The origin of the word fan derives from the new word in the Latin language called Fanaticus, which refers to the meaning of both insane and inspired at the same time. On the other side, the real fans really love their teams whether they win or lose and they keep cheering them till the end. Furthermore, they show this love and passion about their favorite teams through getting tattoos of the team’s logo on their skin and singing anthems as well as spending all the money they have in order to express their emotions and feelings towards this team. Despite being a sport fan could have negative effects and side effects like violence, there are many advantages as sports allow the fan to be in shape in addition to forcing him to be more active and widening the circle of his relationships.
How Can One Be a Sports Fan:
As for how people tend to be sports fan, this starts with them since their childhood and since they were kids. Based on what was mentioned by one of the experts in the field of sports named Doctor Jeffrey James, kids whose ages are eight or nine years old tend to begin forming and directing their emotions and feelings towards a certain sport or a certain member in the team and this happens after their ability to develop the faculties and skills of thinking.
Moreover, there are many elements and factors which could have an impact on the selection of kids to their favorite teams like families, means of media and other social activities like taking part in sports competitions besides playing with others at schools or in clubs. Therefore, organizations, teams and leagues responsible for sports have to make the social relationships between fans easier and simpler. This means that if they take into account the support of those fans and developing their skills and experiences, they will achieve a lot of money and it would be a great investment for them and the entire business of sport.
Social Importance of Fans in Sports:
As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter what the type of sport is whether it is basketball, football or hockey for example as long as it has the same benefits and advantages on its fans. Therefore, here are some of the social impacts of being a sports fan:
1- Fans in any team have different and huge numbers of relationships with others as they form a network together. According to one of the fans whose age is thirty one named Hoang Nguyen from the United States, when fans watch the game or the match, they don’t care about whether their team wins or loses. In fact, they consider viewing their favorite teams as a method in order to see their family members and friends who they haven’t seen since a long time and so that they could be able to get in touch with others in one place while enjoying their time and having some fun.
This means that sports is regarded as a social gathering for fans to see and meet each other. Furthermore, a lot of experts and studiers in the field of social relationships have been doing researches, experiments and studies about the dynamics, emotions and activities of fans and game watchers for a long time. What’s more, some of them believe that cheering a certain sport enhances and supports the social life and psychological skills and abilities of those fans through allowing them to gather with other individuals who share the same loyalty and passion about this team as well as forming and founding a sort of a community. In fact, the effects of this feeling of belonging are deeply positive especially on the sentimental health of men.
2- Fans and game spectators don’t only get in touch and connection with their favorite teams, heroes and stadiums. Games and matches in sports are considered as social events in which the interaction between fans and the experience of fandom and meeting new people matter more than the real game. Actually, one of the main benefits of the prevalence and spread of social relationships is that they allow people to have the desire of belonging to the crowds and cheerleaders. As a result, this is very important for people hence they get the chance to travel to far places and countries in order to watch their preferable sport and to meet new nationalities.
On the other side, the problem in this atmosphere and social interaction is that being a member of those fans is really hard. Before the emergence of different fan bases and spectators, organizations and institutions in the field of sport were able to know and determine their markets and businesses. Nevertheless, fans now tend to be more and from different tendencies. Therefore, getting in touch with others need a lot of interaction and formation of big numbers of contacts and relationships.
3- People like to feel members of a certain community or a base and that’s why they take the decision to get in contact with other people and individuals on the different means and websites of social media. Thus, sports organizations have to give them the opportunity to talk about their love and passion, their emotions, thoughts, suggestions and ideas as well as explaining and describing their experiences in addition to taking part in speeches and discussions. In fact, when sports organizations take care of their fans and keep up with their demands and needs, they don’t have to do huge efforts in order to achieve that as these activities don’t cost a lot of money and don’t take a lot of time.
On the contrary, these activities could be really easy and quick like tweeting or posting a photo or even sending a message to one of the fan’s inbox. This means that when teams show their care about their fans as well as enabling them to get in touch with their members and understand their concepts and principles, they will like to keep cheering and having passion for their heroes and stars. On the other side, fans definitely liked to be appreciated and take into consideration by their teams. Thus, teams have to describe and talk about their love towards their fans as well as respecting their thoughts and ideas and attempting to increase the importance of their experiences. Besides, fans have to show their cheering and fandom to the teams like focusing on their loyalty and allegiance on different social media websites. Based on what was mentioned by the Director of Media Partnerships for Facebook named Nick Grudin, social experiences have a great role in supporting and enhancing sports. In fact, fans are crazy about their preferable teams and stadiums are considered as the second most visited place in the United States where people go after airports.
