Street sports
Encyclopedia
Street sports is a used to describe a number of sports held in urban
environments. Other key characteristics attributable include their non-commercial and non-professional nature. Street sports are an expression of the spontaneous, improvisational and creative origins of sport adapted by human ingenuity to the urban environment. In historical terms their origins are traceable to the very earliest evidence of sports in Greek and Roman civilisation . However their rise to prominence can be dated to the Industrial Revolution and the great shift towards urban living that took place during this era.
Today their prevalence and diversity are only matched by the diversity and hybridization of culture in our contemporary world. Although ‘street sports’ as a specific branch of sports have not been given the same degree of attention extended to the more conventional branches of sport, it is nevertheless both possible to delineate their scope and valid to speak in terms of their concept. Street sports are a hybrid form of sport and reflect the adaptation of conventional sports to the cityscape .
According to contemporary research surrounding the notion of the city it is suggested that the best way to understand its existence is through the prism of an ecology of the city. Viewing the city in this way as a living, bustling and thriving organism helps to cast light on the nature of the city, which is urban and to begin to home in on particular salient features of urban life. It is only with the advent of this relatively modern perspective on the urban that it has become possible to speak in terms of street sports. Today, with this view established, a variety of sub-disciplines within the phenomena have evolved, with each successive development representing a further refinement of the concepts expression. For example, whereas earlier it may have been natural to discuss skateboarding
or stickball
in isolation as cultural phenomena occurring in the urban environment, with the introduction of the broader concept of street sports it has become possible to explore a range of urban phenomena in the broader context of the urban. The result has been a greater scope and complexity to our understanding and appreciation of how urban life manifests itself culturally.
According to the UN World Urbanisation Prospects Report of 2008 the question of urbanisation is amongst the most urgent, pertinent and overarching of today . Urbanisation, in the words of the report, is predicted to accelerate in the forthcoming decades transforming at unprecedented rates the majority of the world’s population into ‘city dwellers’.
artist Foucan, street sports are a philosophy concerned with the quest of personal and social realisation . A similar point of view can be found in the notion of a philosophy of urban solo climbing expounded by Alain Robert
. Sebastien Foucan has also defined the sport of Freerunning as a ‘physical art’. as much a question of identity, spiritual survival and evolution in the contemporary world, as a question of pure sports activity. Likewise, the highwire walker Philippe Petit
, whose performance include walking between the WTC towers in 1974, has described his 'interventions' on the urban environment as 'art crimes', suggesting their essence is creative and constitutes an expression - an interaction with the city . Streets sports are to be understood primarily and foremost in the light of these statements as a reflection of human adaptability and interaction with the urban environment.
Many of the sports identified under the rubric are cutting edge or extreme sport disciplines such as Parkour or Free urban solo climbing. The precedents to these sports are to be found in the many and multifarious hybrid forms of conventional and traditional sports that have emerged in the urban environment since the early 20th century. Among those, the most significant include variants of baseball, basketball, cricket, football, fuzzball
, hockey and frizbee, which are practiced on a daily basis in every town and city on every continent in the world.
The Ba game
, played twice annually to this day on the streets of Kirkwall
on the Orkney Islands is an urban form of a cross between football and rugby
. Similar football games also survive in a few isolated places in England and Scotland. In Ashbourne, Jedburgh
and Workington for example a traditional contest of street football between two factions of the respective towns was originally played on Shrove Tuesday
. Today this tradition continues with the contests taking place on Christmas Day and New Year's Day instead. Likewise the influence of street sports on the adaptation of migrant communities in the US to their urban surroundings represents another significant aspect of the phenomena's historical evolution. Various hybrid forms of baseball, basketball and football were and are an integral pursuit of play, recreation and identity in the cultural life of communities across the country. Stickball related to modern day conventional baseball and streetball a variant of conventional basketball are two prime examples.
