Sports As a Theme

Sports (or sport) is any form of generally competitive physical activity that, through organised or casual competition, attempt to employ, develop or improve certain physical abilities and skills for the benefit of participants, and sometimes, spectators, while providing entertainment for the participants themselves. This includes sports that involve a number of people, including competitors, followers and/or spectators. The term can also be used in conjunction with non-sport activities such as horse racing, ice skating, surfing and water sports.

In most parts of the world, popular sports are generally those where physical contact is a significant part of the activity; where competitive matches are held between small groups of people on a regular basis, or between large groups of people on occasion; where the participants engage in regular training either for competitive reasons or out of hobbyist interest; and where the results are generally both tangible and subjective. As sports have developed over time from their humble beginnings as simple gatherings of friends or family members engaged in athletic activity, they have developed significantly as a source of income and as a venue for entertainment. The development of sports organizations and sports equipment has resulted in the production of specialized sports gear and sports equipment, often designed specifically for particular sports. In addition, sports have become associated with a range of other aspects of the participant’s lifestyle, most commonly related to health, exercise, fitness or physical appearance.

Sport, like all forms of popular culture, has developed various ways to define it, and the boundaries that have been drawn between acceptable levels of participation and unacceptable behaviour have increasingly expanded and become more flexible since its humble beginnings. In many areas, the separation between sport and entertainment has become more blurred, with sport becoming an aspect of everyday life and the entertainment business taking a bigger slice of the media and entertainment industries, resulting in an increasing level of cross-media exposure. As this media exposure increases, the scope and type of audience that sports can attract become increasingly broader. As a result, sports have become an ever greater part of our society, making them one of the most popular hobbies and for whom people actively look for ways to support their favourite teams and players.