The term sport refers to a physical activity, basically of a competitive nature and that improves the physical condition of the individual who practices it. For its part, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines this term as "a physical activity that is exercised through a competition and whose practice requires training and standards." The International Olympic Committee states that "everyone should have the possibility to practice sport without discrimination of any kind and within the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding, solidarity and a spirit of friendship and fair play."
What is sport
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It is a regulated activity, generally competitive in nature and that can improve the physical condition of those who practice it, it also has properties that differentiate it from the game. This encompasses various areas of society and carries a symbolic complexity in its social and cultural dimension, since sport is currently a practice, a show and a lifestyle.
The term is derived from the old Spanish deportar 'to have fun', 'to rest', patrimonial voice of the Latin deportare 'to move, to transport'. In the meaning of 'physical activity or exercise', sport is a copy (20th century). It is defined as the physical activity carried out by one or a group of people following a series of rules and within a certain physical space.
History of sport
In Greece, a great variety of sports activities were established, for them exercise and military culture went hand in hand and influenced the development of this country. For the Greeks, sports activities were of vital importance, for this reason they created the Olympic Games around the year 777 BC, their headquarters were the population of the Greek Peloponnese, in the city of Olympia until 394 AD and were held every four years.
In this way, they faced different sports disciplines that soon after began to take relevance, such as: Olympic races, horse racing, fighting, jumping and throwing javelins and discus. Those in charge of organizing the games were called Helanodices, now known as the International Olympic Committee.
Later, the first Olympic Games as they are known today were held in 1896 in the city of Greece.
It should be noted that, in the Middle Ages between the 5th and 15th centuries, this era was determined by the power of the church and the development of sport. Thus, athletics, cavalry, palm, wrestling and team sports arose.
In the 14th century, European tennis was born, with rackets made from strings of animal guts. By the 15th century several sports disciplines emerged, in Italy a game very similar to soccer and in Scotland golf appears.
Modern sport began to take shape between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution provided people with free time and money, in this way sports reappeared and others emerged.
The first Olympic Games of the Modern Age were held in Tensa in 1896, in which more than 200 countries participated and it became a great sporting event for professionals of the time.
Sport characteristics
Being sport a physical activity with rules and objectives to improve the physical and psychological conditions of the individual, its characteristics are:
Sport types
Doing sports activities is healthy and above all, fun. Each sport has a number of players, although there are also individual players, which are those in which the athlete performs an activity alone.
As for the areas to carry out these activities, it can be said that they can be carried out on land, in the water or in the air, using innumerable elements for the execution of different sports.
Consequently, sport in general can be divided into 5 main groups:
- Combat Sports.
- Ball Sports.
- Athletic Sports.
- Mechanical Sports.
- Sports in contact with nature.
- Mountain, land, sand.
Sports training
It is a planned and complex process that organizes workloads that rise step by step to stimulate the body's physiological supercompensation processes, guaranteeing the development of different capacities and physical qualities, in order to promote and consolidate sports performance.
Sports psychology
It is a branch of psychology that studies the psychological processes and behavior of the individual during sports activity, as well as the psychological factors that motivate sports practice, physical activity and, on the other hand, the effects obtained by said participation.
Sports medicine
It is the medical specialty that studies the effects of exercise, the science of sport, on the physical activity of the human body, from the point of view of prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries.
Professional sport
It is one in which athletes are paid for their performance, where they have full dedication and discipline for their exercise.
School sport
It refers to all those recreational, motor and sports activities, through educational and pedagogical processes, which integrates the knowledge of sports sciences to strengthen the training of girls, boys and adolescents of school age, as a complement to the educational development that is they implement on extracurricular days to meet their needs and interests, promoting culture, sporting excitement and the use of free time.
Benefits of sport
The benefits are very varied and include physical, mental and even financial effects. Sports activity allows you to stay healthy and enjoy good health, in short, sport and health go hand in hand, here are a variety of benefits of sport:
- Improves fitness and endurance.
- Regulates blood pressure figures.
- Increase or maintain bone density.
- Improves insulin resistance.
- Helps maintain body weight.
- Increases muscle tone and strength.
- Improves the flexibility and mobility of the joints.
- Reduces the feeling of fatigue.
- Psychological benefits.
- Increase self-esteem.
- Reduce social isolation.
- Reduces tension, stress and depression.
- Increases alertness.
- The number of accidents at work decreases.
- Less degree of aggressiveness, anger, anguish.
- Increases general well-being.
- A healthy lifestyle activates the economy of a company and, therefore, of a country.
Examples of sports
A balanced diet and exercise are the key to being in good condition. There are infinite beneficial games such as:
- Soccer: brought to world fame, fun and also broadcast as live sports, where commentators exchange sports predictions. This game teaches teamwork, increases concentration and aerobic skills.
Like most, it is sports and health, it improves cardiovascular potential, tones and provides muscle strength, endurance and flexibility. It is also highly recommended for weight loss, since running for 30 minutes allows you to lose 430 calories.
- Cycling: its practice helps to strengthen and increase the resistance of the muscles, it also helps to burn 430 calories every 30 minutes of practice.
- Tennis: this sporting activity, which in recent years has become very popular, offers practically the same benefits as squash.
- Basketball: Like soccer, it has emotional, psychological, and physical benefits, in terms of muscle, bone health, and cardiorespiratory system.
- Volleyball: properly practiced, it provides muscular strength, endurance, tones arms, legs and glutes like none other.
- Boxing: Boxers' training, although very exhausting, is one of the most complete and beneficial both in terms of cardiorespiratory health and in terms of muscle tone and endurance.
Among other sports are:
- Acrobatics.
- Athletics.
- Body-building.
- Boxing.
- Bowling.
- Motoring.
- Fight.
- Diving.
- Fencing.
- Fishing.
- Indoor football.
- Football.
- Karting.
- Golf.
- Gymnastics.
- Handball.
- Hunting.
- Judo.
- Karate.
- Kung Fu.
- Motorcycling.
- Mountaineering.
- Paintball
- Skydiving.
- Paragliding
- Racquetball
- Rhythmic gymnastics.
- Rowing.
- Candle.
- Diving.
- Skating.
- Ski.
- Softball.
