Everyone’s an Athlete
Everyone is an Athlete
Dictionary.com defines an athlete “as a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill”. I began to wonder, what qualifies someone as an athlete? I decided that for someone to qualify, they would have to be muscular and be able to run, jump, throw, catch, hit, tackle, shoot and anything else related to the four big American sports. Does it really take that much for us to consider someone an athlete?
- What about a soccer player? They have to kick a ball to be successful in their sport and they are included in the athletic definition.
- Volleyball players need hand eye coordination to be able to compete and if you’ve ever seen a volleyball game you would know they are athletic.
- Dancers are also athletic, they need to jump, run and perform complicated flexibility movements that require balance, agility and stability.
- Gymnasts don’t have to throw, kick, catch or shoot a ball, but I would consider a person who can do back flips off a set of uneven bars and land without breaking his or her neck a fairly athletic individual.
- A martial artist can put his fist through a cinder block, or fight a match for 5 minute rounds, place an opponent in an arm bar or throw him over his shoulder. I would not tell someone who can perform those things they do not fit into the athletic category.
- What about those who spend their entire lives in a wheelchair? Imagine if you had to rely completely on arm strength to get around. Whether they play sports or not, put a check mark in the athletic column for those folks.
The point is, nearly all of us could find a reason to consider ourselves athletic and there is no one reasonable way to determine someone as the most athletic. Athleticism seems just as much a mentality as a physical trait. So when we opened up Next Level Performance, we had all Staten Islanders and surrounding cities in mind and not just those who at the end of a competition receive medals or trophy’s. We had Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and anyone who thrives to function efficiently, competently and with enough confidence to perform a given task. Whether your goal is to lose weight, become stronger, gain speed and agility, increase your balance and coordination, jump higher, improve your cardiorespiratory endurance and maximize your flexibility, we at NLP will guide you to your specific goals. We consider anyone who walks through our doors and enter our gym with a certain goal in mind, an athlete.