Unit 3 · Many Games, One Book

Long ago, people in Mexico and Central America made rubber balls. They got the rubber from the sap of trees. The balls were heavy and bouncy.

They built long ball courts out of stone. The courts had high walls on two sides. You can still visit old stone courts there today.

In England, towns and schools kicked balls in many ways. Each place had its own rules. Teams from two places often argued.

In 1863, clubs met in London. They made the Football Association. They wrote one set of rules, called the Laws of the Game. Now far-away teams could play together.

In the late 1800s, British ships sailed to many ports. Sailors played soccer when they landed. Workers and students from Britain played in new lands too.

People in those lands joined in. They started their own soccer clubs. Soon the game belonged to them, not only to Britain.

By 1900, many countries had soccer groups. They wanted to play each other. So on May 21, 1904, leaders met in Paris.

They made FIFA. FIFA links the soccer groups of many countries. Seven countries in Europe started it. In 1930, FIFA held the first World Cup in Uruguay.

In 1891, James Naismith taught at a YMCA school in Springfield, Massachusetts. He made up basketball for a cold winter gym. The first goals were peach baskets.

His students were learning to be YMCA teachers. They moved to YMCA gyms in other towns and countries. They took the new game with them.

The Olympics are games where countries meet. In 1936, men’s basketball joined the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. James Naismith went to watch.

The 1936 games were played outside on courts of dirt and sand. Women’s basketball joined the Olympics later, in 1976, in Montreal, Canada.

Basketball began in Springfield. Today a big museum stands in that city. It is the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

A hall of fame honors great players, coaches and teams. It keeps old balls, shoes and photos. Visitors come from many countries to see them.

The IHSA began in 1900. It runs contests for high schools in Illinois. It writes rules so schools can play fair.

Wrestlers meet on a soft, padded mat. Illinois boys first wrestled for an IHSA state title in 1937.

For many years, girls in Illinois had no wrestling state finals of their own. Some girls wrestled on boys teams.

The IHSA added girls wrestling as its own sport. The first girls state finals came in 2022, at the end of the 2021–22 season.

A boxing ring is really a square. Ropes go around its edges. The name ring is older than the square shape.

In 1867, rules named for the Marquess of Queensberry came out in Britain. They asked for a ring 24 feet across. They also said boxers must wear gloves.

Fencing is a sport with thin, blunt swords. Fencers wear masks and white suits. Their contest happens on a long, narrow strip.

The strip is also called a piste. Fencing was part of the first modern Olympics in Athens, Greece, in 1896.

Judo comes from Japan. In 1882, Kano Jigoro opened a school for it in Tokyo. The school is called the Kodokan.

Kano was a teacher. He wanted judo taught in schools. Judo students wear a heavy cotton jacket and a belt. The color of the belt shows a rank.

In 1964, the Olympics came to Tokyo, Japan. That year, judo became an Olympic sport. It was the first time for men.

Women’s judo became a full Olympic sport later. That happened in 1992, in Barcelona, Spain.