The artificialisation of tennis courts
The impact on playing tennis in The Netherlands by the diffusion of the artificial sand turf red courts, seen through the eyes of tennis players (intern rapport)
Samenvatting
This research was performed at Tilburg University as a part of the Master Leisure Studies, in close cooperation with the KNLTB, the Dutch national tennis federation, and the Mulier Institute. The subject of this research was the so called 'artificialisation' of tennis courts in The Netherlands. The 'artificialisation' stands for the replacement of the natural clay courts (also called gravel courts) by the increasingly popular artificial tennis courts, such as synthetic sand courts and sand turf red courts. This research focussed specifically on the sand turf red courts replacing the clay courts in the last few years in The Netherlands and related this to the diffusion theory of innovations. The diffusion of sand turf red courts was exposed by providing various figures and tables, from which the most important conclusion was that the sand turf red courts quickly gained a market share in the period from 2004 to 2010 of just over ten percent. The question of this research was what the impact was of this diffusion process on playing tennis. By using a so called leisure practice model, in which elements of actor, context, practice and consequences were integrated, with the diffusion process as a part of the context, the impact could be viewed from the perspective of the actor, in this research the tennis players. From this, a conceptual model derived, including the operationalisation of the concepts of this research: the tennis players (actor), the diffusion of sand turf red courts (context), playing tennis (leisure practice) and the satisfaction (consequences). For each of the relationships between the concepts, hypotheses were formed to be tested by means of quantitative research.
Literatuurverwijzing: Bakker, S. (2011). The artificialisation of tennis courts: the impact on playing tennis in The Netherlands by the diffusion of the artificial sand turf red courts, seen through the eyes of tennis players (intern rapport). Tilburg: Tilburg University.