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Extended Inquiry Project

Computer or Cleats, Who Are My Athletes?

Derek Drew

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103 Honors

4 December 2019
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Imagine walking into an auditorium. There was a flyer that said that there was a man that

was going to talk about the sports of the future. It continued to say that the sport is something to

begin supporting know, but it had little details about what the sport was. The hundreds of people

who the flyer intrigued are chattering calmly amongst themselves, waiting anxiously for the man

to come. After a few minutes, he comes out from behind the stage and stands in front of the

crowd. It gets quiet until the man exclaims, “Esports is on the rise! The next generation of

athletes are here!” After this strange claim, he tells the audience that he is a professional Esports

player. He then goes on to explain that Esports is a fairly new sport where players compete in

videogames in front of a crowd of people. It sounds like most sports in presentation, but I begin

to think out loud nearby: “How are these players athletes when they just sit and play a

videogame?” What if I were to tell you Esports players are not and should not be called athletes.

DEFINE ATHLETE

To begin the reasoning to why Esports players are not athletes, consider the definition of

the word athlete along with its origins. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines athlete as, “a

person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility,

or stamina.” The definition brings on the demand for physical skills, as in strength, agility, and

stamina. These aspects are not present in Esports competitions. In an Esports match, players sit

down for a period of time in front of a monitor of some sort, and they play their game in the

same spot, getting up only to vent frustration or celebrate. But, looking into other traditional

sports such as football, soccer, basketball, and baseball, physical strength, agility, and stamina

are necessary for success.

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As the definition is not enough proof that the word athlete cannot define an Esports

player, the Online Etymology Dictionary presents the origin of the word. In Latin, athlete comes

from the word athleta which means “a wrestler, athlete, combatant in public games." Again, the

idea of physical prowess is present in this definition. It is this reoccurring factor that can be

found in those who have possessed the title of athlete, such as soccer players, football players,

and basketball players. On the other hand, Esports players tend to fail to demonstrate these

attributes while participating in their sport.

The Online Etymology Dictionary also shows that athlete has another root that is Greek.

They used the word athletes, meaning "prizefighter, contestant in the games.” Taken out of

context, this definition could classify Esports players as athletes, but if you consider the time

period, the word game would not be the same as it is today. The International Olympics

Committee’s website states, “Full of blood, passion, and extraordinary feats of athletic endeavor,

the Olympic Games were the sporting, social and cultural highlight of the Ancient Greek

calendar…” This description is how they see the Olympic Games at the times of the Greeks,

showing how they viewed the word game. Relating this description to Esports, there has not been

a time where a player shows “extraordinary feats of athletic endeavor” at matches or tournaments

while other athletes have.

The point that the origin and definition are here to make is that Esports players do not fit

the definition.. This is not the fault of the game; it is just the truth of the matter. The games they

play require small amounts of physical talent. Some may say that Esports player’s finger

dexterity should count as physical talent. What is wrong with this statement is that moving your

fingers is a talent, but it is not that physical in the sense of sports. This action is small and has a
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small toll on you stamina in the end, which does not compare to what traditional athletes go

through in their sport. This then brings up another question: Are Esports actually sports?

DEFINE SPORT

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a sport is “physical activity engaged in

for pleasure; a particular activity (such as an athletic game) so engaged in.” The reoccurring

factor of physical activity is shown again in this definition. This brings the thought that

Esports should not even be considered a sport, which shows further reason why they should

not be called athletes. How can you be an athlete if what you participate in cannot qualify as a

sport?

Esports supporters will defend this claim by saying that there have been events

streamed on ESPN, such as the Fortnite World Cup. What they may not know is that ESPN

streams different games that are not necessarily sports, like poker, billiards, and even the

spelling bee. Each of these competitions are not consider sports, but the y still get streamed on

ESPN. And, to further the argument towards Esports players not being called athletes, each of

the players in these games are not called athletes. They are professional gamblers or

intelligent people, not athletes.

