sport is a contractive ellision of disport, from the Latin desport meaning “to carry away,” i.e. a pastime in which you get carried away, or a game with equipment you can carry around.
All dictionaries describe sports as games of athleticism and/or skill.
If you get too prescriptive of your definition then things like running, swimming, karate aren’t sports because they don’t have equipment you can carry, or if shooting has no “athleticism”, wouldn’t it be fair to say that the 100m dash has no particular “skill” and thus is also not a sport.
If that sounds too ridiculous, maybe you should reconsider your position.
Have you also considered Diogenes’ “Behold - A Man!” when trying to define sports?
sport is a contractive ellision of disport, from the Latin desport meaning “to carry away,” i.e. a pastime in which you get carried away, or a game with equipment you can carry around.
All dictionaries describe sports as games of athleticism and/or skill.
If you get too prescriptive of your definition then things like running, swimming, karate aren’t sports because they don’t have equipment you can carry, or if shooting has no “athleticism”, wouldn’t it be fair to say that the 100m dash has no particular “skill” and thus is also not a sport.
If that sounds too ridiculous, maybe you should reconsider your position.
Have you also considered Diogenes’ “Behold - A Man!” when trying to define sports?