Table Tennis

Table tennis is a very fun and enjoyable game. Now it is not only a game, but a sport – an Olympic sport. Most historians will agree that table tennis originated centuries ago in England. It is thought that it was first played with makeshift equipment on dining room tables. Around the beginning of the 18th century people began using celluloid balls instead of the traditional rubber and cork. After this the game became very popular in England and in the united states. Some common names for it early on where gossimar, whiff-whaff, and ping pong.Ping-pong is the name that actually caught on and we still use it today. It became a patented trade name for table tennis. Around the early 1920s the game was becoming very popular and in several parts of the world a movement started to revive table tennis as a serious sport.

Badminton

Badminton

Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world and has been around for a very long time. Its popularity is spreading rapidly across the US. In this paper I will discuss the history and origin of badminton, the rules, and facts that I found interesting in badminton.
Badminton originated in India and then went on to China, Japan and Thailand. An early version of this game in china used a shuttlecock but not a racket. Instead the shuttle was manipulated with feet. In England it was called shuttlecock and was hit with a wooden paddle by children. British army officers began to play it as a competition in Pune, India where badminton got its first name; Poona. In 1877 the first ever set of rules were invented for badminton along with the first badminton club.
In the traditional scoring system,men's singles games were played to 15 points and woman's singles which was played up to 11. A match was decided by the best of three games. Only the serving players were able to score a point. In doubles, both players of a pair would serve before the service returned to the other side. In 1992 people made new rules saying that if the players were tied at 13-13 or 14-14 (9-9 or 10-10 for woman's singles), the player who had first reached that score could decide elect to set and play to 17 (or to 13 for woman's singles). In December 2005 the IBF experimented with the scoring system, intending both to regulate the playing time and to simplify the system for television viewers. Games were lengthened to 21 points. However, the new scoring system makes the game duration significantly shorter. The experiment ended in May 2006, and the IBF ruled that the new scoring system would be adopted from August 2006 and on. Players win a rally by striking the shuttle onto the floor within the boundaries of their opponents' court. Players also win a rally if their opponents commit a fault. The most common fault in badminton is when the players fail to return the shuttle so that it passes over the net and lands inside their opponents' court. If a let is called, the rally is stopped and replayed with no change to the score. Lets may occur due to some unexpected disturbance such as a shuttle landing on court.
For my interesting facts section I am going to bullet each thing;
131 countries are members of the International Badminton Federation.
Badminton is the world's fastest racket sport: a shuttle can leave the racket at a speed of almost 200 mph.
A badminton player can cover more than one mile in just one match.
The best shuttles are made from the feathers from the left wing of a goose (does it really matter what side????).
16 feathers are used to make a shuttle.
The first US championships in Chicago in 1937 were played on 21 courts.
badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992 more than 1.1 billion people watched badminton's Olympic debut on TV.
The two most successful badminton countries are China and Indonesia which between them have won 70% of all IBF events.
The biggest shuttle in the world can be found on the lawns of the Kansas City Museum - 48 times larger than the real thing, 18 feet tall and weighing 5000 pounds.
Crowds of up to 15000 are common for major badminton tournaments in Malaysia and Indonesia.
In conclusion to the information on this paper you can see that badminton is a well known sport. It is a highly active game that has been well thought out and played by millions of people.

Cricket

Cricket is a game played between two teams, generally of 11 members each. In essence, it is single combat, in which an individual batsman does battle against an individual bowler, who has helpers known as fielders. The bowler propels the ball with a straight arm from one end of the 22-yard pitch in an attempt to dismiss the batsman by hitting a target known as the wicket at the other end, or by causing the batsman to hit the ball into the air into a fielder’s grasp, or by inducing one of a number of other indiscretions. The batsman attempts to defend the wicket with the bat and to score runs – the currency of the game – by striking the ball to the field boundary, or far enough from the fielders to allow the batsman to run to the other end of the pitch before the ball can be returned. At least two bowlers must take turns, from alternating ends; also, there are always two batsmen on the field, each to take a turn as required. When all but one of the batting team have been dismissed – or after an agreed period – the teams’ roles are reversed. After all the players required to bat on both sides have done so either once or twice (which can take from a few hours to five days) the total number of runs accumulated determines the winner. But sometimes there isn’t one.

Football

    The game of football is any of several similar team sports, of similar origins which involve advancing a ball into a goal area in an attempt to score. Many of these involve kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal, though not all codes of football using kicking as a primary means of advancing the ball or scoring. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union and other related games. These variations are known as "codes".

Basket ball

The game begins after the tip off, I am absolutely focused and determined to win this game; the butterflies within my body have disappeared. Ten minutes into the game, my body was already feeling the pain, but I did not cared, I waited too long for this moment. I feel as though I am giving one hundred and ten percent in playing this game but my team is still down 20-26. Our opponents surpassed our expectation; they are a strong team, much more potent than any of the teams that we have challenged. Just by starring into their big brown eyes, I can tell that they are just as determined as our team to win this game. It is not a surprise that this team made it to the final because they definitely carry strong players. Nonetheless, only one team is going home with the trophy and the bragging right ostentatiously. Thus, I'm playing with all my might; I am not giving up without a fight.

I have been playing basketball ever since I was seven years old but this is the first time that my team has made it to the finals. Twelve years later, I get to this dream, and I'm enjoying every moment of it. Over and over again, I repeated to myself "Just one more game to go, just one more game to go!" This final game took place inside a local recreation center; where the bleachers were full of parents and friends crowded in a massive gym, a basketball court as big as the NBA’s. While putting on my uniform, I reminded myself that this is the last organized basketball game that I will ever play. Next year, basketball will have to take a backseat because I will be occupied with work and getting use to the transition from high school to college. Within the locker room, I could hear the loud music being played by the deejay and I am constantly reminded of walking into a high school gym dance.