Rugby

By Isabel Querzola, MS2

Rugby started in the year 1823 when the football player William Webb Ellis took the ball and ran with it into the goal. Although some people are not sure if the story is true, it is said to be the beginning of rugby and the trophy of the world championship is named after William Webb Ellis. In modern rugby, two teams with 15players on each side try to get more points than the opponents. Therefore they have to bring the ball behind the touch-line.
At the beginning they had no kits that protected them. Later the game got faster and more violent and the kits became more protective. But the rules haven´t changed that much.
The best national rugby team at the moment is from New Zealand. The best team in New Zealand is the All Blacks, and for the kiwi people they are the most popular team.

Basketball
(by Ben Berkel, 5 March 2009)

Passing, dunking, dribbling, blocking, shooting, rebounding, positioning and also fouling is part of the game we all love named basketball?

Basketball was founded in early December 1891 in Springfield Massachusetts by a Physical Education teacher from Canada, named Dr. James Naismith. He came from McGill University in Montréal. He was an instructor at the YMC Training School, now named Springfield College. To keep his students occupied, and on a high standard of fitness level through the long New England winter, he imagined this new game that we call basketball. After rejecting most of his ideas he wrote down the basic rules and nailed a peach basket over the door of the gym at 3.05m high. Today the official height of the basket is still 3.05 meters, but the rules take up over 10 pages today. The main aim of this game is to invade the opposing side and score by shooting the ball into the basket. The professional NBA stars like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Parker, etc… and until 2002, the all-star Michael Jordan earn millions and millions in one season of basketball!
I really like the game because it combines running, throwing, jumping and many more kinds of activities I like!!

Blackjack

By Sebastian Michel, MS2
5/3/2009

The history of Blackjack is unclear. Some people believe that Blackjack started in French casinos in the early 1700s where it was known as "vingt-et-un" The game became known as Blackjack because if a player held a Jack of Spades and an Ace of Spades as the 1st two cards, the player was the winner. So the Jack was the most important card and Spades are black, the game was called “Blackjack”. The goal of the game is to get a higher number than the other players, but the tricky thing is that you are not allowed to get more than 21 points. At the beginning you get 2 cards. But you can get more cards but you have to pay with chips one chip for a open card (not so good because every body can see what you got) or 2 chips for a closed card ( so only you can see). You can put money in the pot so at the end more money is in the “bank”.