The history of sport probably extends as far back as the existence of people as purposive sportive and active beings. Sport has been a useful way for people to increase their mastery of nature and the environment. The history of sport can teach us a great deal about social changes and about the nature of sport itself. Sport seems to involve basic human skills being developed and exercised for their own sake, in parallel with being exercised for their usefulness. It also shows how society has changed its beliefs and therefore there are changes in the rules. Of course, as we go further back in history the dwindling evidence makes the theories of the origins and purposes of sport difficult to support. Nonetheless, its importance in human history is undeniable.
Read more about History Of Sport: Sport in Prehistory, Ancient Sumer, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Sports Elsewhere, Ancient Sporting Festivals, Stadia Through The Ages, Middle Ages, Development of Modern Sports
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—Josiah Royce (1855–1916)
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