This page created 2 February 2001

CHARACTERISTICS OF RECREATION AND SPORT

Appendix I, Ministerial Taskforce on Sport, Fitness & Leisure. January 2001

The meaning of the terms leisure, recreation and sport is frequently debated. Despite the absence of universally agreed definitions the Taskforce believes it important to set out in detail the characteristics of these key terms.

Recreation
Recreation is a dimension of leisure. Leisure time is time spent away from work pursuing activities that may fall into the following categories:
(a) activities that primarily have a mental and/or creative domain such as painting or embroidery
(b) activities that primarily have an intellectual domain such as playing chess or reading
(c) physical recreation, which may have a number of the following characteristics:
participants personally experience physical activity

• there are flexible arrangements for the activity to take place
• physical activity is self-determined
• the conditions of engagement such as its organisation and location, may be changed by mutual agreement of the participants rather than by external authoritie
• the participant has control of the physical activity in terms of location, travel arrangements, conditions of participation, time of the engagement, clothing, equipment, and criteria for determining its succes
• there are self-determined outcomes that relate to personal and social satisfaction
• there is an investment of time, self-organisation, socialisation, emotion and physical commitmen
• there is often an engagement with the natural outdoor environmen there is a lack of formal support roles
  

Examples of physical recreation include: tramping in the bush, boating, fishing, fitness classes, walking and physical activity games.

Sport
In general, sport is more structured than physical recreation and has parameters set externally from the participants over which they have little or no direct control. Sport may have a number of the following characteristics:

• participants personally experience physical activity
• the conditions of engagement in the activity are determined by others with rules that can only be changed by authorities
• participants conform to externally set conditions such as numbers of participants, location, time, duration of the engagement, clothing and equipment used
• participants may be paid
• there is uncertainty over the outcome
• there are factors affecting the final result which are outside the participant's control
• there is an investment of allotted training time, participation time, emotion and physical commitment.
• the outcomes may be extrinsic as well as intrinsic
• the activity is part of formalised competition to which the public assigns the term "sport"
• organisations which govern the activity and competition have national structures and, usually, international federations, networks or affiliations
• authorities may determine participation on the basis of ability, age, physical characteristics or gender
• competition against an opponent or prescribed standard of achievement is basic to the activity
• vigorous physical exertion is often exhibited in recognisable patterns of activity or set pieces of engagement
• there is standardised equipment
• deviation and/or misconduct are determined by authorities with processes for formal sanctions
• there is a referee for the contest
• the rules may be varied depending upon the level of engagement and skills of the participants
• there is an organisational environment associated with the competition that has formal membership and organisational structures
• there are formalised support roles for a coach, sponsors, support staff, and a manager
• there is a set arena or area of contest with formalised boundaries and internal areas of demarcation
• the objective is to establish superiority over an opponent
• there may be a membership or participation fee
• there is a pathway to participation at an elite level
  

Social Sport
Social sport straddles recreation and sport. The main characteristics of social sport are:

• any competition is informal
• participants do not necessarily pay a fee to play
• participants can, by mutual agreement, set or alter the terms of participation
• the activity has primary goals of personal enjoyment and social cohesion

The full report can be obtained from: http://www.executive.govt.nz/minister/mallard/taskforce/

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