Kinesiology: Practical Realism and its Impact on Sports History

This essay delves into the application of practical realism within the context of sports history, as viewed through the discipline of kinesiology. It elucidates how practical realism, which emphasizes the ability to distinguish between possibilities and impossibilities while addressing challenges effectively, offers a valuable perspective for analyzing sports history. The essay contrasts practical realism with traditional historical methods and postmodern approaches, highlighting its acknowledgment of the gap between reality and its representation. It uses examples like the Olympic charter to demonstrate how historical concepts are grounded in tangible evidence, thus limiting the range of interpretations. The essay concludes by affirming that many historians align with the practical realist inclination, blending postmodernism aspects with traditional historical styles, thereby emphasizing the importance of viewing sports history through a practical realism perspective.

Running head: KINESIOLOGY 1
Kinesiology
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
By definition, practical realism denotes the quality of an individual who has the
capability of distinguishing between the possibilities or realities and the impossibilities. At the
same time, the person is in a position to tackle challenges in a practical and effective manner.
One of the features that define sports history, apart from the usual pursuit of sports in a historical
structure, is disinterest, writing, and a wholesome engagement of some crucial issues. Multiple
contributions in the history of sports have detailed the interest areas, growth, and developments
of this considerably new section of history, but little writings exist to clarify more about the
fundamental tenets that regulate knowledge production. Steve Pope argues that “Most people I
know come away from the annual North American Society for Sports History with warm
supportive experiences and memories” (Munslow, 2012). By this, Pope is noting that there is an
absence of structures that directly criticizes historical actions, notions, and beliefs that underpin
sports history production. As such, there is need to look at sports history through a practical
realism perspective.
Today, sports historians mostly apply the epistemological intersection of construction and
reconstruction which Hunt, Jacob, and Appleby refer as practical realism (Hewitson, 2014). As
opposed to traditional historical methods and postmodern methods, practical realism
acknowledges the existing gap between reality and word. Moreover, practical realism does not
regard the distance or gap sufficient reason to abandon accuracy search. Only in rare scenarios
are the words linked arbitrarily to objects. For instance, sportsman connotes a particular behavior
set. The definition of the word changed as time passed by since different groupings utilized it for
their own purposes, but the association of sports historian has developed a deep-rooted consensus

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on the distinct definitions. Practical realism stresses that historical concepts originate from hard
supporting evidence and tangible materials or documents.
The Olympic charter, for instance, is an applicable and knowable document, ultimately
distinguishable from the languages historians apply to define it. Likewise, the charter puts a limit
on the factual arguments that historians can derive from it and thus, the explanations they relay
to the general population. In essence, practical realists agree that a good number of historians
start from the cultural attributes and personal interests of the historian, that neutrality of
knowledge does not exist, that knowledge is controversial, and that its production entails
struggles or conflicts between the various groups of interest. However, practical realists dispute
the disposition that historical narratives are types of literature. Similarly, they reject the view that
frequent reviews of the past is sufficient evidence that the field does not possess objectivity;
review mirrors efforts by successive generations to provide new definitions to the past.
In conclusion, it is true to say that a considerably large section of historians settles within
the practical realist inclination as noted by Appleby, Hunt, and Jacob. One of the common and
notable attributes of their work is their merging of some postmodernism dimensions with
seemingly more traditional styles of history. Thus, as noted in this paper, it is essential to view
sports history through a practical realism perspective.

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References
Hewitson, M. (2014). Intellectual Historians and the Content of the Form. In History and
Causality (pp. 26-51). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Munslow, A. (2012). Deconstructing Sport History: A Postmodern Analysis. SUNY Press.