THE WORKOUT ROUTINE

Building on the definitions of athlete and sport, I decided to look into a soccer players’

training routine compared to an Esports players’ training routine can put the difference of

physical work into perspective. This will not only show the difference in physical training, but it

will also show how a lack of physicality causes Esports players to fall short from the title of

athlete.
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Marcus Lee and Swarup Mukherjee are trained physicians in sports who were in charge

of conducting an experiment on a soccer team in Singapore. Int this experiment, they tracked the

intensity of the running the team underwent for two seasons.. In this, they measured running

work outs at practices during the preseason, the beginning of the season, the end of the season,

and the post season. The results showed a trend: intense workouts at the beginning of the season

and, a “Variation in TL (training load) across the in-season phases (early, mid, late) also suggests

that changes in TL could be expected during the competitive periods of the season.” (Lee and

Mukherjee). This information may seem useless, but the deeper context is what is important. The

fact that the workout intensifies when competition is near shows why they workout. In athletic

sports, the training that each player undergoes is in order to increase performance. In the case of

the soccer team, the cardio workouts prepared them for the season during preseason and prepared

them for a challenging opponent for the rest of the season.

Another example of a traditional sports workout is the workout done by running back

Todd Gurley for the Los Angeles Rams. There is a website that is called Men’s Journal that talks

about five workouts that he does to improve his work in the article, “NFL Training: Todd

Gurley’s 5 Essential Exercises for Explosive Strength.” Two workouts he does are called barbell

back squats and power cleans. Barbell back squats are where an individual puts a barbell, the

long metal rod that holds weights, on his or her shoulder and does squats. Todd Gurley does this

in order to:

Squats are a key exercise for Gurley (and his favorite) in building his lower-body strength

and power. It exercise helps improve hip flexibility and strengthens his core, quads,

calves, hamstrings, and glutes. The added strength to those areas helps Gurley decrease
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the likelihood of suffering injuries and helps with his vertical jumping ability by

increasing hip strength and flexibility. (Men’s Journal)

Power cleans are where an individual grabs a bar bent over, explosively stands up, lifts the bar to

their chest, and repeats this motion. Todd Gurley does this workout to:

This exercise primarily taxes the posterior chain: glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. The

movement helps with explosiveness and jumping ability, two things that translate to the

field for Gurley and other athletes. (Men’s Journal)

These workouts show that even though some exercise is done to avoid injury, the primary reason

for these workouts are to boost performance. In this, the exercise done is to train to become a

better athlete.

One last traditional sports workout that I will talk about will be one done by basketball

superstar Stephen Curry, which differs from that of the two before. This is more of a daily

workout for Stephen Curry, but nonetheless, it is still one that he undergoes. According to Health

Fitness Resolution, Stephen Curry workouts consists of:

Weighted Lunge Series: moves arms in arch motion with each lunge, carrying weights in

each hand; lunges out to sides to strengthen lateral movement muscles. Shooting Series:

Ball catcher hoop- must make at least 100 clean shots. Hand-Eye Coordination Series:

Dribble while training eyes on bouncing tennis ball. (Health Fitness Resolution)

But, more importantly, he also focuses on his diet. Him and his family eat, “Warm cinnamon,

apple oatmeal, saffron salmon, roasted brussels sprouts and pears, salmon burger, caprese salad,

Greek yogurt (Health Fitness Resolution).” This shows that there is still a good diet heavy
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influence on a traditional athlete’s health. But, he still works out to improve his skills, as seen in

the shooting series as well as the hand-eye coordination series.

It can be argued that Esports players workout as well. At this point, people usually say

that because these players workout, they are being physical in their sport. And, since they are

being physical, they should be called athletes, right? Well, while this is a physical action, it is

done for a different reason rather than improving gaming performance. In the Wall Street

Journal article, “‘My Arms Were Really Skinny.’ Professional Videogamers Are Working Out,”

Timothy W. Martin writes:

To stay in the game, Dario Wünsch has adopted a dedicated routine to avoid injuries. He

starts each morning with yoga poses, torso twists, finger stretches and planks. He gulps

down ginger smoothies to ward off joint inflammations. (Martin)

This quote shows that Esports players actually workout as well as develop better eating habits in

order to avoid injury and stay healthy and only those reasons. The workouts that these players

undergo is similar to those who go to the gym and have a personal trainer help them, as

professional gaming teams have their own trainers. This may seem like it is in favor of Esports

players, but these trainers are here to keep them healthy. They do not focus on certain aspects of

the players gameplay like they do in sports like soccer, football, and basketball.

Comparing these two, the difference for what physical training is used for is shown.

Esports uses its physical training to stay in shape and avoid injuries. In this case, it is not so

much training as exercise. Looking at traditional sports, the physical training done on the soccer

team, by Todd Gurley, and by Stephen Curry was to improve their performance. This fact shows

that the training these players do adds to the physicality of the sport. Some may argue that Todd
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Gurley and Stephen Curry also had aspects of their training that focused on their health. The

difference is that health is not the entire focus of the training like Esports players do. Relating

back to the definition of an athlete, the exercise that Esports players undergo does not improve

performance for “physical strength, agility, nor stamina (Merriam-Webster).” Instead, they work

out to be healthy.

