Summer Olympic Games

Introduction to the Summer Olympics

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Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event held every four years, organised by the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics are the most prestigious of such events in the world. Olympic victory is widely considered to be the most prestigious achievement in sports. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition which started in 1904. The Games have expanded from a 43-event competition with fewer than 250 men competing to including over 10,000 competitors of both genders from 202 nations. Organisers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expect approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the programme for the Games. The 2004 Summer Olympics, for which organisers had also expected 10,500 competitors, drew a total of 11,099 in the 301 events offered. Competitors are entered by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) to represent their country of citizenship. National anthems and flags accompany the medal ceremonies, and tables showing the number of medals won by each country are widely used. In general only recognised nations are represented, but a few sovereign-disputed countries are allowed to take part. The country of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has been required by the International Olympic Committee to compete using the name "Chinese Taipei" in order to avoid provoking the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Archery

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Archery

Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport. A person practicing archery is called an archer, and one who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite.

History

The bow probably originated for use in hunting and was then adopted as a tool of warfare. It was one of the earliest forms of artillery. Bows eventually replaced the atlatl as the predominant means for launching projectiles. Classical civilizations, notably the Persians, Macedonians, Nubians, Greeks, Parthians, Indians, Japanese,Chinese, and Koreans, fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. Arrows proved exceptionally destructive against massed formations, and the use of archers often proved decisive.
During the Middle Ages, archery in warfare was not as prevalent and dominant in Western Europe as popular myth dictates. Archers were quite often the lowest-paid soldiers in an army or were conscripted from the peasantry. This was due to the cheap nature of the bow and arrow, as compared to the expense needed to equip a professional man-at-arms with good armour and a sword. Professional archers required a lifetime of training and expensive bows to be effective, and were thus rare in Europe .
Archery was highly developed in Asia and in the Islamic world. The horse archers were the main military force of most of the Equestrian Nomads. In modern times, horse archery continues to be practised in some Asian countries but is not used in international competition. Central Asian tribesmen were extremely adept at archery on horseback. Archery is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan.
The advent of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Early firearms were vastly inferior in range, rate-of-fire, and armor penetration to high-quality bows, but required significantly less training to use properly. Armies equipped with guns could thus provide superior firepower by sheer weight of numbers, and highly-trained archers became obsolete. Equipment A recurve bow is the only class of bow that is shot at the Olympic Games. Unlike the compound, its basic shape is still similar to that of a traditional longbow. Its defining feature is that the ends of the limbs curve forwards slightly, which increases the power gained from the bow and smoothens the draw. Recurves are used primarily for target competition; archery on a flat, open field at circular targets. Modern recurve and compound bows have are now often made from wood/fiberglass laminates or a combination of aluminum alloys and carbon fiber. Some archers today equip their bows with sights, stabilizers and/or shock absorbers.

Types of arrows and fletching

Arrows are made of solid wood, fiberglass, aluminum alloy tubing, or carbon fiber shafts. Wooden arrows are prone to warping, and are not easily straightened. Fiberglass arrows are brittle, but are more easily produced to uniform specifications. Aluminum shafts were a very popular high-performance choice in the later half of the 20th century due to their light weight, and subsequently higher speed and flatter trajectories. They were more easily straightened when bent, but are susceptible to being "robin hooded" if one arrow hit the back of another precisely. Carbon arrows are very light, and fly faster and flatter than aluminum arrows. They became popular in the 1990s. The material and diameter (and, in the case of aluminum, the thickness of the tube wall) of the arrow contribute to its stiffness, or spine. This must be matched to the draw weight of the bow to ensure accuracy. Most bowhunters prefer aluminum or wood arrows to fiberglass or carbon arrows. Aluminum arrows are easily adjusted to fly straight when a broadhead is attached to them, and wooden arrows are simply cheap and expendable. Carbon arrows are quite hard to adjust so that they fly straight when a broadhead is attached to them.

Feather fletches

Fletching is traditionally made from turkey feathers, but solid plastic vanes are also used. Feathers will typically be 3-6" long, while vanes are often only 1-2". They are attached at the nock (rear) end of the arrow with glue, or, traditionally, some type of string such as silk. The fletching is equally spaced around the shaft with one (the cock) placed such that it is perpendicular to the bow when nocked on the string. Three feathers (two hens plus the cock) is the most common configuration, though four or (very rarely) five are used. The fletching is attached at a slight angle, to introduce a stabilizing spin to the arrow while in flight. Oversized fletching can be used to accentuate drag and thus limit the range of the arrow signficantly; these arrows are called flu-flus.

Types of arrowheads

Target points are bullet-shaped with a sharp point, designed to penetrate target butts easily without causing excessive wear on them. Field tips have a distinct shoulder, so that missed shots out of doors don't become as stuck in obstacles such as tree stumps. A broadhead is used in hunting, not target practice. It has, usually, two to four razor sharp blades that cause massive bleeding leading to a quick, humane kill. Blunts are occasionally used for types of target shooting when the goal is to knock something over, not penetrate it.

Athletics

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Athletics

Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing and jumping. The name is derived from the Greek word "athlon" meaning "contest". Some languages (e.g., German and Russian) refer to these sports as "light athletics" to distinguish them from "heavy athletics," like weight lifting, wrestling, etc.

