Sport Aesthetic

The Aesthetic value of Paralympic Sports

Study conducted with university students in courses with a sport in the area of Adapted Physical Activity

Maria Teresa de Sousa Ferreira

Teresa Oliveira Lacerda, PHD

Key-Words: PARALYMPIC SPORT, PARALYMPIC SPORT AESTHETIC, AESTHETIC CATEGORIES.

There are different forms to see Sports, one of which can relate to the sensitivity and feeling. Whe

n this happens, we can say that sport is “felt” that we are in control of the sports aesthetic. Several authors have been studying the sports aesthetic, contributing in a meaningful way to the growth of this still recent subject (Best, 1988; Marques, 1993; Lacerda, 2002b).

 The recognition of the increasing importance that the Paralympic Sport assumes in the contemporary society, leads to the raising of different questions, one of which is the sports aesthetic. In this context, the main purpos

e of the this study was to understand the aesthetic of the Paralympic Sport, through the eyes of a group of 41 Portuguese university students of Sports and/or Physical Education, which study an option related to the Adapted Physical Activity. In order to acquire information from the group regarding this subject we built an inquiry specifically for this study.  

According to the main results and conclusions of this study it stands out that de university students recognise an aesthetic value to the Paralympic Sport and the different sports th

at integrate it.  The aesthetic categories most valued by the students in the explanation of the aesthetic value of the Paralympics sport were the overcoming, the capability to express themselves, the agility and the creativity. The Paralympic Sports like riding, swimming, running, sailing, goalball wheelchair

basketball were designated, by the group of study, as the ones that presented “plenty” and “much aesthetic value”. The results also allowed to conclude that the aesthetic categories with a more negative connotation, as disgusting, grotesque and disharmony were the ones that less contributed for the clarification of the concept of aesthetic value assumed by the Paralympic Sport.

Teresa Ferreira