Specialized sports skills include several types of sports

Regarding the classification of special sports skills, the current mainstream consensus in the field of domestic physical education and competitive sports is that they are divided into four categories, namely ball sports, track and field sports, water and ice sports, and fighting and confrontation sports.； Some scholars also tend to separate gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, etc., which are difficult to perform, from the track and field category to form a five-category classification standard. So far, there is no completely unified conclusion.

I have been a physical fitness coach in college for two years. When freshmen first join the team to get a feel for the game, the first thing they are tested for is running, jumping, and shooting. To put it bluntly, track and field is the "matrix" of all special sports. Whether you play basketball or ski, the core of basic speed, explosive power, and endurance are all track and field abilities. As for why there is a debate on whether to classify gymnastics separately, the logic is actually very simple: traditional track and field performance evaluations are based on objective timing, distance measurement, and weight measurement. However, the core of gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and aerobics is to look at the difficulty of the movements and the beauty of the completion, and rely on the judges' scores to determine the outcome. They are a typical "difficult and beautiful event group". They are really far from the judging logic of track and field, and it makes sense to separate them.

If track and field is the basic background behind all sports, then ball games are the specialized category that ordinary people have the most exposure to and have the lowest threshold for participation. I took junior high school students to a training camp last summer, and 80% of the kids who signed up came for basketball. They thought it was cool to wear a jersey and play, but when they started practicing, they discovered that the skills in the game were not that different. Sports that involve physical confrontation on the same field, such as basketball and football, have high requirements on physical fitness and awareness of confrontation, while sports that compete across the net, such as badminton, table tennis, and volleyball, have more stringent requirements for reaction speed and fingertip control accuracy. At that time, there was a boy in the team who had played wildball for three years. He was not convinced that his reaction speed was inferior to that of the junior members of the badminton team. He missed all three serve returns. He stood on the sidelines scratching his head and said, "I didn't expect this little badminton ball to be much harder to dodge than a basketball."

I went to the indoor ski resort last week to join in the fun, and after falling three times, I realized why water, ice and snow sports are classified into a separate category - its skill logic is completely different from that of land sports. This type of project first has special requirements for the environment. There must be water or snow, and there are even restrictions on wind speed and temperature. Secondly, the transferability of skills is particularly poor. No matter how strong you are at running and jumping on land, you will most likely not be able to even stop when you hit the snow track for the first time. No matter how good you are at swimming, you will have to drink two sips of salt water when you stand on a surfboard for the first time. In the past two years, the Winter Olympics has made ice and snow sports popular, and surfing and paddleboarding have also become internet celebrity sports. More and more indoor snow resorts and indoor surfing halls are opening in shopping malls. They used to be niche specialties, but now you can play for two hours on the way from get off work.

Interestingly, there are more disputes over the classification of fighting and confrontation categories than the previous ones combined. Some people think that this type of event is also a physical confrontation and should be included in the general category of ball games. Others insist on dividing it separately. After all, its winning logic is to directly hit and control the opponent's score, which is completely different from the ball game's "grabbing the ball and shooting/scoring goals." I used to know a girl who practiced taekwondo, and then she switched to fencing. She told me that the logic of the steps of the two is almost exactly the same. They are fast forward and backward to find the opportunity to attack, but one is a close kick and the other is a long-range thrust. When put into the classification standards, some people think they should be classified into the same category, while some people think they are completely irrelevant. Even long-range precision sports such as archery and shooting are still in the discussion of "whether they are considered derivatives of fighting confrontation".

In fact, there has been a very interesting phenomenon in the past two years. New movements have emerged so fast that classification can hardly keep up. For example, the Frisbee became popular in the past two years. Some people think that if there is a Frisbee and passing and catching, it should be counted as a ball. ； Some people think that without physical contact and relying on movement to score, it should be classified as a casual confrontation. Until now, there is no unified opinion in the academic circles. There are also new sports such as flag football and land surfing. It is a bit awkward to fit them into the existing classifications. To put it bluntly, the classification itself is a summary for the convenience of teaching, assessment, and event organization. It is not a perfectly fitting framework.

To be honest, for ordinary enthusiasts, there is no need to worry about which type of specialization the event you practice belongs to. If you want to lose fat, go for something that involves running and jumping. If you want to practice concentration, go for a net class or archery. If you want to vent your stress, go for two classes of boxing. Being able to persevere and have fun is much more useful than sticking to some classification criteria.