History

Athletics was the original event at the first Olympics back in 776 BCE where the only event held was the stadium-length foot race or "stade". There were several other "Games" held throughout Europe in the classical era:

Panhellenic Games

The Pythian Games (founded 527 BCE) held in Delphi every four years The Nemean Games (founded 516 BCE) held in Argolid every two years The Isthmian Games (founded 523 BCE) held on the Isthmus of Corinth every two years (one year being that which followed the Olympics) The Roman Games – Arising from Etruscan rather than purely Greek roots, the Roman Games deemphasized footraces and throwing. Instead, the Greek sports of chariot racing and wrestling, as well as the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat, took center stage.
Other peoples enjoyed athletic contests, such as the Celts, Teutons and Goths who succeeded the Romans. However, these were often related to combat training, and were not very well organized. In the Middle Ages the sons of noblemen would be trained in running, leaping and wrestling, in addition to riding, jousting and arms-training. Contests between rivals and friends may have been common on both official and unofficial grounds. Many athletic sports have found favour in Europe throughout the ages. However, in Britain they fell out of favour between the 13th and 16th centuries due to government restrictions on sports aiming to reduce the practice of archery. After this ban was lifted in the 17th century sports began to flourish once more, but it was not until the 19th century that organization began to appear. This included the incorporation of regular sports and exercise into school regimes. The Royal Military College, Sandhurst has claimed to be the first to adopt this in 1812 and 1825 but without any supporting evidence. The earliest recorded meeting was organised at Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1840 by the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. There are details of the meeting in a series of letters written 60 years later by CT Robinson who was a pupil there from 1838 to 1841.
Modern athletic events are usually organized around a 400 metre running track, on which most of the running events take place. Field events (vaulting, jumping, and throwing) often take place in the field in the centre of the track. Many athletic events have an ancient origin and were already conducted in competitive form by the ancient Greeks. Athletics was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been part of the program ever since, providing the backbone of the Olympics. Women were not allowed to participate in track and field events in the Olympics until 1928. An international governing body, the IAAF was founded in 1912. The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983. Other major events include the World Indoor Championships and the European Championships. The sport has a very high profile during major championships, especially the Olympics, but otherwise ranks well down the list of sports by public interest in almost all countries. The leading regular circuit of events takes place in Europe each summer, and includes the Golden League events.

Indoor track and field

There are two seasons for track and field. There is an indoor season, run during the winter and an outdoor season, run during the spring and summer. Most indoor tracks are 200 meters, however, less frequently, there are smaller and larger tracks that measure from between 120 (13.3 laps to a mile) to 300 meters. The typical indoor track consists of four to eight lanes (usually six) instead of the six to ten (usually eight) on an outdoor track. Often an indoor track will have banked turns to compensate for the tight bends. In an indoor track meet athletes contest the same events as an outdoor meet with the exception of the 100 m and 110 m/100 m hurdles (replaced by the 60 m sprint and 60 m hurdles at most levels and sometimes the 55m sprint and 55m hurdles at the high school level), and the 10,000 m run, 3,000m steeplechase, and 400m hurdles. Indoor meets also have the addition of a 3,000 m run normally at both the collegiate and elite level instead of the 10,000 m. The 5,000 m is the longest event commonly run indoors, although there are situations where longer distances have been raced. In the mid 20th century, there was a series of races 'duel races' at Madison Square Garden's (NY) indoor track, some of which featured two men racing a marathon (26.2 miles). However, this is an extremely rare occurrence, for obvious reasons. In some occasions, there may also be a 500 m race instead the open 400 m normally found outdoors, and in many collegiate championship races indoors both are contested.

Outdoor track and field

The outdoor track and field season begins in the spring and may last through the summer. Usually the tracks are an oval shape track of 400 meters. However, some old tracks are still measured in yards, so they measure 440 yards. The track consists of 6-10 lanes and, for the bigger tracks, a steeplechase lane with a water pit. This can be inside or outside the track, making for a tighter turn or a wider turn. Often schools will place a playing field in the middle of the track, usually football/soccer/lacrosse, due to their size and shape. This inner field is usually known as the infield. Recently, some of these fields have been made out of AstroTurf or FieldTurf instead of grass. Field events consist of the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and shot put. They also consist of the javelin, hammer and discus throws; however, often these are outside of the stadium because they take up a large amount of space and may damage grass fields. However, many tracks without a playing field in the middle use the infield for the throwing events.

Badminton

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Badminton

Badminton is a racket sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their rackets so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the ground, and the shuttlecock may only be struck once by each side before it passes over the net.
The shuttlecock is a feathered projectile whose unique aerodynamic properties cause it to fly differently from the balls used in most racket sports; in particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly than a ball. Shuttlecock flight is strongly affected by wind, and so competitive badminton is always played indoors. Badminton is also played outdoors as a casual recreational activity, often as a garden or beach game.
Badminton is an Olympic sport with five competitive disciplines: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, in which each pair is a man and a woman. At high levels of play, the sport demands excellent fitness: players require aerobic stamina, strength, and speed. It is also a technical sport, requiring good hand-eye coordination and the development of sophisticated racket skills.

History and development

Battledore and Shuttlecock, an antecedent to the modern game of Badminton. 1854, from the John Leech Archive
Games with a shuttlecock are widely believed to have originated in ancient Greece about 2000 years ago. From there they spread via the Indo-Greek kingdoms to India and then further east to China and Siam (now Thailand).
In England since medieval times a children's game called Battledore and Shuttlecock was popular. Children would use paddles (Battledores) and work together to keep the Shuttlecock up in the air and prevent it from reaching the ground. It was popular enough to be a nuisance on the street of London in 1854 when the magazine Punch published a cartoon depicting it.
In the 1860s, British Army officers in Pune, India, began playing the game of Battledore and Shuttlecock, but they added a competitive element by including a net. As the city of Pune was formerly known as Poona, the game was known as Poona at that time.
About this same time, the Duke of Beaufort was entertaining soldiers at his estate called "Badminton House", where the soldiers played Poona. The Duke of Beaufort’s non-military guests began referring to the game as "the badminton game", and thus the game became known as "Badminton".
In 1877, the first badminton club in the world, Bath Badminton Club,transcribed the rules of badminton for the first time. However, in 1893, the Badminton Association of England published the first proper set of rules, similar to that of today, and officially launched badminton in a house called "Dunbar" at 6 Waverley Grove, Portsmouth, England on September 13 of that year. They also started the All England Open Badminton Championships, the first badminton competition in the world, in 1899.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) was established in 1934 with Canada, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales as its founding members. India joined as an affiliate in 1936. The BWF now governs international badminton and develops the sport globally.

