Sports in the United States

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The origins of the sport in the United States go back to Hawaiian surfing , the chunkey game of the pre-Columbian Mississippi culture in Cahokia , the Southeast and the Midwest, and the First Nations lacrosse game first mentioned in 1634 on the Great Lakes and the East Coast back. The Puritans of the New England states, on the other hand, practiced equestrian sports , jumping, wrestling , weightlifting , all kinds of racing , bowling and shooting with moderate intensity. Socially acceptable were productive activities such as hunting and fishing, as well as anything that kept the work force going and kept melancholy off. In the southern states, the Anglican Church and with it the wild and excessive sports of English country life that followed English class consciousness, starting from Virginia , i.e. horse racing , fox hunting , mutilating bar fights and animal sports such as cockfighting , bearbaiting and bullbaiting or goose riding, prevailed . The Central Atlantic states initially followed the Calvinist ideal of the northern states, but on the basis of expanding urban agglomerations in Pennsylvania and New York formed the first sensational sports spectacles, in which the popular excess of English southern sports was sometimes used.

The first "national sport" of the young United States was therefore horse racing. The Great Match Race on May 27, 1823 on Long Island in New York attracted about 60,000 spectators, including Andrew Jackson , Daniel D. Tompkins and Aaron Burr .

Ball games such as batting and soccer , which were brought with them by European settlers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, represent the modern origins of the sport. In the course of the 19th century these were redesigned and developed until they finally became the Today known typical American sports have developed baseball , basketball and American football . Including ice hockey and, less often, soccer, these team sports are usually grouped under the term US sport in the German-speaking world and, in their current form, represent the preferred pastime of the vast majority of Americans. Americans play other sports , of course, but these disciplines still have a special place in the American sports world.

The role of sport as an engine of social and technical upheaval is also undisputed. As manifested in the America's Cup underlying sailing - regatta of 1851 the breakthrough progress of the American shipbuilding . And the worldwide Bicycle Craze (the " bicycle fashion ") at the end of the 19th century in the course of the invention of the safety bike (the so-called "rover" or " low bicycle ") in 1885 not only changed female self-perception, body awareness and fashion, it also had a not inconsiderable influence on social developments that ultimately led to women's suffrage . With the Wright brothers as original bicycle mechanics - similar to Laurin & Klement , the founders of Škoda , or Henry Ford - it also offered a playing field for technical innovations that would later culminate in the development of the automobile and the invention of the airplane.

Social aspects

As the most popular form of recreational activity, sport plays an important role in American society. Many Americans are either active athletes or attend sporting events as spectators, be it live or in front of the television. The typical American sports like baseball, basketball, American football and NASCAR are particularly popular. In the western states, rodeos are also a popular sporting event.

In the amateur field, a distinction is made between recreational and competitive sports. Favorite recreational activities include hiking, walking, boating, hunting and fishing. The combination of relaxation and exercise is what makes it so popular. But other sports are also played with preference in the USA. The active ones particularly appreciate the individual fun, the joy of competition and the promotion of fitness and health. Sport also imparts social values such as team spirit, fairness, discipline and perseverance, which are very highly valued in American society. High school and college sports associations such as the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association (NJCAA) demand and promote these skills especially in team sports such as American football and baseball for the men and softball and field hockey (NCAA) for the women. Basketball, soccer, lacrosse and volleyball are practiced by both sexes. Individual sports such as swimming , golf , tennis , cross-country running and athletics (as a spring and winter sport) are also very popular, but are practiced and rated in teams at schools and universities. Wrestling (NCAA for men, NAIA for women) and bowling (NCAA, women only) are partly gender-specific. The NCAA as the largest association still offers fencing , shooting , skiing , gymnastics , water polo and ice hockey for both genders (the first three in co-education ), as well as beach volleyball , rowing , rugby , horse riding and triathlon for the women. Other sports can be sponsored by the schools themselves or their individual (university) sports associations.

