“Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?

Sport has often been viewed as a valuable part of our individual and collective lives because of its potential to bring physical and mental health benefits and to help build communities. In addition to providing a site for stress release and having a good time, sport can also be a context where peo...

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Main Author: Noora Ronkainen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bern Open Publishing 2023-02-01
Series:Current Issues in Sport Science
Online Access:https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/9287
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author Noora Ronkainen
author_facet Noora Ronkainen
author_sort Noora Ronkainen
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description Sport has often been viewed as a valuable part of our individual and collective lives because of its potential to bring physical and mental health benefits and to help build communities. In addition to providing a site for stress release and having a good time, sport can also be a context where people explore existential questions and what it means to live a ‘meaningful’ and ‘good’ life. In this presentation, I will discuss how people in contemporary societies engage with their life-construction and how involvement in sport and physical activity might contribute, for some, in answering deeper questions concerning how to live well. I draw on empirical studies and philosophical work to explore how different forms of sport provide opportunities for experiencing meaningfulness, and whether new forms of physical cultures reflect changing meanings by which people live their lives. Finally, I will question whether sport can bring ‘too much’ meaning to some people’s lives and whether we can be mistaken about the meaningfulness of our sporting activities.
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spelling doaj.art-44cdd8acbafe4dab8557d5008f768cdd2023-02-16T03:15:30ZengBern Open PublishingCurrent Issues in Sport Science2414-66412023-02-018210.36950/2023.2ciss004“Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?Noora Ronkainen0Institute of Sport Science, University of Bern, Switzerland Sport has often been viewed as a valuable part of our individual and collective lives because of its potential to bring physical and mental health benefits and to help build communities. In addition to providing a site for stress release and having a good time, sport can also be a context where people explore existential questions and what it means to live a ‘meaningful’ and ‘good’ life. In this presentation, I will discuss how people in contemporary societies engage with their life-construction and how involvement in sport and physical activity might contribute, for some, in answering deeper questions concerning how to live well. I draw on empirical studies and philosophical work to explore how different forms of sport provide opportunities for experiencing meaningfulness, and whether new forms of physical cultures reflect changing meanings by which people live their lives. Finally, I will question whether sport can bring ‘too much’ meaning to some people’s lives and whether we can be mistaken about the meaningfulness of our sporting activities. https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/9287
spellingShingle Noora Ronkainen
“Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?
Current Issues in Sport Science
title “Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?
title_full “Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?
title_fullStr “Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?
title_full_unstemmed “Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?
title_short “Sport creates value” Sport activities as part of a meaningful life?
title_sort sport creates value sport activities as part of a meaningful life
url https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/9287
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