Sports in America

Americans are very fond of sport. The most popular sports in the USA are football, which is played from April to October, baseball, played from September to December, basketball, played from October to April and ice hockey, played in most northern cities from October to March.

American football derives from the English game of rugby. It was started at Harvard University in 1870s. It is a game for the two teams of 11 men on the field. The object of the game is to have control of the ball and to score points by carrying it across the goal-line.

Baseball is a team game derived from the English game of cricket. It is played with a bat and a ball by two teams of 9 players each on a field with 4 bases. Baseball is the national game of the USA and it is very popular in Canada too.

Basketball is a game which nowadays is popular all over the world. It was invented in 1891. During the 1920s the first US league championship was organized. In the 1970s the American Championship was divided into two leagues: the ABA (American Basketball Association), which does not exist any longer, and the NBA (National Basketball Association).

There are a lot of activities which Americans take part in, such as golf, swimming, tennis, aerobics, wrestling, etc.

Americans' interest in sports seems excessive to many foreign? visitors. Television networks spend millions of dollars arranging to telecast sports events. Publications about sports are sold widely. In the US professional athletes can become national heroes.

Sports arc also associated with educational institutions. High schools have coaches as faculty members, and school team compete with each other.

Nowhere else in the world are sports associated with colleges and universities in the way they arc in the United States. College sports, especially football, are conducted in an atmosphere of intense excitement. Games between teams attract nationwide television audiences.

Sports play such an important role in American life that the sociology of sports, sports medicine and sports psychology have become respectable specializations.

Many Americans jog every day or play tennis two or three times a week. They go on ski trips and hunting expeditions that require weeks of planning and organizing. In the Americans' view, all these activities arc worth the discomfort they may cause because they contribute to health and physical fitness. That is

probably why Americans are known as a healthy nation.

1. Are Americans interested in sports? 2. What are the most popular sports in the USA? 3. What sports are especially associated with this country? 4. When are they played? 5. What other sports activities are popular in the USA? 6. Are there sports teams in American high schools? 7. What specializations have become respectable thanks to the development of sports? 8. Why do Americans spend so much time on sports activities? 9. Do you know any outstanding American sportsmen/women? 10. Why are Americans known as healthy nation?