Kerala Clubs

The various forms of Football are among the most popular sports to play and watch. Association football, or soccer, is played in almost every country by men and women. Rugby games are less widespread, but the new professional rugby union is becoming increasingly international. American football, although watched worldwide on television, is played little outside the United States. Other "national" games include Australian football, played chiefly in the state of Victoria, and Gaelic football, an Irish game.

Tennis and Other Racket Sports

This Popular sport takes place mainly in a stadium where it is divided into two main categories: track and field. Track includes running and hurdling races; Field includes jumping and throwing. Some athletics events involve more than one discipline - 10 in the decathlon for men; seven in the heptathlon for women. Other events are road and cross-country running. Major competitions are the Olympics and world and continental championships.
                Of all the athletes who have performed at the Olympics over the years, few have made more of an impression than Jesse Owens, the young, black American who won four gold medals at the 1936 games in Berlin. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler wanted to use the games to demonstrate his theories about the supremacy of the Aryan race, but Owens showed that such ideas are nonsense. The crowd adored him, for he was a true athlete, whose speed and agility won him admirers wherever he raced.
               At his high school in Cleveland, Ohio, Jesse distinguished himself in both track and field events. He won major events at the National Amateur Athletic Union meetings in 1934 and 1935, and then broke five world records while competing for the Ohio State University team at Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 25^th May, 1935.
Berlin Olympics
In August 1936, the four-yearly Olympic Games were held in Berlin, the German capital. The German leader Adolf Hitler used the games as propaganda for his Nazi regime. He spend lavishly on training the German athletes, and hoped to glorify his racial myth of a superior “Aryan race”, the white, northern Europeans. However, Owens’ achievements smashed these hopes.

Sport is a thriving industry, with billions of pounds poured into it every year by television companies, sponsors, and the public. People pay to watch major events, and also buy sport equipment for their own use. There is now a growing concern for health and fitness and new trends in sport are always emerging.
SPONSORSHIP FOR GAMES
Companies sponsor teams, individuals, and competitions. They pay to promote their products on clothing and around stadiums at key matches.
 
The Olympic rings
Five interlinking rings are the symbol of the Olympic Games. They appear on the Olympic flag on a white background and were designed to represent the coming together of the five “parts of the world” involved in the Olympic Movement when the flag was adopted in 1914.
Opening Ceremony
At the opening ceremony, each country’s athletes march into the stadium in turn; some team which hundreds of competitors, others with only one or two. The host city puts on a spectacular show.
Opening ceremony in Atlanta in USA was one of the best opening ceremonies in Olympics.
Olympic venues
DATE       VENUE

1886	Athens, Greece
1900	Paris, France
1904	St Louis, USA
1908	London, England
1912	Stockholm, Sweden
1920	Antwerp, Belgium
1924	Paris, France
1928	Amsterdam, Holland
1932	Los Angeles, USA
1936	Berlin, Germany
1948	London, England
1952	Helsinki, Finland
1956	Melbourne, Australia
1960	Rome, Italy
1964	Tokyo, Japan
1968	Mexico City, Mexico
1972	Munich, West Germany
1976	Montreal, Canada
1980	Moscow, USSR
1984	Los Angeles, USA
1988	Seoul, South Korea
1992	Barcelona, Spain
1996	Atlanta, USA
2000	Sydney, Australia
2004	Athens, Greece

BALL GAMES
Controlling ball with a stick, hands, foot, and bat is a satisfying experience. Ball games include team sports such as soccer and basketball and individual sports such as golf.
CYCLING
In the world, Cycling is a very popular sport. It is a great way to keep fit, as well as a cheap and non-polluting means of transport. "Mountain Bikes", 1st designed for off road cycling, are now common in cities too.
MOTOR SPORTS
At various levels people can take part in motor racing sports. If in Grandprix racing, sponsors' money and a large back-up team are needed to support the competitors.
HORSE RIDING
Riding can be an exhilarating pastime, enhanced by the necessary understanding between rider and horse. Young people enjoy competing in gymkhanas, and top-class show jumping and eventing are thrilling spectator sports.
WATERSPORTS
Water provides the means for gentle activity or vigorous exercise. People enjoy sailing and rowing in boats, and swimming, which is enjoyed in indoor pools as well as outdoors.
ATHLETICS
Athletics is probably one of the most popular groups of sport. It includes running, hurdling, jumping and throwing. Running may range from jogging for health and fitness to more grueling cross country events.
HEALTH AND FITNESS
If a machine treated with care given proper maintenance, it is more likely to function efficiently. Similarly, the human body is most likely to function to the best of its ability if it is kept fit and healthy. Health may be defined as the state of being well in body and mind.

Most of the sports can classified under one of the following categories: air, athletic, ball, combat, equestrian, racket, target, water, wheel, and winter sports. These categories can be further divided into individual and team sports, and contact or non contact sports.

Example: Cricket, Soccer, Rugby, Golf, Tennis, F1 car race, Moto GP bike race, Mountain biking, Inline skating, Running for fun, Snowboarding, Wind surfing, Judo, Horse race etc....

Swimming

Swimming is both a popular recreation and an important competitive sport. It involves using legs and arms against the water to propel the body along. It is an excellent form of exercise, and a good way to learn to swim is to use buoyancy aids, such as water-wings, when practicing strokes. Diving, in which a person enters the water head first, is fun too, although at competitive levels it calls for great agility. In competition, divers perform about 10 dives from a choice of more than 80 dives recognized by the governing body.

Types of Strokes

The four competitive strokes are freestyle (invariably front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.

Diving

There are two standard diving events – the springboard, 3 m (10 ft) above the water, and the fixed platform, or high board, 10 m (33 ft) high. The diver platforms aerial manoeuvres such as twists and somersaults before entering the water. Points are awarded for technique and style.

Types of Dive

There six main types of dive: forward, backward, twist, inward, reverse, and handstand.

Cross-Channel swimming

Of all the long-distance sea swims, the channel between England and France – 34 km (21 miles) minimum – has always provided the greatest challenge.

Since Ancient times, people had take part in sports, for the recreation and for the thrill of competition. In ancient Greek, men regularly visited gymnasiums to keep fit and to relax; some men also participated in the formal ancient Olympics. Today, there is an impressive range of sports to choose from, including activities as athletics, archery and horse riding. Sports can be enjoyed for their own sake, as leisure or health pursuits, or at a competitive level.

Motor sport

There are many varieties of motor sport, featuring four – or – two-wheeled vehicles and taking place on special circuits, regular roads, or rough country tracks. Motor sport on four wheels ranges from Formula One grand prix racing and Indy car racing to karting, which is the sport in which many top drivers first experience motor racing. In between, there are various other types of racing including dragster, sports car, stock car racing, as well as rally driving. The two-wheeled sports range from powerful grand prix motorcycle racing to motocross and speedway. Cars and motorcycles are constantly modified to make them faster and more reliable.

Bicycles and Motorcycles

Fun, and environmentally friendly, the bicycle is the simplest form of mechanical transport. A bicycle or a bike is a two-wheeled machine that converts human energy into propulsion; a motorcycle, or motorbike, is a bicycle with an engine. Modern motorcycles are complex, with engine sizes ranging from 50cc (cubic centimeters) to more than 1,000cc. In many countries, such as China, most people travel or transport goods by bicycle. Across the world, bicycles and motorcycles are used for sport and leisure.