Sports are activities performed for fun or recreation. Many different sports are played at an amateur level. Some common sports are tennis, badminton, swimming, fencing, gymnastics, track and field, softball, ice hockey, Australian rules football, rugby, motor vehicle racing, gymnastics, sailing, and skating. Some professional sports are also known as sports. A professional in a certain sport is known as an athlete.
In the US, professionally known as athletes, are those persons who play competitive sports at the professional level, while being supervised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA. These persons are known as athletes or professionally trained athletes. Amateur players can be called college athletes, because they train for the college level, while engaging in recreational or occupational sports, for fun. Most of the professional sports in the US include: basketball, American football, baseball, cricket, football, Golf, hockey, tennis, racquetball, rugby, softball, swimming, track and field, and auto racing.
Many US colleges and universities have developed programs, offering certificate programs in sports, recreation, and gymnastics. These certificate programs often lead to professional sports careers. The certificate programs are designed to give students knowledge of the sports in which they wish to participate. Many persons take courses in sports in order to become professional athletes.
The major body in North America when it comes to professional sports is the NCAA. The NCAA is an organization that governs competitive athletic programs, such as baseball, basketball, football, hockey, volleyball, and swimming and is divided into six separate conferences. The conferences are made up of at least four teams each coming from a power conference and five teams from the non-power conference. The NCAA is not a government organization but is controlled by an organization called the National Basketball Association nor the NCAA.
The Division I men’s and women’s basketball and football conferences, as well as the Division III men’s and women’s basketball and football conferences, are autonomous and self-governing organizations. The conference’s award national championships for sports with national distribution. The NCAA consists of ten divisions with each division having four teams, while the other divisions are composed of teams coming from the different conferences. The women’s ice hockey and Division II soccer sections also govern professional sports activities.
Sportsmanship, which includes treating competitors with respect, is a valuable skill for athletes engaged in contact sports and helps to foster good sportsmanship. The NCAA and its Division I and II associations and conferences work to set standards of physical and mental activity and conditioning for their participants. The organizations also work to establish rules for the sport itself and its spectators. Many people who play sports, especially athletes and non-athletes alike, learn about the rules of the game through these organized rules and regulations. This is one reason why professional sports leagues are formed to establish rules for the sport itself and for the spectators.