Sport has become an integral part of the education system in the United States . In the American higher education system , performance incentives are not grades, but the acquisition and maintenance of scholarships . Since 1973 sports scholarships can be renewed annually over a period of four years. The granting of grants is limited. Since 1975, the NCAA has limited the number of football coaches in Division I to the last eight, the football scholarships to 85 and the number of freshmen scholarships of these to 25. Men's basketball scholarships are limited to 15, all remaining scholarships must not exceed 80. According to NCAA regulations, the athletics departments have to finance themselves, in reality only 23 of 340 Division I programs ended the fiscal year in the black in 2012. The average loss for the remaining athletic programs was $ 7 million. Potential deficits may be borne by the taxpayer or the regular students who pay tuition fees. Four-digit amounts per academic year are not an isolated case; at Longwood University in Virginia, for example, the proportion paid by local students for the athletics program reached a peak of over 20% of the tuition fees in 2010. In fact, athletics coaches and directors are the highest paid public servants in their state, superior to even university directors.

The significant influence of sport on American society is also acknowledged by the American government. The fact that exercise and participation in physical activity promotes characteristics such as character, discipline, and self-confidence, as well as personal well-being, is particularly recognized by the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition (PCSFN), which is developing activities to promote active exercise and performs. The PCSFN believes that exercise and fitness have particular health benefits. Accordingly, the Council was entrusted by President Bush with the task of conveying the contents of the Fitness Agenda published by his administration in June 2002.

The American government advocates international sports competitions to represent the American way of life at such events , to promote international understanding and at the same time to exert economic, social and diplomatic influence. The most universal and popular battlefield of the Cold War was undoubtedly the international sport because of its symbolism and emotional connection. In all ideological systems it stands for personal and social progress and the superiority of the represented political social system that produced and trained the athlete. The greatest handicap for the US's foreign policy relations and thus the expansion of its sphere of influence in competition with the USSR had long been the international reception of US racial policy. For this reason, African-American athletes were also able to establish themselves as representatives and ambassadors for their country.

When in 1976 the USA behind the USSR and the GDR at the games of the XXI. Olympiad in Montreal won only the third most medals despite a relative local advantage, the US Congress with the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 overturned the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) founded in 1888 , which had represented the United States internationally since 1923. The law authorized the United States Olympic Committee to direct the development of amateur sports through the establishment of national sports federations. The AAU, which since the end of the 19th century was the umbrella organization for athletics as well as the host of the national championships and u. a. had organized the works team basketball of the National Professional Basketball League and the National Industrial Basketball League , currently organizes amateur tournaments in 41 sports and is now known in particular for athletics and basketball tournaments for children and young people. Aside from the athletics departments ( varsities ), the AAU is also involved in popular sports at schools.

The US has always been very successful in international sporting events. The most outstanding event in international sport is certainly the Olympic Games. The United States has already had the opportunity to host the Winter or Summer Olympic Games eight times. Summer Games were held in 1904 in St. Louis , Missouri , in 1932 and 1984 in Los Angeles , California and in 1996 in Atlanta , Georgia instead. Winter Games were held in Lake Placid , New York in 1932 and 1980 , in Squaw Valley , California in 1960 , and in Salt Lake City , Utah in 2002 .

The US also participates in the Pan American Games , the second largest sporting event after the Olympics. These competitions are also held every four years in the year before the Olympic Games. In addition to all the disciplines of the Summer Olympics, the Pan American Games include a number of other non-Olympic disciplines. American athletes also represent their country at the Special Olympics created by Eunice Kennedy Shriver , the Paralympics , Universiades , the World Games , the Goodwill Games , which took place for the first time in 1986 and for the last time in 2001, and the North American Indigenous Games .

Athletes from the USA also take part very successfully in world championships and other international competitions in individual sports. So dominated z. B. the cyclist Lance Armstrong the prestigious Tour de France between 1999 and 2005. Tiger Woods dominates the international golf scene. Pete Sampras , Andre Agassi , the siblings Venus and Serena Williams are just a small selection of the great tennis players from this country.

There are many other examples of excellent results from American athletes. These and many other American sports idols are among the most famous personalities in the country.

