Water in Sport and Recreation
From Ice to Sweat: How Water Shapes the World of Sports
Water is everywhere in sports and recreation, whether we notice it or not. From the sweat on an athlete’s face to the snow under a snowboarder’s feet, water is ever-present.
Whether you’re a tennis player battling dehydration under the sun or a skier gliding down a frosty mountain, water shapes how we perform, how we design equipment, and even how we experience sport as spectators.
Hydration and Performance: Water’s Impact on Athletes
During intense physical activity, athletes need to replace water lost through sweat and respiration. During intense physical activities like running, cycling, or playing football, the body loses a lot of water through sweat. This isn’t just uncomfortable – it can seriously affect performance.
In hot climates, athletes can lose liters of water in a single game or match. Without enough hydration, performance drops, and the risk of heat exhaustion or heatstroke goes up. Even in colder weather, though you might not feel as thirsty, water loss still happens through respiration, so hydration is just as crucial.
Water and the Science Behind Sports Gear Design and Equipment
Water shapes the equipment athletes use. In swimming, speed relies on minimising hydrodynamic drag. Designers of swimsuits, racing hulls, surfboards, and skis rely on fluid dynamics to minimise drag, allowing athletes to move faster, whether through water or across icy surfaces.
Not only do Olympic swimmers wear specialised suits designed to reduce drag, but open-water swimmers may also use products such as petroleum jelly or lanolin to protect the skin from chafing and, in colder conditions, help with insulation. The same substances therefore connect the sport to petroleum, sheep’s wool, skin, water temperature and the physical interaction between human bodies and water.
On the other hand, sports such as ice hockey and bobsleigh depend on controlling friction. Too much or too little water on the ice surface or frozen into snow can drastically affect how fast or slow athletes go. Equipment such as water skis and snowboards are meticulously designed to work with water in its various forms, whether liquid, ice, or snow.
But it’s not just Olympic athletes who rely on this balance. Everyday sports such as tennis and football also depend on water. Too much rain, and a football field turns into a mud pit. Not enough water, and a tennis court could get too dry and crack, impacting the game. Water management is key across all sports, whether we’re talking about high-tech Olympic venues or your local football pitch.
Water Sports: Where Water Takes Centre Stage
It might seem obvious to say, but the constant study of the properties of water by those crossing it for trade, community, fishing, pleasure or military reasons, progressed the evolution of water sports. For example, designers of trade clippers once focused on hull speed for economic reasons, but these same principles now inform competitive sailing.
Similarly, the simply inflated leather bladder kicked around in a yard has evolved into the precisely engineered football. Older leather footballs could absorb water on wet pitches, becoming heavier, slicker and more difficult to control. Modern synthetic balls are designed to minimise water absorption while maintaining consistent weight, shape, bounce and flight. The ball may look completely unrelated to water, but even its design reflects the conditions in which the game is played.
So we don’t merely play sports in water – we have repeatedly invented ways of moving, playing and competing because water is there.
Of course, there are activities where water has always been the star of the show: swimming, boating, throwing snowballs, skidding around on ice, and jumping into water. These activities simply couldn’t exist without it. But what’s fascinating is how different cultures have sought out water for their enjoyment in such similar ways through the ages.
Throughout history, humans have ingeniously adapted to their watery surroundings. Canoes, a prime example, evolved from simple hollowed-out tree trunks into a diverse array of watercraft, each tailored to local conditions yet sharing the same fundamental purpose.
From the Arctic to the Amazon, from the Pacific Islands to European rivers, these vessels reflect both the universality of human water-based activities and the unique cultural expressions they inspire.
Protecting Our Water: Challenges and Opportunities
While water is essential to the sports we enjoy, it is also a resource under growing threat. Pollution, climate change, and overuse are all taking a toll on our rivers, lakes, and oceans. When water quality suffers, so do the sports and recreational activities that depend on it.
Though credit goes to some cyanobacteria for playing a crucial role in oxygenating Earth’s early atmosphere billions of years ago through photosynthesis, today however, harmful cyanobacterial blooms can make lakes unusable for sports like swimming and fishing.
Raw sewage pollution threatens surfing spots. Nutrient run-off decimates fish populations, disappointing anglers.
Melting glaciers endanger climbers and winter sports enthusiasts.
We’ve all seen how floating plastic waste damages marine life and habitats but from a sports angle it can spoil the waters use for fishing, surfing, sailing and beach sports.
Changing ocean currents alter sailing races.
Extreme weather affects everything from ballooning competitions to beach volleyball.
Oil spills close shorelines to rock-pooling and leisurely picnics.
Take surfing, for example. Polluted oceans aren’t just unpleasant—they’re dangerous. Similarly, anglers who rely on clean rivers for fishing can attest first-hand to how water quality impacts their sport. That’s why movements like Surfers Against Sewage and Anglers for Clean Rivers are so crucial. They’re fighting to protect the very water that makes these sports possible. But it’s not just up to them; we all need to do our part.
A Sustainable Future for Sport as We Know It
As temperatures rise, one might wonder how the sports we know today will change over the coming centuries. Will there still be reliable snow for winter sports? Will rising seas and changing coastlines alter where people sail, swim and surf? And what new sports might emerge as people adapt to changing environments?
We don’t know what sport will look like in the distant future. What we do know is that every version of it will still depend on water.
Water in Sport and Recreation – The Exhibition
Our forthcoming exhibition will explore the extraordinary ways water shapes sport: in the human body, in equipment and playing surfaces, in snow and ice, in rivers and oceans, and in the changing environments on which sport depends.
Through objects, stories and interactive experiences, visitors will be invited to follow the water and discover connections they may never have considered. From a football pitch to a glacier, from a swimmer’s body to a racing yacht, the story is always connected by the same thing: water.
The exhibition is part of World of Water’s wider work to help people of all ages discover water’s significance in every facet of our lives.
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Further Reading:
Environmental Challenges Facing Athletes
This article discusses the environmental challenges anticipated at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including water quality issues that could impact athletes.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/58/15/870
Environmental Sustainability in Sport and Physical Activity – Key Findings
This report highlights the environmental impacts on outdoor sports and physical activities, emphasizing the challenges posed by extreme weather events and pollution.
https://www.sport.wales/research-and-insight/environmental-sustainability-in-sport-and-physical-activity/key-findings/
Olympic-Sized Impact: Revolutionising Sustainability in Sports
This article explores how major sporting events, particularly the Olympics, are setting new benchmarks for sustainability and addressing their environmental footprint.
https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/sustainability-in-sports
Bringing the Games to the World: Environmental Challenges to Athlete Health and Performance
This article focuses on the health risks athletes face due to environmental challenges, particularly heat and water pollution, during major international competitions.
https://journal.aspetar.com/en/archive/volume-5-targeted-topic-international-sports-federations/bringing-the-games-to-the-world-ii-environmental-challenges-to-athlete-health-and-performance-in-the-heat