1. Create your own definition of Internationalism (small paragraph).
Internationalism to me is not only just being nice to people from different places, but it’s a lot deeper than that. It’s more of respecting people of who they are, and if something bad happens to where they’re from, you’ll comfort them and help them through those times. Internationalism in sport, is basically the same thing. People from other countries cheering for another. For example when the Japan earthquake happened, people (from different countries) had a small silence to pray for the lives lost. Little things like this is internationalism, and can make people feel good about being who they are, and where they’re from.
2. Create your own definition of Sporting Spirit (small paragraph).
Sporting spirit is similar to internationalism, but not the exact same. Sporting spirit is being nice to the other team if something bad has happened to them. For example, when someone on the field playing soccer gets injured, the player with the ball will kick the ball out. To be fair to them, when the opposition throws the ball back into the game, they throw it to the team that kicked the ball out. Small things like that is sporting spirit.
3. What role do you think sport plays in building internationalism and spirit (small paragraph)?
When people play sports, it brings them closer. Two countries come close to each other, and care for each other. They learn more about each other, and so if something bad happens to one of those countries, they’ll pray and make sure they get better, because it’s not nice to see someone you know get hurt.
4. With internationalism and sporting spirit in mind , what are some more benefits of the world coming together through sport?
To teams that know each other could get together, and raise an organization to help people. Also, often because of sport, younger kids enjoy each other’s company, even if they’re from different countries.
5. Describe an example (and show it if you like) that you have found of an international sporting event where internationalism / spirit was evident.
From a family that watches tennis almost all the time, I can say that whenever you see a tennis play get injured, the crowd will always cheer them on, even if they’re cheering for the other person. I found this on youtube, a wheelchair tennis competition, holland verses china, in the 2008 Olympics in China. The Chinese were cheering for Holland, because they had less people cheering for them, because it costs lots of money to go to the olympics. After the Chinese stopped clapping and cheering, one Holland person yells ‘xie xie” meaning thank you in Chinese. This shows internationalism, because even though China and Holland were versing each other, they still cheered, and thanked each other. And it also shows sporting spirit, because handicapped sports usually doesn’t get that much recognition, so the people showing up to the game is really nice, and the players feel special.
6. Do you think internationalism/spirit is the main reason why people watch sport? Why or why not?
It really depends on the person. For some people it’s both. They like to see teams care and respect each other, but they also want to watch a proper, professional game. Some people like watching because their favorite team/player might be playing, competing against a rival. For fun, or just for learning, nearly everyone has a sport they enjoy watching for a reason.
7. Millions of dollars are spent on international sporting events. Do you think it is wise for a country to spend this amount of money on sport? Why why not?
Personally, I think it’s not very wise. I mean, yes they do get lots of money back, but if you want people to enjoy watching sports, you should make it free, so they don’t have to pay for it. Perhaps instead of paying money to the government, they could have the choice of donating to a charity. Sports bring people together, and we should have to pay for that. What’s the point of paying so much if you can just watch it off the TV. Sure, it’s nice to see matches live, but sometimes, they should at least make it free.
8. Concluding paragraph:
Why does the world play?
Why does the world play? That is defiantly a hard question to answer. So many reasons, and yet they seem to stray away from the question. It could be to have fun. We have fun playing with just the people around us, but once you get to know them better it gets kind of boring. With people from other places, they are bound to have different tactics, weaknesses, strengths and such. It could be to get to know each other better, to know other people’s cultures and language. While that maybe one of the reasons why, I don’t play to know people better. As bad as that sounds, I play have fun, to work on our strengths and weaknesses, while learning some more.
9. Complete the A, C and D reflections (Give yourself a level plus one or two sentences explaining why)
For A I would say 6/8 because I know about internationalism, culture, and sporting spirit, but I’m not too sure if I expressed this in my work. For example my example on the sporting spirit/internationalism wasn’t like what everyone else had, but I believe that it is a good example. For C, I would say 6/10 because I can handball, but often under-pressure I won’t hit it on the right part of my hand. While for kicking, I can barely get it into the goal just with the drills, let alone in a game, so I avoid that. Movement is alright, I don’t use my voice often, because I’m not always sure if I’m not in a good position. But when I do get the ball, I always see someone to pass to. And lastly, D 6/8 because before, I didn’t really enjoy international rules football, and yet now I do. I get closer to my friends playing, and that’s what I really want to do.
