Sport (or physical sport) is any form of generally competitive physical activity that, through organised or casual competition, seek to use, develop or uphold personal skill and physical ability while also providing entertainment for participants, and occasionally, spectators. This activity can take the form of professional sports, such as ice hockey, rugby, cricket, Australian football, motor racing, or golf; recreational sports, such as swimming, hiking, mountain biking, tennis, basketball, horse-riding, track and field, and soccer; or even for the purpose of self-expression, such as yoga. A sport can be competitive or non-competitive. In most sports, competition usually occurs where the rules of the game are observed or where a particular style of play has been prescribed. Non-competitive games, where the competition takes place only for fun, may be played between unrelated individuals, like kids playing a friendly game of basketball or bridge.
Sport can be broadly classified into two broad categories: competitive sports and non-competitor sports. Competitative sports, such as tennis, boxing and golf, are events in which the participants engage in a controlled physical activity with the objective of winning a prize or other reward. Non-competitor sports include activities involving physical exertion, such as hiking, cycling and rowing. International sports competitions are organized by countries as part of their bid to become members of the Olympic Sports Organizations. These activities, though, are not competitive.
An international competitive sport event includes the dressage, sailing, fencing and canoeing sports. A non-competition event, on the other hand, includes activities that do not involve physical exertion and that require skill, including skillfully playing an electronic game, ice climbing or water skiing. All these types of sporting activities are considered to be a sport, though not necessarily competitive.
Sport, though often associated with contact sports, is also a part of physical education. It is also used in physical fitness training. In such training, a skill, whether athletic or skillful, is developed through the participation in sport activities.
To play any sport, one must first learn how to play it. Competitive games differ from those that are not competitive in that they require more than mere physical strength. Skills, tactics and the use of skills and equipment are also needed. As children grow up, they are also taught rules and basic policies of the sport they are practicing.
Sport activities are present in different cultures. Some countries, for example, have specific sporting associations. In the United States, professional and competitive games are played by men, women and children. These games are televised and known as Major League Baseball, The National Football League and the National Basketball Association. There are also minor league baseball, basketball, ice hockey and soccer. These games are not professionally recognized, though.