1.
University of Toronto
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The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the grounds that surround Queens Park. It was founded by charter in 1827 as Kings College. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution, as a collegiate university, it comprises twelve colleges, which differ in character and history, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga. Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, by a significant margin, it receives the most annual scientific research funding of any Canadian university. It is one of two members of the Association of American Universities outside the United States, the other being McGill University, the Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The universitys Hart House is an example of the North American student centre. The founding of a college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe. As an Oxford-educated military commander who had fought in the American Revolutionary War, the Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 a college be established in York, the colonial capital. On March 15,1827, a charter was formally issued by King George IV, proclaiming from this time one College, with the style. For the education of youth in the principles of the Christian Religion, the granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying by John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who took office as the colleges first president. The original three-storey Greek Revival school building was built on the present site of Queens Park, under Strachans stewardship, Kings College was a religious institution closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite, known as the Family Compact. Reformist politicians opposed the control over colonial institutions and fought to have the college secularized. Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned a year earlier to open Trinity College as a private Anglican seminary, University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was precursor to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, while the Faculty of Medicine opened in 1843, medical teaching was conducted by proprietary schools from 1853 until 1887, when the faculty absorbed the Toronto School of Medicine. Meanwhile, the university continued to set examinations and confer medical degrees, the university opened the Faculty of Law in 1887, followed by the Faculty of Dentistry in 1888, when the Royal College of Dental Surgeons became an affiliate. Women were first admitted to the university in 1884, over the next two decades, a collegiate system took shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges, including Strachans Trinity College in 1904. The university operated the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991, the University of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as Canadas first academic publishing house
2.
Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association
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The Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association is an association of men’s field lacrosse teams connected with several universities in Ontario and Quebec. Teams compete in the fall with league playoffs typically in early November, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, OUFLA expanded to include more teams across Ontario. The league expanded to 12 teams in 2007 with the additions of Trent, with these additions the league split into two divisions based on geographic location of member schools. Concordia University in Montreal became the 13th member, the third in Quebec, as it celebrates its 30th year in 2014, the CUFLA has expanded again to 15 teams with the addition of Nipissing University and the University of Ottawa. This ongoing growth bodes well for the expansion of mens field lacrosse at various universities across Canada. The Baggataway Cup tournament is held the second weekend in November. The operations of CUFLA are handled by an executive that reports regularly to the team presidents, currently, the executive is composed of a Commissioner, an Assistant Commissioner, a Treasurer, a Director of Communications, Media Relations and a Referee-in-Chief. Players who have played field lacrosse are prohibited from playing in CUFLA. However, players who play professional box lacrosse are eligible to play, throughout the years, the league has seen many current and former NLL players scattered throughout various teams. Many current and former players have met with a deal of success representing their countries or playing professional lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League. Media coverage of CUFLA has grown in recent years, with local, several lacrosse websites and magazines have taken notice and included CUFLA in their ongoing coverage of the world of lacrosse. Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association LaxPower. com – LaxPower follows CUFLA closely, including a regular CUFLA Power Rankings during the season
3.
Varsity Stadium
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Varsity Stadium is a collegiate football stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Toronto Varsity Blues, the teams of the University of Toronto. Athletic events have been hosted on the site since 1898, the current stadium was built in 2007 to replace the original permanent stadium built in 1911, Varsity Stadium has for its entire history been host to the University of Torontos collegiate Canadian football team, the Varsity Blues. However it was, until the opening of Exhibition Stadium in 1959, during the 1976 Summer Olympics, Varsity Stadium hosted football games, and was the site of the semi-final game between Brazil and Poland. Perhaps the most famous Canadian football game played in the Stadium was the 1950 Mud Bowl for the Grey Cup championship, in soccer, the NASLs Toronto Metros-Croatia used Varsity Stadium through 1978, before moving to Exhibition Stadium. They returned six years later as the Toronto Blizzard and again made it their home for the 1984 season, the NASL would fold before the start of the next season. In mid-1986, Varsity Stadium played host to the World Lacrosse Championships, a tournament featuring the United States, Canada, England, the US defeated Canada in the final, 18-9. The new Toronto Blizzard returned to Varsity in 1987 as part of the Canadian Soccer League and they returned in 1993 as a member of the American Professional Soccer League but again were forced to move, this time to Lamport Stadium, again due to financial difficulties. The Canadian national team hosted Iran for a match at the stadium in August 1997. A near-capacity crowd of over 15,000 attended—primarily Iranians from across the continent, minor league professional soccer team Toronto Lynx moved into the stadium in 1997, but was forced to move to Centennial Park Stadium due to the impending demolition of the historic facility. The stadium was demolished mid-2002 after the cost of maintaining the facility was far more than it generated in revenue. At that time, several sections of the stadium were being held up by temporary repairs. The field and track were retained after the demolition, from 2003 through 2005, temporary seating of about 1,500 was installed to permit the use of the field for intercollegiate games. The name Varsity Field was used from 2002 to 2006 during the period when the old stadium was demolished and the new stadium was being built. A plan to build a new 25,000 seat multi-purpose stadium on the site in 2005 was voted down by the council of the University of Toronto due to concerns over its cost. The facility was planned to be built on the grounds of York University. At the time of its demolition, Varsity Stadium was the second largest capacity stadium in Canada with a field, after Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. The multi-use capability was one of the reasons that the plan was passed by the governing council
4.
