Pokémon and Sports

There are many things that go well with Pokémon. Photography is one of them (Pokémon Snap) and art (Pokémon Art Academy) is another. But I would also argue that sports - in particular conventional sports - also goes well with Pokémon. After all, in a world that is similar to ours, sports could also be similar. Granted, there's a line of reasoning that states Pokémon battling is a sport, or rather the sport. But when closely considered, it is actually possible that conventional sports are also present in the world of Pokémon.

The most telltale sports equipment in the world of Pokémon is, of course, the bicycle. Anything that a bicycle can do in the real world, bicycles in the Pokémon world can do. This is no more true than in the third-generation games, where there are two bikes to choose from: the Mach Bike and the Acro Bike. The Mach Bike goes fast, akin to the real-world road bike, and the Acro Bike goes anywhere, akin to the real-world mountain or trials bike. It is not too much of a stretch to think there could be competitions with these bikes in the Pokémon world, much like we do in ours.

The sport that isn't a sport, which is spectator sport, would conceivably also be present alongside conventional sports. Certainly Pokémon battles are shown live in front of an audience and broadcast all over (if the very first episode of the anime would have you believe), and that makes it a spectator sport as well. Again, what holds true in the real world and is (or could be) similar in aspect in the Pokémon world might very well be true, so all the conventional sports may similarly become spectator sports.

So it seems that sports are a given when it comes to Pokémon. Battling itself could be considered a sport, and the prime one at that. The existence of equipment that is typically used in real-world sports like the bicycle practically hints at other sports in the Pokémon world. And all of these can be viewed and watched by everyone, making them spectator sports. I'd say it wouldn't be hard to believe that Pokémon lends itself well to sports, just like it does to many of our real-world things.