Sport can be defined as any form of usually competitive activity that
requires physical effort and skill, which through casual or organized
participation, tends to maintain or improve the said ability and skill; and
also provides entertainment for the participants as well as the spectators.
Indeed, sport has been confirmed as the only common language spoken by
mankind in their entirety irrespective of age, background, race, status, or
social affiliation, due to its universality, entertaining nature and unique
economic value. This is why it is being referred to by most people as one of
the backbones of the socio-economic state of any nation.
Generally, there are thousands of sporting activities in existence, from the one requiring only two participations, to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either as a team or competing as individuals. Sport is basically recognized as an activity that is based on physical athleticism or physical dexterity. However, a number of competitive but non-physical activities claim recognition as mind 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 or victory can be determined by
physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first; it can also be
determined by judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance using
either objective or subjective measures including technical performance or
artistic impression.
In organized sport, records of performance are often kept; but for
popular sports, the information might be widely announced or reported in sport
news. Suffice to say; sport is also a major source of entertainment for
non-participants. Thus sport which often draws overwhelming crowd at its venue,
also reaches wider audiences via broadcasting.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the application of the
term ‘Sport’ to a wider set of non-physical challenging activities to include
electronic games owing to the large scale of participation and organized
competition witnessed in the sector. But the truth of the matter remains that
this set of sports are not widely recognized by mainstream sport organizations.
Against this backdrop, there are opposing views on the necessity of competition as a defining element of a sport, with almost all professional sports involving competition and governing bodies requiring competition as a prerequisite for the recognition of any sporting activity by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or SportAccord. Other bodies advocate widening the definition of sport to include all physical activities. For instance, the Council of Europe recognizes all forms of physical exercise or calisthenics including those done just for fun, as sports.
Considering the overall impact of sport in both individual and national
developments, there is no gain reiterating that sports have contributed
immensely in the uplift of the socio-economic state of most individuals,
communities or nations across the globe through various avenues such as
rejuvenation of physical fitness, human capital growth, provision of
entertainment, and most importantly promotion of unity, just to mention but a
few.
It is noteworthy that, the
physical fitness and thorough entertainment derive from, either participation
in or observation of, sporting activities have continually helped tremendously
in sustaining as well as uplifting the healthy living status of the individual
in question thereby helping to intensify the number of available manpower in
the affected country.
Also, the recent total commercialization of sports has enabled the
activity to be universally recognized as a lucrative profession. No doubt, most
human capital developments witnessed among several youths or young ones are
mainly attributed to sports or the entertainment industry at large. Taking the
Nigerian football league as a case study; on the average, a player on a monthly
basis smiles to the bank with not less than half a million naira (#500,000).
In addition, sports have succeeded in booming the global broadcasting
industry due to its lucrative nature, which has made many potential investors
to venture into broadcasting business. It is worthy to note that most media
firms, regarding both the print and electronic, were established for the sole
purpose of transmitting or publishing sporting activities having acknowledged
by the prospective investors the financial implication of such investment.
Among all, the level of unity that is being derived from sports cannot
be overemphasized. Several sport participants or organizers can attest to the
fact that, sport has been the major engine room behind international unity
among most countries. Survey shows that presently sport remains the only tool
that truly unites the gathering or meeting involving millions of individuals
from diverse backgrounds, races, or affiliations. Surely, it is only a dummy
that is yet to know that it is only absolute unity that guarantees thorough
peace and development among any group of persons, which is one of the paramount
desires of any society.
Today Monday April 6, the world
over is commemorating the 2015 International Day of Sport. On 23rd
August 2013, the Sixty-Seventh (67th) session of the United Nations
(UN) General Assembly decided to proclaim April 6 of every year as the Int’l
Day of Sport for Development and Peace. Previously, the Fifty-eighth (58th)
session of the said Assembly proclaimed 2005 as the International Year for
Sport and Physical Education to promote education, health, development and
peace.
In regard to the aforementioned resolution, the UN General Assembly also recognizes the role the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) plays in showcasing the achievements of athletes with impairment to a global audience and in acting as a primary vehicle to change societal perceptions of disability sports.
As the global community marks the
annual International Day of Sport, we are expected to embrace sport as a major
tool for cordial unity/relationship among individuals or nations, thus ought to
be taken seriously by any individual, government, or authority, as the case may
be. Therefore, its teachings in every citadel of learning at all levels should
be considered paramount and sacrosanct. More so, every parent or guardian is
expected to encourage his/her child or ward in sports participation regardless
of age considering the social, cultural, health and economic consequence of the
said participation.
Above all, the governments at all levels such as local, state and
federal ought to in their various capacities not hesitate to finance any sport
activity or competition taking place at their respective areas. Also, the
various schools ranging from primary to secondary and tertiary, should
intensify efforts on the usual annual hosting or organization of sport
competitions in their respective schools, and should endeavour to intimate or
reach out to the entire public whenever such event is being organized.
It is obvious that in Nigeria
recently, sport has been politicized by most concerned stakeholders. In view of
this pathetic anomaly, the law makers should enact a strict law that would
sanction or severely penalized a member of any sport governing body in the
country such as the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) that is found guilty of
any fraudulent or selfish act while discharging his or her official duty.
On the other hand, the civil society should endeavour to consistently
condemn or criticize the ongoing fanaticism witnessed among sport lovers. They
should be meant to understand that fanaticism, which invariably leads to
extremism, is a cankerworm that might end up eradicating the prime essence of
sports which is unity, peace and development. Statistics indicate that sport
fanaticism has succeeded in killing thousands of people as well as maiming
millions of them across the globe.
It is needless to state that we
all, either individually or collectively, have a role to play in sustaining the
overwhelming impact of sport in human development. Think about it!
(The Media Ambassador)
__________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
+2348028608056
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