Canadian football
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In Canada, the term football may refer to Canadian football and American football collectively, or to either sport specifically, depending on context. The two sports have shared origins and are related but have significant differences. Rugby football in Canada originated in the early 1860s, and over time, active teams such as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have similar longevity. The CFL is the most popular and only major professional Canadian football league and its championship game, the Grey Cup, is one of Canadas largest sporting events, attracting a broad television audience, though it has been shrinking in recent years. In 2009, about 40% of Canadas population watched part of the game, in 2014, it was closer to 33%, great achievements in Canadian football are enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame located in Hamilton, Ontario. Other organizations across Canada perform senior league Canadian football during the summer, the first documented football match was a practice game played on November 9,1861, at University College, University of Toronto. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was Sir William Mulock, a football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. The first written account of a game played was on October 15,1862 and it was between the First Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Second Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards resulting in a win by the Grenadier Guards 3 goals,2 rouges to nothing. In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, Frederick A. Bethune, the game gradually gained a following, with the Hamilton Football Club formed on November 3,1869. Montreal formed a team April 8,1872, Toronto was formed on October 4,1873, and this rugby-football soon became popular at Montreals McGill University. McGill challenged Harvard University to a game, in 1874 using a game of English rugby devised by the University of McGill. Later both the Ontario and Quebec Rugby Football Union were formed, and then the Interprovincial and Western Interprovincial Football Union, the CRFU reorganized into an umbrella organization forming the Canadian Rugby Union in 1891. The original forerunners to the current Canadian Football League, was established in 1956 when the IRFU and WIFU formed an umbrella organization, and then in 1958 the CFC left The CRFU to become the CFL. The Burnside rules closely resembling American football that were incorporated in 1903 by The ORFU, was an effort to distinguish it from a more rugby-oriented game, the rules were an attempt to standardize the rules throughout the country. The CIRFU, QRFU and CRU refused to adopt the new rules at first, the primary differences between the Canadian and American games stem from rule changes that the American side of the border adopted but the Canadian side did not. The Canadian field width was one rule that was not based on American rules, as the Canadian game was played in wider fields, initially an amateur competition, it eventually became dominated by professional teams in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Ontario Rugby Football Union, the last amateur organization to compete for the trophy, the move ushered in the modern era of Canadian professional football. Canadian football has mostly been confined to Canada, with the United States being the other country to have hosted high-level Canadian football games
5.
Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games are considered the worlds foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in changes to the Olympic Games. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic, political, as a result, the Olympics has shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allowing participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship, World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916,1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games, the Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations, National Olympic Committees, and organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, the IOC also determines the Olympic programme, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, over 13,000 athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals, gold, silver, the Games have grown so much that nearly every nation is now represented. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies, including boycotts, doping, bribery, every two years the Olympics and its media exposure provide unknown athletes with the chance to attain national and sometimes international fame. The Games also constitute an opportunity for the host city and country to themselves to the world. The Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. These Games featured mainly athletic but also combat such as wrestling. It has been written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities was known as the Olympic peace or truce and this idea is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus
6.
