United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"

Introduction

This
article will address the topic of information technology for
sports management and will attempt to provide an overview
of how information technology (called IT) is changing the
nature of management practices in sport. The discussion of
IT applications in the profession can be done in a few broad
areas:

1st
How the tools of today's "technological revolution"
can be applied to the administration of sport.

2nd
How developments such as the Internet and world wide web help
in specific management functions such as training and marketing

3rd
How e-commerce can make participation in sports more available
through lower priced equipment and lastly,

4th
The digital divide: and underlying condition that keeps some
from participating fully in the benefits in the IT revolution.

Academic
eligibility for student-athletes in public high schools athletic
programs across America has many variations and has been changing
over the past twenty years. But how far have we come in motivating
athletes in the classroom? The term student-athlete implies
that the person involved with education and athletics is both
a good student in the classroom and an active and effective
participant on an athletic team. In theory, academic competence
is a criterion for athletic participation. It has been proven
that high school athletes tend to have a higher grade point
average (GPA) than nonathletes (Eitzen & Saga, 1993).
As school districts and athletic directors work to show accountability
to the parents and taxpayers in their respective communities
through the revision of athletic codes, it is important to
address the issue of student athlete academic performance.

Introduction

Economic
impact in sport events can be defined as the net change in
an economy resulting from a sport event. The change is caused
by activity involving the acquisition, operation, development,
and use of sport facilities and services (Lieber & Alton,
1983). These in turn generate visitors' spending, public spending,
employment opportunities, and tax revenue. Specifically, the
economic impacts of expenditure are composed of direct, indirect,
and induced effects. Direct effects are the purchases needed
to meet the increased demand of visitors for goods and services.
Indirect effects are the ripple effect of additional rounds
of re-circulating the initial spectators' dollars. Induced
effects are the increase in employment and household income
that result from the economic activity fueled by the direct
and indirect effects (Dawson, Blahna, & Keith, 1993; Howard
& Crompton, 1995).

With
new state of the art sporting arenas costing anywhere between
$30 million to $300 million to build, huge financial investments
must be made. There are many options in financing sport and
recreation facilities than involve both public and private
arrangements and investments. This paper will address various
financial ventures and the benefits and pitfalls of those
options.

ABSTRACT

Transformational
leadership and organizational culture have become increasingly
popular topics over the past 10 years. Some researchers have
suggested that these topics contain the key to understanding
organizational effectiveness (Barney 1986; Bass & Avoilo,
1992). The purpose of this study was to review the related
literature on the links between transformational leadership,
organizational culture, and organizational effectiveness in
sport organizations.

The
theory that magnetic therapy could be used to enhance the
lives of human beings was formulated in the early 16th century
(Ramey, 1998). Since that time it has been suggested that
magnetic therapy can be useful in treating many ailments,
such as broken bones (Rogachefsky, 1998; Sharrard, 1990),
wounds (Lee, Canady, & Doong, 1993; Man, Man, Plosker,
Markov, 1997; Szor, 1998), chronic pain (Campbell, 1997; Valbona,
Hazelwood & Gabor,1997), and even psychiatric disorders
(Baker-Price & Persinger, 1996; George et al., 1997; Kirkcaldie,
Pridmore, & Pascual-Leone, 1997). There is limited literature
with regard to magnetic therapy and to athletic performance,
and mostly in the form of testimonials.

This
paper analyzes the public relations aspects of the case –
The PGA Tour vs. Casey Martin. Casey Martin sued the PGA Tour
over the right to use a riding cart during PGA events. The
recent court rulings are discussed as well as the current
appeal by the PGA Tour to the Supreme Court. Also examined
are the reasons why Casey Martin took the PGA to court. Opinions
of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and PGA Tour Commissioner,
Tim Finchem are presented. The positive and negative public
relations issues of three famous Stanford golfers are discussed:
Casey Martin, Tiger Woods, and Notah Begay III. Finally, the
paper concludes by explaining how the PGA Tour and Casey Martin
should resolve the case.

Swimmers
found themselves in the spotlight at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
and in the scrutiny of spectators and sport researchers alike.
An attempt is often made to determine what the athlete is
feeling behind the scenes and this article will focus on body
weight concerns among swimmers. While sports such as gymnastics
(Conviser, Fitzgibbon, & Kahn, 2000) and figure skating
(Smith, 1997; Ryan, 1995) have been consistently labeled "leanness-demand"
sports, the weight-related pressures for swimmers have been
less clear. Benson and Taub (1993) reported that swimmers
feel pressure to drop weight, "Swimmers may be especially
vulnerable to disordered eating due to the display of their
bodies in a tight and revealing team uniform" (p. 360).