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
environments. Other key characteristics attributable include their non-commercial and non-professional nature. Street sports are an expression of the spontaneous, improvisational and creative origins of sport adapted by human ingenuity to the urban environment. In historical terms their origins are traceable to the very earliest evidence of sports in Greek and Roman civilisation . However their rise to prominence can be dated to the Industrial Revolution and the great shift towards urban living that took place during this era.
Today their prevalence and diversity are only matched by the diversity and hybridization of culture in our contemporary world. Although ‘street sports’ as a specific branch of sports have not been given the same degree of attention extended to the more conventional branches of sport, it is nevertheless both possible to delineate their scope and valid to speak in terms of their concept. Street sports are a hybrid form of sport and reflect the adaptation of conventional sports to the cityscape .
According to contemporary research surrounding the notion of the city it is suggested that the best way to understand its existence is through the prism of an ecology of the city. Viewing the city in this way as a living, bustling and thriving organism helps to cast light on the nature of the city, which is urban and to begin to home in on particular salient features of urban life. It is only with the advent of this relatively modern perspective on the urban that it has become possible to speak in terms of street sports. Today, with this view established, a variety of sub-disciplines within the phenomena have evolved, with each successive development representing a further refinement of the concepts expression. For example, whereas earlier it may have been natural to discuss skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...
or stickball
Stickball
Stickball is a street game related to baseball, usually formed as a pick-up game, played in large cities in the Northeastern United States, especially New York City. The equipment consists of a broom handle and a rubber ball, typically a spaldeen, pensie pinkie, high bouncer or tennis ball. The...
in isolation as cultural phenomena occurring in the urban environment, with the introduction of the broader concept of street sports it has become possible to explore a range of urban phenomena in the broader context of the urban. The result has been a greater scope and complexity to our understanding and appreciation of how urban life manifests itself culturally.
According to the UN World Urbanisation Prospects Report of 2008 the question of urbanisation is amongst the most urgent, pertinent and overarching of today . Urbanisation, in the words of the report, is predicted to accelerate in the forthcoming decades transforming at unprecedented rates the majority of the world’s population into ‘city dwellers’.
Terminology
In the words of ParkourParkour
Parkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
artist Foucan, street sports are a philosophy concerned with the quest of personal and social realisation . A similar point of view can be found in the notion of a philosophy of urban solo climbing expounded by Alain Robert
Alain Robert
Alain Robert , is a French rock and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France...
. Sebastien Foucan has also defined the sport of Freerunning as a ‘physical art’. as much a question of identity, spiritual survival and evolution in the contemporary world, as a question of pure sports activity. Likewise, the highwire walker Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, on 7 August 1974...
, whose performance include walking between the WTC towers in 1974, has described his 'interventions' on the urban environment as 'art crimes', suggesting their essence is creative and constitutes an expression - an interaction with the city . Streets sports are to be understood primarily and foremost in the light of these statements as a reflection of human adaptability and interaction with the urban environment.
Many of the sports identified under the rubric are cutting edge or extreme sport disciplines such as Parkour or Free urban solo climbing. The precedents to these sports are to be found in the many and multifarious hybrid forms of conventional and traditional sports that have emerged in the urban environment since the early 20th century. Among those, the most significant include variants of baseball, basketball, cricket, football, fuzzball
Fuzzball sport
Fuzzball is a bat-and-ball street game related to baseball, usually formed as a pick-up game, and played in various areas of the United States . The equipment consists of a bat and a tennis ball. The rules come from baseball and are modified to fit the situation, i.e...
, hockey and frizbee, which are practiced on a daily basis in every town and city on every continent in the world.
History
Historical evidence suggests that prior to sports evolving into a professional and later commercial form and migrating to prescribed spaces, they originated culturally, embedded within the immediate surroundings where people lived in society. Commonly associated with ceremony or ritual, but equally with the recreational and creative desires of people, sports were a central aspect of cultural life.The Ba game
Kirkwall Ba game
The Kirkwall Ba Game is one of the main annual events held in the town of Kirkwall, in Orkney, Scotland. It is one of a number of Ba Games played in the streets of towns around Scotland; these are examples of traditional football games which are still played in towns in the United Kingdom and...
