Sociological, psychological and pedagogical aspects of sport

- fifth part -

" fourth part

The approach to sport, in particular to football, is clearly promoted by the media, through the advertising that is made. In this context, by advertising I do not mean exclusively the actual sponsor, but everything that leads people to know the specific sport (television broadcasts, news broadcasts, magazines of all kinds, including those of gossip), since even this type of activity, perhaps coincidentally, has in itself the necessary requirements for it to be considered advertising, that is to say it brings the "right" message to the right people at the right time. As long as advertising is operated in a way that is subject to ethical rules, it is a good thing (after all the adjectives "good" and "bad" belong in themselves, always , albeit indirectly, to the sphere of ethics).

In fact, regardless of whether or not there is, on the part of the recipients of the advertisement, that ability to filter the information not to be assimilated, if the message is such as to lead people to behave in the right way, the risk does not exist: the diffusion sport is undoubtedly a positive thing, something that can bring a considerable benefit to society as regards health (understood, in the broadest sense of the term, as mental and spiritual well-being, as well as physical), however, in these times, I found an abuse of advertising that is not regulated in such a way as to bring benefit to those who come in contact with it, but leads to the acquisition of habits and wrong "thoughts". The advertising of sport that is done in the current historical period tends to promote sport exclusively as a form of entertainment: those who are involved in it lose their character as sportsmen and acquire one of simple gossip characters. Today, footballers are celebrities they know each other about, worldly adventures and other things like that. The message that is continually transmitted to children with regard to sport is that sport should not be experienced as a value, but as a simple show to be enjoyed. The developmental age, target of the survey I carried out in the aforementioned elementary school, is the one most sensitive to this type of messages sent by the media. The risk involved in transmitting this type of teaching is to lead children not to grasp what is the true purpose of sport, its true value: every human action, by definition, should be governed by an ethical law and " ethics is the most important thing in a man's life; everything that commonly one can be led to consider as the most important thing in one's life kneels respectfully before "ethics, which gives a spiritual dimension to" the human being, elevating him " above "the condition in which animals find themselves. Therefore it is necessary that also the practice of study and culture of virtue be such as to promote what are ethical values: sport is one of these practices of study and culture of virtue. It must not be taught in such a way that it is considered by the child as something extraneous to ethics, as something that has nothing to do with the spiritual dimension. and of man, but which is experienced exclusively as a form of spectacle from which to draw a vague, fleeting and not totally satisfying pleasure: the competitive spirit that sport involves is not an end in itself; agonism is a practice implicit in the concept of sport which basically has the purpose of forming the character and intelligence of those who approach it. From a purely psychological point of view, character is the "stable and conscious organization of psychic activities around the affective - intellectual - volitional nucleus. The deepest roots of the character are in the same unconscious and inferior self, but its fulfillment is entirely in the" higher self, and especially in volitional processes, by virtue of which we act according to those principles of conduct that we have voluntarily proposed (Agazzi, 1952). The character undoubtedly has a better or worse formation within the soul of the individuals according to the genetic characteristics of each one, but it can be improved through the educational process. Sport is part of this educational process. The way in which sport can influence the formation of the character of the individual lies in the exercise of the dominion of one's body, in resisting the fatigue caused by an effort, for example (education through the physical). This type of exercise cannot be found so strongly in any other type of educational practice. The exercise of the dominion of the body is such as to lead the individual to a control of the passions, understood as prolonged affective stages, not always abnormal, in direct relationship with the instincts, dominated by a fixed and overwhelming reason which can be love , avarice or other (Agazzi, 1952). The dominion of the passions coincides with virtue, therefore with the Righteous. As for the culture of intelligence (where for intelligence the definition given by Binet, ie "the faculty to judge, otherwise known as common sense, practical sense, initiative, ability to adapt to circumstances, fits particularly in this context."Judging well, reasoning well, understanding well: these are the essential characteristics of "intelligence"), sport, by presenting the sportsman with different circumstances to which to adapt, stimulates this faculty of his. Furthermore, Costa affirms that "the promotion of the ability to live one's body in terms of dignity and respect constitutes one of the educational goals that the pre-adolescent must be able to reach" (physical education). Competitiveness can only be considered as an apparent goal of sport: victory in the race is not an end in itself! The athletic gesture, the ability to perform, is not just a way to make a show, to get noticed, to earn money, but it is an expression of a spiritual growth that has taken place. In conclusion, competitive spirit and education, in terms of sport, must be the "one end to the other, even though in a state of appearance. The sport that is promoted by the media, is not considered a this way, therefore it is necessary a sufficiently marked capacity for criticism in individuals so that they can distinguish (filter) the right aspects from those that are not. C "it is necessary for children to learn to distinguish what is the difference between entertainment and sport : in fact, although it can be considered lawful (always from an ethical point of view) that the first is a consequence of the second, it is not a good thing that the two things coincide. The problem of bad sports sponsorship is not something that is barely perceptible, something that has a limited effect on society, on the country; this is a rather extensive and difficult problem to solve. Suffice it to note that some studies carried out a few years ago have shown that an average person in the United States watches 35 commercials on television every day, listens to 38 radio commercials, sees 15 advertisements in magazines, 185 in newspapers and 12 brochures distributed. at the door. In total, the average adult American is assaulted by a minimum of 560 advertisements per day. Some estimates come to include up to 1600. It is clear that not all these advertisements have sport as their message, however, it must also be considered that sports advertising is not done exclusively with the ordinary means that are used for products. concrete: as far as sport is concerned, a television broadcast is also sufficient in which a champion, a coach or a technician of a particular sport (almost always football) is a guest. The number of advertisements that have sport as their message are many, and in any case sufficient to condition the conception that children have of sport. I wanted to pay particular attention to football, in these pages, due to the fact that it is the sport that obtained, in my survey, the greatest number of preferences (also considering the question about the favorite champion) regardless of gender. The reflections I have made, however, are also attributable to other sports, to an extent directly proportional to people's preferences (therefore volleyball, which has also obtained a number of preferences that cannot be underestimated, as well as swimming).

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