VOLLEYBALL

On February 9, 1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts (USA), William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical education
director, created a new game called Mintonette as a pastime to be played (preferably) indoors and by any
number of players. The game took some of its characteristics from tennis and handball. Another indoor sport,
basketball, was catching on in the area, having been invented just ten miles (sixteen kilometers) away in the city
of Springfield, Massachusetts, only four years before. Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport, less rough
than basketball, for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring a bit of athletic effort.
The first rules, written down by William G Morgan, called for a net 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) high, a 25 ft 50 ft (7.6 m
15.2 m) court, and any number of players. A match was composed of nine innings with three serves for each
team in each inning, and no limit to the number of ball contacts for each team before sending the ball to the
opponents' court. In case of a serving error, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was
considered a foul (with loss of the point or a side-out)except in the case of the first-try serve.
After an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896,
played at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College), the game quickly became
known as volleyball (it was originally spelled as two words: "volley ball"). Volleyball rules were slightly
modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various
YMCAs.
TAEKWONDO

The name Taekwondo is derived from the Korean word "Tae" meaning foot, "Kwon" meaning fist and "Do"
meaning way of. So, literally Taekwondo means "the way of the foot and fist". The name Taekwondo, however,
has only been used since 1955 while the arts' roots began 2,300 years ago in Korea. Known as a martial art and
way of life, the evolution of Taekwondo was a direct result of the happenings in Korea long ago, and knowledge
of the history is an important step in understanding Taekwondo.
BADMINTON

The sport of badminton has its origins in ancient civilisations in Europe and Asia. The ancient game known as
battledore (bat or paddle) and shuttlecock probably originated more than 2000 years ago. In the 1600s
Battledore and Shuttlecock was an upper class pastime in England and many European countries.
The roots of the sport of badminton can be traced back thousands of years, although the exact origin is
unknown. Games involving a racket and a shuttlecock were probably developed and played in Ancient Greece.
The inception of badminton in England stems from the popular pastime of 'Battledore and Shuttlecock'. This
involved using a paddle to keep a shuttlecock off the ground for as long as possible.
BASEBALL

The question of the origins of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for more than a century.
Baseball and the other modern bat, ball and running games, cricket and rounders, were developed from earlier
folk games in England. Early forms of baseball had a number of names, including "Base Ball", "Goal Ball",

"Round Ball", "Fletch-catch", "stool ball", and, simply, "Base". In at least one version of the game, teams
pitched to themselves, runners went around the bases in the opposite direction of today's game, and players
could be put out by being hit with the ball. Just as now, a batter was called out after three strikes.

SWIMMING

Swimming has featured on the programme of all editions of the Games since 1896. The very first Olympic
events were freestyle. Backstroke was added in 1900.
In the 1940s, breaststrokers discovered that they could go faster by bringing both arms forward over their heads.
This practice was immediately forbidden in breaststroke, but gave birth to butterfly, whose first official
appearance was at the 1956 Games in Melbourne. This style is now one of the four strokes used in competition.
Womens swimming became Olympic in 1912 at the Stockholm Games. Since then, it has been part of every
edition of the Games. The mens and womens programmes are almost identical, as they contain the same
number of events, with only one difference: the freestyle distance is 800 metres for women and 1,500 metres for
men.

UNICYCLE

Vehicles for human transport that have two wheels and require balancing by the rider date back to the early 19th
century. The first means of transport making use of two wheels arranged consecutively, and thus the archetype
of the bicycle, was the German draisine dating back to 1817. The term bicycle was coined in France in the
1860s

TENNIS

The game that most people call tennis is the direct descendant of what is now known as real tennis or royal
tennis (which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules). Most of the rules of
the game commonly known as tennis derive from real or royal tennis. It is reasonable to see both sports as
variations of the same game. Most historians believe that tennis originated in the monastic cloisters in northern
France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand hence the name jeu de paume
("game of the palm").[1] It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be
called "tennis." It was popular in England and France and Henry VIII of England was a big fan of the game,
now referred to as real tennis.[2]
Many original tennis courts remain, including courts at Oxford, Cambridge and Hampton Court Palace. Many
of the French courts were decommissioned with the terror that accompanied the French Revolution. The Tennis
Court Oath (French: Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a pivotal event during the first days of the French
Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked
out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. Any history of tennis that ignores its origins in the
game that was (and is still in certain circles) known as tennis until "lawn tennis" became popular in the late
nineteenth century is inaccurate.
The Davis Cup, an annual competition between men's national teams, dates to 1900.[3] The analogous
competition for women's national teams, the Fed Cup, was founded as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate
the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Tennis Federation, also known as the ITF.
In 1926, promoter C.C. Pyle created the first professional tennis tour with a group of American and French
tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences.[4][5] The most notable of these early
professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen.[4][6] Once a player
turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments.[4]
In 1968, commercial pressures and rumors of some amateurs taking money under the table led to the
abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the "open era", in which all players could compete in all
tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis.[7] With the beginning of the open era,
the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights,
tennis's popularity has spread worldwide, and the sport has shed its upper/middle-class English-speaking
image[8] (although it is acknowledged that this stereotype still exists).[8][9][10]

