Athletics (physical culture)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the sport comprising cross country, road running and track and field, see Sport of athletics. For other uses, see Athletics (disambiguation).

Athletics is a term encompassing the human

animal sports
.

Athletic contests, as one of the earliest types of sport, are prehistoric and comprised a significant part of the

Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) was established in 1906 to oversee athletic sports at college-level in the United States, known as college athletics
.

Athletics has gained significant importance at educational institutions; talented athletes may gain entry into

physical exercise. Athletic clubs
worldwide offer athletic training facilities for multitudes of sports and games.

Etymology

The word athletics is derived from the Greek word "athlos" (ἄθλος), meaning "contest" or "task".[4] The Ancient Olympic Games were born of war and featured various forms of athletics such as running, jumping, boxing and wrestling competitions.[5]

In the modern

foot racing
), rather than physical sport in general.

Biological factors

A few athletes

Gender and

Long distance runners tend to be thinner, while competitive powerlifters and American football players tend to be stockier. Athletic development often begins with athletic parents.[6][7]

Physical conditioning is a primary athletic function for competition. Most often, trainers utilize proven athletic principles to develop athletic qualities; these qualities include coordination, flexibility, precision, power, speed, endurance, balance, awareness efficiency, and timing.[8] While physical strength is prized over most other qualities in Western athletics,[9] it is forbidden in the physical conditioning of tai chi.[10][11]

performance-enhancing drugs like caffeine and anabolic steroids
.

Sports nutrition is the study and practice of nutrition and diet as they relate to athletic performance.[12] It is concerned with the type and quantity of fluid and food taken by an athlete, and deals with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, supplements and organic substances such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Although an important part of many sports training regimens, it is most intensely applied in strength sports (such as weight lifting and bodybuilding) and endurance sports (for example cycling, running, swimming).

Training and coaching

Athletes first learn basic movement patterns such as running, stopping, jumping and throwing. Coaches help athletes refine these movements into

swimming strokes are also called styles. Team sports often develop and practice plays or strategies
where players carry out specific tasks to coordinate a team effort of attack or defense.

Technical training may also include teaching the rules and restrictions of a sport or game.[13]

Elite athletes and teams require high-level coaching. A coach is often associated only with an athlete's technical development; however, a coach will likely play all the roles of mentor, physical trainer, therapist, medical responder, technical trainer and performance facilitator. Coaches may or may not involve sportsmanship in their program. Coaching typically signifies a quadrennial, ongoing mentorship for athletic development, as opposed to a clinician who might only assist for a short period of time.[14]

Not only must coaches be able to teach technical form, but recognize and correct problems with a teams' or an athlete's technique and conditioning. This is done by listening, observing and building trust with the athlete. Recent advancements in video technology can provide accurate biomechanical data to optimize the form, precision, timing, efficiency and power of an athlete's movements.[15]

Critical to a team's or an athlete's success is a

sports psychologists to help athletes organize themselves through visualization,[16] relaxation techniques, self-talk, concentration, etc.[17]

Amateurs and professionals

Left: A U.S. high school girls' water polo team (with their male coaches in background) posing with their trophy. Right: A U.S. university girl practising a difficult gymnastics manoeuvre under the watchful eyes of her coach.
See also: College athletics in the United States and U Sports

collegiate athletics
because it promoted maximum female participation in athletics through equal spending.

Professional sports are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athletics is seen by some as a contradiction of the central ethos of the sport since the competition is performed for its own sake and pure enjoyment rather than as a means of earning a living.

Organizations

See also

References

  1. ^ "Athletics". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. December 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Archived copy, Athletic Movement Skills". Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  3. ISBN 0-520-08095-5
    .
  4. ^ "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ἆθλος". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  5. ^ Lendering, Jona. "Peloponnesian War". Livius, Articles on Ancient History. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010.
  6. ISBN 978-1-58394-242-0
    .
  7. ^ Gray, Sadie. "Body and Soul". The Times. London.
  8. ISBN 0-89750-048-2
    .
  9. ISBN 0-07-134381-4
    .
  10. ISBN 0-8016-5031-3
    .
  11. ISBN 1-55566-117-3
    .
  12. ^ Eberle, S. G. "Endurance sports nutrition". Fitness Magazine. 24 (6): 25.
  13. ISBN 1-59477-160-X
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-697-06351-9
    .
  15. ^ "Archived copy:Basic Concepts in Sports Biomechanics". Archived from the original on 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  16. ^ "Archived copy: The Effects of Mental Imagery on Athletic Performance". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  17. ^ "skinnybulkup.com". skinnybulkup.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2022-05-19.

External links

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