If you ask ten different people what sports lifestyle is, you will likely get ten different answers. For some, it’s getting up at the same time every morning and completing a workout before breakfast. For others it’s grabbing a beer and shouting at a TV for a couple of hours. These two approaches may be extreme, but they describe the distinction between participation sports and spectator sports pretty well.
While it’s undoubtedly very exciting to watch high-level athletes in action, if you want to experience the real adrenaline rush you have no choice but to take up a sports challenge yourself. It’s possible to do both regardless of your age or skill level as the magic isn’t in winning or setting personal records all the time. It’s all about testing yourself in situations that prove your resilient and unrelenting spirit.
Why Are We So Fascinated with Athletic Performance?
The entire planet is crazy about competitive sports, with each part of the world having its favourites. Whether its football, basketball, cricket, or boxing, seemingly trivial contests are followed with the type of collective passion that inspires lifelong loyalty and admiration. It’s no accident that the best athletes are paid huge sums of money to do something they love or that they are hired as public faces of the biggest brands. They are constantly on our TV screens, phones, billboards, virtually everywhere we look.
It’s fair to ask why all the attention is focused only on a handful of individuals practicing the most popular sports when there are millions of active athletes and hundreds of beloved sports. Our obsession with hierarchical judgment of athletic success may in fact be a blind spot, preventing us from seeing how much more joy can be derived from sports. This tendency is unlikely to go away, but at least we can become aware of its magnetic pull and look for alternatives that could be more wholesome and ultimately more rewarding.
Sports As Collaboration Rather than Competition
The ethos of ‘there can only be one winner’ is dangerous, as it implies that everyone else is just a loser who shouldn’t even bother to try. Even some of the most accomplished athletes are looked down upon just because they never won on the greatest stage. We are so used to focusing only on the end result that many people reduce sports fandom to bet soccer and then check the scores on their phones. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the best of the best, but we shouldn’t forget all the others who are playing just because they enjoy the sport. If anything, we should look to join them whenever possible and contribute to celebration of sports in the most authentic way – by participating. Recreational sports activity is just as important as professional competitions, and it requires many of the same skills, without the glamour. Sadly, this fact has largely been lost due to the excessive commercialisation of sports content and media focus on marketable personalities with otherworldly talents.
A Healthy Body & A Peaceful Mind
Humans are not made to be passive observers, and while this role may satisfy our curiosity and urge to admire greatness it leaves something unfulfilled. That’s why it’s never enough for the average sports fan, no matter how many incredible games he watches or how many trophies his favourite team wins. To be complete, we need to take action and move our bodies and that can’t be achieved from the couch. Modern standard of living has already eliminated many physical challenges, so we now have to seek out opportunities to exercise wherever we can.
That’s not too hard for those who are willing to try, with activities of all intensity levels ranging from hiking to endurance sports easily available in most locations. Mastering one or more physical skills doesn’t just benefit the body, it contributes to a better psychological balance and inner peace. In that sense, recreational athletes may be living closer to the ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ ideal than professional competitors who often put their bodies at risk to achieve the best possible result.
There Is No Substitution to Doing It Yourself
It’s nice to watch our heroes perform incredible feats and identify with their excellence, but this is no replacement for personal achievement, however modest. Running a mile in a few seconds less than last month can be a bigger triumph than watching a professional runner set a new world record. Once you realise this, it becomes much easier to make the first step and invest the time necessary to get in good shape. Getting out of the house and living every moment with the same passion normally reserved for our favourite sports teams can produce an amazing feeling, not to mention help avoid a range of health issues. You likely won’t become a champion and idol to the masses, but you will at least be a protagonist in your own story and a trailblazer in your unique way. Most importantly, you won’t be a part of a faceless crowd that cheers and boos when everyone else does, and that alone is worth a try.
