Are Fishermen Athletes?

If you go onto most sporting channels, you’ll see a wide range of different athlete features — soccer players, basketball heroes, and yes, even baseball players. Once in a while, you’ll also see fishermen presented on these programs, but for a lot of people, it’s a bit confusing.

Are fishermen athletes? It all depends on your personal definition of an athlete. According to the standard definition, hunting is considered a sport due to the high levels of stamina and skill required to catch an animal. Fishing is a form of hunting, which would make it a sport.

Even among fishermen and outdoorsmen, there’s a lot of contention over whether or not a fisherman can be considered an athlete. Check out these thoughts to consider when you’re working around this debate.

It all depends on what you want to consider athletes. The Webster Dictionary defines athletes as people who participate in activities that are matters of skill, speed, physical strength, and stamina. Fishing, as anyone can tell you, takes a lot of stamina.

However, in casual conversation, people tend to think of athletes as people who are toned and take a great amount of care in pushing their bodies to the limit. If this is your understanding of athleticism, then it’s definitely different from the standard but absolutely understandable.

Let’s take a look at some of the definitions that people have when they think of sportsmanship in a traditional sense of the word, shall we?

Understanding Traditional Sports

Traditional sports are the types of activities that require at least a moderate amount of physical exertion. They’re the sports that are very clearly athletic in nature because of the exertion and gaming aspect they offer. They include:

Hockey
Baseball
Basketball
Golf
Football

Traditional sports tend to have a number of things in common that tend to codify them and make them viewed as an athletic endeavor.

Are All Athletes Involved In Sports?

When it comes to the standard definition of athleticism, it’s generally accepted that athletes are the people who take time to perfect their sports and gain enough skill to participate in them on a regular basis.

By this definition, it’s pretty safe to say that people who participate in a sport are going to be labeled athletes. Therefore, all athletes are people who engage in sports.

What Makes A Sport A Sport?

This is really where the crux of the matter is. Traditional sports all tend to have the same things in common, all of which help define the activity as a sport. These include:

Requiring feats of strength, agility, or stamina. Not all sports require a lot of strength nor do they always require a lot of agility. Those that don’t require speed or strength tend to be tests of stamina.
Requiring skill. There’s always an element of skill to any sport. Whether it’s sinking a basket or getting a hole in one. Being skilled at sports is what makes them so competitive.
Having rules. All major sports have codified rules that separate them from just randomly passing around items or doing things arbitrarily. That structure is what makes a sport a sport.

What Doesn’t Make A Sport A Sport?

Though those three qualities seem pretty generic, it’s important to realize that there are a lot of things people associate with sports that don’t necessarily make them sports. These include the following:

Teams. Plenty of solo sports exist, including ice skating and gymnastics.
Uniforms. You never need a uniform to enjoy a good day in a sports arena, though they are very common.
Equipment. There are sports out there that don’t require much equipment, including marathon running and bodybuilding.
Diet and Conditioning. Though training in this way can make a huge difference in many sports, the truth is that they are not a required part of the package by any means.

What Are The Sportsman Characteristics Of Fishing And Hunting?

Hunting and fishing go hand in hand, and there’s good reason for this. Both are activities that involve hunting creatures. People also judge hunters and fishermen based on the kinds of catches they get.

That being said, there’s a lot of other characteristics that lend credit to the sporty qualities of both activities:

Codified Rules. In hunting and fishing, there are rules that make it a sport. Hunters can’t use certain traps or methods. Fishermen can’t keep all the fish they catch. Rules also include guidelines that help determine what a “good catch” is.
Skill. It takes a lot of skill to catch certain fish, as well as a certain amount of knowledge about lures, fishing equipment, and fishing locations.
Stamina. Anyone who has ever been on a boat for more than four hours, just so they can catch a single fish, will tell you that there’s a certain level of stamina involved in fishing. Hunting is equally stamina-based, if not moreso.
Hand-Eye Coordination. Fishing takes a lot more hand-eye coordination than people give it credit for. If you don’t believe it, try steering a boat with one hand while casting a line with the other.
Techniques. Much like how basketball has certain techniques and moves associated with it, both hunting and fishing have their own techniques that can make or break an outing. Fishing techniques aren’t always easy, either. Even things like casting a rod into a lake can take time to learn.

Why Don’t People Consider Fishing A Sport?

The biggest argument about fishing not being an athletic endeavor is due to the relatively low physical exertion that is required to do it. When compared to other sports like running, football, or hockey, fishing seems relatively low-impact.

That being said, this isn’t a good way to look at sports. Just because there’s a lower chance of breaking a sweat doesn’t prevent it from being an athletic activity. After all, spots can be done in a leisurely manner, can’t they?

If you think about it, there are plenty of examples of athletic activities that are done without many people breaking a sweat. People go hiking, biking, and yes, even dancing, all without getting too active. Need more evidence? Look at golf. Golf is an example of a clearly athletic sport that is low-impact and has an equally relaxing reputation.

So, Is Fishing A Sport?

At the end of the day, fishing definitely meets the requirements for a sport. It takes skill, hand-eye coordination, contains rules about how to properly fish, and also requires a fair bit of stamina in order to get competitive at it.

It may not be the kind of flashy, “high school varsity” type of sport that people think about when the word “sport” is mentioned, but it’s definitely an athletic activity that’s worthy of the title–at least if you go by the formal definition.