RUNNING

Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot.
Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there
are exceptions[1]). This is in contrast to walking, where one foot is always in contact with the ground, the legs
are kept mostly straight and the center of gravity vaults over the stance leg or legs in an inverted pendulum
fashion.[2] A characteristic feature of a running body from the viewpoint of spring-mass mechanics is that
changes in kinetic and potential energy within a stride occur simultaneously, with energy storage accomplished
by springy tendons and passive muscle elasticity.[3] The term running can refer to any of a variety of speeds
ranging from jogging to sprinting.
It is assumed that the ancestors of mankind developed the ability to run for long distances about 2.6 million
years ago, probably in order to hunt animals.[4] Competitive running grew out of religious festivals in various
areas. Records of competitive racing date back to the Tailteann Games in Ireland in 1829 BCE,[citation needed]
while the first recorded Olympic Games took place in 776 BCE. Running has been described as the world's
most accessible sport.[5]

TABLE TENNIS

The name "ping-pong" then came to be used for the game played by the rather expensive Jaques's equipment,
with other manufacturers calling it table tennis. A similar situation arose in the United States, where Jaques sold
the rights to the "ping-pong" name to Parker Brothers.

RUGBY

The contemporary history of the world's favourite game spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in
England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football
Association in England was formed - becoming the sport's first governing body.
Both codes stemmed from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. A search
down the centuries reveals at least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees, and to which the
historical development of football has been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is
disputable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that people have enjoyed kicking a ball about for thousands of years
and there is absolutely no reason to consider it an aberration of the more 'natural' form of playing a ball with the
hands.
On the contrary, apart from the need to employ the legs and feet in tough tussles for the ball, often without any
laws for protection, it was recognised right at the outset that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was not
easy and, as such, required no small measure of skill. The very earliest form of the game for which there is
scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries BC in
China.
This Han Dynasty forebear of football was called Tsu' Chu and it consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with
feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only 30-40cm in width, into a small net fixed onto long
bamboo canes. According to one variation of this exercise, the player was not permitted to aim at his target
unimpeded, but had to use his feet, chest, back and shoulders while trying to withstand the attacks of his
opponents. Use of the hands was not permitted.
Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese Kemari, which began some
500-600 years later and is still played today. This is a sport lacking the competitive element of Tsu' Chu with no
struggle for possession involved. Standing in a circle, the players had to pass the ball to each other, in a
relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.
The Greek 'Episkyros' - of which few concrete details survive - was much livelier, as was the Roman
'Harpastum'. The latter was played out with a smaller ball by two teams on a rectangular field marked by
boundary lines and a centre line. The objective was to get the ball over the opposition's boundary lines and as
players passed it between themselves, trickery was the order of the day. The game remained popular for 700800 years, but, although the Romans took it to Britain with them, the use of feet was so small as to scarcely be
of consequence.

TRACK AND FIELD

Australopithecus, an early ancestor of humans, to walk upright on two legs.[6]

The theory proposed considered to be the most likely evolution of running is of early humans' developing as
endurance runners from the practice of persistence hunting of animals, the activity of following and chasing
until a prey is too exhausted to flee, succumbing to "chase myopathy" (Sears 2001), and that human features
such as the nuchal ligament, abundant sweat glands, the Achilles tendons, big knee joints and muscular glutei
maximi, were changes caused by this type of activity (Bramble & Lieberman 2004, et al.).[7][8][9]
Competitive running grew out of religious festivals in various areas such as Greece, Egypt, Asia, and the East
African Rift in Africa. The Tailteann Games, an Irish sporting festival in honour of the goddess Tailtiu, dates
back to 1829 BCE, and is one of the earliest records of competitive running.[citation needed] The origins of the
Olympics and Marathon running are shrouded by myth and legend, though the first recorded games took place
in 776 BCE.[12] Running in Ancient Greece can be traced back to these games of 776
SEPAK TAKRAW

Sepak takraw (Malay: sepak raga; Jawi: ; Thai: , rtgs: takro, pronounced [t.kr]; Khmer:

Sei Dak; Lao: ka-taw; Filipino: sipa; Vietnamese: cu my),[1] or kick volleyball, is a sport native to
Southeast Asia.[2] Sepaktakraw differs from the similar sport of volleyball in its use of a rattan ball and only
allowing players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball. It is a popular sport in Southeast Asia.
In Malaysia, the game is called sepak raga or takraw. It is also kataw (Lao: "twine" and "kick")[1] while in
Thailand it is called takraw. In Myanmar it is known as chin lone, and is considered more of an art as there is
often no opposing team, and the point is to keep the ball aloft gracefully and interestingly. In the Philippines,
besides "takraw" it is also known as sipa, meaning "kick".
Similar games include footbag net, footvolley, football tennis, bossaball, jianzi and sipa.