Michelangelo's "David" 

  (Note the musculature, the leaning of his weight on one hip, the relaxed posture) 

                              (David is a warrior/athlete) (credit: Wikimedia Commons) 

             

                                            The Beauty of Sport

The last branch of Philosophy is Aesthetics, and in this area of human thought, sports also have a great deal to teach us. 

What makes beauty? To athletes, coaches, and fans, this is usually fairly clear.

                                                

                                                                        bodybuilders, 2008 

                                             (credit: petechons, via Wikimedia Commons)

First, in sport we see the beauty of the individual human body when it is in really fine condition. And different sports require different kinds of training and so lead participants to develop different kinds of physiques. But this is good. In the variety, and our discussions of which body forms we find more pleasing and why, each of us can learn a good deal about others and ourselves. Art serves this function, and other functions, in society. 

        

                                       Australian swimming star, Emma McKeon 

                        (credit: JD Lasica/Cruiseable.com, via Wikimedia Commons)

The bodybuilders are in the business of making their musculature as large as they can. And many people find this attractive. There is also no question that the building of one of those bodies is hard work. 

Bodybuilding competitions are also hard. The posing that these athletes do may look like mere narcissistic display to those who don’t know the sport, but even those who have spent ten or fifteen minutes in what used to be called “isometric” exercise know that straining one muscle against its opposing muscle can be very tiring. 

In any case, the point here is that training and competing in sports gives serious athletes physiques that other people admire and find aesthetic. Long distance runners and swimmers, long and lean; bodybuilders, heavy and powerful. Other athletes’ bodies ranged in between.

                                 

                                              British heptathlon star, Louise Hazel 

                                     (credit: Kent Capture, via Wikimedia Commons)

                                                             

But the beauty of sport does not end with beautiful bodies posing for photos.

In the second and far more gratifying place, as athletes engage in competition, they show viewers the beauty of the human body in motion. It is the grace and coordination and timing and flexibility of the whole body that is more likely to elicit “oohs” and “ahhs” from fans. A really well-executed overhead kick in soccer or a pass well-caught in football or a roundhouse kick well-delivered in martial arts – these are a joy for fans to watch. The beauty of the body in motion is what pulls fans to their favorite sport in the first place.

   

                                   Ruben Mendoza performing an overhead kick

                                       (credit: Weechie, via Wikimedia Commons)

Then, in the third place, we can see in a sport the beauty of humans exercising a series of moves not only with grace, but with evident larger strategy in mind as they do the moves. When a boxer can feint so skilfully that he causes his opponent to reach out to deflect a blow that is not actually coming, and to drop his guard in a way that allows the more skillful boxer to deliver a knock out blow, that can be very fascinating and uplifting for a fan to watch. 

Or if boxing is too brutal a sport for you, you may find a similar sense of aesthetic satisfaction when a skilful tennis player sweeps her racket around to deliver a crushing topspin smash and at the last possible moment, pulls the sweeping stroke and barely touches the ball enough to get it over the net. It bounces once in the opponent’s court and dribbles into a second bounce long before the hapless opponent can recover and return the shot. 

   

                                          Boris Becker delivering a drop shot 

                                     (credit: James Phelps, via Wikimedia Commons)

There is a mind at work behind that drop shot. A clever mind expressing itself in the graceful movements of a fit, well-trained body. Beautiful to watch.

 

                                                      Team play in soccer 
                                 (credit: Sarah Jones, via Wikimedia Commons)

Then, fourth in team sports, there is the beauty of several bodies and minds working together. This factor may be what makes team sports so satisfying for so many fans. 

The defender stops an attack with a skillful tackle and recovers the ball. She almost instantly drives it up the field, along the sideline to where she knows one of her midfield companions waits. The mid-fielder traps the ball, then turns and chips it in a well-placed arc to a striker who is running down the field, staying just barely onside until the pass comes in just over her head. If the striker then completes the play with a hard, precise shot that the opposing goalkeeper simply cannot block in time, and scores a goal, the crowd will erupt in cheers. 

The individual bodies look nice; the coordinated precise movements of each body in motion look nice; the clever planning that goes into each player’s movements is pleasing to the eyes of fans whose familiarity with the game enables them to see each mind expressing itself; but the most pleasing of all is the way that three different human beings, so quickly and so skilfully, can strike and handle a ball from one end of a hundred meter field to the other and end the sequence of all of their movements with the scoring of a goal.

Yes, it’s exciting. And it’s beautiful. And so it is that sports, in any society that has some wealth and time to spend as it pleases, will flourish. Watching all that beauty just feels good. Aesthetic. 

In the shadow of the mushroom cloud, nevertheless, enjoy the game.