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1. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Chapter 10
Basic Concepts of
Sport

2. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Sport – the Natural Religion
• Novak (1976) describes sport as a
natural religion based on qualities
and characteristics fundamental to
the experience
• How is sport a religion?
• Rituals, i.e., coin toss
• Costumes
• Sense of power outside of one’s
control
• People who enforce rules
• Teaches principles, i.e., courage

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What is Leisure?
• Can be viewed as an attitude of
freedom
• Often distinguished from work
activities
• Viewed also as discretionary time left-
over after work

4. © 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
What is Play?
• Sport is a manifestation of play
• Characteristics of play represent a
continuum such as:
• Free
• Uncertain
• Governed by rules
• Separate
• Economically unproductive
• Governed by make-believe
Play is not trivial, but rich with psychological,
sociological, and historical meaning

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Caillois: 6 characteristics of play
• Free (voluntary behavior)
• Separate (conducted in places where
the time and space limits are fixed),
e.g., let us go to the gym and play BB
for half an hour
• Uncertain (evenly matched
competition)
• Economically unproductive
• Governed by rules
• Governed by make believe

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Differences Between
Child’s Play vs. Adult Play
• Play is the most basic behavior in young
children
• Children’s continuum includes: turbulence,
gaiety, spontaneity, diversion
• Adults’ continuum includes: calculation,
subordination to rules, contrivance and
ritual
One is not better than the other, however, as
children grow and develop, their continuum
goes toward the adult side

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Games
• Physical skill
• Strategy
• Chance

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Games vs. Sports
• There are no exact distinctions
between the two terms
• Three important areas of the
concept “game”:
1. Games derive from play
2. Games involve competition
3. Game outcomes are based on skill,
strategy or chance
• Not all games are sports but all
sports are a game

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Games vs. Sports, cont’d
• Sports are games involving
skill and strategy
• Sport games have primary
and secondary rules
• Sport games are classified
into four categories:
1. Territory or invasion games
2. Target games
3. Court games
4. Sector games

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Territory/Invasion Games
• Goal is to invade the space of the
opponent to score.
• The use of goals or end zones are
prevalent.
• Games can vary in skill: use of arms,
legs, stick implements.
• Examples: football, ice hockey,
soccer, rugby

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Target Games
• Primary objective is to propel an
object with great accuracy toward a
target or targets.
• Examples: golf, bowling, horseshoes

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Court Games
• Primary objective is strategically
propel an object in such a way that it
cannot be returned by an opponent.
• Examples: tennis, badminton,
handball, squash

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Sector Games
• Primary objective is for one opponent
to strike an object so as to elude
defenders.
• Examples: baseball, softball, cricket

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Competition Concept
• Rituals and traditions are easily seen
• Strives to achieve an objective
• Involves a state of rivalry

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Roles that Contribute to Sports as an
Institution
• Codification of rules
• Officials or referees
• Organization and structure of sport
teams, i.e., NCAA
• Record keeping to measure
performance
• Dissemination of information to the
public, i.e., newspaper

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Aesthetics of Sports
• One tries to find the beauty in
sports, form sports, and other
sports
• Form sports: performers
consciously work on achieving
a physical form that is
aesthetic
• Examples of qualities are:
harmony, form, dynamics, flow,
gracefulness, rhythm, poise

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Aesthetics of Sports, cont’d
• Carlisle (1974) has suggested
four types of beauty in other
sports:
• Well-developed physique
• Well-designed play or execution
of the maneuver
• Dramatic competition
• Unity of an entire performance

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Ethics in Sports
• How people behave or conduct
themselves in particular situations, i.e.,
games or sports
• Fair play: how a competitor behaves
before, during and after competition
• 19th Century concept from England, i.e.,
Arnoldism
• Concept still permeates in our society
today
• Rule violations are meant to be enforced
by officials or referees
• Sports still can build character and teach
important life lessons
• However, sport can be corrupt and has
the ability to teach negative lesson in life