Sports That Start With B: 30 Examples From Badminton to Broomball

B is one of the best letters in sports. It gives us two of America's favorite games, baseball and basketball, along with boxing, bowling and badminton. It also includes unusual sports such as bossaball, buzkashi and broomball. Whether you need answers for a trivia game, a classroom activity or a word puzzle, here are 30 sports that start with B.

The big ones

Baseball

America's pastime: two teams of nine take turns batting and fielding over nine innings. Major League Baseball dates back to the 19th century. Read our cool baseball facts.

Basketball

Invented by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891. Two teams of five try to shoot a ball through a hoop 10 feet high. The NBA is one of the world's most popular leagues.

Boxing

Two fighters punch with gloved fists in a ring over a set number of rounds. Judges score the fight unless it ends by knockout or stoppage.

Bowling

Players roll a ball down a lane to knock down ten pins. A perfect game is 300 points: twelve strikes in a row.

Badminton

A racquet sport played with a shuttlecock over a high net. The fastest smashes are among the quickest projectiles in any sport, and badminton is hugely popular in Asia.

Full list of sports that start with B

Sport	Type	Short description
Badminton	Racquet	Shuttlecock hit over a net
Ball hockey	Team	Hockey played on foot with a ball, often on pavement
Bandy	Team, winter	Hockey on a soccer-sized ice field with a ball, popular in Sweden, Finland and Russia
Barrel racing	Rodeo	Horse and rider race around three barrels in a cloverleaf
BASE jumping	Extreme	Parachuting from buildings, antennas, spans and cliffs
Baseball	Team	Batting and fielding game with nine innings
Basketball	Team	Five-a-side game shooting at raised hoops
Beach soccer	Team	Five-a-side soccer on sand
Beach volleyball	Team	Two-a-side volleyball on sand, an Olympic sport
Biathlon	Winter	Cross-country skiing combined with rifle shooting
Billiards	Cue sport	Striking balls with a cue on a cloth-covered table
BMX	Cycling	Racing and freestyle tricks on small bikes
Bobsled	Winter	Teams of two or four race a sled down an icy track
Bocce	Precision	Rolling balls as close as possible to a small target ball
Bodyboarding	Water	Riding waves lying on a short foam board
Bodybuilding	Strength	Judged on muscle size, symmetry and definition
Bossaball	Team	Volleyball-style game on inflatable courts with trampolines
Bouldering	Climbing	Climbing short walls without ropes, over crash pads
Bowling	Precision	Rolling a ball to knock down ten pins
Boxing	Combat	Fighting with gloved fists
Breaking	Dance sport	Competitive breakdancing, included at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Broomball	Team, winter	Players in shoes use broom-like sticks to hit a ball on ice
Bull riding	Rodeo	Staying on a bucking bull for eight seconds
Bungee jumping	Extreme	Jumping from a height attached to an elastic cord
Buzkashi	Equestrian	Traditional Central Asian game in which riders compete for a carcass
Baton twirling	Performance	Judged routines with a spinning metal baton
Biking (road cycling)	Endurance	Racing bicycles on roads, including the Grand Tours
Bowls (lawn bowls)	Precision	Rolling biased balls toward a target on grass
Bareback riding	Rodeo	Riding a bucking horse without a saddle
Basque pelota	Court	Ball games played against a wall with hands, rackets or baskets

Unusual B sports worth knowing

Bandy

Bandy is often described as a cousin of ice hockey. It is played on a huge ice rink about the size of a soccer field, with 11 players per side, curved sticks and a small orange ball. It is especially popular in Sweden, Finland and Russia, where matches can draw large crowds.

Bossaball

Invented in Europe in the 2000s, bossaball combines volleyball, soccer and gymnastics on an inflatable court with trampolines on each side. Players can use any part of the body, and music plays during matches. It has spread to beaches and festivals around the world.

Broomball

Popular in Canada and the northern US, broomball is played on ice, but players wear rubber-soled shoes instead of skates and use sticks with a broom-shaped head. Players slip and fall constantly, which is part of the fun. Many colleges run broomball intramural leagues.

Biathlon

A Winter Olympic sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. Athletes must calm their racing heart rate to hit small targets, and missed shots add penalty laps or time.

B sports at the Olympics

Many B sports appear at the Olympic Games: badminton, basketball, baseball (returning at Los Angeles 2028), beach volleyball, biathlon, BMX, bobsled, boxing and breaking (Paris 2024). That makes B one of the most common first letters on the Olympic program.

Fun facts

• Basketball's original "hoops" were peach baskets, and someone had to retrieve the ball after each basket.
• Badminton takes its name from Badminton House, an English country estate.
• Bowling with nine pins was common in early America; ten-pin bowling became the standard in the 19th century.
• Bobsled teams push their sled at a sprint before jumping in for runs that can exceed 80 miles per hour.

Looking for another letter? See sports that start with K, or test yourself with our name your sport quiz.