Are sports legalized combat practice?

Mankind has had competitions for as long as they have been social creatures. Running races in the early days played into who might bring more to the hunting. Wrestling to see who was stronger and more wily. Throwing rocks, javelins, etc were all from hunting times. Swimming developed so people could cross rivers.

I think most sports were extensions of generic living. They developed as sports because people like competition. That is how man advances himself…through competition. Some of that spilled over into combat, it is true, but I don’t know if I would call sports legalized combat practices. Sports typically help develop strength, speed, will to win, agility, etc. Those things are all beneficial in soldiers too, but not everyone that goes into sports is a soldier and many may never go that way.