All cities in the US and Canada with at least one team in MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL or NHL, 2018

Popular sports

American football

American football is a sport that evolved from the English games soccer and rugby in the 19th century. Football is played by school, college, and professional teams; it has been the most popular spectator sport in America since the 1960s and attracts thousands of players and millions of viewers every year. American football became famous for its college and university teams , and today college football, with over 600 teams, attracts more than 35 million viewers a year, despite the growing interest in professional football.

American football

The games of the most important college teams sometimes have more than 100,000 spectators in the stadium and are mainly broadcast on Saturdays, but increasingly also on school days, live on US television, because the professionals of the National Football League (NFL) are allowed due to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 between the second Friday in September and the second Saturday in December do not broadcast any games on television and therefore compete almost exclusively on Sundays (or since 1970 on Mondays and since 2006 on Thursdays, on which only one game takes place). In 1966 the law was expanded to include transference disputes with high school football.

The NFL is huge business for players, club owners, the advertising industry, and other industries related to the sport. NFL branches generate huge sums for the cities of the resident NFL teams; they also promote local patriotism and give the teams national publicity. That is why the teams are often courted by cities: these offer them bigger and better stadiums, a guaranteed fan base and various financial incentives. The Super Bowl is the final of the NFL season and determines the championship. Another highlight of the season is the Pro Bowl , in which the best players from the two conferences compete against each other.

Scene in college baseball

baseball

The Major League Baseball teams from the USA and Canada consists of two leagues, the National League and the American League . The season runs from April to October, including the playoffs and the World Series. The winning teams of the respective league win the so-called Pennant (championship pennant ) and compete against each other for the title after the playoffs in the World Series . Baseball, America's favorite pastime since the Civil War , is popular outside the United States, particularly in East Asia, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America.

basketball

James Naismith with a peach basket and a soccer ball used for the basketball game

Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith , a teacher and participant in a psychology class at the Christian Workers School in Springfield, Massachusetts of the Christian Young Men’s Association (YMCA). The game spread across the planet in record time thanks to the YMCA. Because simple equipment was sufficient and hardly any playing area was required, the game quickly became very popular in lower-class circles. Today, more than 26 million people in the United States play basketball as a team sport, and countless more play variations of the sport.

Even if basketball is an international phenomenon - basketball was played in Shanghai even before the game had spread completely across the North American continent and even survived the Cultural Revolution in China - the development of American and international basketball ran parallel. The numerous North American rule sets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), college basketball, high school basketball and women's basketball, which was played in the USA with six players in two to three game zones until the 1970s, are partially giving way strongly depends on the rules of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA). Basketball as we know it today is largely a result of service basketball in the United States during World War II , when young men from all over the country came together and for the first time exchanged views on the game and learned from one another.

This game also established itself in professional sport after the war, when the NBA was founded in 1946 by a group of ice hockey officials and, with financial superiority, quickly prevailed against leagues with better playfulness, which were soon absorbed. The leading professional basketball league in the world initially eked a shadowy existence alongside baseball and football and the college version of the sport, which for a long time had a greater reputation, while from an athletic point of view it was not ruled out that individual players of the challenge game on the public playgrounds an NBA Players were superior. This changed radically in the 1980s.

The renewal of the NBA resulted from several fortunate circumstances. On the one hand, the college rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson was continued both sportingly and technically entertaining by the newly flared up rivalry between their two teams, the record champions Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers . At the same time, Michael Jordan , the Olympic champion of Los Angeles , entered the professional stage in 1984 . Through an exclusive contract with Nike and the establishment of the new Air Jordan brand , he allowed the struggling sporting goods manufacturer to recover economically and to catapult itself to the top of the market. David Stern , who in 1983 with the players' union National Basketball Players Association , the salary capping and symbiotic benefit sharing ( revenue sharing negotiations) with the team owners and, as in the 1970s, many players had been addicted to heroin, anti-drug policies of the NBA had been established, was in the same year Commissioner appointed. Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players of all time, became the figurehead of the NBA business brand that Stern marketed with new technologies such as cable television and satellite broadcasting. In 1986 NBA games could be seen in three dozen countries, ten years later in 175. In between were the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and the Advent of the Dream Team . David Stern had campaigned for the abolition of the FIBA ​​amateur rule at the Olympic Games and promoted the formation of the predominantly NBA star dream team, which is regarded as the largest gathering of individual talent in basketball history. The Olympic Games caused another worldwide basketball boom, but at the same time opened the NBA to international players, such as Dirk Nowitzki , one of the few Germans who made it into the league. In the season 2019/20 played over a hundred foreign players from 38 countries in the NBA. Stern, bearer of the Olympic Order , also founded the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and NBA Cares , the organization that takes on the social responsibility of the league and, among other things. a. organizes international basketball camps and clinics.

