Leisure theorists have made specific distinctions between play, recreation and sport. Describe this differentiation and illustrate your answer with specific examples.

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Leisure theorists have made specific distinctions between play, recreation and sport. Describe this differentiation and illustrate your answer with specific examples.

'One of the chief problems of defining leisure is that it is very difficult to take an objective approach to the subject.' (Parker, 1983, p3) 'The word leisure is rarely used without invoking other words and concepts, the most frequent being 'sport', 'art', 'entertainment', 'recreation' and 'play'.' (Torkildsen, 2001, p5)

Generally 'leisure is the opportunity and the time outside working hours to choose and take part in activities or experiences which are expected to be personally satisfying' (Advanced Leisure and Tourism, 1998, p5) This essay addresses three leisure aspects; play, recreation and sport, their characteristics and their differentiations.

'Play begins at birth and continues until we die. For adults its perhaps more comfortable to call it sport or recreation, art or leisure, but at some level and some degree, we all play' (Bonel, 1993 cited in Torkildsen, 2001) 'Through play, children develop their physical, intellectual, emotional and social ability' (Torkildsen, 2001, p13) The roots of play reach far back into ancient times into the classical era of ancient Greece - although child labour was common the children