What is the Purpose of Sports?

—by Keith Carey

What is the purpose of sports? To find an answer to that question, we will probably have to broaden our thinking.

One immediately thinks of fun and competition. But sports are part of every culture and they can be used to bring people together, even entire nations. More on that later. But first, let us look at a general history of sports.

A Brief History of Sports and Games
At every level of civilization, people have used sports and games as a way to help develop and test needed skills. Food gathering, hunting, and farming societies all have sports that prepare the individual for real life. Running events are almost universal. The javelin comes from hunting peoples.

As tribes began to fight one another, sporting events became the training ground for battle. Young men proved their bravery and their abilities to fight for the good of the tribe. Most likely, at this stage we had the first spectator sports where the entire community came together to see who would be the best upcoming warrior.

In 776 B.C., the Olympics began in Olympia, Greece, in honor of the god Zeus. Fortunately, games brought about a temporary truce between the warring city-states of Greece. Most of the early games were contests of combat skills such as wrestling, javelin and discus throwing, archery, shot put, running, and boxing. Sports that involved boats and horses developed in other parts of the world during this time. Team sports involving balls came much later.

In today's world, sometimes sports are a main part of a particular unreached people group's economy. The Maldivians, a folk Islamic island people who live south of India, depend heavily on tourists who come to the Maldive Islands to enjoy water sports. The Sherpas are among Nepal's more wealthy people because many of them earn their living helping tourists scale the high rugged mountains.

Sports as a Part of Culture
Sporting events are a part of the various world cultures. Some are universally popular like soccer, basketball and baseball. Others are part of regional cultures. Wrestling and horse racing are popular throughout the world, but especially in Central Asia. That region, however, also has its own unique sport. This sport, kökpar, has at least five other names. The "Lonely Planet" website describes it like this:

"The game begins with the goat carcass in a circle at one end of a field and-at the other end-a bunch of wild, adrenalin-crazed horsemen. At a signal they charge towards the carcass, collect it, carry it back up and around a post, with the winning rider being the one who finally drops it back in the circle. All the while there's a high-speed fight for possession of the carcass, like a horseback tug-of-war. Smashed noses, wrenched shoulders and shattered thigh bones are-it seems-all part of the fun. kökpar is usually played during the weekends of spring and autumn, but is also a popular way to mark special events such as weddings."

Malaysia has a variation of volleyball called sepal takraw, where the participants kick the ball over the net. Like all other countries affected by the British Empire, cricket is a favorite sport there.

Sumo wrestling originated in Japan. In this sport, two huge men attempt to push one another out of a circle. Like most Japanese events, many rituals and traditions surround sumo wrestling.

Sports as Diplomacy
Sumo wrestling has a different meaning to the people of South Korea. The colonial legacy has given the South Koreans distaste for anything Japanese, according to a Feb. 16 article in the BBC News. Korean children have been taught about Japanese atrocities in their schools. Sumo wrestling, which was introduced to Korea during the colonial days, is now being re-introduced to curious Koreans. It is a first step towards mending hard feelings. As of this year, Japanese popular music and videos are now legal to buy and sell in South Korea. We can look for more examples of cultural exchanges between these two countries in the future. Sports have been part of the healing process.

Likewise, diplomacy between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan is now going on in baseball stadiums. A March 12 article in the BBC News reports that the two countries are playing baseball together at a time when their governments are mutually hostile. The PRC, which will host the 2008 Olympics, and tends to excel in Olympic sports, hopes to improve its baseball skills. Sending a team to play against the Taiwanese, who have played baseball for 100 years, is a start. In Mainland China, baseball is a new sport. In Taiwan, it is the sport.

The baseball players seemed to be cordial with one another. The BBC asked Mr. Jiao Yi, the coach of the PRC team, if sports could possibly lessen tensions between the two nations. He replied, "Tension between the two sides doesn't really affect what we do. But I think not just the sports teams, but the two people want to get closer." Other baseball enthusiasts from both Chinese nations expressed similar sentiments.

In South Asia, cricket diplomacy is at a higher level. Earlier this year, relations between Pakistan and India warmed considerably. For the first time since 1989, India sent a cricket team to Pakistan. A March 17 article in the BBC News reports that Pakistani President Pervez Mucharraf hosted a reception for cricket players for both teams. He was quoted as saying, "The wins by each team impart the message that in politics give-and-take is the answer to harmony." He expressed hope that the cricket series would improve ties between the two rivals.

Sports Outreach
Sports can bring some reconciliation between nations. But more importantly, it can also bring opportunities for reconciliation between God and man.

This month in Athens, there will be several opportunities for evangelists to reach people who come to the Olympics in Athens, Greece. Some of these people will come from closed countries that don't allow a gospel witness. The September, 2003 issue of Charisma Magazine reports that Youth With A Mission (YWAM) plans to send 3,000 evangelists to Greece this month. They will be partnering with 70 other Christian organizations. They expect that this partnership will result in 12,000 participants from all over the world.

YWAM understands that the Greeks would find a massive tract distribution effort to be unacceptable. So they plan to do friendship evangelism and are offering to work as volunteers for the Olympic organization. YWAM has organized a prayer effort for this ministry.

Sports Outreach Institute (SOI) is a ministry that uses sports to reach people for Christ. In its website, they quote the Apostle Paul in I Cor. 9 when he said to "use all means in order to save some." To SOI, sports constitute one of those means. "It is a unique, all-terrain vehicle without limitation," they said. "Such a vehicle is universal in its appeal, a common denominator opening doors to all levels of society. It is international in scope without cultural or social hang-ups. It moves swiftly through all differences-race, religion, age, and sex. More importantly, [the ministry] has proven itself over the years as a viable tool for evangelism and as a means to disciple new believers."

The goal of SOI is to equip and encourage the local church to take advantage of opportunities to use sports as a platform to "evangelize their community and disciple new believers." They use many kinds of events. Some of them include huge stadiums while others are simple sports clinics and tournaments.

With creativity and imagination, Christians can find many ways to use sports and athletic events to introduce people to the King of Kings. Let's pray for efforts this month in Athens as well as ongoing ministries like SOI.

Let's Pray!