorization. Sport is defined by
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Vahingon ja vastoin käynin
Tuulet turkaiset tulevat?
Niinkuin aaltoja ajaavi
Tulemahan tuonempata.
Raju ilma innoissansa
Meri meiskavi jalosti
Pilven tanssivi tasalla.
Niinpä mielessä minulla
Ajatukset ajelevat
Toinen toistansa jälestä.
Runtelevat ruumistani.
Vievät unet viikkoisiksi
Rauha kauaksi katoovi.
Niinkuin pilven pimennossa
Meren muoto mustenevi —
Eikä taida taivaskana
Taivas täysi tähtinensä
Kuvaella kuvaistansa
Veden pinnassa pimiän —
Niin on sieluni sisussa
Kuvan julkisen Jamalan
Mustununa murheilta. —
Lauletaan kuin:
Muntra sparf i linden
Gungande för vinden etc.
Varpunen sä räivä!
Joka tullut päivä
Härkyt seutuilla kartanon.
Jos o'is sulla mieltä
O'isit tästä tieltä
Mennyt kunne pääsky mennyt on.
Päällä kurki-hirren
Pidät ääntä virren
Kadehtittu yli kaiken maan.
Eikä kuka pidä
Sirkutosta sitä
Laulun arvoisena kuitenkaan.
Varpunen se vastaan,
Tuuvitellen lastaan
Pihlajalta pilpatti ne syyt,
Miks ei sinne mennyt
Kunne pääskyn pennut
Kunne kiurut ja muut pelto pyyt.
[Ennen painamaton.]
Viittaukset
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