Sports have been a beloved activity of populations since ancient times, in terms of both playing and watching. In contemporary society, however, an interesting question has arisen: whether it is possible to develop teamwork and other skills by simply watching them. Opinions have been divided; some say yes, while others say no. Although I acknowledge the effectiveness of playing sports compared to watching them, I maintain that it is possible to learn and enhance some skills as an observer.
Indeed, it feels like only engaging in sports is an effective activity to work over various skill sets, including cooperation and communication. First and foremost, it is a widely acknowledged fact that people inclined to perceive something tangible and real as more effective and important. For instance, despite many records showing that computer games can improve cognitive skills, many individuals still deem them a futile activity. Therefore, individuals’ rationale that only playing sports can develop various skills is understandable. Additionally, considering the number of sports fans around that watched hours of sports content without any seemingly advanced skill set, it is logical to assume that only playing is effective. In my country, for example, it is common to observe individuals watching sports all day while being negligent in their personal life, which leads to the aforementioned conclusion as well.
On the other hand, I contend that watching how others play truly can be beneficial for two primary reasons: it is observed by professional players, and it is proven fact by scientists. For the former, it is a typical practice in most sports to regularly rewatch past matches in order to identify mistakes or watch games of better-ranked groups to learn teamwork and adopt necessary strategies. For the latter, there is an experiment with university students playing basketball at the same level. Researchers divided them into two groups: active players and imaginers. While players were playing basketball for a limited time, an hour a day, imaginers practice was more intense but theoretical; they would watch videos of basketball matches and repeat actions in their minds for four hours a day. Surprisingly, after a 30-day experiment when progress among students was recorded, both groups showed the same average result. Thus, if the focus is on learning, not only on entertainment, it is possible and practiced actively by many to learn various skills via watching sports videos.
To conclude, it is true that engaging in sport activities yields substantially more benefits in terms of developing various skills, including teamwork and tactics; however, it is also a viable approach to learn these skills by watching sports, for it is a conventional technique among professional players and a proven method by scientists.