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I’ve heard this question debated on a number of sports talk radio stations and the argument usually goes a little something like this …

“Figure skating isn’t a sport, because it’s lame”

That is not very good reasoning, but most reasoning on the radio isn’t very good to begin with.

However, I would agree with the aforementioned sports radio talk show host. Not because figure skating is lame, but because my friends, figure skating is not a sport — it is a spart.

I wholeheartedly believe that there is a difference between a competition that involves clear objectives (scoring a goal, shooting a basket, running faster than everyone else) and a competition which judges an individual’s or group’s skill at a particular activity: figure skating, skateboarding, diving, etc.

Let me elaborate further.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or ugly a shot is in basketball — as long as the ball goes through the net, it counts as a basket. Professional basketball players are very skilled at what they do and the more skilled players tend to have better stats, but they are not directly rated on their skills, but on how many points they score and how many assists, rebounds, and steals they get.

In figure skating, the skater or skaters are judged on how well they skate and are given a rating by a panel of judges … they don’t get 10 points for doing a triple axle. In general the more difficult moves they pull off, the higher rating they will get, but you couldn’t just have someone constantly jumping in the air spinning around without some sort of routine. It is because of the emphasis on an artistic component in figure skating (and other similar competitions) that I have created a new name for such activities — sparts. Not quite a sport and not quite an art — spart.

I end by referring to my good friend and confidant — Mr. Raymond Li. He agrees with me 100%, on this issue of sports vs sparts . Maybe even 110%.