Laws of the game

The following information is a simplified summary of the Laws, not a complete reproduction. The definitive source of the Laws is the IBF Laws publication, although the digital distribution of the Laws contains poor reproductions of the diagrams.
Playing court dimensions
The court is rectangular and divided into halves by a net. Courts are almost always marked for both singles and doubles play, although the laws permit a court to be marked for singles only. The doubles court is wider than the singles court, but the doubles service court is shorter than the singles service court.
The full width of the court is 6.1 metres, and in singles this width is reduced to 5.18 metres. The full length of the court is 13.4 metres. The service courts are marked by a centre line dividing the width of the court, by a short service line at a distance of 1.98 metres from the net, and by the outer side and back boundaries. In doubles, the service court is also marked by a long service line, which is 0.78 metres from the back boundary.
The net is 1.55 metres (5 ft 1 inch) high at the edges and 1.524 metres (5 ft) high in the centre. The net posts are placed over the doubles side lines, even when singles is played.
Surprisingly, there is no mention in the Laws of a minimum height for the ceiling above the court. Nonetheless, a badminton court will not be suitable if the ceiling is likely to be hit on a high serve.

Equipment laws

The Laws specify which equipment may be used. In particular, the Laws restrict the design and size of rackets and shuttlecocks. The Laws also provide for testing a shuttlecock for the correct speed:
3.1 To test a shuttle, use a full underhand stroke which makes contact with the shuttle over the back boundary line. The shuttle shall be hit at an upward angle and in a direction parallel to the side lines.
3.2 A shuttle of the correct speed will land not less than 530 mm and not more than 990 mm short of the other back boundary line....

Equipment

Rackets

Badminton rackets are light, with top quality rackets weighing between about 70 and 100 grams (without strings).They are composed of carbon fibre composite (graphite reinforced plastic), which may be augmented by a variety of materials. Carbon fibre has an excellent strength to weight ratio, is stiff, and gives excellent kinetic energy transfer. Before the adoption of carbon fibre composite, rackets were made of light metals such as aluminium. Earlier still, rackets were made of wood. Cheap rackets are still often made of metal, but wooden rackets are no longer manufactured for the ordinary market, due to their excessive weight and cost.
There is a wide variety of racket designs, although the racket size and shape are limited by the Laws. Different rackets have playing characteristics that appeal to different players. The traditional oval head shape is still available, but an isometric head shape is increasingly common in new rackets.

Shuttlecock

A shuttlecock (often abbreviated to shuttle) is a high-drag projectile, with an open conical shape: the cone is formed from sixteen overlapping goose feather embedded into a rounded cork base. The cork is covered with thin leather.
Shuttles with a plastic skirt are often used by recreational players to reduce their costs: feathered shuttles break easily.

Shoes

Badminton shoes are lightweight with soles of rubber or similar high-grip, non-marking materials.

Baseball

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Baseball

Baseball is a sport played between two teams usually of nine players each. It is a bat-and-ball game in which a pitcher throws (pitches) a hard, fist-sized, leather-covered ball toward a batter on the opposing team. The batter attempts to hit the baseball with a tapered cylindrical bat, made of wood (as required in professional baseball) or a variety of other materials (as allowed in many nonprofessional games). A team scores runs only when batting, by advancing its players—primarily via hits—counterclockwise past a series of four markers called bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or "diamond." The game, played without time restriction, is structured around nine segments called innings. In each inning, both teams are given the opportunity to bat and score runs; a team's half-inning ends when three outs are recorded against that team.

History of baseball

The distinct evolution of baseball from among the various bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision. While there has been general agreement that modern baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, the 2006 book Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, argues against that notion.The earliest known mention of the sport is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, by John Newbery. It contains a wood-cut illustration of boys playing "base-ball," showing a set-up roughly similar to the modern game, and a rhymed description of the sport. The earliest known American reference to the game was published in a 1791 Pittsfield, Massachusetts, statute that prohibited the playing of baseball within 80 yards of the town's new meeting house. The English novelist Jane Austen made a reference to children playing "base-ball" on a village green in her book Northanger Abbey, which was written between 1798 and 1803 (though not published until 1818).
The first full documentation of a baseball game in North America is Dr. Adam Ford's contemporary description of a game that took place in 1838 on June 4 (Militia Muster Day) in Beachville, Ontario; this report was related in an 1886 edition of Sporting Life magazine in a letter by former St. Marys, Ontario, resident Dr. Matthew Harris. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright of New York City led the codification of an early list of rules (the so-called Knickerbocker Rules), from which today's have evolved. While there are reports of Cartwright's club, the New York Knickerbockers, playing games in 1845, the game now recognized as the first in U.S. history to be officially recorded took place on June 19, 1846, in Hoboken, New Jersey, with the "New York Nine" defeating the Knickerbockers, 23–1, in four innings.

