When is cheer a sport?

The definition of sport about sociological perspective is different from a legal standpoint. There are various purposes for why a game must be composed of a given activity to be called a sport. It is necessary for any action referred to a competition to receive tax relief or any funding from the state. There are various contact sports such as rugby and even football which can easily cause injuries to participants and be regarded as assault, but when the damage happens during the contest, the sport gets immunity from the intervention of the law. According to section two of the sport's Act 2015, describes pastimes as any recreational activity which can enhance the physical well being of a person and also creates a social relationship. In the same section, sport is also defined as a form of competition happening through the organized race with the aim of improving physical ability and skills and also provide entertainment to spectators.

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The definition of sport provided above is not comprehensive as it highlights only a few things that constitute a sport. It is essential for a sports activity to have some physical element because mental agility is insufficient to consider an action a game as it was determined recently by English Bridge Union when handling the case C-90/16 EBU v Commissioners for Her Majesty Revenue and Custom.

It is not apparent that a sport must have a physical element alone, there must be something that makes a given activity not to be considered as a sport according to the case of UK House of Lord's decisions. The case relates to men who participate in sadomasochistic activities which also has genital torture to obtain pleasure (Storm, Wagner, & Nielsen, 2017). The game was for private use only for only the people attending in the game alone. The men who were involved in the game were charged for assault for inflicting bodily harm as stated in section 47 of the offense against the person Act 1861. In their argument, there was no crime when the people involved consented to participate in the game knowing the risk involved. The court held that the activities of the men were illegal and unlawful although the men complied. It was therefore affirmed by the court that the contact sport as lawful because it has a public interest such as boxing. Although contact sports are acceptable, the action of men could be considered deviant and opposes the public policy.

Even though the people involved were consenting older people, there were no participants that had a permanent injury. All the activities happened in a private chamber and code words were applied when there was an injury. It was pointed out by the court that the operation of the men different from what takes place in sports which has a referee. It is necessary to apply this case in a contact sport such as boxing which is likely to cause serious injury but legal because it is controlled by specific rules.

Sports are any physical activity aimed at providing enjoyment to the people involved. Various operations can be considered as sports and others which give satisfaction to the parties involved but are not counted as sports. For an activity to be called a game, it must have the potential to enhance the physical ability and skills of an individual. At the same time, such events should be competitive so that two or more parties involved in its fight for a win. The two parties involved must offend each other. Such actions do not happen accidentally, but they must be organized in a manner that brings enjoyment to participants and supporters of the game. An event which does not provide satisfaction to either the supporters or participants is not considered as a sports activity, but an ordinary action meant to fulfill either social or economic purpose (Wyznikiewicz-Nawracala, 1998). This is because a sport's movement is capable of triggering enjoyment in a person.

Notwithstanding, all the activities which are not competitive or incapable of forming a game between different parties cannot be considered as a sport because no competition makes one team be a winner. Furthermore, the activities which cannot improve physical ability and potential while making the parties involved receive some form of enjoyment cannot form part of sport's business. This, therefore, means that all sports activity must be able to enhance physical ability and skills as opposed to economic and social activities which people involved in daily. The sport's action must ensure that the spectators receive some form of entertainments which is not in other activities meant for other purposes. An action is associated with the sport when the participants and spectators can receive entertainment. Any business that does not provide entertainment or bring happiness cannot be considered as a sport's activity as it opposes what constitutes a sport.

The activity that does not allow contestants to compete simultaneously to ensure there is a winner in the contest whereby one participant tries to overpower the other is a sport's activity. On the contrary, when there is no competition, and there is not overruling party the operation in which the participants engage is not a sport's activity (Isidori, 2010). There are only three kinds of results available at the end of a sports activity namely win, draw and loss. The business with no results in the form of a tie, gain or loss is not associated with sport's event. Usually, sports activities are organized in a tournament which is required to identify the champion from all the participants. When all these happen, an operation associated with them is considered a sport's activity any who goes, on the contrary, does not fall under the category. Generally, sport's business is understood as a set of operations which depends on physical athletism.

As a result, cheerleading is not a sport because it involves activities that require intense competition and also include physical exercise meant to build physical potential and skills. Also, cheerleading has atheism. For an event to be considered a sport, three various elements make a sporting activity be considered a game (Bodin & Robene, 2018). The first element is that there must be physical activity and a contest between parties. The port must be governed by set rules to prevent injury. These rules are there to ensure that there is no conflict between the parties involve in the game. Furthermore, there must be a competition as one essential element of sporting activity. For cheerleading to be considered a sporting activity, all these elements must be there to induce the immunity of the convention of the law so that the parties involved a solve their problems without engaging the court.

References

Bodin, D., & Robene, L. (2018). Sport to the Rescue of the Suburbs: Sport to Educate? Sport to Reassure? When Politicians Respond to the Signs of Disturbance of Law and Order. Sport and Violence: Rethinking Elias, 62-81. doi:10.4324/9781315448923-5

Isidori, E. (2010). Deconstructing Sport: When Philosophy and Education Meet in Derrida's Thought. Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research, 48(1), 15-20. doi:10.2478/v10141-010-0002-4

Storm, R. K., Wagner, U., & Nielsen, K. (2017). When Sport Meets Business: A Brief Introduction. When Sport Meets Business: Capabilities, Challenges, Critiques, 3-10. doi:10.4135/9781473984226.n1

Wyznikiewicz-Nawracala, A. (1998). Differences between Sport Active and Non-Sport Active Women. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 7(1), 125-136. doi:10.1123/wspaj.7.1.125