Salto del Pastor, or Shepherd’s Leap, is the sport of doing cool things with a long pole. The pole, known as a lanza or garrote, is about three meters (9 ft) long and ends in a strong sharp metal spike. But Salto del Pastor wasn’t originally a sport. It evolved as a useful way for [more...]
The federal government gives away hundreds of billions of dollars in grant programs every year and you’d better believe that some of those dollars go toward building athletic programs for kids, adults, men and women. Very little of this federal largess goes to individuals, so the very first thing you need to do if you [more...]
Each time the America's Cup match races are held, sponsors claim that the America's Cup is the oldest sporting trophy, and the media often say the same. The official website is more circumspect, stating: “… the America's Cup is often called the oldest trophy in sport.” The first race was in 1851, around the Isle [more...]
When the modern Olympic Movement began, in 1894, the newly-formed International Olympic Committee (IOC) considered ice skating as a possible sport for the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896. Needless to say, that didn’t happen but figure skating was on the program for the 1908 Olympic Games in London. In 1911, it was suggested that [more...]
Here we will have a fuzzy beginning. It is difficult to say who “invented” the first snowboard. People have always figured out how to slide down a snow covered hill on something, so it would be next to impossible to point out one specific person, who came up with “the first snowboard.” There are still [more...]
In 1891, Dr. James Naismith, instructor at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, looked for indoor games to keep his students occupied and at good levels of fitness during the long New England winters. He wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. In [more...]
There is some dispute about the origins of Tennis. One side believes that the ancient Egyptians played a precursor to tennis. Their theory claims that the name tennis came from the Egyptian town of Tinnis and the word racquet evolved from the Arabic word for palm of the hand, rahat. That is not much evidence, [more...]
While Roman emperors apparently played a game called paganica, using a bent stick to drive a soft, feather-stuffed ball, golf is generally thought to be of Scottish origin, as the game was mentioned in two 15th century laws prohibiting the playing of the game of “gowf.” In the first golf games, players would hit pebbles [more...]
As of 2009, the best city to live in the United States if you are a big basketball fan is the city of Los Angeles—and not just because the Lakers won the championship at the time of this writing. If you are a basketball fan, it is always nice to have a team or a [more...]
Base jumping is an extreme form of parachuting where, instead of jumping out of an aircraft, you jump from a fixed object such as a telecommunications tower, a cliff, a bridge, or a building. Base jumping is much more dangerous than regular skydiving, for several reasons: The limited height gives much less time to get [more...]
The Vancouver Organizing Committee has set rigid restrictions on sales for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which will be held in and near Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, in February. Hoping to prevent problems with scalping and counterfeiting, VANOC is limiting ticket sales to one authorized dealer for each country, has set restrictions on ticket transfers [more...]
Professional baseball in Cleveland originated during the mid-nineteenth century. It began on June 2, 1869, when the Cleveland Forest Citys played the Cincinnati Red Stockings. In 1871, Cleveland had a team in the National Association, but this team ended operations in 1872. During the early 1890s, the Cleveland team, known as the Spiders, had pitching [more...]
There is a legendary surfing spot that hosts a world famous big wave surfing contest every winter. The Maverick’s Surf Contest brings world champions to the small town of Half Moon Bay just a short distance down the coast from San Francisco. The surfing circuit eagerly awaits the announcement that conditions are right for the [more...]
The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be hosted by the City of Vancouver and the Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, from February 12-28 and March 12-2. Half of the tickets are priced at $100 or less. Vancouver, with its spectacular natural beauty, is located in the southwest corner of Canada, bordered to the [more...]