Gear Up for This Quiz on the Origins of Popular Sports

Modern fencing dates back to the 15th century and primarily featured the rapier, which is more of a thrusting sword than a cutting sword, as the weapon of choice. In the 17th century, the rapier gave way to the foil, which was lighter and smaller. Other popular styles of fencing use an epee — which was introduced in 1860s France and could be electrified to better keep track of hits — or a sabre, a lightweight weapon similar to military swords.

Scotland didn't just give the world golf — it also gave us the winter sport of curling. Depictions of a similar game were painted by Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel in the 16th century, and the first written evidence of the game appeared in a 1540 Scottish book. However, it wasn't until 1838 that the sport's official rules — known as the "Rules in Curling” — were adopted by the Grand Caledonian Curling Club in Edinburgh, now the sport's governing body.

Volleyball was invented in the late 19th century by William G. Morgan, the physical director of the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Morgan originally named the sport "mintonette," which he adapted from badminton, but it got its modern name after a local professor noted the game's volleying nature. Volleyball quickly spread around the country, and the first national volleyball tournament was held in 1922.

Originally known as "stickball," lacrosse was invented by Algonquian peoples in the St. Lawrence Valley area of modern Canada. Participation in the game was a major event, with hundreds of players running on massive fields at any given time during the match. Lacrosse spread across the upper Great Lakes area and became Canada's national game by 1860.

The first official numerical scoring system for American football was introduced in 1883, and it was far different than the scorekeeping we have today. Touchdowns were worth two points, with the extra kicks after touchdowns being worth four points. Safeties were just one point, and field goals were worth a whopping five points.

Long before rugby players showcased their natural toughness, one of the most intense physical games was harpastum, an ancient Roman sport named for the Greek word for "seize." In harpastum, a ball could be both propelled by the foot and carried by hand. In 1749, the game made its modern debut at a school in Rugby in Warwickshire, England, where the ball was only allowed to be kicked.

The earliest form of bowling dates back to around 5000 BCE. Archaeologists discovered hieroglyphics depicting ancient Egyptians playing a version of the sport, and in 1934, a grave of an Egyptian child was dug up and contained what is thought to be bowling equipment. The sport has had several versions throughout the centuries.

The origins of table tennis are more recent than you might think. A “ping-pong association” was formed in Britain in 1902, and by 1926, governing bodies decided to use the more formal name and created the Fédération Internationale de Tennis de Table (International Table Tennis Federation). The federation was founded with just a handful of countries, including England, Germany, Wales, and India.

In 1965 in Muskegon, Michigan, the precursor to the modern snowboard was born. The prototype was called a "Snurfer," combining the ideas of surfing and snow. Originally, the snowboard was just two skis bolted together, but it quickly grew in popularity and was redesigned. About a million Snurfers had been sold by the end of the 1970s, when the word "snowboard" became the more popular term.

In 1920, Canton, Ohio, played host to the creation of the NFL. Ten teams met to form the American Professional Football Association, and four more teams joined later that year. Only two still survive to this day — the Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears. In 1922, the APFA was renamed the National Football League.

Played in England since the 16th century, rounders shares many commonalities with baseball — they’re both played with a bat, there are bases, and players can get “out.” But in rounders, the bat is much shorter, pitches are thrown underhand, there are no gloves, and there is only one throw — a batter runs on a hit or a miss.

In ancient China, some 2,300 years ago, a game called “cuju” or “kickball” became immensely popular. While it shared many attributes with modern soccer (or football), which formed in 19th-century Britain, the game was a more static, proto-version of the sport that instead promoted the virtues of good sportsmanship in a Confucian China. Everyone — from peasants to emperors — played cuju.

“Jeu de Paume,” the precursor to tennis, began with the simplest racket imaginable: the human hand. While this old game, originally developed in the 11th and 12th centuries, eventually adopted rackets, the name “Jeu de Paume,” or “Game of the Palm,” stuck around, a handy reference for remembering the game’s roots.

James Naismith created basketball in a gym at Springfield College, then known as the International YMCA training school. After the YMCA’s first public match in 1892, basketball spread through its global network, then to colleges, and finally led to the formation of a professional league in 1898. In the mid-1970s, the YMCA partnered with the NBA to create the Youth Basketball Association.

On July 19, 1846, the Knickerbockers played the New York Nine at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was a blow-out, with the New York Nine winning 23-1 in four innings. Elysian Fields holds a special place in Greek mythology as the final resting place of the heroic dead, and the name similarly holds a place of distinction in the mythology of America’s favorite pastime.

According to ice hockey legend, the first pucks batted around on frozen lakes in Canada were made from frozen cow dung. However, there’s no evidence of a recorded game using this kind of yuck puck. Luckily, the idea didn’t stick. With modern slapshots reaching upwards of 110 mph, it’s unlikely frozen poop (or goalies) could hold up to such abuse.

The oldest known depiction of humans playing sports comes from cave paintings dating back to 3000 BCE. These drawings show humans wrestling, a competitive pastime that was also described in the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh," as well as other records from around the globe. It proved that wrestling was both an old and worldwide phenomenon.

The origins of golf can be traced back to medieval times off the eastern coast of Scotland near Edinburgh. Back then, the idea was to hit a pebble around sand dunes and tracks using sticks or clubs. The game needed some refinement, but it was still incredibly popular. In 1457, King James II of Scotland banned the sport because its popularity was interfering with military training, but the ban was largely ignored and later revoked by King James IV.

Although the NFL celebrated its 100th birthday in 2020, it's actually the second-youngest of the "big four" major sports leagues in America. The NBA is the youngest, formed in 1946. The NHL was founded in 1917 in Canada, before expanding to the U.S. in 1924. The oldest is Major League Baseball, which started in 1876 and took its modern form in 1903 when the American and National leagues merged.

James Naismith, an instructor at Springfield College in Massachusetts, needed a sport to keep students active during the winter. He envisioned a game where a ball would be thrown in an arc into some sort of goal. Naismith asked the school superintendent for 18-inch square boxes, but instead received peach baskets. Naismith subsequently called his new game “basket-ball.”