Sport

Sport (or, primarily in North America,sports) is all forms of competitive physical activities which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and provide entertainment to participants. Hundreds of sports exist, from those requiring only two participants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals.

Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports, although limits the amount of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition, and allow consistent adjudication of the winner. Winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first, or by the determination of judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impression.

In organised sport, records of performance are often kept, and for popular sports, this information may be widely announced or reported in sport news. In addition, sport is a major source of entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sports drawing large crowds to venues, and reaching wider audiences through sports broadcasting. 

Sport in childhood. Association football, shown above, is a team sport which also provides opportunities to nurture physical fitness and skill.  Sporting  competitions have always provided entertainment for crowds. To distinguish the players from the audience, the latter are often known as spectators. Developments in stadium and auditorium design, as well as in recording and broadcast technology, have allowed off-site spectators to watch sport, with the result that the size of the audience has grown ever larger and spectator sports has become increasingly popular. Two of the most popular sports with global appeal area association football and cricket. Their ultimate international competitions, the World Cup  and test cricket, are broadcast around the world. Beyond the very large numbers involved in playing these sports, they are notable for being a major source of entertainment for many millions of non-players worldwide, A comparable multi-stage, long-form sport with global appeal is the Tour de France, unusual in that it takes place outside of special stadia, being run instead in the countryside.

Aside from sports that have world-wide appeal and competitions, such as the Olympic Games, the entertainment value of a sport depends on the culture and country in which it is played.

 For example, in the United States,baseball and basketball games are popular forms of entertainment; in Bhutan, the national sport is archery; in Iran, it is freestyle wrestling. Japan's unique sumo wrestling contains ritual elements that derive from its long history. In some cases, such as the international running group Hash House Harriers, participants create a blend of sport and entertainment for themselves, largely independent of spectator involvement, where the social component is more important than the competitive.

The evolution of an activity into a sport and then an entertainment is also affected by the local climate and conditions. For example, the modern sport of surfing is associated with Hawaii and that of snow skiing probably evolved in Scandinavia. While these sports and the entertainment they offer to spectators have spread around the world, people in the two originating countries remain well known for their prowess. Sometimes the climate offers a chance to adapt another sport such as in the case of ice hockey which is an important entertainment in Canada.

“To deserve success is more important than to achieve it.”  Lester B. Pearson

What is the point of sport?  Why do we compete?  Is it to win or is it to give it your best shot?
If you ask a parent who gets their child involved in sport it’s more about health, fitness, socialization, learning life’s lessons and maybe more than anything else, it’s about having fun!  Of course things change as that child gets older and sport becomes more competitive.  At some point a decision is made and a path is chosen to either play “for fun” or to try to get to the next level.  There are always exceptions but whichever path is chosen, you could make a strong argument that sport still provides each and every quality that inspires a parent to sign their child up for organized sport in the first place.
And yes, I would include fun in that list.  And the reason I would is because it takes an immense amount of work to reach the top level in sport (or any endeavor for that matter) and so you have to be doing something you love to do.  There is plenty of research showing just how much work it takes to reach the master level of any given skill and that’s why you have authors from so many areas, from sport to business to education to the arts, all talking about a love for what you do.
In any competitive environment, the higher you get, the higher the stakes, and this can sometimes cloud why we participate in the first place.  Is winning more important at the highest level of sport?  Yes.  Especially in professional sport, coaches and managers are hired and fired, athletes are moved to other teams or cut altogether because winning drives the finances and therefore the viability of a team.  But can we do more than give it our best shot?  No.  That’s why it’s called our best shot.  Ultimately does winning have anything to do with it?  Sure, but I believe it’s more accurate to say that it’s not about winning, so much as it’s about trying to win.

