Sport

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a ball through a high hoop (the goal) under organized rules. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world. Points are scored by shooting the ball through the basket above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. Disruptive...

Ice hockey, often referred to simply as hockey in the United States, Canada, Russia and Sweden, is a team sport played on ice. It is a speedy and physical sport. Ice hockey is most popular in areas that are sufficiently cold for natural, reliable seasonal ice cover, though with the advent of indoor artificial ice rink it has become a year-round pastime at the amateur level in major metropolitan areas such as cities that host a National Hockey League (NHL) or other professional-league team. It...

Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. It is a football variant played on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal at each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball;...

A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine and feet-first. Steering is done by flexing the sled's runners with the calf of each leg or exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Luge is also the name of the sport which involves racing with such sleds. It is a competition in which these sleds race against the clock. Luge, like the skeleton, and the bobsled, originated in the health-spa town of St Moritz, Switzerland, in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, through...

Shinty (derived from the Scottish Gaelic sinteag although it is referred to as camanachd or iomain in modern Gaelic) is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played almost exclusively in the Highlands of Scotland, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities, but it was formerly more widespread, reaching as far as England. The sport was derived from the same root as the Irish game of hurling, and is similar to bandy. Shinty is one of the forebears of ice hockey: in 1800...

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the ground, and the shuttlecock may only be struck once by each side before it passes over the net. The...

Beach volleyball is an Olympic team sport played on sand. Two teams, positioned on either side of a net which divides a rectangular court, hit a volleyball, usually using the hands or arms. Players on each team attempt to hit the ball over the net in such a way that it touches the ground inside the court boundaries, and to prevent the ball from touching the ground on their own side of the court. Beach volleyball is a popular recreational activity on many beach around the world, and is generally...

Rugby football, often just "rugby", may refer to a number of sports descended from a common form of football developed at Rugby School in England, United Kingdom. Rugby league, rugby union, American football and Canadian football are modern sports that originated from rugby football. Rugby league and rugby union are the only two sports referred to as "rugby" today. Rugby descends from an 18th century Cornish or Welsh sport known as "hurling" in which a ball was thrown up and the players acting...

Cross-country skiing (also known as XC skiing) is a winter sport popular in many countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe, Canada and Alaska. The popularity of the sport has been quickly growing in the United States and in Australia. Cross-country skiing is part of the Nordic skiing sport family, which also includes ski jumping, and a combination sport of cross-country skiing and ski jumping called Nordic combined. Free-technique cross-country skiing is also the method of...

Australian rules football, Australian football, Aussie rules, or simply "football" or "footy" is a team sport played between two teams of 18 players with a ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid. It is a football variant played outdoors on large oval shaped grass fields (often also used as a cricket ground), with four goal posts at each end. The primary aim of the game is to score goals (worth six points) by kick the ball between the middle two posts of the opposing goal. The winner is the...

Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up or across natural rock formations or man-made rock walls with the goal of reaching the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route. Rock climbing is similar to scrambling (another activity involving the scaling of hills and similar formations), but climbing is generally differentiated by its need for the use of the climber's hands to hold his or her own weight and not just provide balance. Rock climbing is a physically...

Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court. Earl Riskey developed paddleball in the 1920's. Joe Sobek is credited with inventing the sport afterward in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to the game to increase velocity and control. Unlike most racquet sports, such as tennis or badminton, the court's walls, floor, and ceiling are legal playing surfaces, rather than out-of-bounds. Normally, a racquetball game is played between two opposing players...

Road bicycle racing is a popular bicycle racing sport held on roads (following the geography of the area), using racing bicycle. The term 'road racing' is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously (unless riding a handicap event) with the winner being the first at the end of the course (individual and team time trial are another form of cycle racing on roads). Road racing is popular all over the world, but especially in Europe. The most competitive and devoted...

Netball is a non-contact generally indoor sport similar to, and derived from, basketball. It is usually known as a women's sport. It was originally known in its country of origin, the United States, as "women's basketball". Invented in 1895 by Clara Gregory Baer, a pioneer in women's sport, netball is now the pre-eminent women's team sport (both as a spectator and participant sport) in Australia and New Zealand and is popular in the West Indies, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom. Over 20...