Nowadays, people are keen to engage in physical activity in their free time systematically and in the long term. At the same time, it is no longer merely a form of health promotion or rest and regeneration, but is becoming a constitutive element of identity. In fact, it seems that leisure-time sport, involving amateur competitions in various events and tournaments, is acquiring increasing importance as a segment of physical recreation. For example, street marathons are very popular and often take the form of mass events. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that, as Byung-Chul Han writes, we are now living in an achievement society, and people want to be admirably successful also in leisure activities (not only at work or possibly in family life).

In this workshop, we will take a closer look at concepts such as leisure, physical recreation, physical activity, free time and sport. We will explore the status of leisure in modern societies, in comparison with industrial and pre-modern societies. We will also discuss the most important aspects of Robert Stebbins’ Serious Leisure Perspective and, on this basis, try to design a local study of the phenomenon of amateur sport.