For quite some time, many people have pondered the question, why is bowling not a sport? The idea that bowling may be considered to be a sport has been around for some time.
However, even though there are many similarities between the two sports, most people agree that bowling can’t really be considered to be a sport.
Since it doesn’t require you to use all of your muscles and actually doesn’t require you to move at all while you play it!
Reasons Why Bowling is Considered a Sport
What are sports?
Sports are physical activities that involve individual or team competition, where members of opposing teams or individuals compete against each other in one or more types of competitions.
In many sports, winning is dependent on individual players’ achievements within (individual sports) or during (team sports) matches.
Others have a defined structure that allows more obvious comparisons between competitors and may involve individual competitions in addition to team competitions.
See Related: How much do pro bowlers make?
Bowling Isn’t Competitive
The first reason bowling isn’t considered a sport by most people is that it doesn’t really have any form of competition.
Bowlers are only competing against themselves and not other bowlers; there aren’t games or tournaments where players are trying to beat each other.
There might be some friendly rivalries between competitors, but no one can officially compete against anyone else, so it’s hard for many people to consider it a real competitive activity.
Another reason bowling isn’t considered a real sport is that it doesn’t really have any form of training or competition.
For most sports, there are ways for players and athletes to practice and improve their skills in order to be better at their games. That doesn’t exist with bowling; there isn’t really anything people can do besides practice in order to improve.
Bowlers Don’t Have Coaches
Bowling is an individual event, so there’s no coach with bowlers on a team. In order for something to be classified as a sport, it has to have competitors that are competing against each other.
Bowling has people competing against their personal best scores, but they aren’t competing against anyone else; therefore, it can’t be considered a sport by most definitions.
Bowling Doesn’t Get Played At Higher Levels
Professional bowlers who compete in leagues don’t tend to be members of the country’s Olympic teams, which means that when countries select their teams for international events like the Olympics, bowling isn’t included.
Since other Olympic sports also make it onto national teams, there seem to be some very real reasons that bowling isn’t considered an Olympic sport.
Bowling Isn’t Physically Demanding
In order for something to be considered a sport, it needs to test your physical ability. Bowling requires very little physical exertion and even less skill.
Bowling balls are heavy but other than that, you don’t have to lift anything or use any special muscles in order for it to count as exercise. It doesn’t require agility, speed, coordination or strength.
Bowling is essentially just pushing a ball down an alley while standing up—and then sitting back down again when you’re done.
If that sounds like physical activity to you, consider how much time we spend sitting on our butts every day: at work; at home; on public transportation; etc.
Is Bowling A Sport In The Olympics?
The International Olympic Committee doesn’t recognize bowling as an Olympic Sport.
When it comes to defining what an Olympic Sport actually is, they don’t use very specific parameters: they just mention that it should be practiced by men and women in more than 75 countries.
So we can safely say that, no, Bowling isn’t included in The Olympics yet.
Is Bowling A Recreational Sport?
Bowling is played recreationally but it isn’t usually categorized as a recreational sport. For example, bowling is not included in The Sports and Fitness Industry Association’s definition of recreation sports.
Summing up everything
Bowling has all of those elements and more, but whether it’s considered a sport by today’s standards still depends on whom you ask.
There’s certainly no denying that it requires physical activity and coordination. And although it isn’t as popular in America as it once was, professional bowlers and amateurs alike still compete for bragging rights in their local bowling leagues.
