Art and Sports

I realized that I have not posted in a week so here is a post about a major discussion we've been having in class lately. During class the past couple of weeks we've been talking about whether sport is a type of art and the beauty that is in sport. I think that there is definitely a beauty in any sport. If you look at the intensity that sports require as well as the skill and technique, it is almost impossible to ignore the aesthetically pleasing aspects of sports. Especially when you slow down sport and examine all the complexities that go into every instant, it is extremely awe-inspiring. When you look at art, you too see that it is beautiful. However this is a different kind of beauty. In art you see what the artist is trying to represent; the point of art is to portray to the observer the meaning that the artist desires. This however is not the way sports work. Sports are a form of entertainment. They act as a way for us to both enjoy being physically active as well as allowing us to enjoy watching them. While art can also be enjoyable, it is different than sport in that sport doesn't have a set meaning to portray. Sure, athletes and teams often prove inspirational, or courageous, or dejected but that is a meaning that the observer gets which was not necessarily intended by the athlete. The athletes go out to win a game, they do not go out to be inspirational or amazing, though those are often biproducts of their athleticism. Sports and art can both be beautiful and in that way they are similar. However, art is used as a way to portray meaning whereas sports can portray meanings, but it is unintentional. That, I guess, is part of my philosophy of sport which will continue to grow throughout the course.

Physical Education

I thought that the ideas discussed in "Sports Skills: A Conceptual Approach to Meaningful Movement" are very valid. In schools today, the education of the mind tends to be the main focus and often takes up the largest proportion of time. The improvement of one's mind is essential, since a well educated person is at an advantage in modern society as compared to someone who is less educated. However, as Glenn A. Olds points out, the mind and body are linked. This in turn means that in order to get a true and whole education, one's mind and body has to be improved. I think this is a very important point because physical activity is in human nature. It is instinctive for people to want to be active. Without indulging this part of our humanity, we can never hope to be complete. In this sense, physical education is important and needs to be taught in schools since "it is the main line of communication between our autonomic animal intelligence and our conscious self." Though i did agree with the general ideas posed by this excerpt, there were some parts that I thought did not belong.
This foreword seemed to be a little to extreme for my liking. First of all, Olds makes it seem like gym teachers are extremely enlightened people who want to help link the mind and body in order to improve the lives of their students. While in some cases this is probably true, I do not think that most gym teachers are as ideal as Olds would make them seem. Also, I thought the foreword as a whole was quite ironic, as its focus was on how there is too much emphasis placed on the education of the mind while the article itself was written in a very complex and advanced manner. I personally believe that physical education is very important, but I do not think it is as glorious or influential as Olds would make it seem.

Running

My name is David Ackerman.
I ran for my high school's cross country, winter track and spring track teams every year. Even though I feel like running is my favorite sport, the one which I have the most fun playing is soccer since people would never really want to have a pickup game of a 5k race.
My favorite athlete is Steve Prefontaine.
The phrase "philosophy of sport"is one that shows how sports are far more than games. They are ways to challenge one's self and others. This phrase is interesting to me because, being a runner, I am often asked "Why do you run? Its not even a sport." Without the idea presented by the phrase "philosophy of sport" I would not really have an answer. Running is in fact the purest sport there is. It pits one person against another, and more importantly, and more often, one person against him/herself. No equipment is necessary is for this sport, all that is needed is a little space and the ability to push yourself to your physical and mental limits as you try to overcome pain and exhaustion as you strive for a personal best. A success in running can belong to a whole team, an individual, both or sometimes neither. I feel as though running demonstrates the "philosophy of sport" as being the ability to compete in order to improve and reach personal levels of success. When it comes down to it, running isn't just a sport. The ideals and values learned through running are key to success in the sport and life in general. This idea of running being able to relate to life in terms of achieving success is perhaps best represented by one of the most famous quotes of one of the most prolific runners of all time, Steve Prefontaine, when he said "I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it."