Thanks to him, the NBA today consists of 30 teams fighting for victories and thus for percentage points in two different regional sections, the Eastern and Western Conference , in six divisions. At the end of the season, the champions of the Eastern and Western Conference meet to determine the NBA master in up to seven games. Once a year, the NBA interrupts its season for a few days for the NBA All-Star Weekend and its highlight, the NBA All-Star Game , in which the best players compete, whose starting five were previously viewed by viewers all over the world via the Internet, the NBA - Players and a media selection were selected with a voting weight of 50%, and twice 25%. This regulation from 2017 became necessary because the right to vote was abused by the internet for absurd selections.

The NBA's game operations will also be suspended for the competitive event of Monday's NCAA University Championship finals. The television ratings vary greatly depending on the type of broadcast, but the final of the so-called March Madness is always the winner of the day. Although the players are not allowed to accept cash or material other than food, lodging, laundry, books and scholarships , the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship is huge business that captivates the entire country over a period of three weeks. Over $ 1.2 billion in advertising revenue was reported in 2016. As a college sport , college basketball has the most sports among men after American football , baseball , athletics and soccer, and among women after athletics, softball , soccer and volleyball , but by far the most teams and thus the greatest distribution: only 27 of 1114 universities (none of them in Division I) did not offer men's basketball in 2018 and only eleven of 1114 universities did not offer women's basketball.

ice Hockey

Ice hockey in the NHL

By “hockey” Americans in the USA and Canada usually understand ice hockey , which is very popular there. Along with baseball, American football and basketball, it is one of the most popular sports.

Both American and Canadian teams play in the National Hockey League (NHL) professional league. The game will be played in two conferences (Eastern and Western) and since 2013 only four divisions (Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, Pacific). In the course of a season, all teams in the league play against each other several times, but are rated separately in their own division when it comes to the passage of the best 16 teams into the play-offs . The winner of the Stanley Cup is determined in knockout series of up to seven games ( best of seven ) .

The teams traditionally come from the northern states and Canada. They include the Toronto Maple Leafs , Montreal Canadiens , Boston Bruins , Chicago Blackhawks , Detroit Red Wings and the New York Rangers , which are known as the " Original Six " , with only Toronto and Montreal being founding members of the 1917 NHL. But also in the western and southern states, which one would normally not associate with ice hockey, there are professional teams, for example the Florida Panthers , the Nashville Predators or the Arizona Coyotes .

Due to the refusal of the players union National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) to accept the limitation of player salaries ("salary cap") required by the league, strikes and lockouts occurred in the 2004/05 season, so that finally the entire Season had to be canceled.

Logo of the Major League Soccer, the most important soccer league in the USA

Soccer

What is called football in German or football in Great Britain is called "Association Football" or "Soccer" for short in the USA. Football was not yet widespread in the 1970s when the North American Soccer League (NASL) brought international stars like Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, and Gerd Müller to the United States. The NASL did not last; however, it was not without repercussions as the sport grew in popularity in America, especially among young people. By 1990 soccer had grown to become the most popular college and high school sport. The growing interest of Americans in football was given further impetus by the 1994 World Cup , which was held in the USA, and led to the establishment of a new professional football league, Major League Soccer (MLS). This league, originally consisting of ten teams, played its first season in 1996. Neither the NASL, nor the World Cup or the MLS would be without the founder of the American Football League (AFL), inventor of the Super Bowl , owner of the Kansas City Chiefs , the founder the Chicago Bulls and tennis official Lamar Hunt have been possible. The namesake of the US Cup competition also included three MLS teams in Kansas City, Dallas and Columbus. The concept of central profit sharing of the MLS, which has already proven itself in the AFL, goes back to him.