General structure

Baseball is played between two teams of nine players each on a baseball field, under the authority of one or more officials, called umpires. There are usually four umpires in major league games; up to six (and as few as one) may officiate depending on the league and the importance of the game. There are four bases. Numbered counter-clockwise, first, second and third bases are cushions (sometimes informally referred to as bags) shaped as 15 in (38 cm) squares which are raised a short distance above the ground; together with home plate, the fourth "base," they form a square with sides of 90 ft (27.4 m) called the diamond. Home base (plate) is a pentagonal rubber slab known as simply home. The field is divided into two main sections:
The infield, containing the four bases, is for defensive and offensive purposes bounded by the foul lines and the grass line (see figure). However, the infield technically consists of only the area within the bases, including the foul lines.
The outfield is the grassed area beyond the infield grass line (for general purposes; see above under infield), between the foul lines, and bounded by a wall or fence. Again, there is a technical difference; properly speaking, the outfield consists of all fair ground beyond the square of the infield and its bases. The area between the foul lines, including the foul lines (the foul lines are in fair territory), is fair territory, and the area outside the foul lines is foul territory.
The game is played in nine innings (although it can be played with fewer, such as it is in little league games) in which each team gets one turn to bat and try to score runs while the other pitches and defends in the field. An inning is broken up into two halves in which the away team bats in the top (first) half, and the home team bats in the bottom (second) half. In baseball, the defense always has the ball — a fact that differentiates it from most other team sports. The teams switch every time the defending team gets three players of the batting team out. The winner is the team with the most runs after nine innings. If the home team is ahead after the top of the ninth, play does not continue into the bottom half. In the case of a tie, additional innings are played until one team comes out ahead at the end of an inning. If the home team takes the lead anytime during the bottom of the ninth or of any inning thereafter, play stops and the home team is declared the winner.
The basic contest is always between the pitcher for the fielding team, and a batter. The pitcher throws—pitches—the ball towards home plate, where the catcher for the fielding team waits (in a crouched stance) to receive it. Behind the catcher stands the home plate umpire. The batter stands in one of the batter's boxes and tries to hit the ball with a bat. The pitcher must keep one foot in contact with the top or front of the pitcher's rubber — a 24" x 6" (~ 61 cm x 15 cm) plate located atop the pitcher's mound — during the entire pitch, so he can only take one step backward and one forward in delivering the ball. The catcher's job is to receive any pitches that the batter does not hit and to "call" the game by a series of hand movements that signal to the pitcher what pitch to throw and where. If the pitcher disagrees with the call, he will "shake off" the catcher by shaking his head; he accepts the sign by nodding. The catcher's role becomes more crucial depending on how the game is going, and how the pitcher responds to a given situation. Each pitch begins a new play, which might consist of nothing more than the pitch itself.
Each half-inning, the goal of the defending team is to get three members of the other team out. A player who is out must leave the field and wait for his next turn at bat. There are many ways to get batters and baserunners out; some of the most common are catching a batted ball in the air, tag outs, force outs, and strikeouts. After the fielding team has put out three players from the opposing team, that half of the inning is over and the team in the field and the team at bat switch places; there is no upper limit to the number that may bat in rotation before three outs are recorded. Going through the entire order in an inning is referred to as "batting around". It is indicative of a high scoring inning. A complete inning consists of each opposing side having a turn (three outs) on offense.
The goal of the team at bat is to score more runs than the opposition; a player may do so only by batting, then becoming a base runner, touching all the bases in order (via one or more plays), and finally touching home plate. To that end, the goal of each batter is to enable baserunners to score or to become a baserunner himself. The batter attempts to hit the ball into fair territory — between the baselines — in such a way that the defending players cannot get them or the baserunners out. In general, the pitcher attempts to prevent this by pitching the ball in such a way that the batter cannot hit it cleanly or, ideally, at all.A baserunner who successfully touches home plate after touching all previous bases in order scores a run. In an enclosed field, a fair ball hit over the fence on the fly is normally an automatic home run, which entitles the batter and all runners to touch all the bases and score. A home run hit with all bases occupied ('bases loaded') is called a grand slam.

Basketball

2007-02-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Basketball

Basketball is a sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points on one another by throwing a ball through a hoop (the basket) under organized rules.
Points are scored by passing the ball through the basket from above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. Disruptive physical contact (foul) is not permitted and there are restrictions on how the ball can be handled (violations).
Through time, basketball has developed to involve common techniques of shooting, passing and dribbling, as well as players' positions, and offensive and defensive structures. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. In some countries, basketball is also a popular spectator sport.
While competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport, played on a basketball court, less regulated variations have become exceedingly popular as an outdoor sport among inner city groups.

History

In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian physician from McGill University and minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto an 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, so balls scored into the basket had to be poked out with a long dowel each time. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. His handwritten diaries of the time indicate that he was nervous about this invention, which incorporated rules from a Canadian children's game called "Duck on a Rock", as many had failed before it.
Naismith's new game is quite similar to the game of team handball, which had already been invented in the early 1890s.
The first official basketball game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892 with nine players, on a court just half the size of a present-day National Basketball Association (NBA) court. "Basket ball", the name suggested by one of Naismith's students, was popular from the beginning.
Women's basketball began in 1892 at Smith College when Senda Berenson, a physical education teacher, modified Naismith's rules for women.
Basketball's early adherents were dispatched to YMCAs throughout the United States, and it quickly spread through the USA and Canada. By 1895, it was well established at several women's high schools. While the YMCA was responsible for initially developing and spreading the game, within a decade it discouraged the new sport, as rough play and rowdy crowds began to detract from the YMCA's primary mission. However, other amateur sports clubs, colleges, and professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years before World War I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (forerunner of the NCAA) vied for control over the rules for the game.
Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball that is now in common use.
Dribbling, the bouncing of the ball up and down while moving, was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a major part of the game around the 1950s as manufacturing improved the ball shape.
Basketball, netball, volleyball, and lacrosse are the only ball games which have been identified as being invented by North Americans. Other ball games, such as baseball and Canadian football, have Commonwealth of Nations, European, Asian or African connections.

Rules and regulations

Measurements and time limits discussed in this section often vary among tournaments and organizations; international and NBA rules are used in this section.
The object of the game is to outscore one's opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents' basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their own. An attempt to score in this way is called a shot. A successful shot is worth two points, or three points if it is taken from beyond the three-point arc which is 6.25 meters (20 ft 6 in) from the basket in international games and 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m) in NBA games.

