Sport is enjoyed in every corner of the globe, with every country enjoying and regularly taking part in at least one, but more often dozens. Sport has also been around, to some degree, for thousands of years.
However, if you aren’t into sports, it can be challenging to begin. Whether you want to enjoy football or rugby, take part in online sports betting, or just be able to talk about a player or a team, here are a few ways to start.
Commentary
One of the best places to start is simply by watching a sport on TV. There are two main benefits to doing this; the first is you can expose yourself to all different kinds of sports, and the second is you have access to the commentary.
Commentators are a hub for knowledge and insight, and they allow you to learn the basic and more complex concepts of a sport in an easy and digestible way. A sport like American football or baseball can be challenging to understand if you don’t have any prior knowledge.
However, commentators will often explain what is happening, who it benefits, why it happened, and what a team or player will do next. This allows you to learn and understand plays and particular choices a team or athlete makes.
Live Games
While live games are hugely entertaining, and you get to see a particular sport first-hand, for newbies, they can be near impossible to follow. This is simply due to the lack of commentary; if you can’t see what is happening at the other end of the field or pitch, you most likely have no idea what is going on.
Fans combat this by using apps or radios that let them listen to commentary or read up-to-the-second updates. You can get the live game experience while still being able to keep up with what is happening.
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Fantasy Leagues
Fantasy leagues may seem daunting and way too complicated to understand, but they are one of the best ways to learn. Baseball, football, and soccer, along with many other sports, all have fantasy leagues where players create their own teams and compete against friends or strangers.
Fantasy leagues allow you to follow individual performances, giving you insight into how particular players are doing and a great foundation to build further knowledge.
News Sites
There is no better way to learn more about a team or athlete than news sites. ESPN, BBC Sports, Sky Sports, the list goes on. All of these websites use professional sportswriters to give you daily updates on the comings and goings of almost every sport.
Instagram has also become a great place to stay informed, as you are provided with bite-sized bits of information all the time. If you aren’t a fan of Instagram, the next best social media site to use is Twitter.
Both of these platforms also allow you to follow athletes, teams, and the sportswriters and insiders themselves. There are even insiders that can confirm or deny stories before the news sites even hear of them.
Fabrizio Romano, a soccer insider and journalist, is famous for his transfer and player news, breaking transfer stories sometimes hours, even days, before a team or player confirms it.
Tournaments/Competitions
Leagues will always be the best way to enjoy a sport, but there are some sports that don’t have leagues at all. Golf is played in tournament formats and often takes place over four days. This allows you to see a complete performance of a player basically over one weekend.
The FIFA World Cup is another excellent example of this, as you can watch hundreds of players from across the globe play over two or three weeks. The same can be said about the cricket and rugby World Cups.
Amateur vs Professional
Professional sport is where the best-of-the-best play, but if you want to learn about younger players or athletes coming up the ranks, watch the amateur tournaments and competitions. For example, the term amateur can mean college football, basketball, or under-21 soccer.
Amateur sport is also usually low-key and cheaper, if not free. You can attend multiple games over a season, giving yourself the same insight you would get if you were at a professional game or match.