At the international level, the US national team attracted a lot of attention by making it to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup , but also because of its participation in the semifinals of the Copa America 2016, which was also held in the USA.

The US women's national team is particularly successful. In addition to four Olympic gold medals in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012, she won the World Championship, which was held for the first time in 1991, and was again champion in 1999, 2015 and 2019. With the four-time world championship title, the women’s national team of the United States is international record champions (as of 2019). The second World Cup was in the wake of the so-called Pony Tail Diplomacy (German: Diplomatie der Roßschwanzzopf), with which the viewer identifies a certain class, skin color, sexual orientation and a certain level of education, so popular in the home country that the Women's United Soccer Association even had a women's professional league for a short time.

NASCAR

NASCAR racing at Texas Motor Speedway 2008

The most popular motorsport series in the USA is the NASCAR series. The acronym NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing . The vehicles are stock cars , standardized to approx. 1.5 tons and have up to 850 hp. Almost all races take place in oval courses within the United States and the field of drivers has 43 starting positions. These key points alone make the NASCAR series incomparable in terms of sequence and tactics with most European racing events. NASCAR maintains 11 permanent series and also hosts individual events. The top racing classes include the Sprint Cup , then the Nationwide Series and finally the Camping World Truck Series . The association is based in Daytona Beach , Florida. This is also where the most prestigious race of the season, the Daytona 500, takes place .

It is worth mentioning that all cars are on the same technical level. Thus, it is not the performance of the engineers, as in Formula 1 , that is important, but the performance of the driver. Therefore, the drivers are sometimes admired like superstars. The NASCAR series in particular are enjoying increasing popularity in Europe. One of the reasons for this is that NASCAR is becoming increasingly international. Former Colombian Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya competed in the Sprint Cup.

To support equal opportunities, even the last placed receives 34 points. There are also bonus points for guided tours. A driver can receive a maximum of 195 points in a race. The Chase for the Sprint Cup takes place in the last 10 of the 36 races . This playoff system then determines the winner of the cup. At the beginning the twelve best placed get 5000 points. So that the drivers who do not drive in the chase can still give their best, high placements attract high prize money.

horse race

The horse racing has a long tradition in the United States. Especially in the colonial and antebellum south it was cultivated to perfection. In the second half of the 18th century , the unpopular duties of the horse industry were handed over to black slaves , who made use of their position and achieved great renown as grooms , breeders and jockeys . At the beginning of the 19th century, the vast majority of southern jockeys were black.

After horse racing was legalized in New York in 1821 , a stallion named Eclipse gained great fame. Friends of the sport in the north proclaimed him the greatest racehorse. Colonel William Ransom Johnson from Virginia challenged Eclipse to a race against the younger and lighter southern stallion Sir Henry, a grandson of the British racehorse and champion Diomed, as did Eclipse himself. " The Great Match Race " took place on May 27, 1823 in front of New York for a prize money of 40,000 dollars. The mile oval had to be lapped four times and the winner had to win two of three races, interrupted by half-hour breaks.

The New York Stock Exchange had closed for this first modern sporting event and 60,000 spectators found their way to the Union Course eight miles from New York City , which at the time had a population of 120,000. Sir Henry won the first race in 7: 37'5. Eclipse's young jockey had battered the horse badly (cuts to the leg and testicles) and was replaced by regular jockey Samuel Purdy, who at 49 was originally thought to be too old for the race. With him Eclipse won the next two races with 7:49 and 8:24. Neither horse had ever ridden that far, and in all three races combined, Eclipse had won by no more than one length. The great race was a playful test of strength between northern and southern states , which from then on was held annually and which provided a first foreshadowing of the worsening political conflicts between the two American cultures.