Playing regulations

Games are played in four quarters of 10 (international) or 12 minutes (NBA). College games use two 20 minute halves while most high school games use eight minute quarters. Fifteen minutes are allowed for a half-time break, and two minutes are allowed at the other breaks. Overtime periods are five minutes long. Teams exchange baskets for the second half. The time allowed is actual playing time; the clock is stopped while the play is not active. Therefore, games generally take much longer to complete than the allotted game time, typically about two hours.
Five players from each team may be on the court at one time. Teams can have up to seven substitutes. Substitutions are unlimited but can only be done when play is stopped. Teams also have a coach, who oversees the development and strategies of the team, and other team personnel such as assistant coaches, managers, statisticians, doctors and trainers.
For both men's and women's teams, a standard uniform consists of a pair of shorts and a jersey with a clearly visible number, unique within the team, printed on both the front and back. Players wear high-top sneakers that provide extra ankle support. Typically, team names, players' names and sometimes sponsors are printed on the uniforms.
A limited number of time-outs, clock stoppages requested by a coach for a short meeting with the players, are allowed. They generally last no longer than one minute unless, for televised games, a commercial break is needed.
The game is controlled by the officials consisting of the referee ("crew chief" in the NBA), one or two umpires ("referees" in the NBA) and the table officials. The table officials are responsible for keeping track of each teams scoring, timekeeping, individual and team fouls, player substitutions, team possession arrow, and the shot clock.

Equipment

The only essential equipment in basketball is the ball and the court: a flat, rectangular surface with baskets at opposite ends. Competitive levels require the use of more equipment such as clocks, scoresheets, scoreboards, alternating possession arrows, and whistle-operated stop-clock systems.
A regulation basketball court in international games is 28 by 15 meters (approx. 92 by 49 ft) and in the NBA is 94 by 50 feet (29 by 15 m). Most courts are made of wood. A cast iron basket with net and backboard hang over each end of the court. At almost all levels of competition, the top of the rim is exactly 10 feet (3.05 m) above the court and 4 feet (1.2 m) inside the baseline. While variation is possible in the dimensions of the court and backboard, it is considered important for the basket to be of the correct height; a rim that is off by but a few inches can have an adverse effect on shooting.

Boxing

2007-02-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

Boxing

Boxing, also called prizefighting (when referring to professional boxing), the sweet science (a common nickname among fans) or the gentleman's sport (used mainly in England), is a sport and martial art in which two participants of similar weight classification fight each other with their fists in a series of one to three-minute intervals called "rounds". In both Olympic and professional divisions, the combatants (called boxers or fighters) avoid their opponent's punches while trying to land punches of their own. Points are awarded for clean, solid blows to the legal area on the front of the opponent's body above the waistline, with hits to the head and torso being especially valuable. The fighter with the most points after the scheduled number of rounds is declared the winner. Victory may also be achieved if the opponent is knocked down and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten (a Knockout, or KO) or if the opponent is deemed too injured to continue (a Technical Knockout, or TKO). For record-keeping purposes, a TKO is usually counted as a knockout when calculating the total knockouts. A TKO can occur at any time.

Origins

Boxing most likely was invented in various cultures independently and had their origins in prehistorical periods.Archaeological evidence suggests boxing existed in Africa as early as 4000 BC with the earliest visual evidence for boxing appearing in Sumerian relief carvings from the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest evidence for it in the Mediterranean was around 1500 BC.
A mythical Greek ruler named Theseus, said to have lived around the 9th century BC, allegedly invented a form of boxing in which two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed. In time, the boxers began to fight while standing and wearing gloves (with spikes) and wrappings on their arms below the elbows, although otherwise they competed naked.
First accepted as an Olympic sport (the ancient Greeks called it Pygme/ Pygmachia) in 688 BC, participants trained on punching bags (called a korykos). Fighters wore leather straps (called himantes) over their hands, wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect them from injury. The straps left their fingers free.
In China in the Zhou Dynasty 12th Century B.C., Shuai jiao, a form of wrestling that included boxing, was recorded in the Classic of Rites.This combat system included techniques such as strikes, throws, joint manipulation, and pressure point attacks.
Forms of boxing are mentioned in early Buddhist sources. In the Lotus Sutra (Chapter 14), Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC) refers to boxing while speaking to Manjusri. Another early Buddhist sutra Hongyo-kyo describes a boxing contest between Gautama Buddha's half-brother Prince Nanda and his cousin Devadatta. The boxing martial art of Vajra Mushti was described in the Buddharata Sutra, written in the 5th century,though it was used by the Hindu Kshatriya caste centuries earlier.
In ancient Rome, fighters were usually criminals and slaves who hoped to become champions and gain their freedom; however, free men also fought. Eventually, fist fighting became so popular that even aristocrats started fighting, but the practice was eventually banned by the caesar Augustus. In 500 A.D., the sport was banned altogether by christian Theodoric the Great.

Olympic boxing

Olympic (or Amateur) boxing is found at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. Olympic boxing has point scoring system rather than physical damage or knockouts. Bouts comprise of four rounds of two minutes in Olympic and Commonwealth, and three rounds of two minutes in a national ABA (Amateur Boxing association) bout, each with a one-minute interval between rounds, but more recently the rounds are decided by the coaches and the timing is dependent on the age group.Competitors wear protective headgear and gloves with a white strip across the knuckle. A punch is considered a scoring punch only when the boxers connect with the white portion of the gloves. Each punch that lands on the head or torso is awarded a point. A referee monitors the fight to ensure that competitors use only legal blows (a belt worn over the torso represents the lower limit of punches - any boxer repeatedly landing "low blows" (below the belt) is disqualified). Referees also ensure that the boxers don't use holding tactics to prevent the opponent from swinging (if this occurs, the referee separates the opponents and orders them to continue boxing. Repeated holding can result in a boxer being penalized, or ultimately, disqualified). Referees will stop the bout if a boxer is seriously injured, if one boxer is significantly dominating the other or if the score is severely imbalanced.

