Sports and its role in breaking barriers.
Adeyemi Onikepo
Sports in its simplest of forms is best described as an activity that uses physical exertion or skill in a competitive manner. This definition is good, but it doesn’t justify what sport truly means, for me, sports is a breaker of chains and an avenue for any man to freely express themself without the fear of political, social and any other form of human grading hindering their performance or greatness.
In the days of early sports, whatever the event, sports has never failed in uniting the people. From the time before the Romans and their amphitheatres or the Greek domes, people were united for the love of physical entertainment, you would say it was violent then but I would say violence is an animal’s way of expressing fear and power.
Sports has very much evolved and so has its ability to free man from all pressure and limitations. People who have failed in academics or music or any other form of human intellectual or physical performance, would always have a sport they can participate in, and even if there is none present, they can invent just like Naismith and many other game inventors.
Politics has played a big part in the lives of humans but it has never really united a people. Music is beautiful but can it unite like sports? I have seen a nation cry, laugh and cuss together, I have heard of people become free from oppressions through the use of sport, although some of these freedom movements weren’t intended, but they happened.
Jackie Robinson broke a major colour line on April 15, 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at a period when segregation and racism were high, he became the first black man to ever feature in a Major League baseball game and was able to put an end to years of black segregation in the beautiful game of baseball. After Jackie, more blacks were involved in the MLB.
In Egypt, the people are unhappy with their government, they had no other way to freely express themselves, they had only one national hero, a person who was loved by a nation just because of his exceptional performance in football. Mo Salah led a revolution without moving a political muscle, he was runner-up in an election he didn’t contest for, although this didn’t mean he was going to be president, it was a landmark victory for the Egyptians.
Sports has done enough to prove that it can change a nation but politically and on the long run financially. I have written this long tale to drag your individual and societal attention to the importance of how sports can change Nigeria and Africa as a whole. We can learn from the 1936 Olympics that with sports a government can be moved. I wish to make a clarion call to my people.
This is the beginning of a revolution, a revolution that will change the view on sports in Nigeria.
Sports in its simplest of forms is best described as an activity that uses physical exertion or skill in a competitive manner. This definition is good, but it doesn’t justify what sport truly means, for me, sports is a breaker of chains and an avenue for any man to freely express themself without the fear of political, social and any other form of human grading hindering their performance or greatness.
In the days of early sports, whatever the event, sports has never failed in uniting the people. From the time before the Romans and their amphitheatres or the Greek domes, people were united for the love of physical entertainment, you would say it was violent then but I would say violence is an animal’s way of expressing fear and power.
Sports has very much evolved and so has its ability to free man from all pressure and limitations. People who have failed in academics or music or any other form of human intellectual or physical performance, would always have a sport they can participate in, and even if there is none present, they can invent just like Naismith and many other game inventors.
Politics has played a big part in the lives of humans but it has never really united a people. Music is beautiful but can it unite like sports? I have seen a nation cry, laugh and cuss together, I have heard of people become free from oppressions through the use of sport, although some of these freedom movements weren’t intended, but they happened.
Jackie Robinson broke a major colour line on April 15, 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at a period when segregation and racism were high, he became the first black man to ever feature in a Major League baseball game and was able to put an end to years of black segregation in the beautiful game of baseball. After Jackie, more blacks were involved in the MLB.
In Egypt, the people are unhappy with their government, they had no other way to freely express themselves, they had only one national hero, a person who was loved by a nation just because of his exceptional performance in football. Mo Salah led a revolution without moving a political muscle, he was runner-up in an election he didn’t contest for, although this didn’t mean he was going to be president, it was a landmark victory for the Egyptians.
Sports has done enough to prove that it can change a nation but politically and on the long run financially. I have written this long tale to drag your individual and societal attention to the importance of how sports can change Nigeria and Africa as a whole. We can learn from the 1936 Olympics that with sports a government can be moved. I wish to make a clarion call to my people.
This is the beginning of a revolution, a revolution that will change the view on sports in Nigeria.
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