Jess "Long Shot" Conley at the Kentucky Derby

The south remained a center of equestrian sports and the horse industry, and black slaves retained their unusual status in it. When the Kentucky Derby was founded in 1875 , the victory of a black jockey was almost predetermined: 14 out of 15 starters were black and the first 28 races were won 15 times by blacks. One of the greatest jockeys of all time was Isaac Murphy, born in 1861 as a slave in Kentucky . His father had joined the Union troops and died shortly after the end of the civil war . Murphy therefore took a job in a stable at the age of 12. At the age of 15, he won his first race that he rode entirely by hand - that is, without a whip. In 1884 he won the then Triple Crown , the three most important races within a year: Kentucky Oaks, Kentucky Derby and the Clarks Stakes. In addition, he was the first to win the Kentucky Derby three times, twice in a row. He made $ 10,000 a year, which made him one of the richest black men in the United States.

Between 1880 and the turn of the century, the black population of the south had migrated to metropolitan areas such as Chicago , Philadelphia , Washington, DC and New York City, which for the first time massively confronted the northern states with the reality of social coexistence with African Americans . The Northerners reacted as the Southerners had reacted: with de iure and de facto methods of delimiting their white society . Just eight years after it was passed, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was withdrawn as unconstitutional. Black jockeys felt that too. The horse industry had shifted to the northeast of the country and Jim Crow had raised his head in both north and south as a result of the Reconstruction . In 1894 the National Jockey Club was established , which soon controlled all aspects of horse racing and issued licenses to jockeys. These were withheld from blacks more and more often and due to physical attacks by white jockeys during the race, horse owners feared the use of black jockeys, whose time was over and who - as ironically ironized in the "Hey Ya!" Video by OutKast - only as lawn jockeys , Statues for the front yard survived. In the mid-1970s, a hundred years after the Kentucky Derby was founded, less than 1% of jockeys were black.

There are no horse races in equestrian sports at the university level. Equestrian sport was declared a development sport for women by the NCAA in 2002. The competitions are organized by the NCAA subsidiary National Collegiate Equestrian Association and take place between September and November and January and March, followed by playoffs . Teams of five riders compete on five horses drawn by lots and provided by the home team in four disciplines: in western riding in reining and horsemanship as well as in the English hunting saddle in dressage riding and show jumping . The highest rating per horse is worth one point. In 2017/18 1381 women riders competed for 45 universities, while 14 men rode for six teams of Division III.

To ski

The Native Americans already used snowshoes . The use of wooden boards for locomotion and hunting, however, goes back to Scandinavian immigrants such as the Norwegian postman "Snowshoe" Thompson from the middle of the 19th century . The early skiers, mostly postman and gold diggers, used 3.5-meter ski from Hickory -Wood for movement in the rugged mountains. The first traditional downhill race on American soil was held in Onion Valley in the Sierra Nevada in 1861 . In the 1880s, mining expanded from California to the Colorado silver fields, and with it, mail delivery. At the same time, the first serial production of skis took place in Minnesota in 1879 and in 1882 the first recreational skiing club was founded in New Hampshire . Immediately before the turn of the century, skiing for recreation became more and more established. The US Ski & Snowboard National Ski Association was founded in Michigan in 1905 as the National Ski Association of America . Pre-war skiing in the United States reached a temporary high point with the ski boom of the 1930s combined with the introduction of the chairlift in the middle of the decade.

Members of the 10th Light Infantry Division (Alpine) during mountain training at Camp Hale, Colorado

The founder of the National Ski Patrol aid organization , Charles Minot Dole, recognized the great benefits of an army unit on skis using the example of the Finnish defense tactics, which had inflicted great losses on the Red Army in the winter war between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939/40. A few weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor , the Department of Defense finally allowed the establishment of the 10th Mountain Division , initially under a different name. The strikingly international unit included a. the Austrians Friedl Pfeifer , two sons of the Trapp family and US champion Toni Matt, the Swiss champion Walter Prager , the Norwegian ski jumper Torger Tokle, the Olympic field hockey player Bill Boddington and the future US Senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole , who im Use a kidney and lose the function of the right arm, as well as the later NFL coach Don Coryell and athletics coach and Nike founder Bill Bowerman .