Canoeing

2007-02-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

Canoeing

Canoeing is the activity of paddling a canoe for the purpose of recreation, sport, or transportation. It usually refers exclusively to using a paddle to propel a canoe with only human muscle power. A kayak is propelled using a paddle with two blades where the paddler sits with their legs in front of them, whereas canoes are propelled using single- or double-bladed paddles where the paddler is kneeling or sitting on a raised seat. Kayaks are usually closed-decked boats with a spraydeck, while canoes are usually open boats. There are also open kayaks and closed canoes. Internationally, the term canoeing is used as a generic term for both forms though the terms "paddle sports" or "canoe/kayak" are also used. In North America, however, 'canoeing' usually refers only to canoes, as opposed to both canoes and kayaks. Paddling a kayak is also referred to as kayaking.
Open canoes may be 'poled' (punted), sailed, 'lined and tracked' (using ropes) or even 'gunnel-bobbed'.
In modern canoe sport, both canoes and kayaks may be closed-decked. Other than by the minimum competition specifications (typically length and width (beam)) and seating arrangement it is difficult to differentiate most competition canoes from the equivalent competition kayaks. The most common difference is that competition kayaks are always seated, and competition canoes are generally kneeling. Exceptions include Canoe Marathon (in both European and American competitive forms) and sprint (high kneeling position). The most traditional and early canoes did not have seats, the paddlers merely kneeled on the bottom of the boat. Recreational or 'canadian' canoes employ seats and whitewater rodeo and surf variants increasingly employ the use of 'saddles' to give greater boat control under extreme conditions.

Sport

The International Canoe Federation is the world wide canoeing organisation and creates the standard rules for the different disciplines of canoe/kayak competition. The ICF recognises several competitive and non-competitive disciplines of canoeing, of which Sprint and Slalom are the only two competing in the Olympic games. The United States Canoe Association is widely considered the American authority in sport and recreational canoeing, and recognizes many ICF classes. Other national competition rules are usually based on the rules of the ICF.
Sprint - the oldest discipline of ICF canoeing, sometimes referred to as "Racing". It involves kayak (K1, K2, K4) and canoe (C1, C2, C4) classes. Flatwater races are over 200 m, 500m and 1000 m.
Slalom - Competitors are timed in completing a descent down the rapids of a whitewater course, in the process steering their canoes or kayaks through "gates" (a pair of suspended poles about 1m apart), including going up against the flow, across the flow, and surfing the standing waves of the rapids. Again, there are both kayak and canoe classes.
Marathon - Longer distance races over mostly flatwater courses, possibly including one or more portages. Course lengths typically vary from about 2 miles to the epic 125 mile Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon on the Thames, and the 260 mile "World's Toughest Boat Race", the Texas Water Safari. USCA rules specify that a Marathon course may not have rapids over class II on the International Scale of River Difficulty whereas, in the United Kingdom, courses may be of any difficulty and with any hazards. The most extrem courses can be found in South Africa, and grade V sections are not unusual.
Canoe Polo - A fast-action competitive goal-scoring ball game on water, between two teams of 5 players.
Whitewater Racing (also known as Wild Water Racing) - Competitors race specialised canoes or kayaks down a whitewater river (typically class II to IV whitewater is used).
Canoe Sailing - Racing a canoe using sail power. There a number of disciplines.

History

Canoeing began to meet the simple needs of transportation across and along waterways. Canoeing was the primary mode of long-distance transportation at one time throughout much of North America, the Amazon Basin, and Polynesia, among other locations. As a method of transportation, canoes have generally been replaced by motorized boats, airplanes, railroads and roads with increasing industrialisation, although they remain popular as recreational or sporting watercraft.

Cycling

2007-02-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

Cycling

Cycling is a recreation, a sport and a means of transport across land. It involves riding bicycles, unicycles, tricycles, quadricycles and other human powered vehicles (HPVs). As a sport it is governed internationally by the Union Cycliste Internationale in Switzerland (for upright bicycles) and by the International Human Powered Vehicle Association (for other HPVs). Cycling for transport and touring is promoted on a European level by the European Cyclists' Federation, and regular conferences are held under the auspices of Velo City, whereas global conferences are coordinated by Velo Mondial.

Introduction

World-wide, the vehicle most commonly used for transportation is a utility bicycle. Utility bicycles tend to have a more relaxed geometry, with priority given to the rider's comfort. Most come with components that make commuting by bicycle more practical, such as fenders (also called mudguards in some English speaking regions), racks (for mounting cargo bags or baskets), chainguards, kickstands, bells and generator light systems.
The two most popular types of bicycle in North America, where cycling for recreation is more common, are mountain bikes and road bicycles. They tend to have a more aggressive geometry which requires the rider to bend forward more. To reduce cost and weight, those types are usually sold without the components that make utility bicycles more practical.
The price of a new bicycle can range from US$50 (on sale) to more than US$23,000), depending primarily on the quality, type and weight (the most exotic road bicycles can weigh as little as 3.55 kg (7.8 lb) .

Bicycle racing

Shortly after the introduction of bicycles, competitions developed independently in many parts of the world. Early races involving boneshaker style bicycles were predictably fraught with injuries. Large races became popular during the 1890's "Golden Age of Cycling", with events across Europe, and in the U.S. and Japan as well. At one point, almost every major city in the US had a velodrome or two for track racing events. However since the middle of the 20th Century cycling has become a minority sport in the US whilst in Continental Europe it continues to be a major sport, particularly in France, Belgium and Italy. The most famous of all bicycle races is the Tour de France. This began in 1903, and continues to capture the attention of the sporting world.
As the bicycle evolved its various forms, different racing formats developed. Road races may involve both team and individual competition, and are contested in various ways. They range from the one-day road race, criterium, and time trial to multi-stage events like the Tour de France and its sister events which make up cycling's Grand Tours. Recumbent bicycles were banned from bike races in 1934 after Marcel Berthet set a new hour record in his Velodyne streamliner (49.992 km on 18 November 1933). Track bicycles are used for track racing in Velodromes , while cyclo-cross races are held on rugged outdoor terrain. In the past decade, mountain bike racing has also reached international popularity and is even an Olympic sport.The governing body of international cycle sport, the Union Cycliste Internationale, decided in the late 1990s to create additional rules restricting the design of racing bicycles. These rules met with considerable controversy and to some extent arrested the development of the racing bicycle. Their stated motive was so that developing countries could compete in international competitions without requiring large equipment budgets, and to re-focus attention on the athlete rather than the bicyle. For example, monocoque frames, such as used by Chris Boardman to win the Gold medal in 1992 Olympic individual pursuit event in Barcelona, were no longer permitted.

