ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of extensive bibliography at disposal, which, although mainly refers to the understanding of play in children, provides us with observations that can also be applied to adults. Play seems to be fundamentally at the service of the struggle for survival. Another way of understanding what happens in play is to visualise the space that is created in sport as a transitional area. The socialisation that sport makes possible through play must also be stressed: the lucid aspect boosts communication. The importance given to winning or losing games changes from amateur to professional sport, with the impact on a player's career being much more significant at top level. Players who have undergone these experiences recognize and identify themselves with these qualities, incorporating them as a way of life. The capacity for play can be considered as an achievement, a non-neurotic acquisition.
