What Is A Sport?
The level of organisational structure which surrounds and influence the sport can help to differentiate whether an activity is considered to be more or less structured sport. Activities engaged in by people for the main purpose of enjoyment, health and fitness or for the sole purpose of exercise, with the only exception of contact sports involving competitive interaction and with the only exception of contact sports where the body is not the substance of the game. The other activities covered in this category are more likely to involve a degree of personal initiative and interaction. It is also possible that some people may consider some types of sporting activities to be less structured than others and this could include recreational or friendly activities.
Competitive sports refer to those that participants take part in for various reasons and they are undertaken for competitive reasons. Competitive sports can take many forms, with ice skating, running, cycling and swimming being three common examples. Competitions take place in public venues and often involve teams. Sports which take place in competitive environments are normally described as competitive or sporting and any information about these events and their definition as well as any rules governing these competitions are commonly published by the relevant sporting organisation.
A sport or recreational activity is one in which players engage in activities that do not require physical skill. They may rely on their own strength, power or speed but may not require any additional ability. For example, the game of football can be played between two people who each push or pull for as long as they are not touching the other. This is a sport in which there is no need to aim at any goal. Similarly, rugby involves a type of physical contact but it does not involve the throwing of any ball or moving of any body part. A further example of a sport which involves no physical contact is ice hockey.
Any activity which participants take part in to satisfy some need is a sport; it therefore requires a clear definition of what it is before we can determine whether it meets the definition. This is an important issue because many people will engage in activities that do not meet the standards needed to be placed under the sport definition. These include things like body building, mountain biking and running. Other activities may not involve competing but may still be included in the definition because the participants are actively engaged in them. These activities include activities like swimming, ice skating and roller skating.
To be able to place a particular event into a category of sport we need to know exactly what we are looking for. We need to look for activities that require skill such as kicking a ball or playing a sport like table tennis. We need to look at how the participants will exert effort to carry out the activity. We also need to consider if the level of skill involved makes the activity a competitive one and how much skill is necessary.
To determine whether a particular activity falls within the range of sports we need to look at several different factors. Some of these factors are the degree of physical activity and the degree of skill involved. The physical activity needs to involve some sort of impact, most likely from the participant’s own body or from another person’s body. The level of skill requires that the participant use their feet to push themselves into a position of contest. Finally, we must consider whether the activity is competitive or is it a form of leisure.