Diving

2007-02-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Diving

Diving refers to the sport of acrobatically jumping or falling into water. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a common recreational pastime in places where swimming is popular.
While not a particularly popular participant sport, diving is one of the more popular Olympic sports with spectators. Successful competitors possess many of the same characteristics as gymnasts and competitive cheerleaders, including strength, flexibility,kinaesthetic judgment and air awareness.
In the recent past, the success and prominence of Greg Louganis led to American strength internationally. More recently, the greatest diving nation has been China, which came to prominence several decades ago when the sport was revolutionized by national coach Boxi Liang. China has lost few world titles since. Other powers are generally those which import Chinese coaches, including Australia and Canada.

Competitive Diving

Most diving competitions consist of three disciplines: 1m, 3m and tower, aka platform. Competitive athletes are divided by gender, and often by age groups as well. In tower events, competitors are allowed to perform their dives on either the five, seven and a half (generally just called seven) or ten metre towers, although high level meets, including the Olympic Games and world championships, usually require all dives to be executed from the ten metre.
One and three meter dives are performed from a springboard. Five through ten meter dives are performed from concrete or wooden platforms, and such platforms also exist at one and three metre heights as training tools.
Divers must perform a set number of dives according to various established requirements, including somersaults and twists in various directions and from different starting positions (see Components of a Dive below). Divers are judged on whether and how well they completed all aspects of the dive, the conformance of their body to the requirements of the nominated dive, and the amount of splash created by their entry to the water (less being better). A perfect entry, with no splash, is called a "rip," after the loud tearing or clapping sound it creates (as well as the sometimes painful bursting feeling on the hands of the diver). A really bad entry, with lots of splash, is called a "smack," after the loud smacking sound it creates (as well as the always painful feeling it leaves on the whole body of the diver) Theoretically, a score out of ten is supposed to be broken down into three points for the takeoff, three for the flight, and three for the entry, with one more available to give the judges flexibility. However, since judges must give their scores instantaneously, they base their scores more on a gut instinct and overall impression than actual calculations.
The raw score is multiplied by a difficulty factor, derived from the number and combination of movements attempted. The diver with the highest total score after a sequence of dives (which depend on age group and skill level in elite competition) is declared the winner.While diving is closely related to gymnastics, it differs in one large way: Male and female gymnasts compete vastly different skills on vastly different apparatus, while male and female divers compete the same dives on the same boards. Women are often required to perform one fewer dive than men (10 as opposed to 11, or 5 as opposed to 6), but there has been a movement in recent years to change this fact.

Mechanics of Diving

At the moment of take-off, two critical aspects of the dive are determined, and cannot subsequently be altered during the the execution. One is the trajectory of the dive, and the other is the magnitude of the angular momentum.
The speed of rotation - and therefore the total amount of rotation - may be varied from moment to moment by changing the shape of the body, in accordance with the law of conservation of angular momentum.
The center of mass of the diver follows a parabolic path in free-fall under the influence of gravity (ignoring the effects of air resistance, which are negligible at the speeds involved).

Trajectory

Since the parabola is symmetrical, the travel away from the board as the diver passes it is twice the amount of the forward travel at the peak of the flight. Excessive forward distance to the entry point is penalised when scoring a dive, but obviously an adequate clearance from the diving board is essential on safety grounds.
The greatest possible height that can be achieved is desirable for several reasons:
The height attained is itself one of the factors that the judges will reward.
A greater height gives a longer flight time and therefore longer to execute the moves.
For any given clearance when passing the board, the forward travel distance to the entry point will be less for a higher trajectory.

Control of rotation

The magnitude of angular momentum remains constant throughout the dive, but since
Angular momentum = rotational velocity X Moment of Inertia,
and Moment of Intertia is larger when the body has an increased radius,
...the speed of rotation may be increased by moving the body into a compact shape, and reduced by opening out into a straight position.
Since the tucked shape is the most compact, it gives the most control over rotational speed, and dives in this position are easier to perform. Dives in the straight position are hardest, since there is almost no scope for altering the speed, so the angular momentum must be created at take-off with a very high degree of accuracy. (A small amount of control is available by moving the position of the arms and by a slight hollowing of the back).
Notice that the opening of the body for the entry does not stop the rotation, but merely slows it down. The vertical entry achieved by expert divers is largely an illusion created by starting the entry slightly short of vertical, so that the legs are vertical as they disappear beneath the surface. A small amount of additional tuning is available by 'entry save' techniques, whereby underwater movements of the upper body and arms against the viscosity of the water affect the postion of the legs

Equestrianism

2007-02-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

Equestrianism

Equestrianism refers to the skill of riding or driving horses. This broad description includes both use of horses for practical, working purposes as well as recreational activities and competitive sports.

Overview of equestrian activities

Horses are trained and ridden for practical working purposes such as in police work or for controlling herd animals on a ranch. They are also used in competitive sports such as dressage, endurance racing, eventing, horseball, reining, show jumping, tent pegging, vaulting, polo, horse racing, puissance and rodeo. Other popular forms of competition are grouped together at horse shows, where horse perform in a wide variety of disciplines. Horses (and other equids such as mules and donkeys) are used for non-competitive recreational riding such as fox hunting, trail riding or hacking. There is public access to horse trails in almost every part of the world; many parks, ranches, and barns offer both guided and independent trail riding. Horses are also ridden for therapeutic purposes, both in specialized paraequestrian competition as well as non-competitive riding to improve human health and emotional development.
Horses are also driven in harness in racing, exhibition, and competitive show events. In some parts of the world, they are still used for practical purposes such as farming. For more information on the uses of horses in harness and driving, see harness racing and carriage driving.