, played twice annually to this day on the streets of Kirkwall
Kirkwall
Kirkwall is the biggest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland. The town is first mentioned in Orkneyinga saga in the year 1046 when it is recorded as the residence of Rögnvald Brusason the Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his uncle Thorfinn the Mighty...
on the Orkney Islands is an urban form of a cross between football and rugby
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
. Similar football games also survive in a few isolated places in England and Scotland. In Ashbourne, Jedburgh
Jedburgh
Jedburgh is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and historically in Roxburghshire.-Location:Jedburgh lies on the Jed Water, a tributary of the River Teviot, it is only ten miles from the border with England and is dominated by the substantial ruins of Jedburgh Abbey...
and Workington for example a traditional contest of street football between two factions of the respective towns was originally played on Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday is a term used in English-speaking countries, especially in Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Germany, and parts of the United States for the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of fasting and prayer called Lent.The...
. Today this tradition continues with the contests taking place on Christmas Day and New Year's Day instead. Likewise the influence of street sports on the adaptation of migrant communities in the US to their urban surroundings represents another significant aspect of the phenomena's historical evolution. Various hybrid forms of baseball, basketball and football were and are an integral pursuit of play, recreation and identity in the cultural life of communities across the country. Stickball related to modern day conventional baseball and streetball a variant of conventional basketball are two prime examples.
See also
- UrbanizationUrbanizationUrbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
- ParkourParkourParkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
- Freerunning
- Ba gameBa gameBa game is a version of medieval football played in Scotland, perhaps most notably in Orkney and the Scottish Borders, around Christmas and New Year....
- HarpastumHarpastumHarpastum, also known as Harpustum, was a form of ball game played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball...
- Street HockeyStreet hockeyStreet hockey is a variation of the sport of ice hockey where the game is played on foot or with inline skates or roller skates. The object of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting a ball or puck into the opposing team's net...
- Street Ball
- American HandballAmerican handballAmerican handball is a sport in which players hit a small rubber ball against a wall using their hands.- History :...
- SkullySkully (game)Skully is a children's game played on the streets of New York City and other urban areas. Sketched on the street usually in chalk, a skully board allows a game for two to six players...
- RingolevioRingolevioRingolevio is a children's game which may be played anywhere but which originates in the teeming streets of Depression-era New York City. It is one of the many variations of tag. It requires close team work and near-military strategy. In some quarters this game is known as Manhunt which is really...
- StickballStickballStickball is a street game related to baseball, usually formed as a pick-up game, played in large cities in the Northeastern United States, especially New York City. The equipment consists of a broom handle and a rubber ball, typically a spaldeen, pensie pinkie, high bouncer or tennis ball. The...
- Street FootballStreet footballThe term street football encompasses a number of informal varieties of association football. These informal games do not necessarily utilise the requirements of a formal game of football, such as a large field, field markings, goal apparatus and corner flags, eleven players per team , or match...
- Street artStreet artStreet art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
- Street Tennis
- Street Badminton
- Street Handball
External links
Literature
- Freerunning: Freerunning: find your way (Foucan, S. 2008 Michael O'Mara Books Ltd)
- Urbanization and the evolution of the city: Cities (Reader, J. 2005. Vintage)
- Street sports in the middle east: The Kite Runner (Housseni, K. 2003)
- Highwire walking: To Reach The Clouds (Petit, P. 2002. faber & faber)
Film
- Parkour
- Stickball
- The Kite RunnerThe Kite Runner (film)The Kite Runner is a 2007 drama film directed by Marc Forster based on the novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his friend Hassan, the son of his father's...
(film adaptation of Housseni's novel of the same name) - Man on WireMan on WireMan on Wire is a 2008 British documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title...
(film Documentary Portraying Background to Petit's highwire walk between the WTC Towers)