At least, it does in the growingly rare world of true amateurism, where that French term, amateur, describes a person who does something for the love of it.
So, the foregoing leads me to criticise the increasingly publicised use of drugs in sport in present times, not just by minor players at a local perhaps less significant level, but by international 'leaders' in their chosen field.
Along with this, some reporting has raised the suggestion that it was OK to use drugs 'because everyone else did'.
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So?
Does this mean that personal principles, and a lifetime of learning of the rules of whatever activity is practiced, as well as morality, is to be subsumed by the mob mentality of pack conformity?
I suspect that the same argument can be leveled at any kind social behaviour which emerges over time; the argument being that change is inevitable and we must accept it.
To which I would reply, "change to what?"
That answer demands serious consideration of just how any change should occur, and what its outcome is likely to be.
I doubt if an argument can be sustained that the use of performance enhancing substances in any kind of competition is acceptable. This is because the very peak of personal competence is thrown out the door by that use.
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It's not the player who is winning, it's the chemicals.
I can brood over hypothetical acts of deliberate deception if they had taken place in my previous recreation of gliding.
Apart from personal flying skill contest, there was always the challenge of pitting oneself against nature by seeking to understand and use rising warm air to achieve height, winds to assist (or reduce) speed, the need for a high degree of competence in navigation, and the awareness of safety limitations on man, machine, and environment.
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