What are we doing when we are training?

Amateur and professional sportspersons, Bernard Suits proposed, are differentiated by their attitude towards their sport. For the amateur, competition is a game done for its own sake; while for the professional, it is a game, but it is one that is done for a further reason. It follows that in competing, amateurs are playing, while professionals are working. But what should one say about the training that both amateur and professional do in preparation for competition? Competition is an athletic game which can be engaged in as play or work, but is training a game, play or work? This paper hopes to offer starting answers to these questions.