Psychological Importance of Fans in Sports:
It doesn’t matter which team you cheer or are a fan of because fandom and cheering have a lot of advantages and benefits especially on your psychological health. According to what is said by clinical sports psychologist named William Wiener who holds a PHD in this field, people who believe that fans and cheerers tend to be isolated and separated from the entire world are totally mistaken and wrong. In fact, sports allow those individuals to get in contact and connection with others as they form one network and community. Therefore, here are some of the psychological benefits of fandom on fans:
1- Cheering allows fans to have a longer life. In fact, having a good health and following a perfect diet are essential elements and factors on which peoples’ lives should be based because they allow them to have a longer life. Therefore, watching and cheering sports games and matches could also have a great role in enabling fans to live longer. Based on Weiner’s talk, people tend to have longer lives as well as becoming better after being ill or sick in the case of supporting a powerful social case. This means that when those people have the chance to watch games and matches with others who encourage and support them when they feel depressed; it results in having a better life and enabling them to be continuously active and in better health. According to one of the students at Brigham Young University, belonging to a strong social community doesn’t only have positive impact on allowing people to live longer; it also helps them in being able to beat difficult diseases like cancer as well as having the chance to preventing themselves from catching colds and flues. This definitely results in making them more happy and satisfied.
2- Cheering prevents fans from getting depressed. Despite the fact that fans could feel angry or sad when their favorite team loses, they could be able to get away of depression through enabling themselves to continuously take part in all the competitions and championships. According to Wiener, fans who tend to be related and associated with their teams don’t feel depressed unlike the ones who aren’t connected to them. He also adds that cheering is regarded as a great chance for fans to get involved in their events of their own community as well as being aware of the other events which occur in this community and this leads to small rates of depression. In addition, researches and studies agree with that opinion as based on one of the studies conducted by Kansas University, fans tend to experiences small rates of depression unlike others who don’t like watching sports or getting involved in them.
Sports Fans as Consumers:
Some people see that sports are activating certain parts in their brains and minds which are also used in learning languages and new things. Therefore, this means that watching sports is sort of a mental exercise. Furthermore, when fans watch their favorite teams playing, they feel that they are part of this team. Moreover, they tend to be more cooperative with others and offer them help. However, there are some defects for being a sports fan as those fans could do shameful and violent behaviors like beating or insulting others who don’t share the same ideas with them or are from the opposite team. This definitely is unacceptable and that’s why fans need to decrease these aggressive actions and prevent them from occurring so that they could be able to enjoy their game without teasing others. As for the psychological advantages of fandom and cheering, my friends believe that when people watch games with others, they become happier and they release all the negative feelings from the stresses of life hence they are able to shout, scream and sing their favorite anthems so that they could be able to cheer their teams.
On the other side, some people think that it is absolutely better for fans to cheer their teams in groups because they feel like one structure and one unit together. They also remove their individuality and start acting like a one person. He also adds that his parents don’t remind him being a fan despite the fact that his father is a fan of the opposite team and sometimes they argue because of that. According to his opinion, cheering provides fans with a chance to know more about others hence fans are allowed to meet new people. When I asked him about the things which could force him to act violently, he answered that he once shouted at another person because he insulted and cursed him and this was totally unacceptable.
As for thinking about practicing the sports of which they are fans, another friend replied that he is already practicing football and he is a total fan of its teams especially Real Madrid. At the end, all the repliers believe that ceasing violence between fans while watching games is a step which has to be implemented so that all the audience could enjoy their game without being scared or embarrassed. Furthermore, they think that sports organization need to take more care of their fans in order to support and encourage them in keeping cheering.
Conclusion:
To sum up, being a sports fan has a great advantages on fans hence it allows them to show their feelings without getting ashamed or scared from others. Furthermore, it allows them to feel belonging to one team and one group who has the same ideas and thoughts. Besides, they are able to start forming relationships with others through cheering and fandom. Nevertheless, fans tend to be aggressive when their team loses or when members of the opposite fans argue with them. Therefore, they must control themselves and raise their self-awareness as well as preventing such actions from happening so that all the audience and people could be able to enjoy and have fun.
