There are many types of sports competitions – amateur sports, professional sports, school sports and community sports. Sports competitions are usually governed by some kind of rules or traditions, that ensure fair play, and enable consistent adjudication of the final winner. In many organised sports, records of past performance are kept, and for less popular sports, this data can be widely advertised or announced in sports news. Sports journalism in the UK has developed to a very high standard over the past few years, following the growth of professional sport as a major market, and following the introduction of televised sports coverage in the late nineties.
International sports competitions, also known as intercollegiate sports, feature teams from a variety of different countries, playing a game of sport of similar stature. There is generally no physical contact, and there is also very little equipment involved in most games; the main difference between international and domestic sports competition is the level of skill and competitiveness, as well as the level of training that the players receive. These competitions are generally more competitive than national level sports, with coaches making sure that the players are given each identical amount of time to train. The rules of international sports can vary considerably from one country to another, but they are based on the same principles of fairness.
A major part of the definition of sport is the ability to perceive an action as ordinarily done. The sports definition is more subjective, with sports enthusiasts defining the spirit of a game, or the spirit of fair play, or even the spirit of their own sports team. One of the most important things about sports is the spirit behind them. Many people find it hard to judge or define sports, since the spirit by itself is hard to define. However, even though there are no physical criteria to define the spirit of a game, sports are generally seen as competitions, with clear-cut rules to govern the competition.