The reality is that there can only be one winner.  If you’re competing in something like a marathon with potentially thousands of other runners and you’re good enough to finish, which is a significant physical accomplishment, are you going to be disappointed if you don’t win?  If you come second in a marathon or the Olympics or a creative writing competition for that matter are you the first loser?  There are those who would say so but if it were true, why would anyone participate in the first place?  To quote a number of eminent sport psychologists, if it was just about winning, wouldn’t we look for the easiest competition?
It has to be about more than just winning.  It has to also be about the challenge and trying to win.  In fact, it’s about trying to win to the extent that there are many examples in sport of athletes who are close to the top in a given competition and fail dramatically trying to reach the very top. You see it in skiing all the time, especially in the technical events.  At the end of the first run, if you’re a second or two off the lead, you might as well go for it.  Some move up significantly in the standings and occasionally someone might come from a ways back to get onto the podium.  More often than not however, people crash or at very least take themselves out of the running.
Is there any shame in that?  Not in the least.  In fact I’d say the opposite is true.  I can think of one particular moment at the Vancouver Olympics in which Melissa Hollingsworth (see photo) who was actually sitting in second place going into the last run of the women’s skeleton competition ended up in 5^th because she was taking her best shot at winning.  It was heartbreaking to watch but there’s something impressive about the attitude.  She didn’t win but she sure gave it her best shot.

SURVEY 1:  SPORT’S PURPOSE IN PERLIS MATRICULATION STUDENTS

Graph 1

        
      Sport is the one of the ‘HOT’ topic for us to go through and to be discuss in our daily life.Nowadays,we can say sport is an universal topic that popular in all ages include teenagers,adults and childrens.Now,sports also does not specific to men groups because we can see many women athletes that got names through the sports in international competitions,for example,Datuk Nicol Ann David,Pandalela Rinong and Sharlin Zulkiflie.But,the opinions about  important and purpose of sports are differs and depend on each individual.
        So,our group try to get the answers about the majority purpose of sports through the survey that we did to students in Perlis Matriculation College.

       From the survey that had been carried out,we know that there are three major purposes of sports that had been choosen by the students.Thats are :

1)      To release the stress

2)      To stay healthy

3)      As  medium of socialize

     From the pie chart above,we conclude that,the percentages of Perlis Matriculation Students is majority in choosen sport is good to release their stresses with 53.3% ,while 40%  of students say the sport is important in their life to stay healthy and others,that is 6.7% are think the sport is important as medium of their socialize.

          As we know,the probabilities to be understress or tension life as matriculation students are too high because their compact time to study and cover all the subjects in just two short semesters.We need to struggle in study to be master in each subject in ways to achieve our goals that are “4 FLAT”!!!.This conditions are little bad and give some disadvantages to a part of students that cannot handle their stress or problems.Some students that cannot manage their stress well will maybe easier to do bad things like we heard from the news nowadays that so popular among the students.
      So,we need to have some mediums that can be our place to release the stress and become calm every time to avoid the mentality problems.Usually,this problems will happen to students that so fanatic in study.So,a big part of Perlis Matriculation Students use to play sport as their medium to release the stress.We think it is a good way others than use musics as their medium because when we play,our brains that stuck with problems will become active and back to normal.The effect is we can think properly before acting.Other than that,when we participate in any sport,we will forget about the problems we have and it will make we feel better.The students can play any sports and apply this way in the evening around the college.

     To make our survey and decision about the purpose of sport above is more strong ,we had done another survey about :

SURVEY 2 : “ARE SPORT HELP IN STUDYING”

        Graph 2

       From the bar chart above,we know that the majority of students are agree about sports is helping their study.So,it will be the evidence that why many students choose the purpose of sport is as a medium for them to release their stress.

       From the survey 1,the students that say sport is important to stay healty is less than students that choose sport is as a medium for them to release stress because they think there are many other ways to maintain their health,for example, apply a basic of good lifestyle habit, such as eating habits and sleep habits.

      The difference purpose of sport choosen by the students is depend on their own opinions.So,in this section,we also provide some of extra reasons and informations in difference opinion about the purpose of sport.TIME TO CHANGE!!!!

SUCCESS  NOT COME WITH A CHANCE,BUT SUCCESS WILL BECOME TRUE WITH CHANGE!!!

                              

Sports Can Help Manage Stress

Exercise is often prescribed by health professionals as a stress management too, and the ACE states that one exercise session can produce a feeling of relaxation lasting between 90 and 120 minutes. Many people do not enjoy going to the gym, so they will be less inclined to go regularly. Engaging in a sport you enjoy will ensure that you keep it up, making sure your stress management is sustainable.

 

How Does Participating in a Sport Relieve Stress?

Endorphins

Pumping up a sweat releases mood-boosting hormones inside the brain called endorphins that swirl through your system and generate a buoyant feeling. This optimistic rush is nicknamed the “runner’s high,” but it’s felt among participants of many sports including tennis, hiking and basketball, according to MayoClinic.com. The upbeat aftermath of one aerobic exercise session can last up to 90 to 120 minutes, the American Council on Exercise says.

