Sport In Society Essay, Research Paper

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 “Strait 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.