Golf. In 1457 golf was banned in Scotland because it interfered with the practice of archery, which was vital to the defense effort. Nevertheless the Scots continued to brave the opposition of both Parliament and church by playing the game on seaside courses called links. Golf became firmly established in Great Britain by the Seventeenth century. In the 1800s the gutta perched ball replaced the feather filled ball.  In 1860 the 1st British Open was played. The 1st permanent golf club in North America, Canada's Royal Montreal Club, was founded in 1873. Greyhounds first came to America in the 1800's to help farmers control the jackrabbit population. It was not long before competitions of greyhound racing was were by the surrounding farmers. This proved to be both an exciting event for the local population but also showed that the greyhound loved the chase and excitement of racing.

When the Roman's conquered Greece, they found that gymnastics was very valuable in their military training.  But after the fall of the Roman Empire, gymnastics vanished for hundreds of years.

The history of the footbag or hackysack in the USA began in the early 1970s. Mike Marshall had taken a trip to Asia and seen one of the footbag type games there. In 1972, Marshall met John Stalberger Jr., a former football player who was recovering from a knee injury and was looking for a rehabilitation exercise.

Handcycling was adopted as part of the IPC Cycling Program in 1998 and was also included at the World Cycling Championships for the Disabled in that same year. In 2004, the IPC included a race for handcycles at the Paralympic Games in Athens Greece for the 1st time.

Hang gliding, since its invention in the 1970’s, has developed into a practical and relatively safe sport. The sport uses simple yet sophisticated machines built of aluminum, carbon-fiber and high tech sail fabrics.

Hockey has been played in some form for 100s of years. It is considered to be one of the earliest sports in the world, and was played by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Arabs.

The game is very popular in Canada and in some regions of the USA. Namely the Northeast, Alaska and the Northern Midwest. There are a total of sixty four members in the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Ice skating, is a sport in which participants wear steel-bladed skates and slide around on outdoor or indoor ice rinks. The sport of ice skating originated in the Netherlands and Scotland and was brought to the United states by Scottish immigrants in the1700s.

The game of indoor soccer was devised in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930 for use in YMCA programs. The 1st international competition took place in 1965, when Paraguay won the 1st South American Cup. 6 more South American Cup competitions were held between 1965 and 1979.

The game of Kayak Polo is an officially recognized sport of USA Canoe/Kayak (USACK) and efforts are underway to have the sport included in the Olympic Games.

Kites have fascinated people all over the world the world for at least Two Thousand years. Some people believe that kites may have been invented even earlier, there are references to kites being flown in China as long ago as 1000 BC.

Korfball is different from other team sports in that the rules encourage controlled physical contact and gender equality between players. The main components of Korfball are oral skills and co-operative play, with players marking an opponent of the same sex.

Lacrosse was considered by many tribes to be excellent practice for war -- the Cherokees even called it "the little brother of war." Teams could consist of as many of hundreds, or even thousands, of players. Goals were often miles apart. Games lasted as long as three days. Most players were unable to get close to the ball, and so took to concentrating their efforts on using their stick as a weapon.

Laser tag or Lazer tagis a sport where a team or individual uses a gun that emits a highly amplified infrared beam on a very distinct frequency to chase down or hit the other team members or individual until he or she is able to "touch" one of them as many times as needed until they are removed from the game.

Lawn bowls is a game that is considered to be one of the most popular games on earth. I was once informed that there were more registered lawn bowlers in Australia than any other sport.

The Vikings are usually credited with being the inventors of luge sleds? They made them to slide down mountainsides in Olsofjord. The Vikings were actually conducting Luge races as early as 800 AD!

When the modern Olympic Games were were first held  in 1896 in Greece, the legend of Pheidippides was revived by a 24.85 mile (40,000 meters) run from Marathon Bridge to the Olympic stadium in Athens.

Most people believe that motocross started after World War II, but the sport actually originated in England as cross-country races known as scrambles around 1920. It just wasn't called motocross back then.

The prototype of the mountain bikes were first developed in Marin County, Ca., north of San Francisco in 1977.  Otis Guy, Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze and Craig Mitchell were the earliest designers, builders and promoters.

Netball is a highly skilled and fast sport. The game was developed by an American basketball coach attempting to improve the skills of Basketball. He worked at Luton Teachers College in England where he introduced the sport of netball to many of the graduating teachers.

Orienteering is a worldwide sport in which participants use an accurate, detailed map and a compass to find checkpoints on a orienteering course. Orienteering can be enjoyed as a challenging walk in the woods or in a competition, where your race against time or others.

Paintball has now become the 4th largest alternative sport in the United states surpassing snowboarding. In 2002 over 8,700,000 people played paintball at least once each spending on average $44 per experience.

The game of rounders has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in "A Little Pretty Pocketbook" where it was called baseball. Most baseball historians accept that their sport is evolved from rounders.

Early amateur scullers and oarsmen were also often boxers, with some rowing clubs also including boxing sections. Rowing was introduced at Oxford University in the late 1700s and in 1806 the sport of rowing was also introduced at Eton College.

Snooker  These variations became popular and the inventive Chamberlain started to add various colored balls until a basic form of Snooker was established.

Soccer. The contemporary history of football spans almost 150 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the world's first football association was founded.

Softball is a variant of baseball and a popular participant sport, particularly in the United States. It is generally agreed that softball developed from a game called indoor baseball, first played in Chicago. 

Surfing is one of the oldest sports on earth. Many consider it an art form that is a blend of athletic ability and the comprehension of the power and beauty and power of nature. Surfing is also one of the few sports that creates its own culture and lifestyle.

Tennis. The origins of tennis is a bit of a mystery. Some people believe it is a variation of different ancient ball games played by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Some others believe it was derived from a roman game called "harpastum", and was adapted in the Basque country, where it was named "jeu do paume" because the ball was hit on a wall with the hands.

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