Tension Builds Up

Electrical activity that’s recorded in tensed muscles shows a decrease after a workout, according to the American Council on Exercise. Medical researchers also report noticeable drops in individual cases of hyperactivity and jitters in the aftermath of exercise. Taking up a sport can relax blood vessels, reducing heart rates and blood pressure that often accompany worry. The fight-or-flight response in challenging situations can cause a buildup of stress and glucose in your body. The American Diabetes Association recommends taking up a sport — whether it’s ballroom dancing or bicycling — to help your body more effectively process the tension.

 Diversion

Participation in a recreational sport relieves stress by drawing your concentration toward your activity and away from that pile of responsibilities waiting for you at home and at work. As you swing your racquetball racket or paddle your kayak, you focus on your body’s movements and temporarily forget about your other stress points, says MayoClinic.com. This diversion acts like a form of meditation. People who routinely engage in sports often experience a sense of accomplishment after a workout, and this soaring self confidence also can melt tension.

 Wholesome Habits

Workouts push you to adopt other healthy behaviors. Your indoor soccer league or evening hoops game encourages you to consume nutritious meals, snacks and beverages. Those rounds of touch football and weekend nature hikes help you shed pounds. Sleep disturbances often are linked to tension and anxiety, and sports participation improves your nightly bedtime routine. As you conquer each of these healthy changes, your body continues to achieve overall fitness and becomes more effective at handling your stress levels.

 

Sports Can Help In Stay Healthy

Enhanced Aerobic Fitness

The American Heart Association touts consistent participation in endurance-building activities, such as running, bicycling and swimming, as a way to reduce your blood pressure, help you quit smoking, lower your risk of diabetes, manage your weight, improve your work capacity and enhance your quality of life. To promote the sustainability of your exercise plan, consider pursuing aerobic-related sports or activities that you find enjoyable, and ones that will easily fit into your busy schedule. Aerobic exercise, while occasionally vigorous, should never feel like a chore. Choose your sports based on the full spectrum of benefits they yield, including the amount of time they allow you to exercise outdoors, whether you can participate in them both as a group or individually and whether they promote the harmonious union of your body and mind.

Improved Muscular Strength & Endurance

Participation in sports is an effective way to develop your muscular strength and endurance, especially those sports, such as weightlifting, wrestling and cross fit, that significantly challenge your muscular system. Sports which help develop your muscular system often yield the following health benefits, according to the Mayo Clinic: increased lean muscle mass, enhanced joint flexibility and range of motion, a stronger heart, improved bone density and an increased ability to control or regulate your body weight. Engaging in sports that improve your muscular strength and endurance also helps strengthen your tendons and ligaments, controls your blood pressure and enhances your balance, agility and coordination. As your muscular system develops, you'll notice favorable changes occurring in your body's shape and general appearance, which may improve your confidence and self-esteem.

Improved Joint Flexibility & Range of Motion

Many sports, including gymnastics, dance and figure skating, improve your flexibility and range of motion while simultaneously strengthening the muscles that stabilize your joints. Sports that improve your flexibility and range of motion also help strengthen your stabilizing muscles and improve your posture, which can lower your risk of musculoskeletal pain, uneven joint wearing and arthritis and muscle tension headaches. While improved joint flexibility and range of motion are not necessarily the principle reason you might engage in sports, these health benefits are a common byproduct of your participation. Most sports promote improved joint flexibility and range of motion to some degree, although participation in non-competitive activities, such as yoga, Pilates or gyrotonics, may be your safest and most effective way to realize these important health benefits.

Burning Calories

Sport provides a means of constant physical activity, and physical activities burn calories. Even sports that are characterized by intermittent activity burn more calories than being sedentary. Winter sports, for example, inspire people to get outdoors when they would normally be staying at home. The Winter Feels Good website lists the caloric expenditure of various winter sports. Depending on your weight, age and the specific sport, you can burn between 213 and 1,208 calories per hour.

Coordination and Balance

Sport activity requires balance, coordination and proprioception, which is the body's awareness of its position in space. Aging often causes impaired balance and proprioception, which in turn leads to coordination issues. Sport participation can prevent age-related loss of these important aspects of fitness.

