This guide aims to highlight some of the principal sources in the history of sport. Sport has been increasingly organized and regulated from the time of the Ancient Olympics up to the present century. Activities necessary for food and survival became regulated activities done for pleasure or competition on an increasing scale, e.g. hunting, fishing, horticulture.

       The Industrial Revolution and mass production brought increased leisure which allowed increases in spectator sports elitism in sports, and greater accessibility These trends continued with the advent of mass media and global communication professionalism became prevalent, further adding to the increase in sport's popularity. This perhaps contrasts with the noble Grecian ideal, where victory at the Games was much sought after, and rewarded with an olive branch.

       Perhaps in a reaction to the demands of contemporary life, there have been developments in sport which are best described as post-modern:extreme ironing being a notable example. There is also a move towards adventure sports as a form of escapism from the routines of life, examples being white water rafting, canyoning,Base jumping and more gentle, orienteering.

       On of the most popular Sports is basketball, a game that started with 18 men in a YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Mass., has grown into a game that more than 300 million people play worldwide. The man who created this instantly successful sport was Dr. James Naismith.In addition to the creation of the basketball, James Naismith graduated as a medical doctor, primarily interested in sports physiology and what we would today call sports science and as Presbyterian minister, with a keen interest in philosophy and clean living. Naismith watched his sport, basketball, introduced in many nations by the YMCA movement as early as 1893. Basketball was introduced at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Today basketball has grown to become one of the world's most popular sports.

       There is documentary evidence that a a game or skill building exercise, involving kicking a ball into a small net, was used by the Chinese military during the Han Dynasty - around the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. Earlier evidence - of a field marked out to play a ball-kicking game has been found at Kyoto, in Japan. Both the Greeks and ancient Romans played a soccer-type game which resembled modern soccer - although in this early version, teams could consist of up to 27 players!

       It is impossible to say accurately where and when soccer started - but it is reasonable to assume that some type of ball game - from which the organized sport we know today developed - has been played somewhere on the planet for over 3000 years.

       On 26 October 1863, 11 London clubs and schools sent their representatives to a meeting in the Freemason's Tavern to establish a single set of fundamental rules to govern the matches played amongst them. This meeting created The Football Association. The supporters of the Rugby School rules walked out - and On 8 December 1863, Association Football and Rugby Football finally split. In 1869 The Football Association included in their rules a provision which forbid any handling of the ball - so establishing the foundation on which the modern game stands.

       Unlike professional basketball and American football, interest in baseball has not been sweeping the globe . Declining participation at the amateur level and protracted labor problems at the professional level have thrust -America's Pastime - into an era of uncertainty. Despite this current adversity, baseball will always occupy an important place in American culture.

       Most cultures have some sort of stick and ball game, cricket being the most well-known. While the exact origins of baseball are unknown, most historians agree that it is based on the English game of rounders. It began to become quote popular in this country in the early 19th century, and many sources report the growing popularity of a game called - townball -, - base -, or -baseball - .

       The first recorded baseball contest took place a year later, in 1846. Cartwright's Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club in a game at the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. These amateur games became more frequent and more popular.

       Some wanted baseball to remain an amateur endeavor, but there was no way they could compete with the professional teams. The amateur teams began to fade away as the best players became professionals. In 1871, the National Association became the first professional baseball league.