What Makes Something a Sport?

What makes something a sport?  Many things do, including competition, athleticisim, and talent. There are a few examples below of some of the qualifications that an activity most likely must meet in order to be considered a sport. 

The answer is subjective, but some of the common things that define a "sport" are listed below:

Measurement

The defining parameter of sports is measurement. Who jumps higher, runs faster, throws further?

There is much argument to this day about whether some sports actually are sports. Take modern cheerleading. It hasn’t been a matter of pretty girls dressed in short skirts and jumping around while flourishing pom poms for quite some time.

Modern cheerleaders are extremely athletic. Their sport is very much a team one. They engage in all types of strenuous and amazing gymnastics, involving human pyramids, or throwing one or more members up in twirls and circles.

It’s so athletic that it’s also dangerous. There have been more than a few professional cheerleaders who, in the pursuit of their sport, have sustained serious, permanent injuries and even death.

One might think that would be enough to seal the discussion that cheerleading is indeed a sport, but that’s not the case. While gymnastics is an Olympic event, there are still those purists who insist that nothing that can be called graceful or attractive can possibly measure up in terms of a sport.

Ballroom dancing and synchronized swimming are both highly athletic and competitive, but the same sports purists would just sneer at the idea that these sports were, indeed, even sports at all.

Competition

Competition is a key ingredient to a sport, so if it’s not competitive, if you aren’t measuring your performance against another’s, what you’re doing may be fun, but it probably is not a sport.

Sports are competitive, and that can be individually competitive, or in a manner involving other players, such as in a team.

One doesn’t merely engage in competition, though. There has to be defined, objective determinations - measures, if you will - to show how one person is better when they engage in the activity than another competitor.

Without competition, without a means of identifying who is better at a sport than another, it simply cannot be a sport. If you want to know what makes something a sport, all you have to do is take a look at a statistic book, or a gameboard. If one person or team is better, their statistics, how they compare to other players or other teams, will be noted somewhere for fans of the sport to see.

Talent and Athleticism

Anyone can play a game. Watch the kids playing a few rounds of Monopoly or Clue on a rainy day. That’s fun, but it’s not a sport.

Some activities might be enjoyable, they might be a good way to lose a few pounds, and to shake out the strain from too much couch surfing, but that doesn’t make them a sport.

A sport involves some degree of athleticism, and usually the more athletic the participants, the greater the sport.

How to Define "Sport"

A sport may involve a team activity, but then, it might not. With Olympic events, competitors may represent their country solely as themselves, but they might also be a part of a team as well.

Take any of the running competitions. There are teams that represent their respective countries, but it’s the individual team members who do the running. They aren’t flying down the track as a group!

The same sticklers for what is or isn’t a sport often look down on the notion of team sports as well, They believe it’s only the individual competitor who counts, and whose performance can be counted, with the idea of what makes something a sport.

Many of these purists look to the Olympics, meaning the original Olympic held in Greece in ancient times, for their inspiration. They believe that it’s the athleticism of the individual, competing against other similarly classed individuals, that truly defines an activity as a sport, and not merely a game or a program for spectators.

To the purists, the spectators aren’t even important! It’s the quest of one athlete, competing against another, and measuring how they both fare, that makes something a sport, and in their view, a true art.