Enforces a Healthy Lifestyle

A study published in the "British Journal of Sports Medicine" titled "Personal Health Benefits of Masters Athletics Competition" explored the long-term health of older endurance athletes. The researchers studied 551 athletic men and 199 athletic women over a seven year period. Only 1.4 percent of the participants sustained a non-fatal heart attack and only 0.6 percent required bypass surgery over the seven year period. Most of the former smokers indicated that they stopped smoking before they began their training.

Increase Bone Mass

Research published in the Nov./Dec. 2009 edition of "Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach" evaluated 560 athletes who were participants in the 2005 National Senior Games. The 298 women and 289 men were active in a variety of high-impact sports. Those who took the voluntary bone mineral density test exhibited healthy bone density. It is speculated that high impact sport participation can prevent osteoporosis.

Vitamin D and Sunshine

While there are some dangers associated with sun exposure, an article in the Sept. 29, 2009 edition of the Wellness section of the "New York Times" suggests that sunshine is still the best source of vitamin D. The article cites studies performed at the Atascadero State Hospital, which found that athletes exposed to vitamin D-producing ultraviolet light had enhanced levels of performance. Vitamin D also enhances bone health and increases the size of fast twitch muscle fibers.

Exercise Compliance

Training for an athletic event indirectly affects health by helping people stick to their fitness programs. Sports provide measurable, concrete goals, such as improving speed, strength balance and coordination. The person training for an event will be less likely to miss exercise sessions. She may also be more conscious about her nutrition and hydration needs.

Some sports that can help you stay healthy are low cost and highly effective at getting you into shape. Many participate in sports because it is fun but there are also a number of health benefits associated with staying active. If your goal is to lose some weight, tone your muscles or improve your fitness, basic sports will help you achieve your objectives.

Swimming

There are a number of benefits associated with swimming. Your cardiovascular fitness gets a real boost when in the pool because swimming works the entire body. Major muscle groups also go through an exhaustive workout, depending on how much you swim. Your posture and flexibility improve over time since swimming utilizes the whole body through movements that can only be done in the water. Another benefit is perhaps what swimming does not do to your body. Namely punish your joints, bones and ligaments. The natural resistance from the water protects areas such as the knees and elbows from any jarring.

Running

Running burns a lot of calories, which is the simplest way to lose weight. Your cardiovascular endurance benefits from a running program. Running can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attack. In addition to improving your fitness level, running also helps tone your muscles, particularly your leg muscles, and decreases bone and muscle loss, thereby slowing the aging process. Trail running improves your coordination and balance because of the unevenness of trails and various obstacles you must get around. Over time, you learn to control your body while running, improving your reflexes.

Biking

Just 40 minutes of bike riding can burn up to 500 calories, according to the Adult Bicycling website. Indoor cycling classes at fitness studios are specifically designed to burn a high amount of calories to help people achieve their weight loss goals. Biking helps tone leg and back muscles, while shaving off those love handles. Regular bike riding also greatly improves cardiovascular fitness and cuts down the chance for heart disease. Like swimming, biking is easy on joints and bones, since it is a low-impact sport. This makes biking ideal if you have limited range of motion or have knee problems.

Sport As A Medium In Socialize

Socialization is “the process by which a human being beginning at infancy acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of society through education and training for adult status,” according to Merriam-Webster. Research suggests sports play both a positive and negative role in socialization, not only between young athletes and their peer group, but also between children and adults. Research also indicates that sports play differing roles in socialization for boys and girls..

Boys and Girls

Sports may help boys and girls socialize in different ways, and this may be either a positive or a negative. Rosewater writes, “Sports participation socializes boys into traditional gender roles, while similar participation socializes girls into nontraditional gender roles.” She says sports have an additional social benefit for female high school student-athletes, who “find participation in sports to be a way to break gender stereotypes, enhancing their sense of possibility.”

Kids and Adults

Youth sports can also help children learn to interact with adults such as parents and their teachers. The Wheelock/BYSI study reports that the same “quality sport programs” that can benefit interactions between children may also benefit exchanges between “youth and adults.” Rosewater’s research suggests a ripple effect. “Parents promote children’s social development and social skills by enrolling them in programs,” she wrote. “(These) skills can improve children’s relationships with their teachers.”

Warning Signs

Athletes might participate in unhealthy social activities: “skipping school, cutting classes, having someone from home called to the school for disciplinary purposes, and being sent to the principal’s office,” Rosewater reported. She also noted, “Abuse of alcohol by adolescents who participate in competitive sports is a social phenomenon — that is, a function of the peer group with which the students are associated.” But she said, “Some studies also show that teens participating in sports report lower use of alcohol than those who are not involved in sports activities.

