ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nexus that is playfulness in movement, the rule-bound nature of play in-and-as sport and the limits of the regulation of joyfulness to argue that despite the exhortation to health-through-instrumentalized-activity one remain homo ludens. Eruption is always accompanied by force: an uncontrolled power that escapes. Progress through the first and second stages of paidia shows the development of this eruption of energy to self-expression leading finally to self-realization in the third stage. Sport activities are a key vehicle in the drive to reduce health issues such as obesity; One argue that while the focus is often on sport activities, people's involvement is more likely to be as a result of the possibilities for playfulness and joy. All sport activities are ludus, but it is paidia, the unregulated and unprepared form of bodily energy, that brings the player into play.
