Table Tennis is one sport that has the ability to bring people together, in part because it’s playable by anyone, anywhere there’s a table and net. Practically everyone has picked up a paddle and some point in their life, to trade easy going volleys in a basement, dorm room or the games room of a sports bar.
Volleyball is actually the 5th most popular sport, and the second most popular team sport in the world, with over 900 Million fans around the globe. It’s also a fairly recent sport, developed at Springfield Massachusetts in 1895 by YMCA instructor William G. Morgan. The sport, originally named ‘mintonette’, borrowed ideas from a number of sports including basketball, tennis, handball and baseball. The following year, professor Alfred Halstead proposed changing the name to ‘volleyball’ after observing the volleying nature of the game. The sport became very popular, very quickly, being played by both men and women around the country at various colleges, playgrounds and even throughout the armed forces.
Talk to any Canadian and they’ll tell you that hockey is Canada’s game. Ice hockey is in Canada’s blood, literally. They invented it and proudly defend it. So why is this game so popular and why is the rest of the world getting in on the action?
Swimming is something most of us take for granted. For most of us, it’s something we learn to do at a young age to stop our lungs from filling up with water if you were to accidentally fall into a river. Prior to the 19th century, people would have thought you were crazy thinking of swimming as a sport in the same vein as football or tennis. Now swimming is one of the most popular participation sports in the world.
Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world and it’s easy to see why. It can be played by young and old alike, it’s easy to learn and the rules are simple.
Unlike most other sports that have roots that date back thousands of years, basketball is a fairly recent sport and there is no ambiguity as to when and how it was created. In Springfield Massachusetts, December 1891, 30 year old YMCA gym teacher James Naismith invented the game as a way to keep peoples fitness levels up during the incredibly cold Boston winters. To create the game, he used a wooden peach basket, a 10-foot pole and a soccer ball. In 1891, the first ever basketball game was played between Naismith’s students, with a final score of 1-0.
Boxing is a prestigious sport with an ancient history, its roots dating back to ancient Egypt around 3000BC, and was adopted by the Greeks in the late 7th century. In those days, boxers fought without ropes, corners or rounds, with boxers who proved their endurance and courage being highly regarded in Greek society.
It’s believed that Scandinavians were the first to develop the ice skate. Archaeological records found in the region have documented primitive forms of ice skates which used animal bones attached to the boot to function as the blades.
Tennis is a game that most of us would have encountered at some point in our lives. It’s a sport in which two opposing players, or a pair of players use rackets to hit a ball over a net. Points are awarded when your opponent fails to return the ball within a defined set of boundaries.
For some, surfing is a serious sport, for others, just a way to relax and unwind on the beach. There’s always been a certain mystique around surfing and when you start to dig a little deeper you discover that surfing has a rich and deep history that dates back thousands of years.
