Sports in America and Its Impact on American Nation

Sports in America and Its Impact on American Nation

Sport in America began as premodern participatory contests of strength, skill, and speed that were unorganized local competitions with simple rules. However, as the nation modernized, sport became highly organized with formalized rules and national competition. Sport became commercialized with expert athletes entertaining paying spectators.

The first sportsmen were Native Americans, who competed for religious, medicinal, and gambling purposes (Putney, 2001). They had running races, but were best known for team ball sports like lacrosse, which had over forty variations. The colonists defined sports broadly to ...