Chambliss and Coakley have different views on the benefits of sport for the individuals. Chambliss on the one hand speaks of what it means to become excellent and what is necessary in order to do this. Coakley on the other hand argues that character is not built through sports and instead we already have the traits that sports are credited with creating before we even start competing. I agree completely with Chambliss's "Mundane of Excellence"� and that sport is in fact beneficial outside of the sports world. I will present Chambliss's thoughts on qualitative training and what factors do not make an athlete excellent. Coakley's idea that sports do not build character I will be arguing against. I will present his reasons for why sport does not produce character traits in athletes and then using examples of traits that I learned due to my experience in sports to argue against Coakley.
Babe Ruth, full-length portrait, standing, facing ...
Babe Ruth pitching with Boston Red Sox, Cominsky P...
Babe RuthSports are not only games and physical events they are also their own social worlds. There are many levels, or worlds, of sport with each having its own mindset and attitude that envelop all the people involved. For an example of moving through the social worlds I'm going to use moving up from Babe Ruth minors which you play until you are twelve to the Babe Ruth majors. In the minors the bases are only 60 feet and the mound is 45 feet in contrast to the majors where the bases are 90 feet and the mound is 60 feet 6 inches. The biggest difference I had moving up was the whole attitude change in playing the game. When I played in the minors it was mostly fun without much work, most of the games were within the same basic area and there was hardly ever any cuts or...