Full Contact Sports

Full-contact sports allow competitors to intentionally or unintentionally exert a significant physical impact on opposing players, with rules governing what type of contact is permissible.

Full-contact sports can be separated into “combat sports” (such as boxing, sumo, mixed martial arts, judo, and others) in which players can utilize striking, kicking, grappling, tackling, blocking, or even weapons to achieve victory, and “contact action sports” in which contact between players is secondary to the main objective of the game (such as scoring a goal in football, ice hockey, and water polo).

While the origins of full-contact sports can be traced to ancient times, the modern history of contact sports started in the 1800s with modern soccer's development and amateur boxing's popularization. Since then, many contact sports have become part of Olympic Games competitions, and hundreds of millions are enjoying them recreationally or professionally worldwide. Today, the world's most popular contact sport is soccer, played annually by over 250 million players in over 200 countries.

Boxing

Boxing is one of the most popular full-contact combat sports in the world, placing two competitors in a ring where they must fight for a predetermined amount of time using only an approved set of hand strike moves (jab, cross, hook, and uppercut), stances (upright, semi-crouch and full crouch), movement and blocking techniques.

Originally devised in 17th-century Europe, fist-fighting competitions eventually morphed into modern boxing during the late 19th and early 20th century with the rise of standardized rules, boxing ring size, weight classes, and protective gear that competitors must wear to compete in sanctioned matches. Modern boxing is separated into two categories of amateur and professional boxing. Amateur boxing was popularized with the arrival of the modern Olympic sport in 1908, which pushed many fighters to build professional leagues that today represent the most popular segment of boxing sport (with amateur bouts remaining popular in some territories, such as Russia, former Soviet republic, and Cuba).

Since the birth of modern boxing, several fighting styles have been developed. The three most popular styles in current existence are “outside fighter” (boxer), in which the fighter tends to move a lot inside the ring and create distance between him and his opponent, “brawler” (slugger), where the fighter relies not on his movement but on the power and accuracy of his hits, and “inside fighter” (swarmer) where fighter uses unrelenting aggression to achieve victory. Other styles of fighting are boxer-puncher, counter-puncher, and hybrid styles.

Hockey

Hockey is a fast-paced, full-contact sport (sometimes called collision sport) in which two teams play against each other by trying to control a small ball or puck, pass it between each other, and score by hitting opponents' goals using a curved wooden “hockey stick.” There are several types of hockey, the two most distinct ones being ice hockey and field hockey. Since these two types of hockey are rarely played together in the same country (colder countries prefer ice hockey during warmer field hockey), the word hockey can mean different things in such territories.

While the origins of hockey and various other games played with sticks can be found anywhere between ancient Egypt and medieval Europe, the modern form of hockey coalesced during the 19th and early 20th centuries when the majority of modern hockey types formed official rules, regulations, and government organizations who oversaw their development and professional bouts.

In addition to field and ice hockey, several other forms of hockey are played today, most notably bandy hockey on football pitch-sized ice fields (usually outdoors), roller (inline) hockey, quad hockey, ice sled hockey, and street hockey. In all these forms of hockey, players use protective gear, usually to protect their shins, knees, elbows, and heads. Professional players also use armored chest protection against strong collision hits.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a limited-contact sport where two teams play a point-based game using special lacrosse sticks and a single lacrosse ball. The game's goal is to catch, carry and pass a ball using the head of the lacrosse stick and eventually shoot the ball into the opponent's goal. It can be played on the outdoor lacrosse field or indoor lacrosse courts, but since it is fast and energetic, players on the field may come in contact with one another, including hard hits that may bring them down to the ground. Because of this, lacrosse is ranked as low to mid-range in terms of strength of contact between players.

Lacrosse can be played in four major variations, two of which are contract-based and require protective gear that covers hands, shoulders, elbows, and head (usually with some form of eye protection), with goalies having additional protection. Those types are men’s outdoor (field) and indoor (box) lacrosse, in which players can make contact both with their bodies and sticks. Women’s matches allow only contact with sticks. The fourth and final major type of lacrosse is a non-contact form called “intercrosse,” where teams can have mixed genders, sticks are made from lighter plastic, and the ball is softer.

Originally played by the tribes on native in North America (specifically on territories of Canada), the sport of Lacrosse rose in popularity in the mid-19th century. It entered the Olympics as early as 1904, and from there, it experienced rapid expansion across the United States, the UK, Australia, and the rest of the world. American Major League Lacrosse (MLL) is currently the largest professional lacrosse league in the world.