Some typical English and American sports and games

Sport is an important part of the life in Britain and in America. Interest in sport is first developed in schools, because physical education is the only one relaxing subject. They have more lessons of P.E. than in our country. They like above all team games. They have very good teams at universities. The most popular school sports in America are basketball, baseball, volley-ball and American football.

The most popular sports in Britain are soccer, rugby, tennis, cricket and golf. But in last years increases the popularity of ice-hockey and English teams( especially Manchester) improve.

In both countries are very popular summer sports, but for example skiing is not as popular as in our country, because in Britain you can ski only in Snowdonia and in The USA in the Rocky Mountains.

I want to speak about football at first, because it is my favourite sport. Football is the most popular game in the world. In America it is called soccer. Football is played by  2 teams of eleven player s on the playground, which is divided into 2 halves. Every team has one goalkeeper, three or four backs, two or three forwards and between backs and forwards are middlefield players. Only goalkeeper can use his hands to pass the ball, but the other players can use the other parts of their body( mainly foots and heads). The match includes of 2 half-times and one half-time has 45 minutes. Soccer was invented in Britain more than hundred years ago. In Britain was in 1996 European championship and our national team won the silver medals. The final match was played in Wembley. It’s the most famous stadium in the world and the greatest stadium in Britain. It’s capacity is about 80 000. A lot  of people in Britain go to support their favourite team or watch their matches on television. The most famous teams in England are Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

One of the most popular sports in America is Ice-hockey. it was invented in Canada, but because  Canada and the USA have a common league, it’s popular in the whole north America. It’s played on the ice-rink in the ice-stadium. It’s played by 2 teams of 6 players( one goal keeper, two backs and three forwards), but both teams can change their players during the whole match. The match time is 60 minutes and its divided to 3 periods. The aim is to score the puck into the goal with a stick.

American football and baseball are the other popular games in USA, and their rules are very complicated.

The other popular sports in Britain are Tennis, golf or cricket. Tennis is played by two or four players and this game called single or double play. in the middle of the court there is a net and both players must to put small tennis ball over the net with a rocket. The most famous grass court is in  Wimbledon and in USA the most famous court in Flushing Meadows or in The Madison Square Garden.

Golf is played on the grass court with a stick and you must to put the ball into a hole, which is about 300 meters away. The winner is the player ho puts the ball into 18 holes with the lowest number of shots.