Intro to KIN - Ch 10: Basic Concepts of Sports

•wrote The Joy of Sports - describes sport as a natural religion based on qualities and characteristics fundamental to the experience

There are certain things in religion that correlate to sports

• Rituals, i.e., coin toss – to signify start, announce players
• Costumes- vestments – similar to regalia
• Sense of power outside of one’s control – official/umpire, going against the wind; temperature related
• People who enforce rules – official/umpire
• Teaches principles, i.e., courage

Something done for enjoyment

• Can be viewed as an attitude of freedom - Any kind of activity that we do on our free time;
• Often distinguished from work activities - outside of work;

Viewed also as discretionary time left-over after work (family)

Sport comes from play

1. Free - Done freely; just show up and take part in activities going on;2. Uncertain – different venues3. Governed by rules – changes to person’s discretion;4. Separate – mostly places designed for sports and games5. Economically unproductive – not meant to make money6. Governed by make-believe – emulate professional athlete on TV

Turbulence, gaiety, spontaneity, diversion; can be chaotic

Calculation, playing with rules, and rituals – more advanced strategies involved to win

Distinctions between the two terms do not exist. Not all games are sports, but all sports are a game.

1. Games derive from play – games come from sports; someone thought it up and made rule
2. Games involve competition -
3. Game outcomes are based on skill (when to do it), strategy (when or how to do it), or chance (can involve luck and has more of a chance with skill or strategy)

• Primary rules (how do you play the game and how do you win) and

Secondary rules (modification that make the game more developmentally or age appropriate)

1. Territory or invasion games (goals) – games where you’re trying to score a goal (basketball, football, soccer, hockey)
2. Target games – propel an object (bowling, archery, disc golf, darts)
3. Court games (2 kinds – shared courts (against a wall – racquetball) or divided court) (over a net – tennis, badminton)

Field games – sector game that propels an object so as to elude defenders– baseball, softball, kickball

1. Rituals and traditions are easily seen – Tortilla toss at TTU, mascots, carol of lights
2. Strives to achieve an objective- zero sum tolerance and zero sum view winning is important; one winner and one loser – usually no tied games
3. Involves a state of rivalry

1. Individual vs Individual –
2. Team vs Team
3. Individual vs World Record
4. Individual vs Personal Record
5. Individual vs Physical Barrier

• Codification of rules- same rules govern all contests – the same rules govern all contests, UIL,NCAA, NAIA, etc
• Officials or referees (rules need officials) – unbiased officials to make sure rules are followed
• Organization and structure of sport teams, i.e., NCAA – need for championships
• Record keeping to measure performance (excellence) – make sure we know records are
• Dissemination of information to the public, i.e., newspaper – have a way to get news out to public

• Sport spectating is among our most frequently mentioned leisure-time activities

(Correlation in many countries are very high)