Social Effects of Sports on Young Children

Making Friends

A 2003 Sport Canada survey of 1005 Canadian youth found that 87 percent of children who participated in sports made more friends. This is especially beneficial for children who feel like they don't fit in, or who are introverted. Sports gives them common ground with other children and fosters a feeling of teamwork between children, making it easier to become friends.

Adult Relationships

Until your child gets involved in sports, his experience with adults other than you will include relatives and teachers. Joining team or even solo sports can help him have positive experiences with other adults. When playing a sport, the adults are the coaches, and their partners in success. These relationships teach them more about mature relationships in general.

Confidence

Sports may help your child be more confident in her overall life. Scholastic Parent and Child magazine recommends placing your child in sports so she can learn to excel at something and raise her level of confidence. A child who is anxious and has low self esteem may come out of her shell when she isn't focusing on anything but the sport she's playing.

Life Lessons

Playing sports at a young age can create building blocks for success during the rest of your child's life. Playing sports as a child can lead to playing sports in high school, and a recent study published in The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute noted that individuals who played high school sports earn more over their lifetimes than non-athletes.

The Survey on Students that Involve in Sports Activities

Graph 3 shows frequencies of students that play in evening

                Based on the survey that we had done, we get know that the students’ of KMP rather rare playing in the evening. Even though many of them admit that playing can help us study with better because when we play, we can release stress but they also do not interest to playing in evening regularly. The graph above shows information about the frequency of student that play in the evening. The graph below shows information about the frequency of student that play in the evening.

When we done a further research why the students not always playing in KMP, we found that the sport facilities that they want, cannot be find in KMP. Some of the sport facilities that they want to be in KMP are:

i.    Swimming pool

ii.   Bicycle track

iii.  Paintball field

iv. Bowling Alley

v. Hockey Turf

vi. Archery Field

                 Some students also stated in their survey form that the sport facilities that already had in the KMP are needed to be upgraded. The example is like the gymnasium, some of the equipment are in bad condition and are not enough to the students that are increasing from year to year. The students also complaint about the sport facilities that are too old such as tennis racket, ping pong table and others. There are also students that give suggestion to the college to enlarge the size of some court such as tennis court, futsal court and especially the gymnasium that are too small for us.

                The students also worried about their safety when playing especially students that always jogging in the evening. Their said that the vehicles that entering the college are too many in the evening especially in weekend and some of vehicles were drive with very fast in the college. So they ask a jogging track. This is very a good idea because college can make a small pathway behind the road and at the back of C3 block because they are large area at there. We think that the cost are not too much because college just need to make a small track only.

                Then, we find that many of students that take Science are not regularly playing in the KMP. Maybe the factors is due to the our time table that are to pack compared to the student of Account that have more free time than us. Many of us finished the class at 5p.m in two or three days in a week. For accountancy students, they can back earlier at 4p.m and most of them have a free time before that like at 3p.m they did not have a class, so they can take a relax at that time. We think that the other factor could be some of the students are thinking that playing in the evening just waste their time. Their just want to study when have a free time. They know  that Matriculation Programme only take one year, so they not interesting to playing. But we don't think that not play in the evening and just study at that time cannot help us too much. Our mind will be burden and we can easily stress .

                As a conclusion, college must make changes so that  students will involve and plays more sport during leisure time. Changes that can be made such as :

i ) College should held more sport competition that offers great, interesting and wonderful prizes    such as holiday package, food voucher, laptop, gaming console and more. This will encourage the passive students to involve more in sports.

ii) Sport facilities that the students want must be fulfil. College can start construct low budget facilities first such as jogging track, bicycle track and paintball field. The facilities that are already
available must be upgraded. Old equipment must also be replace with a better one and also increase the area of certain facilities such as gymnasium and tennis court due to the increasing of students.

iii) Campaigns should be held by college to attract students play in the evening. As an example,  A Day An Hour Sport. College have the authority to make the sports compulsory to be played. College can punished whoever that  ignore the rule by reducing their cocuricullum marks.

iv) Counselling session should be given to students who cannot manage their time well. Advise such as managing time should be given so that students will have more free time during the afternoon to join the sports activities.