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Chapter 5Chapter 5Basic Concepts of

SportBasic Concepts of

Sport

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Sport – the Natural Religion

• Novak (1976) describes sport as a natural religion based on qualities and characteristics fundamental to the experience

• How is sport a religion?• Rituals, i.e., coin toss• Costumes• Sense of power outside of one’s

control• People who enforce rules• Teaches principles, i.e., courage

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What is Leisure?

• Can be viewed as an attitude of freedom

• Often distinguished from work activities

• Viewed also as discretionary time left-over after work

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What is Play?• Sport is a manifestation of play• Characteristics of play represent a

continuum such as:• Free• Uncertain• Governed by rules• Separate• Economically unproductive• Governed by make-believe

Play is not trivial, but rich with psychological, sociological, and historical

meaning

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Caillois: 6 characteristics of play• Free (voluntary behavior)• Separate (conducted in places where

the time and space limits are fixed), e.g., let us go to the gym and play BB for half an hour

• Uncertain (evenly matched competition)

• Economically unproductive• Governed by rules• Governed by make believe

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Differences BetweenChild’s Play vs. Adult Play

• Play is the most basic behavior in young children

• Children’s continuum includes: turbulence, gaiety, spontaneity, diversion

• Adults’ continuum includes: calculation, subordination to rules, contrivance and ritual

One is not better than the other, however, as children grow and develop, their continuum

goes toward the adult side

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Games• Physical skill• Strategy• Chance

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Games vs. Sports

• There are no exact distinctions between the two terms

• Three important areas of the concept “game”:1. Games derive from play2. Games involve competition3. Game outcomes are based on skill,

strategy or chance• Not all games are sports but all

sports are a game

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Games vs. Sports, cont’d

• Sports are games involving skill and strategy

• Sport games have primary and secondary rules

• Sport games are classified into four categories:1. Territory or invasion games2. Target games3. Court games4. Field games

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Competition Concept

• Rituals and traditions are easily seen• Strives to achieve an objective• Involves a state of rivalry

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Roles that Contribute to Sports as an Institution

• Codification of rules• Officials or referees• Organization and structure of sport

teams, i.e., NCAA• Record keeping to measure

performance• Dissemination of information to the

public, i.e., newspaper

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Aesthetics of Sports

• One tries to find the beauty in sports, form sports, and other sports

• Form sports: performers consciously work on achieving a physical form that is aesthetic• Examples of qualities are:

harmony, form, dynamics, flow, gracefulness, rhythm, poise

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Aesthetics of Sports, cont’d

• Carlisle (1974) has suggested four types of beauty in other sports:• Well-developed physique• Well-designed play or execution

of the maneuver• Dramatic competition• Unity of an entire performance

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Ethics in Sports• How people behave or conduct

themselves in particular situations, i.e., games or sports• Fair play: how a competitor behaves

before, during and after competition• 19th Century concept from England, i.e.,

Arnoldism• Concept still permeates in our society

today• Rule violations are meant to be enforced

by officials or referees• Sports still can build character and teach

important life lessons• However, sport can be corrupt and has

the ability to teach negative lesson in life