“So the rally co-driver who sits on the passenger side in a car for hours reading some sort of newspaper… does he exercise?” We can also imagine the “retreat” that a mountain biker would take when telling a motocross or enduro rider: “I play sports because I don’t need an engine to climb the hills” … Any ironic comment can be avoided by knowing the story. Because when does an activity become a sport? Practice “health”, leisure or competition, the term “sport” has in fact adapted to mores and times. It finds its roots in a word of old French: “desport” (entertainment, physical and spiritual pleasures). So, co-piloting in a car rally, pétanque and chess are “part of it”. Afterwards, several debates can be opened: is a game (traditional or not) a sport? Let’s go further … Does the term “sport” still apply to the “professional” sector where one is sometimes in the “athletic business”? Enough to fuel a few discussions in the stands of the stadium or at the bar in the hall: “But if … I tell you that my activity is a sport!”
“So the rally co-driver who sits on the passenger side in a car for hours reading some sort of newspaper… does he play sports?”. We can also imagine the “retreat” that a mountain biker would take when telling a motocross or enduro rider: “I play sports because I don’t need an engine to climb the hills” … Any ironic comment can be avoided by knowing the story. Because when does an activity become a sport? Practice “health”, leisure or competition, the term “sport” has in fact adapted to mores and times. It finds its roots in a word of old French: “desport” (entertainment, physical and spiritual pleasures). So, co-piloting in a car rally, pétanque and chess are “part of it”. Afterwards, several debates can be opened: is a game (traditional or not) a sport? Let’s go further … Does the term “sport” still apply to the “professional” sector where one is sometimes in the “athletic business”? Enough to fuel a few discussions in the stands of the stadium or at the bar in the hall: “But if … I tell you that my activity is a sport!”
–