DOES THAT MAKE YOU AN ATHLETE?

While Esports players may not be included in the definition of the word athlete nor have

the same physical training that traditional sports do, some may believe that Esports players

should still be called athletes. Why? According to AP News, Milan Cerny who works for a

technology company said, “Gamers and traditional athletes have a lot in common… including

that both are “really, really good at what they’re doing (qtd. in “The Debate over Esports:

Gamers or Athletes?”).”

Cerny’s point has truth to it, Esports players are great at what they do. Esports has

leagues for various games such as Overwatch, Rocket League, and League of Legends. A league

in Esports is similar to any league in any competition. There is variety of teams, which can be

divided into different divisions. For Esports, though, they do not divide into divisions, they have

a table where you get points for wins, ties, and nothing for losses. Each league has teams, who

have their own jerseys, coaches, and trainers. Esports teams even have arenas that they play in,

like Nerd Street Gamers who play in the Wells Fargo Center along with the Philadelphia 76ers

and Philadelphia Flyers. (Hayward)

But, does the appearance and being skilled make an individual an athlete?
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If that were the case, multiple professions would be able to call their people athletes.

Doctors have to be “really, really good” at what they do, and they where they same thing as their

“team.” If they are not good at what they do, then that could create problems. Some may argue

that doctors do not have a fan base and do not work for entertainment. In that case, what about

singers or performers? They have to be skilled in their art. They may not have their own arena,

but they travel from arena to arena, like going to away games. And they have a fan base and are

in entertainment. They can also be in competitions for money as well, like Esports players. So,

why are they not athletes? It is because they are not in a physical competition like athletes

partake in.

GAME OVER

With all this being said, it is not in my intentions to ridicule any Esports players and their

skill. They do put in hours to train and to make it professional is a great feat as it is. I believe that

athlete is not the correct title for Esports players. For this I have a solution: give Esports players

a new title. It would be like how we call poker players gamblers, or how we call people in

academic decathlons mathletes. So, the classic professional gamer can be what they are called, or

a new name can be created. It can be something like techlete, which combines technology and

athlete like how Esports combined sports and technology. It does not have to be that exact word,

but it should represent what an Esports player is. In this, there will be more meaning to the title

of a professional Esports player than being called an athlete and being compared to people that

have more differences than similarities.

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Annotated Bibliography

“Athlete.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster,

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/athlete. 21 Sep. 2019.

“Athlete (n.).” Index,

www.etymonline.com/word/athlete. 21 Sep. 2019.

“The Debate over Esports: Gamers or Athletes?” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 24 Aug. 2018,

https://apnews.com/6ecce0ecc3df4b26a167f8d690f1938d. 1 Nov. 2019.

Hayward, Andrew, et al. “Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center Adds Localhost Esports Arena.”

The Esports Observer, The Esports Observer, 27 Sept. 2019,

https://esportsobserver.com/philly-localhost-esports-arena/. 17 Oct 2019.

Health Fitness Revolution, et al. “Exercise Like An All-Star: The Stephen Curry Workout.”

Health Fitness Revolution, 23 Mar. 2016, www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/stephen-curry-

workout/. 20 Nov. 2019.

Lee, Marcus, and Swarup Mukherjee. “Relationship of Training Load with High-Intensity

Running in Professional Soccer Players.” International Journal of Sports Medicine., vol.

40, no. 5, Thieme Medical Publisher Inc, May 2019, pp. 336–43, doi:10.1055/a-0855-

3843. 17 Oct. 2019.

Martin, Timothy W. “'My Arms Were Really Skinny.' Professional Videogamers Are Working

Out.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 11 Oct. 2018,
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www.wsj.com/articles/drop-the-pizza-pick-up-the-weights-videogamers-get-in-shape-

1539276694. 17 Oct. 2019.

“Todd Gurley's 5 Essential Exercises for Explosive Strength.” Men's Journal, 11 Jan. 2019,

www.mensjournal.com/sports/nfl-training-todd-gurleys-5-essential-exercises-explosive-

strength/. 18 Nov. 2019.

“Welcome to the Ancient Olympic Games.” International Olympic Committee, 20 Dec. 2018,

https://www.olympic.org/ancient-olympic-games. 21 Sep. 2019.