Throughout the years, people have been debating as to whether or not cheerleaders, equestrians, and many other groups are true athletes in a recognized sport. Nowadays, people would not dare to tell a cheerleader that what they do is not a sport. As technology has become a larger part of people’s daily lives, a new group has been brought into question and highly debated over. Professional gaming is starting to become a real, prosperous part of society, yet many people still feel as though esports athletes are lazy and 40 year old losers living with their parents. Too many people are stuck on the fact that gamers sit at a computer for a large portion of their day. Imagining someone who sits at a computer all day quickly leads people to the …show more content…
According to the Oxford dictionary, a sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”. Many people will say that because there is no physical element to esports, it cannot be considered a true sport. Although I do concede that professional gamers spend hours sitting in chairs, there are still physical elements to esports. For example, an esports athlete still can get injuries that can prematurely end their gaming careers. In order to prevent injuries, there are stretches and warm ups that must be done before a big game. There are also other physical elements to esports. Not only is the amount of cortisol produced the same amount as a race car driver, but the heart can also beat as high as 160 times per minute, which is the same for a marathon runner (Welle). Many people think of esports games being very individualistic, but worldwide, people pay money to go to an arena and watch competitions. If people are paying money to watch, then there also has to be coaches, sponsors, contracts, lawyers, and merchandise just like for the NFL (Aaron). Every professional team now has coaches, some even have more than one, which was not always the case. As the intensity of esports increased worldwide, professional coaches became necessities for every team seeking success. As said in the definition of sports, there must be a …show more content…
Why should we, the people of the United States, not validate what gamers are doing? Again and again, people biasedly go along with their beliefs about professional gamers without ever considering the other side. If gamers are willing to work for it, why shouldn’t they be recognized as athletes? Saying that gamers aren’t athletes and that what they do is not important is like saying that Babe Ruth was not a tremendous athlete without ever trying to hit a baseball themselves, which I doubt many people would try to make a case for. While gaming is a sedentary activity, there are physical elements to it that many people choose to not notice. Whether a majority of the population sees gaming as a sport or not, there is still such a large number of people invested in it. The people who do choose to take advantage of the gaming industry will prosper as technology continues to be a huge part of our society. Like other sports such as the X Games, cheerleading, dance team, and much more, esports have to earn their title as a sport. As we start to normalize esports in society, the United States’ gaming industry will continue to grow and prosper. If you are not familiar with gaming, I know it is easy to not care. In order to understand the slightest bit about what it really is that
The age of overwhelming strength and stamina governing sports is over, and the age of the mentally tough athlete has arrived. Athletes are no longer the superficial jocks and robots programmed to accomplish one goal, victory. Modern athletes ranging from the high school to professional levels are faced with many pressures and temptations, normally outside the realm of their sport. These pressures can inhibit an athlete’s performance substantially; therefore, the pressures need to be dealt with by psychologists. The effectiveness of sports psychology is demonstrated through the fields many theories, applications, and variety of techniques and procedures.
One of the most popular events of sports are the Olympics. In 2016 a video games event was first introduced in the Olympics of Rio in 2016 (Chris Foxx). This being said, organizations are starting to consider it a sports and it isn’t because of the physical activity. These organization view video games as the future of sports because of the ability needed to professionally participate in competitions. The ability to play a game and actually be extremely good at it as to be considered a professional gamer has a lot of time and practice behind it.
The term “gamer” tends to be synonymous with “geek” in many people’s minds. They see gaming as a device that absorbs the majority of the time of the user, leaving them as mindless empty, pale husks with no ambitions other than beating that next boss or shooting the enemy in the face. However, few gamers waste their lives away. On the contrary, many of these so-called geeks tend to be more social than the average person, and farther down the technological curve than most. For the truth is that gaming is a rather useful and beneficial hobby.
As a parent, all you ever want your kids to do is grow up and be something great. Parents expect their kids to have dreams of becoming a lawyer or majoring in topics like business and medicine. They don’t realize that some kids have goals like playing baseball in the major leagues or becoming a great fisherman that is on television. Not all kids have the same mind-set. People of all ages, all around the world, enjoy either watching or playing sports.
Sports play an important role in American culture, with the top four most popular being football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey. These professional athletes make millions of dollars through their annual salaries and endorsements. Many wonder how they got to where they are today and was it worth it. There are mixed messages about participating in sports as a child and how it affects their development. Some believe that sports will help their child develop better communication skills, self-confidence and build character, while others believe that young athletes will develop aggression traits such as bullying, competitiveness, and aggressiveness. Although some believe that sports participation as a child will lead to aggressive children, there is ample evidence through research that sports benefits a child’s cognitive, social, and, physical development.
Abstract: In contemporary American society, the pervasiveness of sports has become the vehicle for the discussion of important ethical and cultural issues. The typical American is included in this discussion due to this cultural saturation. This saturation plays an important role in public discourse. Sports provide an egalitarian platform for the daily discussion of important ethical, social and cultural issues.
