Most people just take part in sport for the fun of it. These are called amateurs. However, in order to participate in competitions and especially in major sporting events it’s essential to become a professional. There are a number of major differences between being a professional and an amateur:

Amateur

• Play for fun
• Taking part is the most important part
• Training takes place in leisure hours
• They decide they want to play
• Sport is for leisure

Professional

• Play for money
• Winning is the most important part
• Training is full-time
• They play when told
• Sport is their work

——————————————————

Professionals take place in competitions. However, in order to qualify for the main game an athlete will have to compete on a number of different levels first including knock-out, ladders and combinations events. The levels included depend on the specific competition and the format used.

Sporting events

Sporting events are a great way to promote sport and to celebrate the hard work put in by athletes. Countries compete to be the host of major sporting events like the Olympics, the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages to being the hosting country of a sporting event.

Pros:

• Better world status
• Tourism increases
• Infrastructure (like roads, rail connections and accommodation) improves
• Sports facilities improve
• There could be a financial gain

Cons:

• There could be complaints about the organisation
• It’s very costly to improve the infrastructure
• There are security concerns including the increased risk of terrorism
• It could end losing the country a lot of money

——————————————————

Sport in the media

The media covers many sporting events but especially all the large ones. Media can take many forms:

• TV, cable and satellite TV
• radio
• ceefax and teletext
• Internet
• newspapers and magazine
• books
• films

The media is very important in making sure that we have full coverage of sporting events. It can be live or simply highlights. It can be in the form of documentaries or used for instructive or educational purposes.

Remember, however, that even though it’s meant to be informative the director has the ultimate control over the final cut and it’s always important to analyse what you see.

Media coverage has advantages and disadvantages:

Pros

• The media pays for the rights to sporting events which is good for the sport
• More people have the chance to watch sport on TV
• Supporters can keep up to date with their favourite team
• It can inspire people to take up sport
• Useful as coaching aid

——————————————————