Sports

All About Volleyball

In 1895, William Morgan, a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) instructor in Holyoke, Massachusetts decided to combine baseball, tennis, basketball, and handball.  At first, he had called it Minonette and later it was called volleyball.  The net in volley ball is six feet six inches above the floor.  The idea of that came from the tennis nets but the volleyball nets are a lot bigger than tennis nets.  Five years later, in 1900, a special ball was made just for the sport of volleyball.  In 1922, the first YMCA National Championships took place in Brooklyn, New York and 27 teams from 11 states showed up.  In 1930, the first two person beach volleyball game was played.  In 1947, the Federation Internationale De Volley-Ball (FIVB) was founded.  In 1964, Volleyball was introduced as a sport in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.  In 1984, the United States won its first two volleyball medals in Los Angeles, California. The men won gold and the women won silver.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

All About Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin and is played with a lacrosse stick and a small but hard rubber ball.  Its nickname is "Lax" because la and the x is a cross so lacrosse.  The lacrosse stick has a net so the players could catch the ball and either shoot or pass or run with the ball.  Lacrosse is a really physical sport so a lot of people get bruises and a lot of people foul on purpose.  On the field, there are ten people from each team playing so there are twenty people in all on the field when the lacrosse ball is in play.

Good websites about lacrosse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacrosse
http://www.hickoksports.com/history/lacrosse.shtml
http://www.uslacrosse.org/museum/history.phtml

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

All About Basketball

Basketball was started back in 1891 when James Naismith a Canadian physical education instructor made specific rules for the sport.  James was born in Almonte, Ontario and went to school at McGill University and Presbyterian College in Montreal.  He first started making the rules at Springfield College along with physical education specialist Luther Halsey Gulick.

Friday, October 22, 2010

All About Baseball

In 1845, Alexander Cartwright formalized a list of rules which anyone could play with.  The first official game of baseball was in 1846.  Cartwright and his Knickerbocker Baseball Club Of New York lost to the New York Baseball Club at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey.  Baseball is a game which the pitcher pitches and you try hitting the ball and then you run onto the bases.  There are four bases in all, first base, second  base, third base, and home plate.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

All About Swimming

Swimming started all the way back to about 5,000 B.C.  It started that early because all you have to do to swim is to get into a mass of water and try to stay floating as long as you can.  It takes some practice at first but once you get the hang of it becomes really easy.  I know this because I have been swimming competitively for three years and I have experience.
Good Websites About Swimming:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_swimming
http://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-swimming.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~hot_tub/history-of-swimming.htm

All About American Football

Football started in 1823 at a boys only school, Princeton University.  Back then, it was called Ballown.  The field is really only 100 yards but there are two end zones at both ends which are 10 yards each so it is really 120 yards.  Football is a really physical sport so there are lots of injuries and people getting tackled badly.  Whenever the ball is in play, there are 22 players in all on the field, 11 defense and 11 offense.  One touchdown gets your team 6 points and you get a kick to get an extra point, so you get a total of 7 points per touchdown.
Good Websites About Football:
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002791/all_about_football.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0130702/footballhistory.html
http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/HistoryFootball.htm

Thursday, October 14, 2010

All About Soccer

Soccer is generally a game where you kick a ball and try to get it into your opponents net.  It all started back in 200 B.C. when Chinese players kicked around a ball made of leather into small nets.  Back then, people were allowed to kick, punch, gouge each other so that the game was really violent.

In 1815, soccer started being played as a proffesional sport when an English school, Eton College, established a set of rules which other colleges and universities later adopted.  Later on it was known as the Cambridge Rules and was adopted by almost all the colleges and universities in England in 1848.
Good Websites About Soccer:
http://www.soccer-for-parents.com/history-of-soccer.html
http://www.all-soccer-info.com/
http://www.historyofsoccer.info/