College sports
College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries.
College sports trace their roots back to the early 19th century. Originating from public schools in Britain, varsity matches between Oxford University and Cambridge University spread to Harvard University and Yale University, which influenced the development of college sports in the United States, and to college sports in Commonwealth, European, and other countries, such as Japan.
World University Games
The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the Union Nationale des Étudiants Français. In 1957, following several previous renames, they became known in English as the World University Games.Continents and countries
Africa
South Africa
is an organization of university sports leagues in South Africa. The organization currently sponsors seven events: athletics, beach volleyball, association football, field hockey, netball, and rugby sevens.During the 1970s, the National Union of South African Students worked to create a university sports program where race was not considered in team and competition arrangements. The organisation faced some governmental hurdles. At the time, inter-racial sports was only allowed to be played on private grounds, which meant games and competitions could not be played on public university grounds. They had models from the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town which had already held such events.
Asia
East Asia
China
University sport was established in China by the 1930s. One of these programs was at the Catholic University of Peking. In 1936, members of the team traveled to Japan as members of a team to participate in a basketball and association football competition. During the early stages of World War II in the region, most universities suspended their sports programs. The exceptions were Fu Ren University and Yanjing University which kept these programmes open until 1942 before shutting them down.Chinese universities organised boat races before the cultural revolution. These races were modeled after the boat races in England.
The Chinese Basketball University Association is currently China's most popular and competitive collegiate basketball league. In 2018, AliSports acquired the rights to broadcast the league for $150 million. Other university sports associations such as the Chinese Football University Association and the Chinese Marathon University Association are being broadcast by AliSports.
Japan
began to engage in sports when Western-style sports were introduced to Japan from Europe and the United States as a byproduct of the Westernization policy developed by the Meiji Restoration after three centuries of national isolation. This was accomplished by so-called "hired foreigners" invited by the new government and Japanese people returning to the West.There were various types of channels through which Western-style sports were introduced to Japan, but it was the schools that played a particularly important role in the frequent and sustained establishment of Western-style sports in Japan. After the student promulgation of 1873, modern sports first began to penetrate various schools, especially higher educational institutions such as universities, higher normal schools, and old high schools. Among the Westernization that was taking place in almost all areas of culture, including economics, politics, industrial technology, thought, literature, music, food, clothing, and architecture, the field of education in particular saw a remarkable development of Western-style sports. This was the groundwork for the emergence of Japan's unique modern sense of sports. The need to give meaning to the practice of sports in the field of education. In the latter half of the 19th century, the elevation of sports was being planned by "tough Christians" activists who were graduates of public schools and Oxford and Cambridge universities, which were attended by the children of gentlemen who were the dominant class of British society and the children of the emerging middle class bourgeoisie who admired them. This view of sports provided the conditions for the Japanese of the time to develop sports in the schoolhouse.
After returning from the US, Hiroshi Hiraoka, a railroad engineer, founded Japan's first baseball team, the Shinbashi Club. Rugby was the first sporting event in Japan, with the founding of the Keio University rugby club in 1899. Soccer was played in 1904 with the founding of the soccer club at Tokyo Higher Normal School. American football dates from 1934 with the founding of the American football club at Rikkyo University.
Among the sports introduced from abroad, baseball became especially popular during this period. 1894 saw the appearance of the word "yakyū" as a translation of the word "base ball". Ichiko lost to Waseda University and Keio University in 1904, ushering in the era of both universities., and baseball's popularity spilled over into the competitions between technical colleges and junior high schools. At a time when the mainstream entertainment for citizens was "watching", such as cherry blossom viewing, visiting temples and shrines, and sumo wrestling viewing, it was exciting for citizens to see university students taking part in American-born baseball games. People even gathered to watch the students practicing on the baseball field. The stadium was filled to overflowing with people who gathered to watch the games. Major newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun wrote extensively about the success of the games, and college baseball became a kind of social phenomenon.
University sports was established in Japan by the 1930s.
Even after World War II, university sports have established a glorious history and tradition, such as the revival of Waseda-Keio_rivalry at Jingu Stadium in the fall of 1945 and the popularity of Shigeo Nagashima, who supported the golden age of Rikkyo University in the 1960s. From these developments, the athletic club was formed as part of the extracurricular club activities at schools in Japan, which have various academies, and sports activities.At each university, an organization called Taiikukai_Undō-bu was formed, and the term taiikukai-kei was even coined.
By 1977, ultimate Frisbee had been established as a university sport. National championships were held that year with Aichi Gakuin University winning the inaugural event. Many of these new sports became popularized after being played by university teams.
In 2019, the Japan Association for University Athletics and Sport, a general incorporated association, was established to strengthen university sports in Japan. See List of University Sports Competitions and Organizations in Japan for more information on each athletic organization.
In fact, the Kōshien baseball tournament, a high school baseball tournament, and the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament, a men's soccer championship, Spring High School Volleyball, basketball, Hanazono for rugby, Ekiden's Miyakoōji in Ekiden, are held by high school teams in Japan, These are all the more exciting because they are featured on live TV broadcasts and news programs. However, Few tournaments are nationally televised for student athletes in college sports, such as the All Japan University Rugby Championship.
The Tokyo Big6 Baseball League is in Tokyo, and The Koshien Bowl, which is supposed to be the national American football championship, is only exciting in the Kansai region, so it cannot be said to be a nationwide event. The Hakone Ekiden, which is said to increase the number of applicants and the income from examination fees as a result of winning and performing well in the event, is actually a Kanto region event. For more information on soccer, see College soccer#Japan.
In addition to the general entrance examination, Japanese universities also offer Sports Recommendation Admission. This system is used to admit students who have achieved a certain level of athletic success in order to strengthen and maintain the strength of university sports teams. Many universities do this. However, the admission criteria, i.e., the number of students admitted, the degree of athletic achievement, and the way in which the academic performance of the applicant is taken into account, vary from university to university.
South Korea
Collegiate sports are organized by the Korea University Sports Federation and students must be enrolled at a member institution in order to participate. It runs the U-League in six sports and the Club Championship in four team sports. The U-League is mirrored after the domestic professional leagues and a large number of student-athletes eventually turn professional. The Club Championship is contested by college teams operated as intramural clubs.South Asia
India
- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy
Southeast Asia
Indonesia
- Liga Mahasiswa
Philippines
The UAAP tried to wrest recognition away from FESSAP's recognition by FISU in 2013 but was denied.
Europe
Eastern Europe
Armenia
The Armenian Student Sports Federation is a national non-governmental organization responsible for advocating, supporting and promoting the interests of students' sports and physical activities in Armenia. The headquarters of the federation is located in Yerevan. The Federation maintains numerous cooperation agreements with universities across Armenia.The Federation is responsible for sending student athletes to participate in various international and European level university sporting championships, including the World University Summer & Winter Games, the FISU World University Championships, and the Pan-European Student Games. The ARMSSF also organizes national events, competitions, and activities for students across Armenia and often collaborates with other sporting federations such as the Armenian Table Tennis Federation, the Armwrestling Federation of Armenia, the Armenian National Rowing and Canoe Federation, and the Figure Skating Federation of Armenia, among others.
The ARMSSF organizes the annual "Student Sports Games of the Republic of Armenia". In November 2014, over 3500 students from 21 Armenian universities participated. The games are sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Science.