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• Climate change effects on ski tourism

  19-26

  Piroska Béki

  Views:

  410

  Nowadays, climate change poses a common recurring problem in our everyday life. The weather forecasts tend to be inaccurate, the swiftly changing weather often makes fun of the people. The same unpredictability applies for forecasting the amount of precipitation or snowing. The major problem in ski tourism consists in the gradual shift of seasons, namely there is no snow in December yet, while at Easter-time we can count on such an enormous amount of snow. I’d like to present this climate condition and offer a sort of way out of this problem. In my empirical study, I have carried out document-analysis along the data collection phase, and I made half-structured deep-interviews, as well.
  My research questions were the following: How is the winter season affected by climate change or by the lack of snow? Due to the unreliable climatic conditions what is the estimated ratio of drop in tourism in the season? How much shorter is a skiing-season and how does it affect the operation of the local ski-school? What are the features of pre, and post peak-season tourists’ emergence? How and for how long can a smaller ski-resort be maintained? What is the biggest challenge, problem at the ski-resorts along the state border?
  First of all, I’d like to present and tackle the various solutions emerged facing the challenges of climate change effects related to skiing, on the other hand, I have made some personal interviews with Hungarian ski instructors working abroad and also with managers of Austrian ski schools trying to find out the various answers and reactions they have hammered out coping with the new challenges and difficulties in ski tourism.
  Hungary can not be considered a skiing nation, although more and more people tend to take up skiing and get involved in this special field of sport tourism. The number of ski slopes being built and developed is increasing, yet the Hungarians ski-lovers tend to visit rather the foreign sport centers for the time being. The reasons mostly involve the various length and versatile difficulty level of the ski slopes. We should also take into account the challenging conditions imposed by climate change on the smaller winter sport centers and the way they can cope with it and also compete with other sport centers with similar features.
  Climate change affects considerably the operation of skiing season, and the service providers must adapt to the new conditions. Many resort venues struggle for survival, though most of the local self-governments are clearly aware of the importance of ski-tourism, particularly in Austria.

• Masculine brave in the feminine winter sports

  81-85

  Piroska Béki

  Views:

  181

  The sport has significant role in the changes of the genders relation and helped to transform the conception of the sexes during the last fifty years. The women started to do conventionally male sports; the newest event was the ski jumping for female athletes at the Olympic Games of Soci. The gender stereotypes in the women sports can be stronger or weaker depending on the success or on the water haul. This phenomenon helps us to understand the new conceptions of the sexes in the context of the relationships of genders.

• Somatic development and some motor performances of young girls based on age and birth season

  117-123

  Eszter Szabó

  Danica Keczeli

  István Farmosi

  Sándorné Gaál

  Katalin Keresztesi

  Views:

  158

  There are numerous publications in the literature reporting physical development and motor performances of children of different ages based on sex and various environmental factors. However, there are not many publications on the birth season effect. The aim of the study was to evaluate the differences among children in physical development and motor performances based on age and birth season. Physical development described by body height and body weight, in addition to motor performance indicators including the twenty-metre dash, standing broad jump, six minutes of continuous running, throwing with a stuffed ball, and obstacle race-tests were studied. The survey included the participation of 426 girls. From the group the seven-, eight-, and nine-year olds numbered 148, 191, and 87 respectively. The group of girls who were born in winter, spring, summer and autumn numbered 114, 110, 89 and119 respectively. The tested data were evaluated with unitrate analyses of variance using SPSS statistical package. Mean value, standard error, standard deviation and coefficient of variation were calculated. The significance of differences between mean values was evaluated using “t” test. Differences with an error below 5% were considered to be significant. Furthermore, a correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between season of birth, body development and motor-related performance data. Age, body height, body weight, throwing a stuffed ball in one hand, twenty-metre dash, six minutes of continuous running, and obstacle race-test are interdependent variables of development and motor performances of young girls of this age. Data from the study results show that the children group included in the tests was quite homogenous in body height, but heterogeneous in body weight and motor performances. Physical development and four of the five evaluated sport skills were affected by the birth season. Development and motor performances of the summer- and autumn-born girls are generally better than those born in winter or spring. Differences are significant except for the obstacle race-test. Age, body height, body weight, throwing with a stuffed ball in one hand, twentymetre dash, six minutes of continuous running, and the obstacle race-test seem to be interdependent variables of development and motor performances of young girls of this age.