• Question: what is your personal definition of sport?

    Asked by ryantm to Helen, Jenni, Mark, Martin, Stu on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Jenni Tilley

      Jenni Tilley answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      As someone who competes in sailing races, I get quite annoyed with people who claim sailing isn’t a proper sport. It’s physically demanding and mentally demanding, requiring skill and brains as well as strength and fitness.

      I’m not sure how I’d define sport – something where participants compete against each other, or themselves, in some sort of physical activity maybe?

    • Photo: Mark Burnley

      Mark Burnley answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I remember debating this a lot as a student. I also remember learning a definition but have forgotten it! Personally, any activity that is scored or timed according to agreed rules, between at least two individuals or teams in which winning is achieved through anything other than blind chance is my working definition. It’s probably wrong though!

    • Photo: Helen O'Connor

      Helen O'Connor answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      For me, sport is any activity that requires a competition between yourself and another person/team, and has a framework of rules.

      But I also think that a sport can also be something that is just a personal challenge – where you are motivated to compete against yourself, to beat your own personal best. Sometimes this is just as motivating as trying to beat another person.

    • Photo: Stuart Mourton

      Stuart Mourton answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I’d define a sport as anything that requrires physical and mental exertion to complete a pre-defined goal within certain parameters (number of shots, time etc) through skillfull performance.

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