Essay/Term paper: The issue of sport

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Research Papers

The Issue of Sport


The material I have studied for the Issue of Sport has helped me understand more
about living in our contemporary world. The film and the screenplay "Strictly
Ballroom" along with newspaper articles and the television documentary on Sport
made me understand why sport is important in our society. Sport involves many
things such as competition, dirty tactics, personal achievement and sport
officials. Firstly, whenever there is sport, there is competition. There is
competition for all levels of sport. Some people thive on competition while
others are just testing their own limitations. Competition is both good and bad
for our society; it brings out the best and the worst in people. If there is
competition it makes people strive harder to do the best they can. But it can
also lead to dirty tactics, drugs or violence. In the screenplay "Strictly
Ballroom", dirty tactics were used due to the competitive pressure. At the State
Final Championship Scott and Liz were blocked by Ken Railings and Pam Short. It
was also unfair competition, Barry Fife (The Dance Ferderation President) was
being dishonest. Wayne overheard Barry setting it up so that Scott didn't win
the Pan Pacific Grand Prix.
The Sport weekly magazine article " Shirley knows her tables" printed on 14th
May, 1996 dicusses her determination and preparation for the competition in the
2000 Olympics game. Every game have different levels of competion and also the
bigger the prizes, the more competitive. Shirley trains very hard and knows it
is very competitive at the Olympics.
Secondly people can personal achievement from sport. Sportspersons are
satisfied that is they have performed to their expectations. Personal
achievement is doing the best you can or setting up goals and fulfilling them
by winning. It helps to lift the spirits and the motivation of a person's mind.
Family support is also important to a person's success. In "Strictly Ballroom",
Scott and Fran achieved some goals such as the time Fran asked Scott to dance
with her and he eventually agreed. They showed their individuality and are very
determined non- conformists. They dance for the enjoyment of it. Both of them
have the same dreams. But Scott's personal achievement is different from Fran's.
He grew up expecting to win the Pan Pacifics. Fran and Scott fulfilled their
ambition and are satisfied by merely being able to dance their own steps. The
newspaper article "Straight into the record books" from The Sydney Morning
Herald published on 6th Febrary 1996 demonstrated personal achievement of Tammy
van Wisse, the first person to swim Bass Strait. Her individuality and
determination kept her motivated to face the difficulties. She was testing her
limitations and succeeded. Thirdly, Sports Official are very important to any
organised sport.Officials help to keep the sport in order and for people to obey
the rules. Sometimes officials misuse their power which causes corruption and
loses supporters. There are many types of sport officials like coaches, umpire,
judges and so on. Without them the game won't work. They're like the core of the
activities. If officials do something wrong, it's not good for the sport and the
officials reputation and could cause lots of trouble. In "Strictly Ballroom"
Barry Fife is a very corrupt official who has misused his power to stop Scott
from dancing his own steps. He organised who he wanted to win or what is going
to happen. Twenty years back he persuaded Shirley to dance with Les instead of
Doug so he and his partner won the Pan Pacifics. Barry then became the President
of the Dance Ferderation and wanted to stay in power but Scott was a threat to
him. Barry tried everything, lying to Scott about Doug, getting him to dance
with Tina, persuading Wayne and disquailifying Scott and Fran. In the end
Barry's power is broken, because he is exposed as a corrupt official. The
magazine article "No girls rule knocks Jessie out of ring" express how Jessie
coach, Mr Alan Pond was breaking the rules when he tried to enter her in a boys
only boxing competition . The plan was foiled because they asked for her birth
certificate. Mr Pond was banned from coaching the boys as well. In conclusion,
the materials I studied "Strictly Ballroom" and the Related materials for the
issue of Sport have widen my knowledge and understanding about living in our
comtemporary world. I realize that competition, sport officials and personal
satisfaction are essentials in sport and many problems could arise from them.