01 Introduction
An Introduction to Sports
The term “sports” has a broad meaning. In its most generic sense, sports are athletic games or contests put on to entertain players and spectators. Sports such as hunting, fishing, running, and
swimming are derived from the essential chores of primitive life. Other sports such as riding, shooting, javelin and archery have their roots in the requirements of early military life. And yet
even further, other sports such as boxing, wrestling and jumping came from the challenges that grew out of ordinary human interaction.
Every known culture has had sports in one form or another, although the exact origins of many specific sports are unclear. Ancient Egyptians swam, raced, wrestled and had ball games, and
ancient Greeks held large sports festivals. One such festival was the Olympic Games, attracting athletes from the far corners of city-states. Much like modern day dog races or F1 racing, the
Greeks (and later the Romans) held competitions that used animals, or men behind machines; such competitions required talents more than mere physical prowess.
In modern times, industrialized societies expanded their conviction that sports were not just useful, but an essential, character-building pursuit of man. Sports that were traditionally played
in specific regions or areas became important national sports (baseball for the US, bullfighting for Spain, sumo for Japan, etc.), and the rebirth of the Olympic Games in 1896 helped focus the
world’s fixation on both sports and athleticism.
