For centuries sport has brought out the best qualities of human character – kindness, open-heartedness, resilience, camaraderie, and team spirit. Sport helped overcome hardships and lift up spirits. Numerous books and movies have been created that depict and emphasize the role of sport in the society. Many of them tell amazing stories of the lives and achievements of individual athletes and teams who inspire both their contemporaries and future generations. Over centuries, sport united people and nations, fostered mutual understanding and promoted conflict resolution. Indeed, in early the history, wars stopped when Olympic Games began, and sporting competitions united yesterday’s enemies and rivals. Nowadays, athletes are viewed as ambassadors of good will and peace. That is not to say that sport cannot in turn incite conflicts, especially if competitiveness goes too far, and if sport starts to be used for selfish or political reasons. Even though a lot of sports books and movies exist, surprisingly few of them portray the role of athletes and the importance of sports during the darkest times of the 20th century – World War II. It may at first seem that when the war engulfed the entire continent of Europe, there was no time or place for sports. Nevertheless in the war-torn countries, sports and athletes oftentimes gave the people a breath of fresh air and hope. Even though dictators and regimes used sports for their benefit and propaganda, a true positive spirit of sports prevailed. Statement of comparison: I have chosen to analyze and compare two captivating stories about great athletes during World War II: the novel “Road to Valour” by McConnon and McConnon and the movie “Match” by director Andrey Malyukov. The plots of both ... ... middle of paper ... ...that they even petitioned the Nazi government to spare the lives of great Start soccer players. This in turn signifies that sport does bring out the best in people – true sportsmen respect their opponents and accept defeat. In sum, while the book and movie describe athletes from different countries who took part in different sports – an individual cyclist from Italy and a soccer team from Ukraine – the key unifying theme is their sportsmanship, bravery in fighting evil, their perseverance, and as a result, their drive to inspire others to be brave and strong. Heroes of two different countries did one important thing in common – they won and inspired others to fight and win. The cyclist portrayed in the book lived to tell his story, while the soccer players depicted in the movie died. Still, the memories of these courageous athletes will live on, as will their deeds.
Dawson, Rebeccah. "'Death Is More Heroic on the Soccer Field ...': The Cult of Athletics in Melchior Vischer's Soccer Players and Indians." Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature Spring-Summer 2010: n. pag. Print.
When discussing why sports matter and the influence it has had over the course of history, many controversial issues have been whether or not sports have taught us to cultivate discipline. Sheed explains that sports can play an important role in the lives of people by helping them discover who they are and where they want to be. The lesson of sports goes deeper than just practicing or playing a game, they help build characteristics that will prepare you for many obstacles in life. Sheed mentions that sports were created and put into schools to teach discipline, patience, and honesty to male students. He continues to point out that sports are very competitive and that sportsmanship and discipline does not matter anymore, but instead the very need to win. In “Why Sports Matter,” Wilfrid Sheed, contends that “sports did not only outlaw cheating but drilled its participants to detect and despise it in each other”. This was a crucial lesson taught to a nation based on transactions.
During the late 80’s, Phil Alden Robinson developed a sensational story that revolved around a real life account of a sport tragedy. The viewers were immersed in a touching account of how sport, a social interest, can play a powerful role in human bonding; thus becoming a very spiritual component of life. It in itself has a profound effect on the societies’ spiritual experiences; and just like religion can respectfully be considered a form of spirituality for a modern society, as exemplified in Robinson’s movie ‘Field of Dreams’. This story resonates far beyond the power of dreams, its appeal lies in a vision of a perfect sport and the love for which can inadvertently resolve issues no matter how grand. The plot at first presents itself as a complex; or maybe even a strange series of events, but somehow its scenes string themselves into a moral about redemption and deep interpersonal bonds.
Research guided by conflict theory generally falls into the following categories: 1) studies of how athletes become alienated from their own bodies; 2) studies of how sports can be used to coerce and control people; 3) studies of sports and the development of commercialism in society; 4) studies of sports and various forms of nationalism and militarism; and 5) studies of sports and racism and sexism. (Coakley, 1998) In the book, Meggyesy provided examples of each of these categories which occurred during his footba...
Sports have undoubtedly had a global impact on culture. From ordinary, popular sports such as running to more blatantly bizarre and obscure activities such as extreme ironing, the world-wide appeal of athletic activities in society has led to their integration in a variety of cultural outlets such as television, social media, journalism, and film. Extending from this desire for athletic competition is the equally ravenous appetite for talented athletes who ultimately transform the sports in which they play. One particular form of communicative media, classical literature, has largely been influenced by society’s desire for the epic athlete, enabling a spectrum of authors from Plato to Hemingway to cater to this audience. Transcending the multitude
ABSTRACT: The purity of the Olympics has been smeared by scandal, corruption, boycotts, political disputes and even acts of terrorism. Sadly, politics have taken control of the Olympics and turned it into a political and money-making extravaganza. Olympic boycotts became a way for countries to protest each other. Hitler tried to use the Games to prove his belief of racial superiority. Wars interfered with the Olympics. Bloodshed even covered the Olympics, in the 1972 Munich Games where terrorists killed eleven Israeli Olympic members. Unfortunately, throughout Olympic history, politics have overshadowed the true focus of the Games. They were "intended to unite the countries of the world through friendly competition" not segregate them through politics (Siggers 1).
