Corporeity and Integration in the Intercultural Dimension of Sport

When doing sports, it is mostly the body that speaks. The face expressions, the gestures, the behavior, the cries of joy or pain, are all ways of communicating. Some bodily expressions are universal and also athletes use body language; Sport is practiced by many, is followed by everyone, and is in everyday life, thus becoming a psychological, social and cultural incentive. It creates symbols and expressive signs, and fully belongs to culture; it can be defined as a communicative language that changes as the society changes too, and triggers a multitude of behavioral patterns. Greater value holds what a sportsman communicates with his behavior: a correct behavior, respectful of rules and opponents, shows that he shares the authentic values that sport spreads. The connection with the cultures of other peoples allows sport becoming an instrument through which one is able to implement a process of socialization between subjects, whether they are men or women, or ethnic minorities and immigrants, wherever economic differences emerge or physical barriers are found for people with disabilities, in linguistic and cultural diversity.