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Vaughn Matthews

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The Importance of Sports

Whether it involves health, economics, or entertainment, sports have a very positive effect on the world around them. However, the most important reason that sports is popular is that sports are a form of of diversion from the burdens of life.

Sports keep the body in shape and keep it fit. People say it’s important to do physical activity for 60 minutes a day. Almost every sport uses all of a person’s body parts in order to the play it correctly. When played for a long time, it can result in a healthy body and good health. When playing for a team, there are practices, games and events. These practices in the sport involve exercise. Practices are held almost every day and are usually an hour or longer. During practices, the person is focused on playing at their best, not what’s going on in their life.

Sports have always been considered entertainment. The word “sport” comes from the Old French desport meaning “leisure”,  The oldest definition of sports dates back to the 1300s is “anything humans find amusing or entertaining,”. June 16 will make 70 years that the NBA has been broadcasting games for joy and the entertainment of fans. The FIFA World Cup is the world’s most widely viewed sporting event. “an estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany and the 2010 event in South Africa was broadcast to 204 countries on 245 different channels.” according to fifa.com. This is important because when soccer fans watch the world cup, they’re caught in the moment. They’re worried about what’s happening in the game and not what’s happening in their life. It gets them hype for a little while.

Sports can also bring people together. Two years ago, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) had lost a teammate Nick Pasquale, in a car crash. His number was 36. Signs were hung everywhere with red and blue ribbons to show support for Pasquale. The number 36 was painted on banners and fans had put out a few hundred blue and gold balloons during the moment of silence for Pasquale. When the Nebraska Cornhuskers played UCLA they had the number 36 as a decal on the back of their helmets and after the game members of both teams joined in a prayer at the center of the field together. This is an example of how a sports game can bring people together, and lift their spirts even though a a tragic event had happened to them.

Sports are a way of departure from the heavy loads of life.  A sports game is like an unscripted drama. The result of each game is unknown by everyone. Some people say “it is only a game”, but is the Grand Canyon “only a hole?” Absolutely not. While watching or playing sports, the mind is not focused on what is happening in real life. It’s focused on what is happening in the game. The mind is focused on what is happening in the present and what is going to happen. When the mind is focused on what is happening in the sport, it’s not worried about the bad things that are going in someone’s life.

As previously stated, sports have been around for over a decade. People have very different views and outcomes of them. They result in good health and keep the body fit, they entertain people, they bring the community together, they bring wealth, and they keep the mind off of the worries of life. This is good for the whole world because keeping the mind off your burdens helps someone stay positive . Overall, they have a positive effect on the world.