I'm from Wales long history of pubs darts and beer here I was thinking recently about the subject of darts and whether its a sport or not.
To me its the wrong question when people say darts isn't a sport they are saying its not "athletic". But thats not what matters about sport or competition.
What matters is to what degree its competitive. Competition, as long as avoidant anxiety doesn't take over, breeds personal improvement it teaches you how to handle winning and losing, a major part of lifes ups and downs.
I remember playing marbles as a kid and fiercely protecting my marbles from other kids even the ones who had big "bompers". We'd play for hours and I'd like to think i took a lot off the other kids
To me the nature of that game of marbles, the competitive urges underlying it, far outweighs people who "enjoy" sports. They hit the ball back and for, run about, get their heart rate up etc etc. But theres no heart in it. Its just sharesys, nothing on it. Nobody really cares.
Ive watched a lot of tennis over the years, and its clear to me that for some of the journeyman pros the game has primarily become a "job". They turn up each week, play the percentages and then get a plane ticket. Rinse and repeat 11 months a year. Its impressive what they do, and of course, they are far more competitive than most people but for some of them if you stopped the paycheck they'd literally stop playing.
Id rather watch two amateur guys going at it hammer and tongs (in a sporting sense of course) like theres nothing else in the world than 2 cynical pro sportsmen who are in it purely for the money but the underlying competitive urges have been diluted by years of repetition.
Edit: Just to make clear its still a great achievement to be a pro in sport, I'm not knocking that but I love sport cos its about the underlying heart that makes you wanna get out there and win. I haven't looked into it but I'm guessing lots of pro's do get cynical/tired of sport at some point but turn up cos the moneys so good. I remember Jim Courier turning up to Wimbledon one year, and was reading philosophy books in between games. His heart wasn't in it anymore.
I'm gonna stick that Rocky theme tune on now, thats what its all about Flying high now!
To me its the wrong question when people say darts isn't a sport they are saying its not "athletic". But thats not what matters about sport or competition.
What matters is to what degree its competitive. Competition, as long as avoidant anxiety doesn't take over, breeds personal improvement it teaches you how to handle winning and losing, a major part of lifes ups and downs.
I remember playing marbles as a kid and fiercely protecting my marbles from other kids even the ones who had big "bompers". We'd play for hours and I'd like to think i took a lot off the other kids
To me the nature of that game of marbles, the competitive urges underlying it, far outweighs people who "enjoy" sports. They hit the ball back and for, run about, get their heart rate up etc etc. But theres no heart in it. Its just sharesys, nothing on it. Nobody really cares.
Ive watched a lot of tennis over the years, and its clear to me that for some of the journeyman pros the game has primarily become a "job". They turn up each week, play the percentages and then get a plane ticket. Rinse and repeat 11 months a year. Its impressive what they do, and of course, they are far more competitive than most people but for some of them if you stopped the paycheck they'd literally stop playing.
Id rather watch two amateur guys going at it hammer and tongs (in a sporting sense of course) like theres nothing else in the world than 2 cynical pro sportsmen who are in it purely for the money but the underlying competitive urges have been diluted by years of repetition.
Edit: Just to make clear its still a great achievement to be a pro in sport, I'm not knocking that but I love sport cos its about the underlying heart that makes you wanna get out there and win. I haven't looked into it but I'm guessing lots of pro's do get cynical/tired of sport at some point but turn up cos the moneys so good. I remember Jim Courier turning up to Wimbledon one year, and was reading philosophy books in between games. His heart wasn't in it anymore.
I'm gonna stick that Rocky theme tune on now, thats what its all about Flying high now!