"Miniature Wargaming Athletes" Topic

Professional online gamers are lobbying to be recognized as athletes.

Similarly, as a miniature wargamer, do you consider yourself to be an athlete?

Great Heavens, No! I can read and count, I have no criminal record--and I stand for the National Anthem.

No, I do not. Rolling dice and moving lead figures is about as athletic as … playing video games.

And don't get me started on ballroom dance wanting to be an Olympic sport. Ballroom dance actually requires athletic effort (like I expended on Sunday night with my wife, who is a former ballroom dance instructor) (to be fair, she does come and train in the martial arts class I teach at least as often as I go dancing with her).

I just don't want there to be another Olympic sport where I need an expert to tell me who won and by how much.

No, and now they are working a pro RPG game league.

Athlete? Seriously?
Who is this entity that can grant online gamers athlete status? Their mothers? "Sure Dear. You're an athlete."

Now, when I had elephants and Super Heavy Cavalry in 25mm to move around on the table, that was some serious weight lifting.
Seleucid players are buff.

No, that's just silly.

+5 to Robert Piepenbrink!!

Jim

Just remember back in the 1960's Sports Illustrated included at least one, perhaps more, articles on miniature wargaming. It was certainly more about the competition rather than the athletic exercise…at this point during certain times of the year ESPN is so desperate for programing that they show cornhole (beanbag) and dart competitions…and what can be said about all the programing of poker games…again, more about the competition and manufactured drama.

This is a world that took wrestling out of the Olympic games and added walking, so, there's that. I am not sure what to expect anymore, but nothing surprises me or fails to disappoint.

At least they reinstated wrestling…

I remember Sports Illustrated covered chess as a sport. This was back during the Bobby Fischer era. Before he completely lost his mind.

Sports Illustrated just covered the International Air Guitar competition as a sport. The article compared it to WWE style wrestling in terms of athleticism and performance requirements. Quite an interesting article.

Right on Robert Piepenbrink! Besides that, one look at me would tell you I'm no athlete.

Robert, amusing as your comment is, you're disrespecting athletes on so many levels.
I don't think they are more likely to be criminals that the rest of the population; at least in the UK at school many athletes are also amongst the best performing academic students.
As for your last point, I'll refrain from commenting as that touches on current politics.

Well depending on your sources they run from about the same just more reported on to significantly more crimes per 100,000 population. Some of that is of course the population is very small so any criminals are by definition a higher percent of the whole.

It also varies widely by sport, NBA and NFL are more than double the NFL and MLB.

No.

Yes – I train hard and am just in it for the taking part…

I don't consider myself as a Miniature wargaming athlete. Back in the day, I participated in 2 NCAA (division 3) sports as well as playing in a local area basketball league on a team with Len Bias.

Then again, I have heard it argued that wargaming is a martial art.

Rich Reuschel, William Perry, and Oliver Miller would probably make good wargamers

I was gonna say this

Athlete – practitioner of an activity requiring a high level of physical prowess and skill.

Sport – a competition requiring skill.

So, athlete, no and sportsman, yes.

Then I went to look up "athlete" to get a better, more authoritative definition and found this in the etymology:

Greek āthlētḗs, equivalent to āthlē- (variant stem of āthleîn to contend for a prize, derivative of âthlos a contest) + -tēs suffix of agency

I still stand by my original assertion since regardless of origin in common usage, athleticism is inherently connected to activities requiring physical prowess and skill. I think this distinction is reinforced in the colloquialism "Be a sport" where sportsmanship refers to etiquette and behaviour in competition, but not really to anything related to your skill (physical or not) or physical prowess.

Also, not saying athletic activities cannot require skills other than physical ones, just that physical skill is a necessity for something to be an athletic activity.

Advocate, I'm glad things are working out better in the UK. and I mean no disrespect for authentic amateur athletes. They are, alas, not what most of us think of when someone mentions athletes these days.

Mega dittos to Robert! I don't even think chess players constitute athletes.

Mega dittos to Robert for both postings! I don't even think chess players constitute athletes.

No …

And …

robert piepenbrink +1

Great Heavens, No! I can read and count, I have no criminal record--and I stand for the National Anthem.

One if Bobby Fischer's strengths was that he stayed in shape and exercised regularly. He figured this gave him stamina to last in 5 hour games.
As does Magnus Carlsen.

But then there's Milhail Tal. Brilliant player but a physical wreck who chain smoked. He died too young.

Athletes? I suppose there are video game players who work out too. That doesn't make them athletes.

This needs some sort of hashtag

I used to play Tetris on a Game Boy.
I would sit there for a half hour or more, deliberately moving no muscles except on my thumbs. I called it "anti exercise".

But yo return to my point above.
Who exactly are they seeking recognition from in order to call themselves "athletes"?

Does any of this fit for wargamers?

link

I compete in the following events:

100 Meter Parking Lot Lead Haul. Contestants must stagger across an over-crowded stretch of pothole-degraded asphalt carrying an imbalanced load of cumbersome plastic storage containers mixed with nearly worn through cardboard boxes, all packed with several pounds of loosely shifting lead, while dodging taxi-cabs, irritated dads in mini-vans with crying children, and teen prom dates yelling, "Whoa! Look it the old dude in the goofy shorts!"

Standing Table Sharps Hazard Stretch. Contestants strive to reach across a table that exceeds their natural armspan to pick up and maneuver tiny objects with upwards pointed sharp brass wires, while striving to keep their bellies from being punctured by similar objects placed at the table's edge, not to mention miniature trees, barbed wire rolls, and the Gamemaster's prize reproduction star-fort, which he frantically tutters about if you get too close but never the less insists on placing dead in the center edge of your side of the battlefield.

Enraged Dice Flinger Dodge. A test of agility, the contestants must avoid being struck by missiles of various sizes, hardness and sharpness being flung in random directions by a seething mound of human flesh who's "otherwise a real nice chap, when he's not losing."

Past Triumphs Glory Drone. Contestants must strive to stay awake and maintain an appearance of actual interest as a clueless speaker monopolizes their time telling seemingly endless and move-by-move accounts of the speaker's various (claimed) gaming efforts at Every. Single. Con. Over. The. Last. Twelve. Years.

Time to go into training…

Physical fitness. Peak mental condition requires being in good physical condition.

Written as a universal, and not true in that sense. Many top tier chess players have nutritionists and exercise regularly. All don't. It isn't necessary.

But, are we saying all sports are athletic? Beer Pong is a sport. And the article about chess being a sport doesn't claim it is athletic, it just claims chess should be on par with other activities publicly funded as sports in the UK.