Sport Enhancements: Implications for Spirituality

Abstract

This chapter considers possible implications of enhancement use for sport’s spiritual dimension. I ask how enhancements might affect sport’s spirituality that is manifested in hope. Values and intentionality emerge as central; if winning at-any-cost is the most important value in sport, then whatever improves the chances of winning is perceived as enhancing and desirable. Enhancements amplify normative values. If we fail socially to investigate our values and to be intentional about what is important to us collectively, then we risk amplifying implicit normative values and minimizing marginalized values. The discovery of the sacred in sport has not been well recognized or understood. This neglect has meant a failure to consider how enhancements might affect sport’s spirituality, leading to the possibility that sport’s sacred qualities may be compromised in our quest to win.