NIKE is about sport. Always. In the past that was a pretty clear place to be. Teams and coaches struggling to find that elusive advantage; officials blowing whistles; and leagues handing out contracts and fines. Even in the world of individual performance — gymnastics, skating, track & field — the context was communal, an event or championship. But lately the definition of sport has grown a bit fuzzy, maybe even a little confining. Is freestyling a sport? Is yoga? Who knows? Who cares? What matters is that they help people reward and recharge themselves in the same way traditional sports have always done. So what do we call them? We’ve asked ourselves that a lot around here. Here’s what we figured out. They are all play. It's what we gravitate to when responsibility is temporarily removed from the equation. It’s the kid running to the swingset, the woman hugging the face of El Capitan, the 75-year-old dancer. Play is as essential to the human condition as water, and it is not going away. Neither are we. Because NIKE is about play. It’s in everything we do and everything we make. Play is the root of every sport — and of countless other activities we undertake for the same purpose: to find joy in the arc of a ball, the swing of a club, the power of a wave… the simple joy of our own bodies in motion. As long as we continue to help folks do that, we’re going to be just fine. Here’s the real beauty of the thing: play is for everybody. Keep in mind our co-founder’s definition of an athlete. Bill Bowerman used to say, “If you have a body, you’re an athlete.” If you’re alive, you can play.