Athletics Blog

Image Source: thenastyboys.files.wordpress.com

General manager Jim Hendry will continue to serve the Cubs for another four years til 2012 long after the Cubs’ new owners take over the club. The news came at the time of the Cubs’ best season in more than 60 years. They recently won their 2 NL Central title and scored the league’s best record ever before they lost in the play offs for two straight years. The decision to invite Hendry back to the club was a very easy decision to make, apparently, inspite of the fact that it is on sale. It was quite an odd situation, as the Cubs’ chairman Crane Kenney recalls. But the decision of the club owner, Sam Zell, to get Hendrey was the turning point. Amidst the pending sale, the Cubs brought in Rich Harden and Carlos Zambrano. It is always about the long term consequences that we are all concerned about thats why these important decisions were made, says Kenney.

Image Source: graphics8.nytimes.com

They say the best time to start a sport is while you’re young and fit. For Dara Torres, she out did the saying. For her age doesn’t matter and to be fit is a choice we have to make.

Torres is now 41 and the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, is an Olympic swimmer of the 50-meter freestyle, known as “the flash and dash”. Being both competitive and compulsive, her latest effort built on an obsessive attention to her aging body. She treats her body the way a motor head treats his car: obsessively tuning it up. Her proportions more closely resemble the long inverted triangle. The broad shoulders, long torso, slim hips, long arms, and the more tightly muscled curves. If you study Torres’s face and neck, you can see some faint signs of her 40-plus years. But barring the 13 small surgical incisions on her knees, elbows, shoulders, hands and fingers, her physique looks nearly flawless.

Among the seven other women she was competing with, who were between 12 and 20 years her junior, Torres looked taller and fitter.

Image source: www.bbc.co.uk

Athletes usually begin competing in their sports while in elementary or middle school and continue through high school and sometimes college. They play in amateur tournaments and on high school and college teams, where the best attract the attention of professional scouts. Most schools require that participating athletes maintain specific academic standards to remain eligible to play. Becoming a professional athlete is the culmination of years of effort. Athletes who seek to compete professionally must have extraordinary talent, desire, and dedication to training.

Irregular work hours are the trademark of an athlete. Athletes often work Saturdays, Sundays, evenings, and even holidays. Athletes usually work more than 40 hours a week for several months during the sports season, if not most of the year. Athletes who participate in competitions that are held outdoors may be exposed to all weather conditions of the season; those involved in events that are held indoors tend to work in climate-controlled comfort, often in arenas, enclosed stadiums, or gymnasiums. Athletes, frequently travel to sporting events by bus or airplane.

Boxing is a sport that most people cannot resist to watch because of the back to back thrill and excitement it offers. It is a fighting combat between two participants who punch their opponent with their fists, and its main goal is to knock out their opponent. Although many people enjoy watching this sport, many don’t realize the danger these contestants are risking. Even though these athletes have helmets and pads, it cannot fully protect them, every hit they make especially on the head of their opponent can actually lead to brain damage which is very dangerous and when they get old, they‘re much likely prone to Alzheimer’s disease.

For people who love the taste of water adventure, surfing is one of the most exciting and extreme water sports ever. If you happen to check out the movie Blue Crash you will actually find that surfing is really cool. It might seem easy at first; like riding on a skateboard but actually surfing needs guts and focus. First thing that you need to consider before surfing is the fact that you know how to swim because drowning is mainly the reason of water accidents. So if you’re really into it, try to go down under… Australia is one of the best places in the world to surf.

One of the favorite basketball movements of all time is dribbling. It is also the most entertaining skills to learn. Dribbling is such an easy skill that you can be good at it in a small ample of time. Want to know how to start learning? Just start dribbling and presto! You are now a good player!

As cheesy as it sounds, dribbling makes you know your ball better as you get the chance to spend more time with it. Through continuous repetition, you will soon develop the skill without exerting much effort. You can also practice the skill almost everywhere as you don’t really need a basketball ring.

One of the most important part in a ball game is called pivoting. It is when one player is able to keep one of the foot planted as he moved the other foot, It is important that you practice this skill as it can be a really big help to you as the game progresses. If you practice this move, it will be unconsciously a part of your gaming habit and it will eventually help you develop a good flow in the game.

Pivoting also contributes in keeping your body in balance and maintains your body weight. Developing a good pivoting skill can help you in terms of speed as you will be able to move faster and stronger.

At first, when I read the title to this article, I thought the Olympic express was like a train or something or a mode of transportation to that sort. But the Olympic Express is far from what I thought since it is a journal of some sort. The Olympic Express is like an “e-journal” wherein young people from all over the world could follow the biggest sporting event in the world. The Olympic Express is highly interactive and contains a wide range of features, animated ones, and information. It started as a bi-weekly journal, but since the Beijing Olympics went underway, it became an e-daily. For more information you can visit their site.

Source: http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/full_story_uk.asp?id=2558

It is important that a basketball player is in good shape. One must have a good and healthy body. Even the most talented basketball players in history can’t perform well if their bodies are not in good condition.

A lot of programs are offered, but I suggest that you try the Fourth Quarter Principle. So what is this all about?

A lot of players aim to perform as they did on the first game once they reach the fourth quarter. I’ve observed that majority of the players in schools are good at the first part, but their energy declines before the ball game ends. Focus on conditioning your body.

I have always wondered how athletes do the high jump. I would watch them run, jump and curl their bodies over the bar, but it confuses me on how they do it. I came across the BBC Sport Athletics website and they showed a step by step instructions on how to the high jump and it comes with animations. According to the site, a good high jumper must have an explosive speed and a smooth technique to go over a bar. Did you know that a high jumper doesn’t approach the bar in a straight direction but rather curved. Visit the site for more information.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/skills/4250560.stm