Full Description
This book represents the first international collection that challenges current thinking and research in the emerging field of nature sport. Owing to its inherent connections with fields such as business, leisure, health, tourism, and education, this emerging field has attracted perspectives from a wide range of theoretical viewpoints - much of which are discussed within this collection.
In simple terms nature sports refer to a group of sporting activities that predominantly take place in natural and rural areas. Participation can be both competitive and recreational, with the primary aim to work in relation to nature, where participants seek harmony rather than the quest to conquer it. Within this book, experts from around the globe consider the very essence of nature sport(s), including numerous practical examples of it in action, offering invaluable insights to those both familiar and new to the field. Driven by an increase in non-traditional sports, coupled with growing concerns about the environment, nature sports have experienced significant expansion and interest in both participation and academic debate.
This book is a valuable resource for students and academics in fields such as alternative sports, alternative sport subcultures, sport philosophy, sport and social issues, ethics, and phenomenology. It is also a fascinating read for outdoor educators and practitioners. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issues in Annals of Leisure Research.
Contents
Preface Part I—Nature Sports: Concepts and Scope 1. Nature sports: a unifying concept 2. Nature sports: ontology, embodied being, politics 3. Keeping it natural? challenging indoorization in Italian rock climbing 4. Nature sports: state of the art of research 5. Conceptualizing adventurous nature sport: A positive psychology perspective 6. Nature sports, health and ageing: the value of euphoria 7. Understanding nature sports: a participant centred perspective and its implications for the design and facilitating of learning and performance Part II—Nature Sports: Development, Impacts and Issues 8. Nature sports: current trends and the path ahead 9. Climbing in Saxon Switzerland (GDR) - a path to freedom in a socialist dictatorship 10. Managing the rock-climbing economy: a case from Chattanooga 11. Riding waves of intra-seasonal demand in surf tourism: analysing the nexus of seasonality and 21st century surf forecasting technology 12. Beyond transgression: mountain biking, young people and managing green spaces 13. 'I don't want to die. That's not why I do it at all': multifaceted motivation, psychological health, and personal development in BASE jumping 14. Running away from the taskscape: ultramarathon as 'dark ecology'
