Assaf Lev

Ono Academic College | ONO · Sports Therapy

This paper focuses on the way novice marathon runners experience and respond to a change-becoming marathoners. It utilizes Victor Turner's concepts of liminality and communitas to illustrate the complexity and challenges experienced by novice runners. The scope of sociological research regarding distance runners over the last two decades has expand...

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a widely known phenomenon among gym goers. For many of them, experiencing DOMS the day after working out in the gym is often perceived as rewarding and something of which to brag and be proud. Although existing work within the biomedical field has undoubtedly shed light on coping with and managing DOMS, there...

The NBA has undergone formative changes since commissioner David Stern began his tenure. Stern has endeavored to make the NBA a consumer-friendly and marketable league by implementing sanctions on physical violence. This study takes a closer look at Stern's efforts by examining the interplay between two forms of violence in NBA basketball players o...

Superstitions are behaviors human beings use to gain a sense of control over certain events in their lives. Thus, sport and its inherent uncertainty provide fertile ground for superstitious behavior. Research on this subject has focused mainly on athletes while examining the behavioral expressions, motivations, and characteristics of fans' supersti...

For many gym goers, grunting in times of bodily exertion is perceived as a voluntary performance, a self-evident expression for which they can waive any responsibility. Drawing on a symbolic interaction approach, this paper provides a novel examination of grunting as a social phenomenon. It demonstrates the role of grunting as a social symbol and i...

The paper explores the connection between machoism, militarism and sport in Israeli society in the contexts of long distance running and gyms. The paper is based on ethnographic research via participatory observations and semi-structured interviews conducted by male and female anthropologists in two studies. In the first study of the context of lon...

Given the great importance of morality and values in modern sports, especially among young athletes, in this pilot study, we sought to broaden the exploration of the factors that may play role in these contexts, which have not been widely researched to date. Accordingly, the study tested the relationships between sport type (team or individual) and...

This paper deals with the development of research tools aimed at assessing the influence of parental involvement on their child’s perceptions from a psycho-sociological perspective. Although the literature regarding parental involvement with youth in general is vast, very little has been written regarding parental involvement in the context of bask...

This paper explores the nature of parental involvement in youth basketball in Israel with regard to parenting style and in the context of dilemmas and ethical issues. It is well established that parental involvement in their child's sporting activity has vast implications on the child's motivation and enjoyment. With reference to Israeli society, o...

One of the rays of light during the challenging COVID-19 period was the release of the Netflix docuseries The Last Dance. According to the network's official website, the docuseries provides a definitive account of Michael Jordan's career and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, packed with unaired footage from the 1997-98 season. Despite the volume of books a...

Goal celebration in sport is mostly spontaneous and is manifested via vocal expressions and bodily gestures aimed at communicating emotions. The aim of this study is to decon-struct the celebratory acts among elite professional football players in the European Champions League following scoring a goal, and to capture the multiple acts and functions...

Goal celebration in sport is mostly spontaneous and is manifested via vocal expressions and bodily gestures aimed at communicating emotions. The aim of this study is to deconstruct the celebratory acts among elite professional football players in the European Champions League following scoring a goal, and to capture the multiple acts and functions...

In the Israeli Premier Football League there is a phenomenon in which many team captains or players who were the team's leaders go on to become professional coaches. Reality shows that some of them make it as great coaches, and some 'get lost'-failing in the transition from being a leading player to assuming the leadership position of coaching. Thi...

This article will focus on the perception of pain and bodily distress among long-distance runners. It builds on Leder’s (1990) phenomenological notion of the Dys-appearing body. As opposed to bodily dis-appearance in which one can perceive his/her body as ‘absent’ or ‘being away’, bodily dys-appearance appears as being ‘ill’ or ‘bad’. The paper sug...

Sima Zach and Assaf Lev’s chapter “Long distance running as a serious leisure activity and its influence on relationships within the family” concentrates on the growing popularity of marathon races in Israel. Long distance running is typically perceived as highly challenging and demanding, both physically and mentally, and it deeply affects the par...

This paper indicates the way beginner long-distance runners learn to derive pleasure and contentment ('runner's high') in times of pain and bodily distress. It is based on Becker's theoretical framework of using marihuana (marijuana) for pleasure. Although pain resulting from long-distance running has been widely explored sociologically, little has...

This paper indicates the way beginner long-distance runners learn to derive pleasure and contentment (‘runner’s high’) in times of pain and bodily distress. It is based on Becker’s theoretical framework of using marihuana (marijuana) for pleasure. Although pain resulting from long-distance running has been widely explored sociologically, little has...

The article discusses macho culture in Israeli gyms. It describes male trainees’ efforts to preserve their dominance, facing female trainees’ threat to undermine it. The article analyzes means, such as military icons, physical battles, and vocal expressions, used to convey male dominance at the gym. Two gyms in the metropolis of Tel Aviv were studi...

For many amateur long-distance runners the marathon is not merely an event – it is a demanding activity, both physically and mentally. While being immersed in this activity they enter the running social world and undergo a process of identity transformation. This process encompasses immersion into a ‘zone’ that is often outside the partnership of m...

The article discusses the issue of old-age and ageism in the context of gyms in Israel. It strives to contribute to the approach that questions "old-age" as having self-evident existence. Ageism is perceived as contempt, hostility, patronizing and fear towards older people, based on age as determining social image, identity and status. The gym's fr...

The article focuses on gender power relations at the gym. It is based on fieldwork in three gyms in Israel. The analysis suggests a typology of responses in relation to gender dictates and male dominance in Israeli gyms: (1) resistance by withdrawal was found mostly in women who gave up attending it and turned to look for alternatives to physical t...

This study describes and examines the concerns of professional basketball players as they approach retirement. Although age and physiological ability are most often considered the primary indicators of retirement time, this paper examines other diverse social conventions which are considered equally, if not more, significant in bringing the retirem...