What is better
watching sports or participating in sports?
Nowadays sport and recreation have
become an important feature in the people's life. But tastes differ and
different people have different attitudes to sport and recreation. Some people
prefer to watch different sports events, others choose to participate in them
actively. Watching other people playing is a popular leisure activity. Large
crowds attend numerous national and international occasions; millions watch
them on television.
Among the most popular sports are
football, hockey, basketball, tennis, and motor racing. Many people assemble to
watch these competitions. World Football, Hockey and Basketball Championships
attract people from all over the world who cover great distances in order to
support their favourite team. Wimbledon Championship is the most important
tournament of lawn tennis, while Grand Prix is the major motor racing
competition. But of cause the most important sport event is the Olympiad that
takes place every four years.
Most of the important games are
shown on TV. In many countries there are special TV channels that broadcast
sports programmes for 24 hours. The major sporting competitions, such as the
Olympic games, are shown on the central TV channels attracting millions of
people who can be thousands of kilometres away from the event. Popularity of
sports differs from country to country. In Latin America football stadiums are
always crowded, while the Russian fans are so disappointed with the poor
performance of our football teams that many prefer not to watch the games even
on TV.
I can not agree that it is good to
disapprove of watching sports events and approve of participating in sports.
The desire to follow the example of sports stars induces people to take up
sports that they used to watch seriously. For example many young Russians are
fond of playing football. Even if the Russian teams are far from being the best
in the world, Brazilian, Italian and French players become the example that
young people try hard to follow.
In the past decades people's
involvement in sport and recreation have grown considerably. Now there is a
large variety of available opportunities and facilities. Sport is the best and
the shortest way to health and fitness. Increasing number of people are
involved today in activities that help them keep fit and enjoy life. Physical
recreation tends to be informal and non-competitive and may include, for
example, cycling, boating, jogging. Dancing has become a very popular
recreation. Many Russians have started learning Latin American dances, such as
samba, rumba, cha-cha-cha.
Sport and recreation facilities
provided at schools and universities enable young athletes to develop their
talents. In Russia schools and universities participate in sports tournaments,
for example in football and basketball. Many facilities are made available by
local clubs and parks. There are commercial facilities, which include bowling
centres, skating rinks, tennis courts and riding stables.
According to the latest figures the
most popular activity of all is walking. It is a well known fact that walking
for an hour every day is more healthy than rare and irregular participation in
any of the more active physical activities. To keep fit some people attend
special classes or take part in aerobics or yoga, do some kind of weight
training in a gym. Others play football, badminton, tennis.
Evidently participating in sports
has more advantages than simply watching sports competitions. At the same time
these two kinds of activities are tightly interconnected. Professional sport is
important not only for the professional athletes, one of its missions is to
propagandise and popularise sports activities on the everyday level. At the
same time it is always an individual preference. And only the individual has
the right to decide what is better for him. But whatever the choice is, the
pleasure is undoubted.
- Do you like to watch sports events
on TV?
- Yes, of course. It is wonderful
that television is bringing all kinds of sports to our homes. Sometimes I go to
the stadium to watch a game, but more often I stay at home and watch matches on
TV.
- What sports do you prefer to
watch?
- Football and tennis are my
favourite sports. I try not to miss the most important football and lawn tennis
tournaments and watch them on TV. The fact that I prefer to watch sports
competitions on TV does not mean that I am lazy. Unfortunately, Russia is not
the major football or tennis power. There is only one important tennis
tournament that is held in Moscow - the Kremlin Cup, and the best football
teams do not come to Moscow to play too often. Thus, if I want to see really
good matches I shall either go abroad or watch TV. For example, in the summer
of 2002 there was a World Football Championship that took place in Japan and
Korea. Although it would have been nice to visit those countries, was the best
possibility of seeing the strongest football teams play simply turning on the
TV set.
- Do you play football or tennis
yourself?
- Yes, I do, although not very
often. Several years ago I used to do tennis. Once I was even thinking of
pursuing a professional career, but now all that is in the past. I prefer
watching others play tennis to playing myself. As for football, I have been a
football fan from my childhood. My grandfather was the first to teach me to
play football. Since then thousands of times I have played football with my
friends and classmates. I think that the best time for playing football is
early autumn and late spring. After classes my friends and I go to the playing
ground, take a ball and we can really play for hours. In summer my friends are
out of Moscow, while the Russian winter does not induce to playing football.
- Do you admire any athletes?
- Yes, I do. Eugeny Kafelnikov is my
favourite tennis player. He is really good in tennis and ranks among the best
tennis players of the world. Kafelnikov was the first Russian tennis player who
managed to defeat the strongest Western athletes. I hope Eugeny will show
excellent results for many years to come. I think that the example of
Kafelnikov should inspire many young Russians to play tennis. As for football,
I can not, unfortunately, say that there is a particular Russian player whom I
admire. My favourite football player is Gabriel Batistuta. He is an
Argentinean, but now he is playing in the Italian championship. He is a really
gifted athlete, he loves football and makes thousands of fans adore him. At the
same time he neither shows any pride nor demonstrates contempt for his fans.
This is also very important. Batistuta serves me an example not only as a
sportsman but as a personality too.
- Do you have any friends who go in
for sports professionally?
- Yes, I do. I have one friend who
is doing professional tennis. We started to play tennis together. While I
quitted, he continued to pursue a sport career. He works very hard under the
supervision of his coach. He takes part in various competitions. He tries to
achieve good results, but sometimes they are not perfect. In either case he is
pretty sure that one day he will become a good tennis player. His dream is to
play with Kafelnikov. My other friends do not take sport seriously. Just for
fun they play football or badminton, and I think that they are right. Sport is
good while there is not too much of it.
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