Sports (or physical sports) is any form of generally competitive physical activity that, through organised or casual participation, aim to employ, develop or enhance physical strength and abilities while offering entertainment to participants, and at times, spectators alike. There are various sports that fit into this category. Football is perhaps the most well-known sport, but there are also rugby, ice hockey, boxing, swimming, tennis, golf and even American football (for those who happen to love this sport!). With such a wide variety of potential games, the definition of a sport can become quite vague. The reason for this is that there are so many different sports and a single sport can be adapted by different people depending on their own needs.
A sport can be broadly classified as any physical contact sport that involves two or more people and whose participants use tools (including but not limited to feet, legs and arms), muscles and mind in order to win. Not only are the competition based on skill, but often the game is determined by mathematics – for example, tennis requires one to hit the ball past another player (with the goal being the largest number of points awarded for the hit). Many games share this basic principle, such as American football, baseball and chess. In most sports, competition occurs when players try to beat each other by using different sets of skills, such as swimming against each other, basketball between two teams, rugby between two sides and boxing between two competing individuals. Sometimes these competitions are supervised by referees who control the outcome of a match by consulting a set of predetermined rules.
For many people, sports is an important part of their daily life. To be more specific, active participation in sports has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes, to name a few of the most common diseases which may be preventable by regular participation in sport. This is because active participation in sports helps you lose weight, strengthen your bones and muscle, improve your eyesight, play a more active role in your health, develop balance and coordination and improve your health and well-being overall. So if you’re not already doing so, why not start? You might be surprised at just how much it can improve your life! Look out for next month’s issue of Health magazine for more advice on where to get started.
