Sport? Entertainment? Activity?

Is Roller Derby a Sport? Is it Entertainment? Is it an Activity? The answer is yes.

Sport
Many years ago, when both of my daughters were high school cheerleaders, the school board, the athletic department and the school administration each took time to consider how to classify cheerleading. Some area schools categorized cheerleading as a sport, and others as an activity.

And this mattered because…?

Apparently, funding for high school sports came from a different pocket, qualified for different allowances and fell under different policy restrictions than the funding for high school activities.

In addition, there was the prestige factor. In the high school pecking order, jocks, both male and female, were often regarded as a cut above those students involved in clubs and activities. The football team – athletes dedicated to practice, teamwork and discipline – brought in the paying fans, whereas the cheerleaders – dedicated to similar ideals – were the added fluff.

Many years later, I hear the same argument about roller derby. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines sport as a “specific diversion, usually involving physical exercise and having a set form and body of rules; a game.” Is NASCAR a sport?

Activity
An activity is a “specified form of supervised action or field of action, especially one in the area of recreation.” Then what about (non-competitive) swimming? Activity is as broad-ranging as hopscotch, parajumping and historical re-enactment. Roller Derby is action-packed, and according to the skaters, it is also therapeutic and recreational.

Entertainment
Entertainment is subjective, defined as such by the spectator. To entertain is to “hold the attention of; to amuse.” To the right audience, even a good sneeze might qualify as entertainment!

At the derby rink, I never saw so many individuals under one roof who could each singlehandedly capture your attention. Put them in fishnets, then put them in motion, and voila! Entertainment enough to charge admission and keep the crowd coming back for more.

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Tough young women involved in Sport/Activity/Entertainment and wearing miniskirts --- Roll them all together and you get phenomenon.