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Sports and games

Essays and videos on the arts, literature, travel, rituals and celebrations

Architecture Art Biography and memoir Dance and theatre Design and fashion Film and visual culture Food and drink Home Music Nature and landscape Rituals and celebrations Sports and games Stories and literature Subcultures Travel

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A surfer in a wetsuit emerging from a large turquoise wave with white foam crashing around.

essaySports and games

The secret

At the heart of surfing, whether you’re a kook or a famous charger, is the pursuit of moments so pure they clean you out

M M Owen

Photo of a young woman in a pink hijab skateboarding on a ramp, with a building and a flag visible in the background.

videoSports and games

Young Palestinians find fleeting moments of freedom at a West Bank skate park

13 minutes

Photo of three boys riding wooden carts down a street in an urban setting, with onlookers in the background.

videoSports and games

Havana’s streets become racetracks in this exhilarating portrait of children at play

5 minutes

Cyclists in a professional race riding in rainy conditions. The leading cyclist in a blue jersey raises his arms in victory, with other cyclists closely following behind on the wet road. Everyone is wearing helmets and sunglasses for protection.

essaySports and games

Performance-enhancing vices

Selfishness channels ambition, envy drives competition, pride aids the win. Does it take a bad person to be a good athlete?

Sabrina Little

A young girl in a helmet and with a skateboard stands in a skatepark. Behind her is a hand-drawn reclining figure.

videoSubcultures

Drop into London’s eclectic skate scene, where newbies and old-timers find community

5 minutes

A footballer in the Manchester United red strip runs past cheering fans in the stadium

essaySports and games

The moral risks of fandom

Players, coaches and team owners sometimes do terrible things. What, if anything, should their fans do about that?

Jake Wojtowicz & Alfred Archer

A man in tradional long shorts and striped shirt holds a huge heavy stone abvove his head as a crowd looks on

essayValues and beliefs

How traditions progress

The colourful Swiss sport of stone putting illuminates Aristotle’s insights into the shortcomings of conservative thought

Daniel Kranzelbinder

A football player is celebrating in front of an enthusiastic crowd, including a marching band and cheerleaders holding red pom-poms.

videoSports and games

A unique project frames college football as an intricately choreographed mass ritual

7 minutes

A person wearing a dark jacket is focused on working with a pencil and ruler on a wooden box in a cluttered workshop.

videoMaking

From log to Go board – the world’s oldest game, made the old-fashioned way

20 minutes

A man in a rural setting wraps his hands and prepares for physical work or training, with a focused expression and a rustic tin roof in the background.

videoSports and games

The brutality and beauty of the West African martial art of ‘dambe’

15 minutes

A robot and a person play a retro video game on a TV. The robot has 13 points, the person has 1, and the screen shows the game with a score of 003.

videoComputing and artificial intelligence

Teaching an AI to beat video games still takes human imagination

5 minutes

Cyclists in colourful jerseys compete in a road race, surrounded by blurred cars and spectators in the background.

videoSports and games

Bodies, bikes and groovy music propel this stylish classic film from 1965

17 minutes

A bald man with tattooed back facing a boxing ring; tattoo reads “Poochi, Pride is Forever” with boxing gloves image.

videoPersonality

Why a journeyman boxer finds contentment in the art of losing

6 minutes

Two people wearing helmets and high-visibility jackets riding a vehicle in a snowy environment, with headsets and microphones for communication.

videoLove and friendship

Skiing blind is a challenge – but it helps to have a loved one to guide you

20 minutes

A person stands on a rocky cliff edge overlooking a vast canyon under a clear blue sky.

videoConsciousness and altered states

You need to make friends with pain to run through the Grand Canyon and back

5 minutes

A young man in traditional attire galloping on a horse across a vast grassy plain with rolling hills in the background.

essayAnimals and humans

Becoming a centaur

The horse is a prey animal, the human a predator. Our shared trust and athleticism is a neurobiological miracle

Janet Jones

Aerial view of a dimly lit car park at night with scattered vehicles and visible tyre marks on the ground.

videoSports and games

After a day’s toil in California’s fields, labourers let loose in street races

9 minutes

Female basketball player in a green jersey jumps to shoot a ball near the hoop, with a team player in yellow defending.

videoSports and games

You’ve likely never heard of the only woman drafted into the NBA – and that’s fine by her

22 minutes

Two basketball players in action, one holding running past the other while holding the ball, with a crowd and referee in the background.

essayComplexity

All stars

Is a great team more than the sum of its players? Complexity science reveals the role of strategy, synergy, swarming and more

Jessica Flack & Cade Massey

A smiling swimmer in open water near a lighthouse on a rocky island under a cloudy sky.

videoConsciousness and altered states

‘It makes sense of everything I am.’ The transcendence of the long-distance swimmer

12 minutes

Close-up of playing cards on a green table held by a hand, revealing a Joker card and a King of hearts card.

essaySports and games

Love is a hold’em game

While some keep their cards close to their chest, others try raising the stakes. What can poker teach us about dating?

Suki Finn

Black and white drawing of two fencers competing in an arena. Their uniforms feature Olympic rings, with an audience in the background.

videoBiography and memoir

‘I feel the weight of everyone’: Keeth Smart foiled death to make it to the Olympics

19 minutes

Collage with six frames showing a diver in mid-air, faceless abstract art, and various black backgrounds with white particle patterns.

videoFilm and visual culture

Behold the invisible swoosh and swirl of athletic movement in digital art

2 minutes

A climber wearing a helmet and red gear ascending an icy surface, photo taken from below, with ice and sky visible in the background.

videoNature and landscape

Experience the thrills – and major chills – of scaling a frozen waterfall

16 minutes