Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of sport on society
The role of sports and sports development in society
Functional &disfunctional conflict in sport
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impact of sport on society
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.
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.
sport as the people's last resort for economic stability with a high price to pay; morals and
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.
Politics is the art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs. The Olympic Games is an event held every 4 years, which includes a variety of sporting activities in which different countries compete against one another. “Sport is frequently a tool of diplomacy”. By sending delegations of athletes abroad, states can establish a first basis for diplomatic relations or can more effectively maintain such relations” (Espy 3). One might think that politics and the Olympics have nothing to do with each other, but in fact, they do have a lot in common.
“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. Sport can awaken hope where there was previously only despair. Sport speaks to people in a language they can understand.” Nelson Mandela. Sport contributes to community identity, serving as a focal point for engagement, pride, and achievement. The diversity of sports and sporting activities (including social sport and physical recreation) makes it an ideal medium to reach men and women from every age-group, culture, and socio-economic background. The broader benefits of sports go beyond the personal benefits derived from participation. Sport is a popular focal point
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...
Wels, Susan. The Olympic Spirit: 100 Years of the Games. Del Mar: Tehabi Books, 1995. Print.
Sports are an important aspect of society. They help people to strive to reach certain goals and join people together, but they also can divide people and turn a fun game into the main purpose of someone’s life. Taking sports games too seriously can be harmful to both the athlete and the spectator. The attitude of always winning at any cost in sports has managed to distract us from other important parts of our lives, such as health and education. This importance of the value of sports can heavily influence the way that we see ourselves as both the spectator and the athlete by creating a positive self image and distilling confidence and discipline within the player, or by embedding self doubt and inversion.
Sports throughout history have shown close ties and relations to values and cultures of a society. Sports and competition have adapted and grown as the world and people have grown and developed. Sports are often seen as simple consequence of the industrial revolution. The Impact of increased urbanization, better communication and transportation, as well as more time and income for specialization, all led to the creation of sports. (szymanski). In essence As the public sphere grew so did the concept of sport. (Szymanski). Even the impact colonization had on spreading sports, shows the congruence between the development of society and development of modern sports. What make sports very unique is that they always bring about a sense of culture
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.
“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 customs. It is not only for fun and entertainment, but there are also some benefits of playing sports which give some important lessons for life. Every kind of physical sport 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.
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.
Sports, a very popular past time today, have been around since ancient times. Greek Olympic Games featured events from chariot races, javelin throws, to wrestling. In addition, a game similar to soccer was played in China by the second century BC. In England, a violent rugby type game was even played to settle feuds between villages. With the development of the industrial revolution and the creation of the first public schools, sports decreased in violence and were played more recreationally and constructively. Basketball was invented to help the youth in New England spend their energy in the winter months. Since the early 1900’s sports have been a key experience in the United States (“History of Sports”). I have played sports for many years, and the experience has helped me grow significantly as an individual.