Sport: A physical activity/game. An athletic activity, competative in nature. Regulated, or having rules which transform "play" into "games."
professional sport: A competative game. Played at a more often advanced level; the players often recieve monetary compensation. Paid more attention by the mass media. Expectation for payment for performance, which contradicts the central ethos of sport, in which competition is performed for its own sake, rather than as a means to earn a living.
gender: Male/female; a social construct, often identified by a person's sex, which isn't quite as fluid as many seem to think (i.e. transgender, intersex, et). Norms of masculinity and feminity that are socially constructed (i.e. superimposed rather than originating in sex traits at birth)
role of gender in professional sport: Sports are divided by gender. A power play/a divide. Power divisions provide unearned advantages, or privileges, to some individuals while presenting barriers to others. Women are often seen as sexy/unsexy and are usually described by appearnce rather than by their talent.