Scuba a dying sport?
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Diving is not a sport... it is a hobby.
I can not think of any sport which does not require a winner and a loser. This is why diving does not qualify as a sport.
If diving were competitive... I'd call it a sport... but it really isn't. It is recreational by nature... which makes it an interest or a hobby.
One might argue that competitive freediving is a sport... and I could buy that argument.
A pessimistic person trying to make the point that scuba is a sport might argue that there are winners and losers in diving... such as those that make it back to the boat and those that don't... but for some reason I don't think that qualifies it either.
There has to be a predetermined goal... an end that quantifies the need for the beginning. In other words... you don't enter the water to win at diving... you enter the water to see things. Simply getting back on the boat means you succeeded... and not getting back on the boat means you failed... but succeeding and failing do not equal winning and losing... so therefore diving is not a sport.
Be happy you have a nice hobby... and if you want to call it a sport, feel free... we'll just all know you're wrong : )
I can not think of any sport which does not require a winner and a loser. This is why diving does not qualify as a sport.
If diving were competitive... I'd call it a sport... but it really isn't. It is recreational by nature... which makes it an interest or a hobby.
One might argue that competitive freediving is a sport... and I could buy that argument.
A pessimistic person trying to make the point that scuba is a sport might argue that there are winners and losers in diving... such as those that make it back to the boat and those that don't... but for some reason I don't think that qualifies it either.
There has to be a predetermined goal... an end that quantifies the need for the beginning. In other words... you don't enter the water to win at diving... you enter the water to see things. Simply getting back on the boat means you succeeded... and not getting back on the boat means you failed... but succeeding and failing do not equal winning and losing... so therefore diving is not a sport.
Be happy you have a nice hobby... and if you want to call it a sport, feel free... we'll just all know you're wrong : )
No, it is a sport, you are purely taking the competitive definition, not all sports are competitve, buy a dictionary.
Webster: 1 a: a source of diversion : recreation b: sexual play c (1): physical activity engaged in for pleasure.
Non competive sports:
Mountain climbing
fishing
hunting
skydiving
riding
hiking
and apparently sexual play per the definiton.
Hobby:
gardening
model making
sewing
collecting
Many activieties can be both competive or not depending on the context:
Bicycling
swimming
running/jogging
Duh, like did you think football was the only sport? Sometimes it would be helpful if people would look at a dictionary once or twice rather than just assuming common useage among their associations is the correct and only useage. Buy yourself a dictionary, read it.
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widget
Contributor
Diving recreationally has a massive drop out rate. Lots of young folk take the course, but due to finances, family and work commitments etc drop out. Some return later, most dont!!.
Divings biggest drawback is that it is not something everybody can do daily like ball sports, cycling etc, so its usually a "planned" activity, a weekend away, a long drive to the dive site or a vacation and divers without an investment in gear are easily swayed into another activity which may be easier to get to, cheaper or has less requirements (cert. etc).
The other draw back is cost, financially diving is one of the more expensive sports, for somebody who realistically may only dive twice a year, the cost of buying equipment is ludicrous and most of these divers just slowly fall out.
Divings biggest drawback is that it is not something everybody can do daily like ball sports, cycling etc, so its usually a "planned" activity, a weekend away, a long drive to the dive site or a vacation and divers without an investment in gear are easily swayed into another activity which may be easier to get to, cheaper or has less requirements (cert. etc).
The other draw back is cost, financially diving is one of the more expensive sports, for somebody who realistically may only dive twice a year, the cost of buying equipment is ludicrous and most of these divers just slowly fall out.
If you have a garden and you grow some nice tomatos and enter them in a contest for the biggest tomato and you win is then growing tomatos a sport? There is a winner and a loser, it requires slkill, knowledge and hard work, guess tomato growing is a sport.
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SDiggy
Contributor
I suppose it depends on how you define sport. I am inclined to believe it is. From dictionary.com:
sport   
ËÏoun 1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
4. jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously.
5. mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him.
etc...
Definition #3, and perhaps #1, kinda seals it for me.
I hate to tell you but all of these are also hobbies... there is no sport in any of them.
What they all really are is activities. And by the way... Webster is not the end all be all of the english language... but perhaps you and cdreamer can get together and have a "Lets Make Scuba a Sport" blowout party...
You know her boss told her to stay off the computer... apparently I have to let him know what she's up to again : )
Is Scuba a sport? Who cares what you call it, it just plain fun.
Yes,
I could accept Tomato Growing at the state fair as a sport since it has a winner and a loser and likely requires more physical effort even than golf... with the digging to plant, the planting, the constant watering, the picking, the carrying to the competition ... heck it might be more physically demanding than diving... I know farmers that would say so...
I could accept Tomato Growing at the state fair as a sport since it has a winner and a loser and likely requires more physical effort even than golf... with the digging to plant, the planting, the constant watering, the picking, the carrying to the competition ... heck it might be more physically demanding than diving... I know farmers that would say so...
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That's interesting - I've never heard anyone say that the dictionary was not the authoritative answer to definitions of words. I guess that means if I want to call an apple a tomato that its ok. I'll say its hot outside when its cold. Everyone join me in this - in a few years we will have completely destroyed the English language and no one will be able to communicate with anyone else!
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