The war effort of the 10th Mountain Division began in January 1945 in the Italian campaign . The most notable operation took place on the night of February 19: 800 men of the 86th Battalion surprised the Germans by conquering a 500 m high steep slope and being able to advance into the German positions unnoticed. Despite bitter resistance from the Germans, they held their position and within a week made it possible to take the line between Monte Belvedere and Monte della Torraccia in the northern Apennines, which had previously been unsuccessfully attacked . The wounded were replenished and transported away with the help of donkeys and a cable car . The division then advanced into the Po Valley and crossed Lake Garda . The neutralization of five enemy divisions is attributed to her, and her advance was so rapid that a still bitten bread was found in the captured headquarters of the 90th Panzer Division. However, the price was high: the 10th Mountain Division recorded 975 dead and 3871 wounded in 114 days of fighting.

The legacy of the 10th after the end of World War II was its immense influence on the country's ski culture, avalanche research, technical developments and economic developments. Five of its members were on the US Olympic ski team in 1948 and a sixth their coach. Robert Heron, the civil developer of the above mentioned cable car for the Riva mountain range campaign, later developed chairlifts. And nearly 60 ski resorts have been founded or built by members of the 10th Mountain Division, including Aspen , Steamboat Springs and Vail in Colorado, Waterville Valley in New Hampshire and Mount Bachelor in Oregon . With the organization of the Alpine World Championships in Aspen in 1950, skiing finally established itself in the United States.

High schools, especially in New England , had been skiing before the war. Championships have only existed at the NCAA since 1954. Today, they are held separately by gender in teams in the disciplines of slalom , giant slalom , classic cross-country skiing and free cross-country skiing style . This means that the college that will become a ski master had to compete eight competitions. There will be three conferences reserved for skiing . In addition to the NCAA, the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association also organizes competitions for colleges.

The United States is a true nation of skiers because of the rich heritage of its landscape and its immigrants . Not only artificial snow and snowboarding are American inventions, the Alpine Ski World Cup is also a joint effort between journalist Serge Lang and the national coaches of France and the USA. Ski World Cup events in alpine skiing are therefore also held in the numerous ski areas of the Rocky Mountains such as Beaver Creek or Park City .

Known skiers are Ted Ligety , Julia Mancuso , Mikaela Shiffrin or Bode Miller , who at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City two silver medals combined and giant slalom and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver gold in the super combined, silver in super G and bronze in the downhill. He also won four world championship titles between 2003 and 2005.

Lindsey Vonn is most successful with women . She won the gold medal in the downhill and bronze in the super-G at the 2010 Winter Olympics. In these disciplines she also earned gold and silver at world championships. To date, she has won 82 World Cups and won the overall World Cup in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

tennis

Ora Washington in 1939

In the 1870s, brought Mary Outerbridge the sport of tennis in the United States. She had watched British officers play while on vacation in Bermuda and exhibited it at her Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club in New York. Wealthy Americans took a liking to mimicking the behavior and pastimes of the British aristocracy, and tennis quickly spread throughout the United States. At first, the ball was only passed to oneself, which is why the sport was also considered suitable for women (who initially played in corsets), but soon the sport was played more ambitiously. For this reason, the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) was founded in 1881 , later the USLTA and now the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The USNLTA hosted the first national men's championship in Newport , Rhode Island , the summer residence of the super rich, and added a women's competition to the tournament in 1888, four years after Wimbledon . Until 1902 the women played over three winning sets, after which the best-of-three mode with two winning sets was introduced.

African Americans began playing college-level tennis at Tuskegee University in the 1890s . In 1916 the American Tennis Association was formed , which was formally established in 1926. The establishment of an African-American association was necessary because in US tennis there was a gentlemen's agreement about the exclusion of African-American athletes from competitions and tennis clubs, or at least an extremely strong class consciousness. The white master Helen Wills rejected challenges from the eight-time ATA master Ora Washington in any case with reference to their skin color. It was not until the 1950s that Althea Gibson entered USLTA tournaments after many years of lobbying by the ATA and white tennis celebrities under great resistance from the USLTA and won the title of the US Open in the middle of the decade . Because of unequal prize money for men and women, Billie Jean King founded another independent association in 1973, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).

The USA can safely be called a tennis nation. The US Open is one of four Grand Slam tournaments, the United States is the record winner of the Davis Cup , Hopman Cup and Fed Cup competitions, and American players have won the most individual titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.

