RCL: Subjects
SPORTS AND RECREATION The academic integration of sport-related topics has evolved in the past decades. Instead of physical education departments, one might find departments of health, physical education, and recreation; exercise science; or kinesiology. Undergraduate majors have a range of program names (e.g., physical education; health physical education; or health physical education and fitness, which include teaching and coaching concentrations). Athletic training includes sports medicine issues and some students in pre-med programs and biology majors also look for a possible sport option. Other programs include exercise physiology, kinesiology/exercise sciences, parks and recreation or parks recreation, leisure/fitness, sport/fitness administration and management, as well as related areas of business administration, health education, and landscaping/groundskeeping. There are some minors in sports studies that also attract students. But, just as often, a sport-related course is offered another discipline (e.g., history, communications, or women's studies). Sport classes can include history of higher education, sport and society, literature and sport, and so forth. Issues related to sport can include ageism, ethnicity, race, gender, and homophobia. The selection of subject categories for RCL reflects a combination and compromise of subject headings and course groupings. Textbooks have been included for faculty referral, and because there are times when they provide the best coverage of information on the subject. The sport sciences are a new area within this category. These includes biomechanics, motor learning, and exercise science, with subcategories of sport nutrition, sport psychology, exercise training and physiology. Sports medicine include drugs (doping), injuries/rehabilitation, and athletic training, where overlap occurs in physical therapy and therapeutic recreation. The science of sports includes the engineering aspects of equipment, as well as physics and mathematics of sport and sport equipment. Other categories are arranged by general concepts. Business of sport incorporates politics, economics, and management and complements international sport contests and facilities and structure categories. Sport has gone global and that has impacted sport in general, specific sports, and business matters. Sport studies contains philosophy, history, literature, sociology, research, education, and religion. Recreation leisure, outdoor recreation, fitness and health (wellness), and physical education & training overlap and complement but reflect a bit more focus on the topic. The minorities category was included to highlight the increased number of monographs that focus on history and experiences of "the other." Lastly, Sports A-Z includes the history, social and skills of a variety of sports. There may be some minor philosophical disagreements between programs, but overall these categories should provide better access to the subject of sport and recreation. Websites and government documents are included to provide information not available in monograph format. Return to Subject List