Sports

Sports we play nowadays such as soccer and tennis have rules and norms that change over time. Forces that change games include new technologies - particularly relevant in golf, where many new rules have had to be introduced to allow for advances in understanding of aerodynamics of golf ball and new materials. Televising of sports has also led to changes. Some would claim that American football is structured to allow for frequent commercial breaks.

Completely new sports have been created in the past and this pattern may well accelerate. The availability of varied new technologies, the spill-off creativity from PC game designers, the Internet allowing new international social organisations to come about - all these factors combine to allow more new sports than ever to be created.

Future sports will probably include robot football and space football taking place in weightlessness and 3 dimensions. Urban hunting games using mobile phones, geocaching, parkur, etc. are also examples of innovative emerging sports.

There is also an argument that sports with a range of levels of physical activity will become increasingly important, for an otherwise increasingly sedentary population.

Some relatively new sports
Just a small selection...


 * Skateboarding
 * Extreme sports
 * BMX cycle-cross
 * Paint balling
 * SCUBA and cave diving
 * Hang gliding


 * Synchronised swimming has become an Olympic sport.

Links

 * Bossaball: A zero-g version of volleyball
 * Bossaball, Golf and Football: Pathways toward innovation
 * International Bossaball Association
 * Is the world ready for cyborg athletes? - future of sports