Paralympic Games
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There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee, the Paralympics has grown from a small gathering of British World War II veterans in 1948 to become one of the largest international sporting events by the early 21st century. Paralympians strive for equal treatment with non-disabled Olympic athletes, but there is a funding gap between Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Given the wide variety of disabilities that Paralympic athletes have, there are categories in which the athletes compete. The allowable disabilities are broken down into ten eligible impairment types and these categories are further broken down into classifications, which vary from sport to sport. The first athlete to do so was German American gymnast George Eyser in 1904, hungarian Karoly Takacs competed in shooting events in both the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. He was an amputee and could shoot left-handed. The first organized athletic day for disabled athletes that coincided with the Olympic Games took place on the day of the opening of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the first games were called the 1948 International Wheelchair Games, and were intended to coincide with the 1948 Olympics. Dr. Guttmans aim was to create a sports competition for people with disabilities that would be equivalent to the Olympic Games. The games were again at the same location in 1952. These early competitions, also known as the Stoke Mandeville Games, have described as the precursors of the Paralympic Games. There have been milestones in the Paralympic movement. The first official Paralympic Games, no longer open solely to war veterans, was held in Rome in 1960,400 athletes from 23 countries competed at the 1960 Games. Since 1960, the Paralympic Games have taken place in the year as the Olympic Games. The Games were initially only to athletes in wheelchairs, at the 1976 Summer Games, athletes with different disabilities were included for the first time at a Summer Paralympics. With the inclusion of more disability classifications the 1976 Summer Games expanded to 1,600 athletes from 40 countries, the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea, was another milestone for the Paralympic movement. It was in Seoul that the Paralympic Summer Games were held directly after the Olympic Summer Games, in the same host city and this set a precedent that was followed in 1992,1996 and 2000. It was eventually formalized in an agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee in 2001, and was extended through 2020
7.
Commonwealth Games
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The Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, the games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation, which also controls the sporting programme and selects the host cities. A host city is selected for each edition,18 cities in seven countries have hosted the event. Apart from many Olympic sports, the also include some sports that are played predominantly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls. Although there are 52 members of the Commonwealth of Nations,70 teams participate in the Commonwealth Games, the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—also send separate teams. Only six countries have attended every Commonwealth Games, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, Australia has been the highest achieving team for twelve games, England for seven, and Canada for one. The John Astley Cooper Committees worldwide helped Pierre de Coubertin to get his international Olympic Games off the ground, in 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held at The Crystal Palace in London to celebrate the coronation of George V. In 1928, Melville Marks Robinson of Canada was asked to organise the first British Empire Games, eleven national teams and four hundred competitors took part in six sports. Women competed in the events only. The opening and closing ceremonies as well as took place at Civic Stadium. The 1934 Games had originally been awarded to Johannesburg, but were given to London instead because of the potential for prejudiced treatment of black, seventeen national teams took part, including the Irish Free State. Once again, only six sports were featured in these particular Games, athletics took place at White City and three sports took place at Wembley, at the well established venue of the Empire Pool in Wembley Park, which later became Wembley Arena. The Empire Games flag was donated in 1931 by the British Empire Games Association of Canada, the year and location of subsequent games were added until the 1950 games. The name of the event was changed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. The first edition of the event was the 1930 British Empire Games in which 11 nations participated, the quadrennial schedule of the games was interrupted by the Second World War and the 1942 Games and the 1946 Games were abandoned. The games were revived in 1950 and underwent a name change four years later with the first British Empire, over 1,000 athletes participated in the 1958 Games as over thirty teams took part for the first time. The 1978 Games in Edmonton marked a new high as almost 1,500 athletes from 46 countries took part, the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia saw the sporting programme grow from 10 to 15 sports as team sports were allowed for the first time. Participation also reached new levels as over 3500 athletes represented 70 teams at the event, at the Games in Melbourne in 2006, over 4000 athletes took part in sporting competitions
8.
Pan American Games
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The Pan-American or Pan American Games is a major sporting event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held among athletes from nations of the Americas, the only Winter Pan American Games were held in 1990. The Pan American Sports Organization is the body of the Pan American Games movement, whose structure. The XVII Pan American Games were held in Toronto from July 10–26,2015, since 2007, host cities are contracted to manage both the Pan American and the Parapan American Games, in which athletes with physical disabilities compete with one another. The Parapan American Games are held following the Pan American Games. The Pan American Games Movement consists of sports federations, National Olympic Committees that are recognized by PASO. As the decision-making body, PASO is responsible for choosing the host city for each Pan American Games, the host city is responsible for organizing and funding a celebration of the Games consistent with the Olympic Charter and rules. The Pan American Games program, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games, is determined by PASO, the celebration of the Games encompasses many rituals and symbols, such as the flag and torch, and the opening and closing ceremonies. Over 5,000 athletes compete at the Pan American Games in 36 sports, the first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively. At the first Pan American Sports Congress, held in Buenos Aires in 1940, the plans had to be postponed because of World War II. A second Pan American Sports Congress held in London during the 1948 Summer Olympics reconfirmed Buenos Aires as the choice of host city for the inaugural games, countries that were part of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Canada did not compete at the first Pan American Games. The second games were held in Mexico City, Mexico, competitions started on March 12 and included 2,583 athletes from 22 countries, competing in 17 sports. The Pan American Games were held every four years in the cities of Chicago, United States in 1959, São Paulo, Brazil in 1963 and Winnipeg. While the inaugural 1951 Games hosted 2,513 participants representing 14 nations, during the games most athletes and officials are housed in the Pan American Games village. This village is intended to be a home for all the participants. It is furnished with cafeterias, health clinics, and locations for religious expression, PASO allows nations to compete that do not meet the strict requirements for political sovereignty that other international organizations demand. As a result, colonies and dependencies are permitted to set up their own National Olympic Committees, examples of this include territories such as Puerto Rico and Bermuda which compete as separate nations despite being legally under the jurisdiction of another power. There have been attempts to hold Winter Pan American Games throughout the history of the games, reliable winter snow in the Americas is limited to two countries, the United States and Canada
9.
