Dictionary.com defines a sport as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, such as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.”
But I beg to differ with that definition.
I think for a sport to be a sport, it must be a competition. If there are no winners or losers and only participants, then all you are doing is participating in an activity.
In order to be successful in a particular sport, you should have to be athletic in some respect.
For example, fishing does not really require any athleticism. Someone who is out of shape and lazy could do just as well at fishing as a person who works out everyday. Fishing is based mainly on luck and therefore has nothing to do with talent.
When luck determines the outcome of an activity, it’s not a sport.
Then there is the forever controversial cheerleading.
Cheerleaders generally claim that it is indeed a sport while everyone else says the opposite.
I’m in between. When the cheerleaders are doing nothing but cheering and smiling, I can’t really call that a sport.
However, if they are cheerleading competitively then that becomes a sport. It then becomes about skill and athleticism, and therefore is a sport.
I’ve also heard the argument that if a competition is being judged, such as in gymnastics, then it’s not a sport.
People say that the winner of a sporting competition must be able to be determined based solely on a direct measurement of skill, such as runs scored or a timed race, not the opinion of officials.
I can’t really agree with this one, however.
Maybe I’m a little biased since I used to do gymnastics, but I think that the amount of athleticism required to be a gymnast is much more than or equal to many other sports.
If every participant is judged based on the same scale, with the same rules for deductions and the same formula for calculating score, then there are definite winners and losers, and it is definitely a sport.
Judging isn’t a matter of opinion, it follows strict guidelines so that every athlete is judged exactly the same – it’s just like having a referee or umpire to make close calls.
So all you fishermen and cheerleaders out there can keep on doing your thing, but just don’t call it a sport.
Activities are fun, but real sports have winners and losers.
