Is Pool a Sport?

It's a "game of skill" but it is not a sport.......and certainly then darts aren't a sport either IMO....both are games involving skills but nonetheless are basically games.......and stamina, etc. required for long matches & tournaments doesn't qualify nor promote pool to the level of being considered a sport........I really would like to think otherwise but then one could argue and reason Poker qualifies as a sport.......what about marathon chess tournaments? Lots of physical endurance, skills, etc.are needed to win those type tournaments.......Nope, just some more, albeit different, games.
 
I used to play a national karate champion and a pro football player....
....I could hit the ball a lot harder than they could...I had the specific pool muscles that
they hadn't developed.
...billiard players need athletic ability.

But at some point, the argument becomes all about semantics.....
....I'm gonna play pool whether it's a sport or a game...or maybe both.
 
Bavafongoul said:
It's a "game of skill" but it is not a sport.......and certainly then darts aren't a sport either IMO....both are games involving skills but nonetheless are basically games.......and stamina, etc. required for long matches & tournaments doesn't qualify nor promote pool to the level of being considered a sport........I really would like to think otherwise but then one could argue and reason Poker qualifies as a sport.......what about marathon chess tournaments? Lots of physical endurance, skills, etc.are needed to win those type tournaments.......Nope, just some more, albeit different, games.
Click to expand...


In poker and chess your performance isn't based on a precise physical motion. In pool, golf, bowling and even darts it is. I think this qualifies them as a sport. Just like Olympic curling is a sport.



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Professional pool requires a lot of mental and physical endurance. The top pros are in very good physical condition. For that reason I would consider professional pool to be a sport.

Would I consider what I do three-ish nights a week to be a sport? Well I'm no athlete, but I do it to be "sporting" and as a competitive outlet. Kind of a toss up there.

All sports are games, but not all games are sports.

Ben
 
In my view, it can be both a game and a sport depends on context. If you are playing the game for fun and entertainment, it's a game and not a sport. If you play an organized competition that requires practice and training then it's a sport. The physical component may not be as important as in other sports, it's still there. I think the better physical condition a player has an advantage over the less physical one.

Websters definition:

: a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other

: sports in general

: a physical activity (such as hunting, fishing, running, swimming, etc.) that is done for enjoyment

Under this definition, it probably isn't a sport because it really isn't a physical activity or is it?
 
Why does it matter whether it is sport or game?
Champion video gamers make millions
World champions in game of chess make millions :D
 
It's just like any other sport where you need thousands of hours of physical practice to develop the proper muscle memory and hand-eye coordination.

Games like chess, etc. only require knowledge and have no real physical component, so you can get better by reading and playing online.
 
Curling is a sport ?.. hell no, its a game, that why it's on the Olympic GAMES, like all the other events in the Olympics, it is a game, their all games like Basketball Game, Volleyball Game etc..:)
 
A game becomes a sport when it starts being matketed to others for their entertainment.

When you are buying a stream you are watching the sport of pool.


Football is a game also, basketball is a game, etc.
 
Rainbow of flavor

I think of it as being on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum you have "Pure Games", things like chess, checkers, poker. "Pure Games" require absolutely no physical skill to play, chess can be played without limbs and even sight as an example.

On the other end of the spectrum you have "Pure Sports", things like gymnastics and figure skating. This end of the spectrum requires absolute physical skill, they are such pure sports that the only way to score it is to be judged.

"Pure Games" require superior strategy, but "Pure Sports" require very little if any strategy. Golf and pool are good examples of how these things are rated in my mind. Pool requires much more strategy than golf, but the stroke in pool is much less difficult to master than the golf stroke. In that example, golf is more of a sport than pool. But pool is more of a game than golf. They both exist on the same spectrum, pool being somewhere in the middle. Being in the middle of this spectrum is why I think it may be one of the greatest inventions ever.:thumbup:
 
Superman said:
I think of it as being on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum you have "Pure Games", things like chess, checkers, poker. "Pure Games" require absolutely no physical skill to play, chess can be played without limbs and even sight as an example.

On the other end of the spectrum you have "Pure Sports", things like gymnastics and figure skating. This end of the spectrum requires absolute physical skill, they are such pure sports that the only way to score it is to be judged.

"Pure Games" require superior strategy, but "Pure Sports" require very little if any strategy. Golf and pool are good examples of how these things are rated in my mind. Pool requires much more strategy than golf, but the stroke in pool is much less difficult to master than the golf stroke. In that example, golf is more of a sport than pool. But pool is more of a game than golf. They both exist on the same spectrum, pool being somewhere in the middle. Being in the middle of this spectrum is why I think it may be one of the greatest inventions ever.:thumbup:
Click to expand...

When determinig if something IS a sport the amount of physical skill is irrelevant. If the activity requires a physical skill and the players are competing for entertainment then it is a sport.

You could say that boxkng is a tougher sport than pool due to the amount of physical skill required but they are both still sports.


P.S. Many people aould say that pool is a tougher sport than boxing too due to the precision of physical skill required etc.
 
It is a topic that has been weighed in on several times on this pool forum. Here is one thread from 10 years ago: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=9482

Pool topics are cyclical sometimes. The sad thing about this topic, though, is that there has been no change.

This may be the reason why pool seems to escape the Olympics year after year after year. I'll be dead if and when billiards will be considered an Olympic sport.

Let the games begin -- uh, I mean sport. :grin-square:
 
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