Bicycling is everyone’s path to fun, adventure, and good health. It is also a very inexpensive means of tranportation. All a bicycle needs to start you down the road is the poweer of your legs.
With gasoline prices rising, may people are turning to bicycles to go to and from work. Million of children ride their bicycles to school every day. Many school offer couses in bicycling, particulary in bicycling to those who complete certain requirements.
As exercise, bicycling strengthens the heart and lungs without putting severe strain on the body. For this reason, many physicians recommend bicycling for older as well as younger people. Today the bicycle is considered a means of better health, not simply a toy or a means of transportation. And bicycling is truly fun. On a bicycle, you can see thing at a leisurely pace. You can feel the breeze and hear and aromas. This is much more rewarding than speeding along in a car.
Bicycle tours are popular in Europe, and many countries have special bicycle oaths and trails. In the United States, cycling groups such as those organized by the American Youth Hostels and the League of American Wheelmen offer supervised outing for people of all ages.

The first canoes were most likely dugouts. These were big longs hollowed out by burning and scraping with stone tools. The world "canoe" comes from the West Indian name for a dugout. Pasific Coast Indians built oceansailing canoes out of giant cedar logs. Natines of some of the South Pacific island still make and use dugout canoes to which they fastern and outrigger (a shaped log joined by spars projecting from the side of the boat) to keep from being tipped over in heavy seas. Dugout are also found today on many tropical lakes and streams. In swamps of the southern United State dugout are called pirogues.
Early canoes were also made by stretching animals skin over light framework of flexible wood. The skin were waterproofed with a subtance like pine pitch. The Eskimo kayak, a kind of canoe, has a framework of wood or bone covered with sealskins sewed together. The top is almost completely covered to protect the paddler from the elements.
American Indian of the northeastern woodlands made canoes of birch bark stretched over a cedar frame. The sheets of bark were sewed together, and the seams were waterproofed. The result was a very light weight canoe, easy to carry overland from one stream to another. The canoes we use today are descendants of this birchbark canoe.

Boating is a fast-growing sport. Every year more young skippers pilot their craft on freshwater lakes and rivers and on the bays and inlets at the ocean’s edge. To keep pace with the rapid growth of boating, hundreds of marinas have been built to provide shoreside berths for small craft. Marina is a Spanish word meaning “seacoast,” and is used in English to describe a modern boat basin with piers and slips for docking boats, launches, and yachts. In a marina large and small boat are repaired, serviced, and stored. Shore electricity, telephones, fresh water, ice and fuel are available at docside. Here pleasureboat owner may shop for supplies and food and drink a;; within walking distance of their boats. Every type of craft may be seen at a marina. There are sailing dinghies and twp masted schooners, outboard runabouts and big cabin cruisers with berth for six or more people.
The 4.2-to 5.5-meter (14-to 18-foot) run about are the most popular small powerboats. They are wonderful for fishing or for just having fun on the water. The larger ones, fitted with powerful outboard engines, are used for towing water-skiers.
Before beginners learn to run one of these craft or even go for a ride in a dinghy or other small rowboat, they should know the basic rules of safety for themselves as well as for their boat.

There are many variation of billiards. However, the basic skills and equipment are much the same in all. A white cue ball is struck with a stick, or cue, so as to roll across a level table top and strike other balls. The two most popular versions are pocket billiards and three cushion billiards.
Few sports have the blue-blooded lines of billiards. There is evidence that the game developed as an indoor version of lawn bowling in England, about 600 years ago. Shakespeare mentioned the sport, and Mary Queen of Scots was a noted wielder of the cue. The world “billiard” comes from the Old French billart, meaning “playing stick,” or “cue”.
Spaniard are said to have brought a billiard table St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. The game matured in America, where championship matches became popular during the late 1800’s. Billiards lost some of its popularity with the coming of motion picture and other attractions in the 20th century. Today, however, it has found its way back into the hearts of hundreds of thousands. Much of this new rise in popularity can be attributed to intoduction of the home billiard table.
Another factor is the bowling alley that includes billiards in an ultramodern setting with games for all the family to enjoy.

Basketball in one sport that can be called truly American. The man who invented it, Dr. James A. Naismith, was born in Canada. But he developed the games in the United States, and it is there that basketball has become a popular winter indoor sport.
Two teams, of five players each, play the game on a court. At each end of the court is a basket attached to a backboard. The bright orange metal rim of the basket is 46 centimeters (18 inches) in diameter and is placed 3 meters (10 feet) above the floor. From it hangs a white cord net. The objective of each team in a game is to scaore points by throwing the ball into one of the baskets.
The basketball is a rubber bladder inflated with air and covered with an orange or natural tan leather or composition cever. It is round, about 75 centimeters (30 inches) in circumference, and weight between 565 and 625 grams (about 20 to 22 ounces).
In 1891, when he invented basketball, Dr. Naismith was an instructor at the international Training School og the Young Mens’s Cristian Association (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts. It wa winter, and he noticed a lack of interest in formal gymnasium exercises among some of his students. What they needed, he thought, was a fastaction game that could be played indoor when the football season ended. He decided that some kind of game in which players wouls have to throw a ball into baskets would be interesting. So he attached a couple of old peach baskets to the ends of the gym balcony.
In the early day soccer ball was used. Every time a gola was made, someone had to climb a ladder to get the ball out of the basket. A a while wire mesh basket were used. In 1906 the metal hoop similar to that of today was used for the firs time. At first when a basket was missed, the ball would go into the crowd. This caused much delay. Than backboard were put up so the ball would bounce back into the playing court.

