Are you an Athlete?

So, I was thinking this week about what makes an Athlete an Athlete.

Dictionary.com defines an Athlete as a person who is trained or gifted in sports or physical exercises.


Dictionary.reference.com takes it a bit further and defines an Athlete as a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise or game requiring physical skill.


The origin of the word is latin, athleta, and is a variant stem of athlein which means to contend for a prize.

So, technical stuff out of the way, what does that mean?

First of all I don't think athleticism is a gift.  Sure our genes are predetermined and some individuals may find that athleticism comes a little more easily to them, but any individual who has made progress with any sort of endeavour or achievement, whether athletic, musical, business, arts, will tell you that it came through passion, practice and dedication.  Probably in that order if they were to think about it.  

So, is Sidney Crosby an athlete?  Is the 8 year old showing an interest in ballet an athlete?  Is the stay at home Mom who decides she wants to lose weight, feel better about herself and have energy to play with her children an athlete?  Yes!  What do these three examples have in common...?

They all show an interest in challenging and improving their current physical abilities for their chosen discipline.  That is how I would define an athlete.

The human body was meant to move and everyone deserves an opportunity to challenge their body in a way to improve and be better, no matter what prize they are contending for!

Make a comment below, what prize are you contending for?