Chapter+2+-+Literature+review

** LITERATURE REVIEW **  Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. In British English, sporting activities are commonly denoted by the collective noun "sport". In American English, "sports" is more common. In all English dialects, "sports" is the term used for more than one specific game. For example, "football and swimming are my favorite sports", would sound natural to all English speakers, whereas "I enjoy sport" would sound less natural than "I enjoy sports" to North Americans (Wikipedia 2009). In the university, there are many reasons for students to participate in sport. Adequate facilities, health, socialization, personal interest, structure of sport programme and academic reasons (Rahim Harun 1985). Sports are most often played just for fun or for the simple fact that students need exercise to stay in good physical condition.

** Leisure constraints ** As suggested by Jackson (2000), it is generally understood that there are essentially three types of constraints to leisure:

(a) Intrapersonal - psychological conditions internal to the individual (e.g., personality, attitudes, moods). (b) Interpersonal - arise out of interactions with others (e.g., the presence of others within the setting). (c) Structural - arise from external conditions within the environment (e.g., cost, few opportunities).

** Leisure Involvement ** Involvement has been defined as involvement is an “unobservable state of motivation, arousal or interest toward a recreational activity or associated product. It is evoked by particular stimulus or situation and has drive properties. In other words, leisure involvement refers to how we think about our leisure and recreation, and it affects our behavior” (Havitz & Dimanche, 1997, p. 246, adapted from Rothschild, 1984). Thus, an understanding of leisure involvement has significant implications for understanding leisure behavior. Three dimensions - attraction, centrality, and self expression - have consistently been shown to be applicable and reliably measured within leisure settings (Dimanche, Havitz, & Howard, 1991; Havitz & Dimanche, 1997; McIntyre & Pigram, 1992; Wiley, Shaw, & Havitz, 2000). Based on their research on vehicle-based camping, McIntyre and Pigram suggested that attraction is best conceptualized in terms of recreationists’ perceptions of activity importance and the pleasure derived through the activity. The centrality dimension, on the other hand, refers to the centrality of the activity within the context of recreationists’ overall life (Watkins, 1987). An activity may be considered central if other aspects of an individual’s life are organized around the activity. Finally, self expression refers to the self representation or the impression of the self that individuals wish to convey to others through their participation in the activity.