Forget the gloom, sport’s broad palette offers many reasons be cheerful
Elite sport may make us despair at times but we shouldn’t forget that the wider ecosystem offers so many opportunities to connect and participate, says Ed Warner.
Memo to self: don’t always be a miserabilist. The data says that the most upbeat editions of this column garner as many readers as the more downbeat.
So, turning my back on the relentless news about sporting crises and corruption, and channeling my inner Blockhead, here are some reasons to be cheerful.
Many sports are essentially solitary pursuits. Pavements pounded, hills climbed, lengths swum in training. A single opponent in the ring or across the net. The individual’s chances of success are enhanced, however, if they feed off the knowledge and support of others. Training partners, coaches, friends and family.
However alone an athlete might be in the heat of the action, the process of preparation and competition is inescapably a communal one. This is as true for the casual amateur as the full-time professional.
This communality gives sport much of its meaning and, by extension, its joy and despair. The experience of the athlete is mirrored by those looking in, the spectators both in-venue and following remotely.
Why do you thrill at the sight of athletic prowess or the jeopardy of competition? Perhaps simply because your raised heart-rate releases endorphins. But more likely because this is one part of a shared experience – either in the moment, or in later interaction – that shapes your identity as a social beast.
How lucky we are then to live in an age whose technology facilitates the extensive connectivity that we all now take for granted.
Be part of a remote training group, exchanging data and experiences on the go. Share your achievements and receive immediate affirmation. Watch live sport and interact with others as it unfolds. Catch instant highlights that bring you up to speed and give you agency in the inquests.
Much of the work within the sports industry right now is focused on building this connectivity, within mass communities and between fans and professional athletes.
The application of technology has also opened up every sport to remote followers. There may be only a single camera at an indoor arena for a grassroots competition in a niche sport, but the event is available live on a streaming platform at low cost to the organiser and most likely free to you, the fan. How far we’ve come from analogue TV and linear programming on only a handful of channels.
Ditto media coverage of sport. Complain if you will about the biggest sports’ oligopolistic crowding of virtual column inches in the mainstream press. News and reports are widely and freely available across multiple platforms for even the most esoteric of sports and competitions. And what’s more, open to you to add your own insights directly.
No need to be offended if your sporting interest is not in the mainstream. Immerse yourself instead in your specific community of like-minded enthusiasts.
Here are 800+ sports that Topendsports claims to be a complete global list (although Wikipedia references the World Sports Encyclopedia saying there are 8,000 – I’ll let you referee the debate). List of sports.
Sports’ owners and administrators may often appear to be doing their damnedest to despoil the assets under their stewardship, but sport continues to flourish regardless of the infighting and scandals.
Yes, individual sports may wax and wane in popularity and financial health, but the diversity of activities available to watch and play grows relentlessly. Padel v pickleball v tennis? So what? That’s two ‘new’ racquet sports that have broken through into the public’s consciousness.
Ultimately, no professional sport comes for free, and the costs of fandom have spiralled. Only, though, if you choose to confine yourself to the most fashionable events and crave real-time engagement with them. Wander into other areas of the sprawling sporting ecosystem and you will find cheap or free thrills and attendant communities.
If you are keen to diversify your interests, check out a site such as sportonspec.co.uk. Events it is advertising in London over the coming two weekends range from basketball and ice hockey to hurling and arenacross.
The same is just as true of participation as spectating. Sports clubs and mass events create social circles at little or no financial cost. Not up to taking part? How about volunteering instead?
Marshall a single running race and experience the high of encouraging every athlete that passes, from fastest to slowest. Get hooked and offer to take on a more formal role in a grassroots club. Feel the connection from your local role in a sport through to its elite athletes. Take personal pride in your very modest part in their success, for without a pyramid’s strong base it can have no apex.
Plenty of reasons, then, to be cheerful, in spite of all you may read in this column and elsewhere.
What’s in a name?
Tyson Fury announced his retirement this week for the third (or fourth?) time. He was born in 1988 when the reigning undisputed heavyweight champion was Mike Tyson, who announced his own retirement (once again) last November. Are any bookies making odds on whether the Gypsy King or Iron Mike will eventually prove to be the last to fight professionally?
Trigger warning
I popped into the Leaders in Sport studio to record a podcast about the International Olympic Committee presidential election and Test cricket, building on a column from a couple of weeks back. You can find the pod on various platforms, including here on Apple and Spotify. With thanks to James Emmett and David Cushnan of Leaders for the invitation.
Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes his sport column at sportinc.substack.com