There are many sports today that capture the imaginations of the population at large. If you’re a fan of some of the more popular sports in existence, then you might be a bit curious about the origins of the sports. Keep reading to learn about the history of how three important sports began. This will give you a bit of insight into how these sports started out and turned into the big spectacles that they are today.
- Basketball
Basketball is certainly one of the most popular sports in the world right now. It’s a great sport that involves skill, athletic ability, and strategy. The sport came into being all the way back in 1892 when it was devised as a way to help people stay in shape during gym class. The original incarnation of basketball saw soccer balls being dribbled on the court with peach baskets acting as the goals.
It took at least a decade for more traditional rules to come into being. In the early-1900s, they started using open-ended nets instead of peach baskets. The rules would be refined for many decades until they became what you are familiar with now. Many new ideas came into being such as free throws, three-point shots, dunking, and so much more.
- American Football
American Football actually comes from the concept of rugby, but it also takes some inspiration from soccer. The first college football game was played in 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton. The sport became more popular in 1879 when the game started being played with more refined rules that came from a man named Walter Camp. College football would be the most popular form of the sport for quite some time since professional football wouldn’t really catch on until many decades later.
- Ice Hockey
The true origins of ice hockey aren’t completely understood, but it’s likely that the game is derived from Northern European field hockey. Field hockey is a centuries-old game that is quite similar to ice hockey in key ways, but the modern type of ice hockey with familiar rules was created by a Canadian named James Creighton. The first game was played in Montreal back in 1875, and they used a flat circular piece of wood as the puck. It’s also notable that this first game was played between two nine-player teams.