When the game was first played, nine people formed a team. Later it was changed changed to to permit nine, seven or five to play. Tosay five players make up a team. Then, as now, running with the ball, pushing, and tripping were not allowed. The early scoring rulus allowed 3 points for each basket. The center jump was used to start play after every goal. And when a ball went out of bounds, the first player to get it would put it back into play.

Basketball has come a long way since Dr. Naismith hung those two peach basket in the Springfield YMCA gymnasium.

Today it is a major winter sport in school colleges, YMCA’s, and club troughtout the United Stated anda Canada. It is played outdoors and indoors by boys and girl, men and women. Thoussand of people crowd into gyms and sport arenas to watch tournaments and championship games. On a makeshift court in the back yard or the polished hardwood floor of an arena, basketball is a great game whether you play it or merely watch.
Several Canadian were among Dr. Naismith’s pupils, and through them basket was introduced in Canada. Other YMCA leaders and America armed force abroad helped to spead the popularity of the game in Latin America, Europe, The Philipines, China, and Japan.
In 1961, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the inventor of basketball, the cornerstone was laid for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Baseball is called the great American game. Hardly a child in the United State has grown up without playing it. The game is also popular in Canada, Mexico and other parts of Latin America, Japan, and other countries in Asia.
The game is so much a part of American life that its term have been adopted into the everyday speech of the people. “Pinch-hit,” “going to bat,” and scores of other baseball terms are used even by people who are not well acquaninted with the game.
During World Awar II Germans dressed in American uniforms turned up behind the American lines. Many of them spoke English very well and could pass as American soldiers. But the United States Army found a way to tell which were false and which were real Americans. They halted strange soldiers at checkpoints anda asked them question abiut baseball and some of its star players. Guenine Americans, who couldn’t, were promptly made prisoners of war.

A ballet is theatrical entertainment combining dance with other art forms, usually stage design and music. It many tell a story or merely depict an idea or mood. Ballet is a French word that comes from the Italian ballo, "a dance."
The Ecercises, or techniques, of ballet are designed to display the human body in the most elegant and harmonius way possible. Ballet technique is strict, and the training is strenuous. But the result on stage is natural and beautiful. Ballet is nerly 500 years old. Yet it is very young compared with dance itself, which began with primitive people. Ballet began in Italy about the time of Columbus’ voyages to America. It was quite different then from what it is today. At that time ballet was a court entertainment for the amusement of the nobility at lavish balls and banquets. Dancing, music, pantomime (acting without words), petry, and drama were combined. The first ballet dancers were the royalty and nobles of the court, since there were no professional dancers. The steps were modeled on the elegant but rather simple social dances of the day.
Ballet as we know it is the product of many countries. The French organized the technique and gave it liveliness. The Rusian added strength and passion. The English gave it delicacy and tenderness. The Americans gave it speed and variety.

Badminton is a fast game played with racket and a shuttlecock on a wood, dirt, or grass court. The court is somewhat like tennis court, but smaller. The shuttlecock, often called simply the shuttle, or "bird," is hit back and forth over a net 5 feet high. It must be returned before it strikes the court. The game can be played by two persons (singles) or four person (doubles). It is a very adapted game and can be played both indoor and outdoors. Offical tournaments are played indoors. The outdoors game more suitable for family enjoyment at home.
Badminton develop from Battledore and Shuttlecock, an ancient game that was popular with children. There are several explanation of how the modern game began; one is that about year 1870 English army offivers brought a version of it to England from India, where it was called Poona. The new game took its name from the Duke of Beaufort’s estate, Badminton, where the game was probably played indoors for the first time. Badminton became popular in England, and in the 1890’s the Badminton Asscociation was formed. In 1934 the International Badminton Federation was organized.
There are two international badminton championships; the Thomas Cup competition for men, which began 1948, and the Uber Cup for women, which began in 1957. Malaysia and Indonesia have dominated the men’s event, and the United State and Denmark the woment’s competition.

When automobile racing began in the 1890’s, the speed were like those of a fast horse and buggy. The first major race, held in 1895, was from Paris to Bordeaux, France, and back. The winner averaged only24 kilometers (15 miles) an hour. But the speeds of racing automobiles increased every year. By the 1960’s, the racing automobile was nearly as fast as some kinds of airplanes.
Autoracing includes event and classes for almost every kind of four wheeled vehicle. The racing rules and formulas are established so that the vehicles in each classperform as much like the others as possible.
Racing takes place many kinds of tracks. There are oval track, drag strips, and twisting tracks build around oval track. There are also cross-country races on public roads or on the dirt and sand. If a car is designed for one type of track if minor change are made in the car.
The emphasis in automobile racing has shifted away from pure speed. Race car designers now concentrate on improving the cornering speeds, breaking, and furl economy of their machines. Top speeds on a straight course have not increased much since the 1960’s. But racing cars are getting around the track faster. This is because of improvement in tires, design, brakes, and aerodynamic (the study of the way in which air affects moving objects). It can be said, then, that winners of race are determined by abilities of the drivers, the car designers, and the mechanics.
Modern racing cars have been made safer with stout metal frame bars, noneploding fuel tanks, and build-in fire estinguishers. Race courses are now usually lined wth safety barriers to help stop cars that go out of control. Safety helmets and fire proof driving suits provide more protection for the driver. But racing is still a dangerous sport, and the driver must be highly skilled.