Info about Sports
WHAT IS PHYSICAL EDUCATION? WHAT IS SPORT?
Physical education and sport are allied activities that can overlap, merge, and even disassociate. Are they synonymous with exercise, play, games, leisure, recreation, or athletics? Before physical education can be defined, each of these terms needs to him understood. Exercise means to practice, to strengthen, or to condition through physical activity. Play refers to amusements engaged in freely, for fun, and devoid of constraints. Gaines, usually implying winners and losers, can range from simple diversions to cooperative activities to competitions with significant outcomes governed by rules. Freedom from work or responsibilities describes leisure, which may or may not include physical activity. Similarly, recreation refreshes or renews one’s strength and spirit after toil, again with or without activity. Athletics are organized, highly structured, competitive activities in which skilled individuals participate.
• Definitions
Sports may be played both for exercise and as a game. Sports participants may use their leisure time to play games recreationally. Sonic describe bridge and chess games is sports, while others claim that rock climbing, fly fishing, and sky— diving are sports. When the rules governing a sport, who participates, their requisite skill levels, and the significance placed on the outcome arc rigidly structured, Sport becomes athletics. Usually, sport refers to contests in which the outcome is viewed as important by the players, who will emerge as either winners or losers. Broadly defined, sports are physical activities governed by formal or informal rules that involve competition against an opponent or oneself and are engaged in for kin, recreation, or reward.
Traditionally, the definition of physical education has been restricted to formal instruction in a school or college. Yet, instruction in physical activities also can occur in an aerobics center, a sports club, a corporate fitness program, and a recreational league. In these settings, people learn skills, develop fitness, and commit to enhancing their physical well—being. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education defines the physically educated person as one who (1) has learned skills necessary to perform a variety of physical activities, (2) is physically fit, (3) does participate regularly in physical activity, (4) knows the implications of and the benefits from involvement in physical activities, and (5) values physical activity and its contributions to a healthful lifestyle. To encompass the various outcomes experienced by all people in diverse programs, physical education is defined here as a process through which an individual obtains optimal physical, mental, and social skills and fitness through physical activity. In recent years, many colleges have chosen to rename their departments to use the term kinesiology instead of physical education. Kinesiology, the scientific study of human motion, focuses on the art and science of how the body moves. This term encompasses the scientific analysis, teaching, and description of human movement for all ages and skill levels. Researchers are exploring how to maximize the potential of human movement through physiological, biomechanical, and psychological studies. Practitioners are applying these findings to improving the quality of life for all who incorporate physical activity into their lives. Thus, the term kinesiology rather than physical education may more broadly define what people know and do relative to human movement.
• Recreation
Recreation, a diversion that occurs during leisure hours, renews and refreshes one’s strength and spirits after work. In 1938, recreation was included in the title and structure of the national professional organization, joining physical education and health. This change reflected the important role of recreational activities for people of all ages. Schools, businesses, communities, and families have increasingly offered activities for fitness and pleasure as each of these groups accepts some responsibility for educating for leisure. Businesses provide work-site fitness centers, sponsor sports teams, and offer a variety of fitness activities for employees and their families. The popularity of home fitness programs and equipment illustrates how some adults have decided to use personal resources to develop and maintain fitness.
The recreation services industry is growing rapidly in the United States because of increased leisure time and larger discretionary incomes. Also, as the American population ages, more and more retired persons are seeking appropriate recreational out lets. No longer can municipal recreation departments fulfill their missions simply by sponsoring youth leagues in the traditional team sports. Americans also want adult competitive leagues, instructional clinics, open facilities for family outings, organized trips and moderate exercise programs for seniors and child care so that a parent can recreate. Environmental concerns have led many People to expect resource management by state and national authorities so that the beauty of nature and access to it will not he impaired for outdoor recreators. Schools and colleges have expanded their curricula to include the lifetime activities of backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing, and downhill skiing. Thus, a similarity of outcomes of physical education, Sport, and recreation programs is evident.
• Dance
Bodily movements of a rhythmical and patterned succession usually executed to the accompaniment of music constitute dance. Both as physical activity and as performing art, dance varieties include aerobic, ballet, ballroom, folk, clogging, jazz, modem, square, and tap. Dance can provide participants opportunities for aesthetic expression whether in a beginner’s class or on stage. People of all ages can dance for fitness and for fun. Although dance was for many years a vital component of school and college programs, it was not until 1979 that dance officially became a part of the title of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Some schools and most colleges have dance Specialists, yet many dance classes are taught by physical educators who sometimes have had minimal preparation in this field.