Athletic Development and The Contribution of Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson in Its Development

Sports are an amazing thing in this world, it is one of the greatest pastimes in the whole world. People admire the hard work the players put in to be as successful as they are, people find it amusing to watch these extraordinary people go out and play their sports and make it look easy. Everywhere you go, you see something that has to do with sports. This isn't just in the United States, this is everywhere in the world. Sports can be an amazing thing in someone's life, it may have changed them for the better, maybe it’s that the person was a “nobody” but now is “somebody”. The feeling that playing a sport is like no other, the endorphins raging, the sweat pouring down your face, the excitement in the air. There are so many definitions to sports, and there could be different ways to explain it.

The history of sports can go way back all the way to the Roman Empire and the days back in Greece where people would do certain things in an arena to entertain people. From there sports have changed quite drastically. Now if you hit a Quarterback after he throws the ball that’s a penalty, but back then there were people dying in that arena. Don’t get me wrong, it is better today than it used to be, and it is a lot safer for the people who are playing them. From those times back in Greece we have evolved from killing people to smashing a ball over the fence in baseball. Even after the sports, we play today were made, there are still some changes from when they were first made. For example in baseball, they are implementing a rule in the minor leagues that you can steal a first base on any pitch as long as the ball gets past the catcher on the pitch. The “National Association of Baseball Players” didn’t put that into the game years ago when they made it, sometimes you have to ask yourself, “Would the person or people who made this like this if we put this new rule in?” Sports have made a huge impact on today’s society and how we look at the world, it has made the world a better place and helped the people that needed help.

In the article “State of Field: Sports History and the “Cultural Turn” the author compares sports to how it helped the culture change with all of the racism. How if you look at it in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Jesse Owens competed even though he was a colored man. Facing all of the criticism and all of the death threats he still went out and competed for his nation. The impact of this decision helped change sports for the future. Sports history has helped change society for the better, for instance when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers he was hated by a lot of people. He went through some challenges but in the end, look at the MLB today, he helped change the league, and he also helped society change its ways and its actions towards the colored. This opened up the floor for many colored people in sports, for example, Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He is a colored basketball player and was very successful in his time. According to basketballrefrence.com he was a 19-time all-star, 2-time scoring champ, 6-time MVP, named all NBA team 15 times, and a 6-time NBA champion. He was able to become this successful because of the people before him that helped with the whole interracial problem that was happening before his time. Sports have helped shaped this nation and helped shape this world into a better place. Another key moment in sports history is when George Bush throws out the first pitch in the World Series after 9/11. He brought a nation that was down and on their knees to their feet and help the nation believe in there president again. Sports are just more than a couple of people going out and running, or throwing a ball around. It brings joy to the sad, it brings happiness to the down, and it can change society for the better. There have been many changes in sports from who plays it to what the rules are.

Sports have changed so much over the years, back in 1946 there were no colored people in the MLB, that has changed and it has made the sport so much better for it. In football, they used to wear leather helmets, but now today they have helmets that are made to keep the head safe and try to protect the players from CTE. Thus change has made this sport better because before you had all of these great players retiring from injuries and from head issues. Now there is a player who is 42 years old and is in a contract until he is 44. He is one of the most accomplished NFL players to ever play the game. With these changes, they made the sport better and helped keep the better players and all players healthier and make the game safer and more fun to watch. The definition of sports can be so broad in so many ways, there’s the definition of each individual sport, the definition of the term sport, what are the rules in the sports, and what are you are supposed to do in that certain sport.

The definition of sports can be a hard one to find because of it is such a broad term. I will give my definition of sports and I will give the internet’s definition of the term sports. My definition is an activity that contains the active movement of a person’s body. Sports can range from horse riding all the way to football. The internet’s definition is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. 

Sports are an amazing thing in today’s world and can help anyone forget about their troubles for a while. Sports have changed dramatically since when they were first brought up, but they have changed for the better. They have also helped change society for the better, without Jesse Owens or Jackie Robinson or nation would be a different place today. There are so many definitions to sports, and there could be different ways to explain it.

Works Cited

1. Bass, A. (2014). State of the Field: Sports History and the “Cultural Turn.” Journal of American History, 101(1), 148–172. https://doi-org.libproxy.umcrookston.edu/10.1093/jahist/jau177
2. Corby, D. (n.d.). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Stats. Retrieved from https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulka01.html