Emotions play a significant role in sports, and are closely related to the physical and mental aspects of the game. They reflect an athlete’s self-perception of performance, and can also be the result of other people’s evaluations of an athlete. Some of these feelings arise before a game or match, while others happen during the game. The subculture of a sport influences how athletes express their feelings. For example, players are expected to show appropriate emotion during the national anthem or during postgame victory celebrations.
While the aesthetic element of sport remains, the emphasis in contemporary sport has shifted towards quantitative achievement. One way to understand this shift is to look at the evolution of the word measure. In the past, the word measure connoted a sense of proportion or balance; then, it came to be used to refer to numerical measurements.
Sports have always included a physical component to play. The earliest sports depicted children playing with ball and sticks. These games eventually evolved into autotelic physical contests for adults. Prehistoric art portrays hunter-gatherers pursuing their prey with joy, and hunting became a means to an end for some ancient civilizations. In the 20th century, sports became more diverse and more inclusive. Women and other minorities were finally allowed to compete in some sports.
While the concept of the sports record is not present in all games, it has an important place in the history of sports. During the Restoration, Puritans began to condemn traditional pastimes. This drove many of these activities underground. It was not until the 1780s that organized sports developed in England. The Marylebone Cricket Club, founded in 1787, played an important role in the development of organized games.
