With Eastern County and Cup Match just around the corner, the cricket fanatics are starting to get excited.However, there are those who think cricket is just recreational so winning or losing doesn’t really matter and that players merely play for fun and enjoyment. This has prompted me to do a bit of research into recreational sports as many think because you are not a professional, anything else is merely recreational. Is this true?Recreational sports, according to the world of science, are those activities where the primary purpose of the activity is participation, with the related goals of improved physical fitness, fun, and social involvement. Recreational sports are usually perceived as being less stressful, both physically and mentally, on the participants.However, during my research I came upon competitive sports. What are competitive sports?In competitive sports the emphasis will be centred on the achievement of success and the attainment of physical skills through rigorous training. Competitive sports on the other hand are not always an elite athletic activity.So there is a vast difference, but how can someone play cricket for example and yet the sport be considered both recreational and competitive? An example of this would a club hosting a double-wicket competition whereby a player is paired with a non-player, that would be considered recreational. However, an organised league with promotion and demotion, rules and regulations etc, would be considered competitive.As I sat browsing through the newspapers online this past week I came across an article which was discussing recreational sports. It read: “When has cricket been anything other than recreation? All our sports in Bermuda are recreation. It’s always been a recreation (cricket) league.”That series of statements left me dumbfounded. So I ask you, my reading audience, are both of our national sports, cricket and football, recreational sports?As I’m more of a cricketer than footballer I will focus my attention to cricket.Try telling Noel Gibbons, Clevie Wade, Adrian King, Wendell Smith, Charlie Marshall or Albert Steede that the cricket they played was only recreational, I’m sure they will beg to differ.These guys were fierce competitors who when they stepped onto the cricket pitch they had one thing in mind and that was to win. These gentlemen amongst others could be found running the roads and beaches of Bermuda doing ‘extras’ to assure they performed at their very best.I’m under the impression that because none of our sports in Bermuda are professional, some people consider them to be recreational. However, I beg to differ. Recreational sports are basically a sport whereby the end result really doesn’t matter. It’s just there for fun and exercise. Because I’m a cricketer I take that personally that people consider cricket our national sport to be recreational.Do you think the Government of Bermuda would invest $11 million into cricket if it was a recreational sport?Could we have made it to the World Cup if our cricket was merely recreational?Why does the Bermuda Cricket Board have a CEO if our cricket is recreational?Why is it that mostly every club has a coach and pays them extremely well if our cricket is recreational?Last time I checked Cup Match was a two day holiday where the whole of Bermuda shuts down just for a cricket game, surely it can’t be recreational.Hopefully now I have painted a clearer picture to those who were slightly confused. To think cricket is recreational is like saying golf is not a sport. Yes you can argue the point as much as you want, but at the end of the day it is a sport.Hopefully the sport of cricket isn’t hindered in any way by such negative thinking. Hence the importance to get back to two leagues to assure the competitiveness of our national game isn’t lost in the wilderness.If not Stephen Outerbridge could be right when he said, “At the rate we’re going Bermuda will be playing in Division Seven (World League) in the next five years.”Even then it still wouldn’t be recreational.