Competition

The majority sports and games involve competition between two or more persons. For example, in football, two teams compete against one another to determine who can score the most goals. When there is no set reward for the winning team, many players gain a sense of pride. In addition, extrinsic rewards may also be given. A regularly scheduled (for instance annual) competition meant to determine the “best” competitor of that cycle is called a championship.

Competitive sports are governed by codified rules agreed upon by the participants. Violating these rules is considered to be unfair competition. Thus, sports provide artificial (not natural) competition; for example, competing for control of a ball, or defending territory on a playing field is not an innate biological factor in humans.

Sports competition is generally broken down into three categories: individual sports, such as archery; dual sports, such as doubles tennis, and team sports competition, such as cricket or football. While most sports competitions are recreation, there exist several major and minor professional sports leagues throughout the world. The Olympic Games, held every four years, is usually regarded as the international pinnacle of sports competition.