Recreation Center

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• Physical Activity: Is often associated with various forms of exercise, but can include vigorous leisure or recreation activities. Examples include: walking, swimming, tennis, bicycling, golf, gardening, etc.
   

• Recreation: Typically associated with structured or organized group activities which are intentionally designed to benefit individuals, groups or communities. Camaraderie, skill development, fitness and enjoyment tend to be primary motivations for recreation participation. Depending on the degree of specialization, participation with sports, creative arts, or service groups are considered forms of structured recreation participation.
   

• Sport: Typically defined as an organized, competitive activity, requiring adherence to rules and/or customs and specific skills to play; the objective is often associated with winning or losing. We typically think of sports as being athletic competitions, but competitive games requiring intellectual skills and challenges (e.g., chess) are also considered “sport.”
   

• Play: Although there are many different definitions and theories of play—and adults also play—here we view play as spontaneous, unstructured, child-directed activity which is fun, freely chosen, actively engaging, and intrinsically motivated (e.g., done for its own sake as opposed to having to or for some external reward or achievement motive); it typically involves children interacting with others and/or their environment and may involve the suspension of reality and/or “rules” of play.

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