The Role of Sport in Modern World

The Role of Sport in Modern World

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What does the word sport mean? Entertainment, fitness, or maybe a money-making industry? It is obvious that all these answers are right and applicable so I think we should consider sport as an odd mixture of the things above.
So, when we talk about sport as entertainment we usually consider the football match on Sunday, when the whole family is in front the T.V. set, supporting their favourite team. Thus sport turns into a precondition for having some nice time with your family or your friends and we cannot deny that we all need something like this – it is a sort of an escape from the tedium of our daily work.
When we consider sport as fitness, the arguments are almost the same. It provides us with an opportunity to express ourselves, to get rid of tension and to let off steam. And that is not all – practising some kind of sport we keep our bodies fit and everyone knows the saying – “ a sound mind in a sound body”. On the whole, when we talk about sport as entertainment and fitness, we should say that it is some kind of an activity, which makes our lives more meaningful and pleasant.
Conversely, when sport turns into a money-making industry, the things take another direction. It is a well-known fact that nowadays professional sport has nothing to do with the pleasant activity that sport at an amateur level does. In professional sport count only the record-breaking performances and their money equivalent. Thus the competitive character of amateur sport turns into sport malevolence and often the zest for victory forces sports people to take drugs to improve their performances. Eventually, the whole concept of sport is spoiled and twisted.
To sum up, sport at an amateur level provides an outlet of surplus energy and helps people keep their bodies and consequently their minds sound. However, when it is at a professional level it is a tool for making money, which, left out of control, can play a bad trick with fatal consequences.