The importance of sport in the daily life of modern man is there for all to see. Just think of how many are those who practice it, organize it, direct it, and follow it.

The modern sport is increasingly focused on results and the show, collects millions of practitioners and countless crowds of fans, many financial interests. But it is equally important to talk about physical education and mass sports , concepts that better bring us back to the importance of sport in "everyday life". These two interpretations of it (competitive and mass) should be complementary and harmoniously coordinated with each other, but in reality, high-level sport - that of champions - maintains a clear priority in the concerns of governments and populations.

However, for the majority of coaches and also for a growing number of sport managers, the great human and social enterprise to be implemented arises in the field of school and sport for all. In fact, if sport can have educational virtues, if its practice constitutes, even today, a biological and psychic necessity for the balance of life , it must be made available to everyone and not just a small minority of individuals specifically gifted . Some consider that the sample is essential to drag the masses to the practice of sporting exercises, which is the key to reaching the education of the masses, others doubt the sample value of the sample.

In order not to oppose one another - games to competition sports, outdoor activities to physical fitness exercises - the term sport for all has been coined . This term includes all forms of sport because "sport can have a different meaning, for different people or even for the same person at different times of his life" while recognizing a substantial difference between sport- game and sport of selective competition. From a practical point of view, we have seen how this has been achieved with the establishment of gymnastics schools in many countries as well as advertising campaigns for the development of "sport for all".

Of course it remains a different thing from the sport of competition, and it is interesting to analyze in this regard a study on these differences

The motivations that drive sports activity are barely mentioned; undoubtedly there are many, and the competitive one remains the main one. Over time, however, and especially in recent years because of the unhealthy lifestyle of the industrialized world , more closely concern our health , as it is now established that physical activity is useful in disease prevention.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORT: WHY IS IT PRACTICED?

What emerges is that the goals of sport are essentially three: competitive, educational, recreational.

It is clear that the agonistic spirit is the driving force : the intensive application, in competitive sport, requires a good organic state, an acceptable psychic balance, a good motor mastery. These are the ideal conditions that are required for those who want to practice competitive sport and try a performance.

The educational goals concern above all the body, "educated" to the physical exercise, with the possibility on our part to master it better (we remember the example of Sparta). But sport also acts on self-control, exalts mental energies, contributing to the integral formation of the human person. It forges character, "leading to moral qualities, improving the will and endurance of fatigue and pain, encouraging the acquisition of courage, the habit of correctness, the constant practice of loyalty, in the background of an existential appreciation that is transformed often in true joy of life ".

It also prevents the appearance of manifestations of dissatisfaction that are revealed in young people, offering themselves as an element of happiness and helping to create a healthy, vigorous, dynamic type of man, aware of its value and its limits.

The third goal, the recreational one , emphasizes instead the playful essence

Whatever the reason that motivates a young person, a person, to practice a sport the consequences on the physiological, psychological and character level are evident.

On the physical level , sport helps to be more beautiful, acting in a positive way on the muscles, making them stronger, on the bones, favoring their growth, and obviously on the respiratory system. "All the great organic functions are affected by sporting exercise. The muscle increases its tone, the blood circulation is activated, the heart is thick, slow and stenosis, the respiratory capacity is increased, the nervous system is perfected.

The sporting activity is also a true tonogen of the psyche , unloading the hyper aggressiveness struggling in a field of play often means restoring balance to a psyche that undergoes continuous emotional stress.

But sport is also a wonderful opportunity to put man in contact with each other, to create some kind of social relationship. It is a practice that often leads to sowing friendships that then continue even outside the sporting episode. It cements feelings, it is a microcosm on which the macrocosm of corporate life is reflected.

Sport is not a gimmick against the emergence of human defects but has a positive role, that of improving personality . It is an expressive means of mass culture, it is a vehicle of public excitement but also of incredible relaxation. It is worth remembering how Bartali's victory gave the power to solve a terrible moment of political tension.

Despite some denigrators, the importance of sport is evident, and offers opportunities for interaction and represents the happiest synthesis of two concepts that are only apparently antithetical: Freedom and Discipline.