The presence of activity and sport is found within cultures and societies all over the world, and throughout history. Activity in the form of sport can often be the purest form of expression for a society or individual. The sporting world is often thought to be a microcosm of the actual world with the problems and issues of society still being ever present in the sporting community. Since sport can be used as an expression of self, it is no wonder that sport is often a reflection of the society that it occupies. One such society that was deeply impacted by the role of sport is that of Native American boarding school students in the 1800’s and 1900’s. These students lived tough lives but just like how it had helped other cultural societies, sport was able to provide these students with basic needs of autonomy and pride.
The Olympic Games of 1972 and 1980 were games to remember for their surprising outcomes. The Cold War had been going on for since 1947 and the bitter rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union was at a peek. Both the United State’s basketball team and the Soviet Union’s hockey team remained undefeated until these games. During these Olympics, the superior team was beaten by the weaker one, and tensions between the two nations were affected. Each nation experienced extraordinary Olympic victories, but for very different reasons.
...petitive sports can cause lasting harm and have no benefits for these children (Statsky 627), then examples of how childhood competition negatively affected individuals years after the fact would go a long way to proving her accusation. As Statsky's thesis rests on the assumption that adult imposition of competition and organization in children's sports makes the games neither satisfactory nor beneficial to the children, then lack of benefit must be shown along with lack of satisfaction. The existence of unsatisfied child athletes in organized sports is no indication that children are somehow unsuited to competition and team sports.
“Sports are for fun, but they also offer benefits and lessons that carry over into all aspects of life”. This well-known anonymous quotation conveys the message that sport is the game which has some rules and custom. It is not only for fun and entertainment, but there are also some benefits of playing sports and which gives some important lessons for life. Every kind of physical sports is healthy because it involves running, jumping, stretching, mind skills and much more. There are so many sports available in the world nowadays, but we can categorize them by the numbers of players, the three main categories are individual sport, dual sport and team sport.
"Politics has come to be considered not only inappropriate in the arena of sports, but actually antithetical to it," Zirin says. "We want so much to see sports solely as an arena of play, not seriousness. But here's the thing, this can cheapen not only the greatness and relevance of sports to us as a society, but also the courage of the athletes" (The Nation). The pursuit of fame, wealth and status can blind the human conscious, which is why it is important for us to encourage athletes to speak their minds. As a nation, we should not silence the athletes, because it is the truly courageous athletes who have the audacity to stand up when it’s not popular. Sports should be used as a platform for a certain kind of politics: militarism, nationalism. There is a rich tradition of resistance to politics in sports, but their actions have been integral to country’s struggle for racial and gender equality; sports are a safe place to discuss these difficult topics.
Wels, Susan. The Olympic Spirit: 100 Years of the Games. Del Mar: Tehabi Books, 1995. Print.
Looking back in history to the 19th century Europe, colonization and global expansion created a sense of competition amongst European nations. This sparked global rivalries over territories and was a catalyst to the age of nationalism in Europe. The competition between countries venture of manifest destiny was the leading catalyst in the rise of nationalism. It is no surprise that the nationalism and competitive nature of 19th century expansionism, created a platform for the rivalry and competition in modern sports (Bottenburg). Global rivalries in sports are played out in, major events such as the world cup and the Olympics. These events bring out the die-hard and the casual fan together in a global celebration of sporting and national pride. The World Cup of soccer is a great place to begin looking at the impact modern sports have on nationalism and national identity. Every four years 32 teams from across the globe come together in celebration of the worlds most popular game, in hopes their country wins the worlds most coveted trophy. Nationalism in this tournament comes in an array of positivity and negativity. The atmosphere, colors, flags, fans cheering and chanting songs shows the role of symbolism. On the other hand, hooliganism and violence amongst fans show us the negative aspect of attaching such strong nationalistic ties to a
Referring to slide two Nelson Mandela once said that “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.” Sport is one of the biggest and strongest unifiers in the world. Although there may be certain issues within a country or the world such as political affiliations, gender, race and ideologies, sport always seems to bring people closer regardless of the current issues at hand.
In conclusion, it is explicit that sports is a positive influence on athletes, spectators and the world as a whole as it teaches imperative life lessons as well as allows its participants to experience enjoyment, fulfilment and gratification. As mentioned previously sports enables its players to bring out the best in others and create unity amongst groups as team work is so essential. This highlights the views I have in conjunction with the views of Joe Humphrey.