"Frog Splash" in wrestling

Wrestling

Another sport in the USA is wrestling . The most famous league in the USA is World Wrestling Entertainment . Wrestling became particularly popular in the late 1980s. Young people in particular are more interested in it. There are two main squads in WWE, RAW and Smack Down. At major events, the so-called pay-per-view (e.g. Summerslam or Survivor Series), the respective wrestlers of the two squads also compete together. One of the most famous main events of the WWE is WrestleMania . The first World Cup took place in 1985.

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Elliott J. Gorn, Warren Goldstein: A Brief History of American Sports. Urbana / Springfield / Chicago, 1993 and 2013: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07948-1 (pages 3-63, in English).
  2. ^ Cait Murphy: A History of American Sports in 100 Objects. New York, 2016: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09774-6 (pages 7-37, in English).
  3. ↑ Howard P. Chudacoff: Changing The Playbook. How Power, Profit, and Politics Transformed College Sports. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield, 2015: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-08132-3 (pages 23 and 132, in English).
  4. ^ Daniel de Vise: Athletic fees are a large, and sometimes hidden, cost at colleges. On: Washington Post website; Washington, DC, October 24, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2018 (in English).
  5. ^ Damion L. Thomas: Globetrotting. African American Athletes and Cold War Politics. Champaign, 2012: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03717-7 (in English).
  6. ↑ SM Oliva: Ever Wonder Why College Games Are On Saturday & NFL Games Are On Sunday? On: Saturday Down South website; Windermere, FL, undated 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2018 (in English).
  7. ^ Joe Otterson: NCAA Championship Game Viewership Drops 28% From 2017. On: Variety website; New York City, NY April 3, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018 (in English).
  8. ↑ Mark Trainer: March Madness explained. On: Share America — Web site of the Bureau of International Information Programs within the US Department of State; Washington, DC, March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018 (in English).
  9. ↑ NN: 2017-18 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report. On: NCAA Publications website; Indianapolis, IN, October 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2020 (in English).
  10. ^ Cait Murphy: A History of American Sports in 100 Objects. New York, 2016: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09774-6 (pages 11f and 27ff, in English).
  11. ^ Russell T. Wigginton: The Strange Career of the Black Athlete. African Americans and Sports. Westport / London, 2006: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-98223-8 (pages 4–9, in English).
  12. ^ NN: History of Skiing in the United States. On: Info Please website; Boston, MA, February 11, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  13. ↑ Chase & Shannon Stewart: History of Skiing. On: Free The Powder Gloves website; Park City, UT, undated. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  14. ^ John Clary Davies: The History of Skiing, 5000 BC-2011. In celebration of Powder's 40th anniversary, a timeline of skiing. On: Powder website; Sun Valley, ID, August 17, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  15. ^ Tim Cooney: Aspen's Skiing History: An Evolving Timeline. On: Aspen Journalism website; Aspen, CO. January 11, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  16. ↑ Mort Lund: Timeline of Important Ski History Dates. Contributed by John Allen and Seth Masia on: International Ski History Association website; Manchester Center, VT, 1999-2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  17. ^ E. John B. Allen: Skiing. On: Encyclopædia Britannica website; Chicago, IL, 1998-2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  18. ^ Cait Murphy: A History of American Sports in 100 Objects. New York, 2016: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09774-6 (pages 93-97, in English).
  19. ^ NN: The History of Skiing in Colorado. On: Colorado Info website; Frisco, CO, undated. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (in English).
  20. ↑ Sundiata Djata: Game, Set, and Separation: The American Tennis Association, a Tennis Vanguard. in: Separate Games. African American Sport behind the Walls of Segregation. edited by David K. Wiggins and Ryan A. Swanson. Fayetteville, 2016: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1-68226-017-3 (pages 165-178, in English).
  21. ↑ Jaime Schultz: Qualifying Times. Points of Change in US Women's Sport. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield, 2014: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07974-0 (page 39 and generally pages 15-46, in English).
  22. ↑ Jennifer H. Lansbury: A Spectacular Leap. Black Women Athletes in Twentieth-Century America. Fayetteville, 2014: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1-55728-658-1 (pages 75-113, in English).