Anyone else think of obstacle course racing (such as, Ultimate Beastmaster and Ninja Warrior) as an example of potential integral sport?
Ultimate Beastmaster:
Tribal - Families, national teams, and nations are recognized, honored, and celebrated. There are fun rivalries between certain nations and a bit of teasing and jesting. Some of the competitors are from the same family (same season and different seasons) as other competitors. A fair bit of talk about spell-casting among the Italian and French commentators. Good and bad luck and talk about hexes among the US commentators.
Warrior - They often use the term “warrior” to describe the competitors. Sometimes folks get injured or bloodied up in their “battle to conquer the beast” and this is often spoken about as an additional aspect of honor. There’s a bit of heroic presentation during the backstory introduction of each competitor.
Rule/Role - The whole obstacle course game has rules and a point system which determines who makes it to the final round and the winner. There are rules about how to legally transverse an obstacle, though some leeway is given to the competitor in the obstacle design. (Ex. No one’s tried to climb onto of an obstacle they’re supposed to go through.) Each competitor demonstrates very strong self-discipline skills in order to make it on the show.
Achiever - The course doesn’t have to be completed, as the contestants are ranked according to their ability to rack up points. There are different options for maximising points allowing for strategy to play a factor in one’s success. Competitors are encouraged to strategize and play to their strengths and engage their self-awareness.
Sensitive - It appears that the competitors are encouraged to support each other. You often see them hugging each other or fist-bumping or cheering for or comforting each other. It appears that each national team includes at least 1 female, though I haven’t heard of any rule which requires it. The commentators (there are 2 from each nation represented in the season) often go into each other’s boxes to congratulate or tease their friends and rivals. Usually, even if it’s a rival team/nation, most of the commentators will recognize and honor a particularly gifted or lucky attempt and there’s also lots of encouragement and recognition of those who don’t get as far as the others. There seems to be a clear but unspoken sense that all the competitors are winners simply because they are in such good physical shape to even be able to attempt the obstacle course.
It looks like the entire filming is one big party. There are glimpses of national teams, families, and supporters cheering and dancing with each other. At one point in season 3 episode 1, there’s a communal beer stein that’s passed around among the commentators. Then german commentators promised their contestant that they would jump into the water with their contestant if he made it through to the final round.
So has anyone watched obstacle course races like Ultimate Beastmaster or Ninja Warrior (Sasuke)?
Any thoughts on which values each represent? It appears to be to be demonstrative of integral thought, but not necessarily of integral thinking. What do you all think? Have you come across a sport that seems inherently integral in its design or presentation?