What We Think…
From competitive eating to football, from cricket to horseback riding, there are countless activities that can be considered a “sport”. But why do only the elite few of these sports make it onto the Paly scene? Students aren’t able to sign up for a Paly croquet team, but they are encouraged to come out to badminton tryouts in the spring.

Somebody, once upon a time, made an executive decision about which sports were legit and which simply didn’t cut it. Of more than 643,609,003,261 athletic activities in the outside world, only 16 of them are accepted at Paly. While many aficionados readily argue their hearts out – making the case for NASCAR driving and golf – others stand by their convictions that only football deserves the title of “sport”.

But why leave it up to these few to decide? In our opinion, a monkey can drive a car around a circle 500 times and cavemen have been swinging clubs since the beginning of mankind. A sport requires refined physical expertise, not simply a body on the field or court.

The Viking asked several Paly students to define “sport” and received fiery attacks, whimpering defenses and weird explanations.

Alex Voet (’10)
Cross-Country

“A sport is a form of competition that requires the use of outside objects.
you can’t have a sport without equipment.”

Katie Maser (’11)
Water Polo

“I guess a sport is defined by a group of people who accomplish something having to do with athletics or intelligence, usually for fun or as a hobby or professional I guess. I don’t really believe that there is or isn’t a sport, I think it’s defined by whoever is doing it.”

Noa Dagan (’11)
Dance

“To be a sport it must be opposing sides actually competing head to head and despite the fact that I’m a dancer I actually don’t think that it’s a sport. It’s an extreme form of art but I’m not really sure how to classify it because it’s more like a sport than it is like painting for instance, but it’s somewhere in between.”

Melanie Wade (’12)
Volleyball

“I define a sport as something athletic where you excercise and when you’re commited and you stick with it. Like in volleyball we practice everyday.”

Noah Berman (’11)
Fencing

“I think a sport is an activity that involves practice, skill and hard work. Not accompanied by a motor or horse, only human power.”