Athletics may be either
games or contests. Games may be played by individuals or by teams. By
far the largest group includes games of the "ball and goal"
type, which are played by two teams. In these games the object is to
keep possession of the ball, carry it forward into the opponent's
territory, and cross his goal.
The official amateur games in this
group include American Rugby (football), English Rugby, sotcer, ice
hockey and field hockey, shinny (in which sticks are used to carry
the ball), lacrosse (in which a crosse, strung somewhat like a tennis
racket, is used), polo, water polo, and basketball. Six-man football
and touch football arcalso recognized as official games, and there
are many minor games.
"Ball and tag"
games are also team games, in which the object is to strike, or bat,
the ball in such a way that a prescribed distance can be run before
the opposing team can recover the ball and tag the runner. They
include baseball, cricket, Softball, and countless minor or
unofficial games. "Exchange ball" games are those known as
net games and trail games. The object is to strike the ball in such a
manner that it cannot be properly returned. This group includes
tennis, table tennis, or Ping-Pong, badminton, volley ball, handball,
squash, jai-alai (pelota), and pallone (an Italian game like tennis).
Here also there are hundreds of minor games.