“[esports] is not a sport,” he said, “it’s a competition. Mostly I’m interested in doing real sports”(BBC IWonder). In recent years, an argument has been made concerning video gaming and whether playing competitively should be considered a sport. Competitive video gaming should be considered a sport because it has the qualifications to be a sport.
Sports can help many at- risk youths. In order to participate in sports you need to be committed and willing to work hard. You also have to learn to respect others and accept that winning isn’t the only measure of success. Losing can build character as well. When youth participate in a sports they enjoy, they are less likely to engage in behaviors that are harmful or dangerous to themselves and others. It is for these reasons schools should strive to maintain athletic programs for their students.
Broadcasted competitive gaming has been around since the beginning of arcade games when people were competing for the highest score on shows like Starcade back in 1982(Bell). However, in the past couple of years the competitive gaming world has exploded in growth with more games, more tournaments, more players, and bigger cash prizes. During this most recent November there were eight major tournaments for a multitude of games including League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive and some less competitive games such as Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, and Street Fighter. With over a five million people watching these tournaments it is clearly visible that there is a passionate and large group of people that want this competitive gaming scene to expand. With all the activity going on in only a month and with smaller tournaments running all the time it is clear to see that competitive gaming or more formally called eSports has become in such a small time. However, the important question is whether or not eSports should be considered an actual sport like Football, Soccer, or Basketball. According to a ruling by the Olympic Committee, League of Legends already is, and will be taking a place in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with other games being considered for the 2020 Olympics. Although there are those out that would like to dispute this ruling and say that eSports don’t meet the requirements of a traditional sport. A big argument has been conceived from the committee decision, but not all the arguments being used is valid and then there are those that.
Other people might say that videogames should not be a sport because of the lack of physical movement. Andrew Wang says “Sports have long since been considered a primarily physical activity. Since ancient Greece, sports have been primarily a contest of physical and mental strength. We can see this evident in the first games hosted in the Olympics. Running. Jumping. Wrestling. All highly physical contests of strength and stamina.” He is saying in order for an activity to be a sport the activity has to be physical. Although people say this, videogames still should be considered a sport because videogames are mental, they are mind game.
Throughout human-history, sports continue to remain universal across all cultures, from 776 B.C. where the Olympics were held in Greece, to modern-day where March Madness runs rampant on college campuses in the United States. However, even after millennia, there is not a uniform definition for a sport in either the scientific or colloquial sense. Instead, there are frequent debates on what is considered a sport in bars and sociological papers. Specific to the United States, there are traditional sports that are never questioned, like basketball, football, baseball, and hockey. Other more popular activities like skateboarding are now considered a sport, but through the 1970s-1990s, it was ridiculed by those who held a traditional theory on what
Many people believe that Video-games are a sport, but the few oddballs are disagreeing. According to debate.org it’s 66% to 34%. That’s more than half the people. There is not enough people that disagree to stop video-gaming being a sport. For those that stick with
Competition is a major part of the sporting industry. Esports has thousands of annual competitions across the globe. The games use your strengths and weaknesses to challenge you, everytime you pass a level, the next one is harder. t's a mind sport. If poker card games and chess both have the players sitting down and are considered sports, why not virtual gaming as well.
Jeff Kemp, a retired professional NFL quarterback, once stated, “Sports teach positive lessons that enrich America even while revealing its flaws” (Kemp). Athletics offer so much more than the joy of game day and the thrill of a win. Being involved in sports holds the key to a world filled with passion, excitement, and once in a lifetime opportunities. There is nothing better than seeing the student section arrive in full force or hearing the school fight song chanted before kickoff. However, when life moves on and leaves sports behind, the lessons it has instilled in athletes never disappears. The play calls may be foggy and the jersey will be too tight, but what was innocently learned in the jersey shines out at an older age. Although life lessons can be learned through everyday activities, lessons such as teamwork, self-confidence, and dealing with failure are only truly learned through sports by young athletes.
Throughout the course of history, individuals have enjoyed playing sports. Whether it would be throwing a football, sprinting around the track, or kicking a soccer ball; sports have been a popular activity worldwide. The determination and expertise needed to play sports at the highest level has made it a challenging yet enjoyable activity. However in the recent years, sports have slowly drifted off from it’s traditional roots of physical prowess and into competitions of mental proficiencies. With the exponential growth of technology worldwide, it is not uncommon for the average household to have a computer, PS4, Xbox One, or even a Nintendo 3DS. In fact, the introduction of new technological entertainment has served as a gateway for the new generation of athlete culture; video games. As a result of the growth of video games, Esports (short for ‘Electronic Sports’) is slowly being integrated into athlete culture worldwide through its spectacular foundations, overwhelming popularity, vast prize pools, and recognition by official authorities.