Badminton
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Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with teams, the most common forms of the game are singles and doubles. Badminton is often played as an outdoor activity in a yard or on a beach. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within the opposing half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net, play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a fault has been called by the umpire, service judge, or the opposing side. The shuttlecock is a feathered or plastic projectile which flies differently from the used in many other sports. In particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly, shuttlecocks also have a high top speed compared to the balls in other racquet sports. The game developed in British India from the game of battledore. European play came to be dominated by Denmark but the game has very popular in Asia. Since 1992, badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport with five events, mens singles, womens singles, mens doubles, womens doubles, at high levels of play, the sport demands excellent fitness, players require aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed, and precision. It is also a sport, requiring good motor coordination. The name derives from the Duke of Beauforts Badminton House in Gloucestershire, as early as 1860, a London toy dealer named Isaac Spratt published a booklet titled Badminton Battledore—A New Game but unfortunately no copy has survived. An 1863 article in The Cornhill Magazine describes badminton as battledore and shuttlecock played with sides, the game may have originally developed among expatriate officers in British India, where it was very popular by the 1870s. Early on, the game was known as Poona or Poonah after the garrison town of Pune, where it was particularly popular. By 1875, returning officers had started a club in Folkestone. Initially, the sport was played with sides ranging from 1–4 players, the shuttlecocks were coated with India rubber and, in outdoor play, sometimes weighted with lead. Although the depth of the net was of no consequence, it was preferred that it should reach the ground, the sport was played under the Pune rules until 1887, when the J. H. E. Hart of the Bath Badminton Club drew up revised regulations, in 1890, Hart and Bagnel Wild again revised the rules
10.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants
11.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
12.
Cross country running
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Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. Sometimes the runners are referred to as harriers, the course, typically 4–12 kilometres long, may include surfaces of grass, and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road. It is both an individual and a sport, runners are judged on individual times and teams by a points-scoring method. Cross country running is one of the disciplines under the sport of athletics. Although open-air running competitions are pre-historic, the rules and traditions of cross country racing emerged in Britain, the English championship became the first national competition in 1876 and the International Cross Country Championships was held for the first time in 1903. Since 1973 the foremost elite competition has been the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Cross country courses are laid out on an open or woodland area. The IAAF recommends that courses be grass-covered, and have rolling terrain with frequent, courses consist of one or more loops, with a long straight at the start and another leading to the finish line. Because of variations in conditions, international standardization of cross country courses is impossible, part of cross country runnings appeal is the natural and distinct characteristics of each venues terrain and weather. Terrain can vary from open fields to forest hills and even across rivers and it also includes running down and up hills. According to the IAAF, a cross country course has a loop of 1,750 to 2,000 metres laid out on an open or wooded land. It should be covered by grass, as much as possible, while it is perfectly acceptable for local conditions to make dirt or snow the primary surface, courses should minimize running on roads or other macadamized paths. Parks and golf courses often provide suitable locations, a course at least 5 metres full allows competitors to pass others during the race. Clear markings keep competitors from making wrong turns, and spectators from interfering with the competition, markings may include tape or ribbon on both sides of the course, chalk or paint on the ground, or cones. Some classes use colored flags to indicate directions, red flags for left turns, yellow flags for right turns, courses also commonly include distance markings, usually at each kilometer or each mile. The course should have 400 to 1,200 m of level terrain before the first turn, to reduce contact, however, many courses at smaller competitions have their first turn after a much shorter distance. Courses for international competitions consist of a loop between 1750 and 2000 meters, athletes complete three to six loops, depending on the race. Senior men compete on a 12-kilometre course, senior women and junior men compete on an 8-kilometre course. Junior women compete on a 6-kilometre course, in the United States, college men typically compete on 8 km or 10 km courses, while college women race for 5 km or 6 km
