Introduction to history of sport pre historic to ancient Olympics part one of two

1. The History of Sport
Prehistoric man – Modern Times

2. Prehistoric Man – (The Croods)
 What Physical Skills did they need to have to survive?
 Speed
 Endurance
 Accuracy
 Catching
 Strength
 Fighting
 Outwitting/cunning
 Bravery
 Flexibility

3. Prehistoric Man
 Why did prehistoric man have to run?
 To SURVIVE (not to get eaten)
 The hunt to catch food (to eat)
 How else did they get food?
 Gather seeds, pick fruits, fish
 What sports may have developed from the activities of prehistoric man?
 Combat/fighting/wrestling/boxing
 Sprinting
 Long Distance
 Games - striking and fielding, invasion (football)
 Throwing events
 Gymnastics

4. Evolution – The Cavemen got smart

5. Evolution – The cavemen got smarter

6. The ‘Need’ for sport reduced but the
desire remained
 Prehistoric man discovered and amazing thing called AGRIGULTURE (farming
crops and breeding animals for food)
 What did this mean in terms of the old hunter/gather activities?
 They were no longer compulsory for survival
 But the human instinct for them did not disappear overnight
 Hunting remained simply to satisfy the need to hunt (pleasure)
 For the first time Sport was now (as it is today for fun/competition)
 Things remained like this for a while with physical activity being for
entertainment – pleasure was still experienced for winning

7. Now we enter Ancient Times
 Ancient Times simply means the beginning of recorded human history and
takes us up to the Middle Ages or Medieval Times (knights)
 It refers to the beginning of recorded Greek History and the FIRST OLYMPIC
GAMES IN 776 BC
 Units of time were even referred to in 4 year blocks known as Olympiads.
 Ancient time roughly coincides with the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the
beginning of the history of ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Archaic
Period in Ancient Greece (the rise of cities e.g. Polis)
 See maps and highlight ROME, ATHENS, SPARTA, and CRETE

8. Sports of the Ancient Times
 Look at your starter activity picture sheet. Which images may have been from
ancient times?
 In ancient times physical activity took on the culture of the country and
started to become a focus for boys training for war.
 Gymnastics – First recorded in Crete where slaves leapt over the horns of bulls
to keep their god (the bull) happy as well as providing an exciting spectacle.
 In Greece festivals known as funeral games in honour of deceased warriors.
 Sport was for the noble or wealthy (no need to do manual labour themselves)
 Kings threw javelins to prove their status and had chariot races
 In Egypt saw javelin throwing, high jump, wrestling, ball games and snooker

9. The Spartan Program

10. Spartan Dress

11. The Spartan Program
 A warrior society in ancient Greece
 Only interested in the strongest
 Selected strong boys (age 7) to
train as soldiers
 The training was brutal
 They were defeated in 371 BC
 Girls were educated too
 Entire state interest was in
building the best soldiers

12. Ancient Olympics 776BC – 393AD
(Abolished by Christian Emperor Theodosius because
he said it was a pagan festival)
Every 4 Years Old Olympics
 Continued even during war (sacred
truce)
 Started only as footraces
 Wrestling and multi-events were
added
 It was a religious festival of great
importance
 In honour of the god Zeus
 Athletes ran in the nude!
 or they could wear armour

13. Home Work
 Please Research the middle ages, sometimes known as medieval times
 Find out when they were
 Find 3 different sports that were played during that time