Sports word search

Ball games, water sports, winter sports and track and field all share this grid. You will find team sports like basketball, soccer and lacrosse, individual ones like archery, fencing and gymnastics, and the words around the game: referee, umpire, goalie, trophy, medal, stadium, jersey and whistle.

Two popular American sports have clear birthdays. Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts, who used two peach baskets as the first goals. Four years later, in nearby Holyoke, William G. Morgan created volleyball. The marathon is 26.2 miles long, a distance first run at the 1908 London Olympics and made the official standard in 1921.

Sports words are a good way to get reluctant readers interested in a puzzle. In PE or health class, the list can start a discussion: which sports use a ball, which are played on ice or water, which can you play alone?

Play tip: six of the sports end in BALL: BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, VOLLEYBALL, SOFTBALL and HANDBALL. When two or more are in the same grid, identify each one by its first letters rather than by the shared ending.