Past, Present, Future Introduction

Sports have been a part of the human experience for thousands of years, evolving from rituals and survival skills in the ancient world into a global culture that identifies and defines identity, shapes culture, and even world politics. The earliest evidence of sports can be traced to ancient civilizations such as Egypt, where tomb paintings depicted wrestling and swimming. In Mesoamerica, among others, the Maya and Aztec civilizations engaged in ceremonial ball games, while cuju, an early form of soccer, was played over 2,000 years ago in China. However, it was in ancient Greece that sport became more organized and celebrated in the Olympic Games that were contested in honor of the gods and as a measure of physical strength in running, javelin, discus, and wrestling