Background and fascination of a mass movement

For the vast majority of the sporting population, recreational sport means more pleasure than performance, more relaxation than exertion, more play than battle. The mixture of sport, games, fun and socialising is what makes recreational sport so fascinating. This is the result of a new, large-scale representative study by the BAT Leisure Research Institute in Hamburg, which has now been published as Volume 8 of the series of publications on leisure research.

The research work, which is based on a qualitative preliminary study and a quantitative main study with 2000 interviews, focuses on the subjective assessment of sport, the behaviour of sports enthusiasts between desire and reality and, above all, motivation in recreational sport. Future aspects of recreational sport were also analysed.

Recreational sport has become the main thing for many

Without the expansive development of leisure time, the huge increase in sport would also be inconceivable. Sport, which used to be a pleasant side issue, has become the main thing for many German citizens, to which they actively or passively dedicate a large part of their leisure time. 22 million people are involved in sport in Germany. Of these, one million are competitive athletes, ten million are active athletes and eleven million are occasional athletes. Every third German citizen counts themselves among the group of sports enthusiasts. They enjoy attending sporting events and watching sports programmes. Only eleven million are absolute non-athletes who neither play sport themselves nor are interested in sport.

Fun must always be part of sport

If we look at the motivation for taking part in sport, we see that sportspeople initially associate sport with high expectations. Sport keeps you young, keeps you fit, is fun, is good for your health, makes friends, helps you to fulfil yourself, is satisfying, relaxes you and is an ideal balance to your work.

As the BAT study shows, many of these expectations are also fulfilled, but not all of them at once for every athlete and usually not with regard to social contacts and the hope of making friends.

"Having fun" is at the top of the expectations scale: 75 % of respondents put fun in first place, followed by health with 54 % and fitness with 45 %. Only in fourth place comes work-life balance with 35 %. Other physical, psychological and social motivations received significantly lower ratings. For example, only 16 % were in favour of the motive "Good for figure and slimness", which otherwise plays such an important role in public opinion.

It is impossible to imagine practising a sport that is not fun. The more regularly and intensively a sport is practised, the more fun it is: no wonder, then, that 82 % of competitive athletes admit to having fun, as do 79 % of active athletes and 70 % of occasional athletes.

Another special feature was that sport is most fun in small towns (81 %), not in big cities, then in the countryside (78 %) and only then in big cities (70 %).

Personal well-being more important than social contacts

In recreational sport, socialising and enjoying contact with fellow athletes does not play as big a role as is generally assumed. The person doing the sport is usually their own person. Team and group experiences are rated low with 7 % of mentions. For most people, socialising in a club is not the best thing about sport. Only one in five recreational athletes consider socialising with other people to be particularly important. Social partners are valued as "aids" at best. They help to overcome one's own inertia and increase safety in certain types of sport.

Stress reduction during sport also contributes to well-being. You forget your worries and switch off. Almost one in two self-employed people (48 %), 34 % of managers and 37 % of unemployed people used sport to reduce stress. Finally, the personal experience of achievement also increases well-being. However, it plays a rather subordinate role compared to the fun orientation and fitness interest in leisure sport. "More pleasure than performance" is the motto.

On the other hand, in a survey conducted by the BAT Leisure Research Institute, two thirds of the population believe that sport has a lot to do with performance, similar to school and work. However, according to the Hamburg leisure researchers, this is only an apparent contradiction, as the concept of achievement is associated more with hard work than with recognition, which is the most important thing for athletes. Recognition, in turn, is fun and contributes to well-being. As Prof Dr Horst W. Opaschowski, Scientific Director of the BAT Institute, puts it: "Performance is the means, pleasure is the end."

15 million people only watch sport in their living room

For passive recreational "athletes", who only experience sport as spectators, sport is no less fascinating. In line with the athletes, the motive "having fun" is also in first place for them, followed by "experiencing excitement", "socialising" and "being inspired".

Attending sporting events is predominantly a matter for men. They have high expectations of stadium attendance. Women are far less interested in sports stars and sporting results, for them the event must offer variety and be sociable. This positive attitude also applies to watching sport on television. Over 68 % of men are happy with the sporting TV programmes on offer, while 15 million Germans watch sport exclusively in their living rooms. 11 million Germans are not interested in sport at all. Almost every second person in this group blames school for their lack of interest in sport. They criticise that "school does not provide sufficient motivation to do sport" and are of the opinion that too few types of sport are taught at school. Situated between gymnastics and swimming, athletics and national youth games, school sports content has largely remained at the level of the 1960s.

Women want to lead a more sport-intensive life

Women have the greatest need to catch up in leisure sports. They would also like to become more independent in sport and not just be carried along. At present, their sporting activities are mainly focussed on swimming, gymnastics, cycling and jogging. They would like more access to sports such as tennis, horse riding, sailing, skiing and dancing. There is still considerable sporting potential hidden here for tomorrow.

Fitness becomes wellness

Looking to the future, "leisure researchers are discovering a new sporting ideal: the fusion of fitness with well-being, for which they have coined the new term wellness. Wellness is the combination of physical activation with mental relaxation and simultaneous mental stimulation. For Prof Opaschowski, wellness is "fitness for body, soul and spirit".

Women also have their place in the development of sport into wellness, as wellness is geared towards a "holistic experience of meaning", which traditionally corresponds to a "more feminine perspective". Seen in this light, wellness is the "energiser for tomorrow".

Sport as an adventure

Men - who will be less and less physically challenged at work in the future - will increasingly see sport as a challenge that opens up the path to "the ultimate adventures". Modern short-time heroes will favour sports such as mountaineering, diving, car racing, gliding and hang-gliding. Sports that are simple today, such as cycling, are being given an adventurous character.

The more unusual, risky and dangerous sports become, the more individualised they become. This individualisation of sport will be a major test for the sports movement in general. Athletes will set themselves bigger goals. Those who play sport intensively will also live more intensively.

Nevertheless, there will still be many people in the year 2000 who can and want to live quite well without sport and with a minimum of exercise. "Sport for all" will remain what it has always been, a concrete vision.