History of equestrianism

Though there is controversy over the exact date horses were first ridden, the best estimate is that horses first carried riders approximately 5000 years ago. The earliest archaeological evidence of horses being ridden was in the military: chariot warfare in ancient times was followed by the use of war horses as light and heavy cavalry. However, horses were also ridden for everyday transport, and to carry messages in both war and peacetime. The horse and horseback riding played important roles throughout history and all over the world.
Olympic disciplines
The following forms of competition are recognized worldwide and are a part of the equestrian events at the Olympic Games:

Dressage ("training" in French) involves the progressive training of the horse to a high level of impulsion, collection, and obedience. Competitive dressage has the goal of showing the horse carrying out, on request, the natural movements that it performs without thinking while running loose. One dressage master has defined it as "returning the freedom of the horse while carrying the rider."

Show jumping comprises a timed event judged on the ability of the horse and rider to jump over a series of obstacles, in a given order and with the fewest refusals or knockdowns of portions of the obstacles.

Eventing, also called combined training, horse trials, the three-day event, the Military, or the complete test, puts together the obedience of dressage with the athletic ability of show jumping, the fitness demands the cross-country jumping phase. In the last-named, the horses jump over fixed obstacles, such as logs, stone walls, banks, ditches, and water, trying to finish the course under the "optimum time." There was also the 'Steeple Chase' Phase, which is now excluded from most major competitions to bring them in line with the Olympic standard.
New events added by the FEI as international disciplines in recent years include Combined driving, reining, equestrian vaulting, endurance riding and paralympic competition. While these events are recognized internationally and are all part of the World Equestrian Games, none are yet part of the Summer Olympics, though some, such as vaulting and reining, are potentially on track to be added.

Fencing

2007-02-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

Fencing

In the broadest possible sense, fencing is the art and science of armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning weapons directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot or thrown (in other words, swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons, clubs, and so on). In contemporary common usage, fencing tends to refer specifically to European schools of swordsmanship and to the modern Olympic sport that has evolved out of them. The current modern weapons for sport fencing are the foil, épée, and sabre. The term 'Fencing' derives from the label, "The Art of Defence", meaning the art of defending one's self in combat.

Philosophies

Contemporary fencing is divided in three broad categories:
Competitive fencing
Fencing as a Western martial art
Other forms of fencing
Competitive fencing
There are three forms of competitive fencing in practice. Variations make each of them a distinct game. All three approach the activity as a sport, with varying degrees of connectedness to its historic past.
Russian Ivan Tourchine and American Weston Kelsey fence in the second round of the Men's Individual Épée event in the 2004 Summer Olympics at the Helliniko Fencing Hall on August 17, 2004.

Olympic fencing

Olympic fencing (or just "fencing") refers to the fencing seen in most competitions (including the Olympic Games). It is marked by the use of electronic scoring equipment, and conducted according to rules laid down by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the sports federation governing most international fencing competitions. The current rules are very loosely based on a set of conventions developed in 18th- and 19th-century Europe to govern fencing as a martial art and a gentlemanly pursuit. The weapons used are the electric foil, electric épée, and electric sabre.

Weapons

Three weapons survive in modern competitive fencing: foil, épée, and sabre.
The spadroon and the heavy cavalry-style sabre, both of which saw widespread competitive use in the 19th century, fell into disfavour in the early 20th century with the rising popularity of the lighter and faster weapon used today, based on the Italian duelling sabre. The singlestick featured in the 1904 Olympic Games, but it was already declining in popularity by that time. Bayonet fencing was somewhat slower to decline, with competitions organized by some armed forces as late as the 1940s and 1950s. At one time, staves of various lengths, spears, halberds, axes, daggers, wrestling, shields and flails were all included in Fencing. Today these weapons are the preserve of historical fencing.
While the weapons fencers use differ in size and purpose, their basic construction remains similar across the disciplines. Every weapon has a blade and a hilt. The tip of the blade is generally referred to as the point. The hilt consists of a guard and a grip. The guard (also known as the coquille, or the bellguard) is a metal shell designed to protect the fingers. The grip is the weapon's actual handle. There are a number of commonly used variants (see grip (sport fencing)). The more traditional kind tend to terminate with a pommel, a heavy nut intended to act as a counterweight for the blade.

Foil

The foil is a light and flexible weapon, originally developed in the mid 17th century as a training weapon for the court sword (a light one-handed sword designed almost exclusively for thrusting). It is the weapon that, traditionally, many students practice first. Hits can be scored only by hitting the valid target surface with the point of the weapon. The target area is restricted to the torso. A touch on an off-target area stops the bout, but does not score a point. There are "right of way" conventions or priority rules, whose basic idea is that the first person to create a viable threat or the last person to defend successfully receives a "right" to hit. If two hits arrive more or less simultaneously, only the fencer who had the "right of way" receives a point. If priority cannot be assigned unambiguously, no points are awarded. The basic idea behind the foil rules was, originally, to encourage the defence of one's vital areas, and to fence in a methodical way with initiative passing back and forth between the two fencers and no last-minute counter-attacks ---- which risk a double death.

Épée

Like the foil, the épée is a thrusting weapon: to score a valid hit, the fencer must fix the point of his weapon on his opponent's target. However, épée lacks the foil's most artificial conventions: the restricted target area and the priority rules. In épée, a hit can be scored by landing a hit anywhere on the opponent's body. The fencer whose hit lands first receives the point, irrespective of what happened in the preceding phrase. If two hits arrive simultaneously (within 40 milliseconds of each other), a double hit is recorded, and both fencers get a point (except for in modern pentathlon one-hit épée, where neither fencer receives a point).

Sabre

A sabre fencer. Valid target (everything from the waist up, including the arms and head) is in red (exception: The hands, which are shown in red, are not valid targets).
The sabre is the "cutting" weapon, with a curved guard and a triangular blade. However, in modern electric scoring, a touch with any part of the sabre, point, flat or edge, as long as it is on target, will register a hit.

Protective clothing

The complete fencing kit includes the following items of clothing:
Form-fitting jacket, covering groin and with strap (croissard) which goes between the legs, a small gorget of folded fabric is also sewn in around the collar to prevent a blade from slipping upwards towards the neck.
Under-arm protector (plastron) which goes underneath the jacket and provides double protection on the sword arm side and upper arm. It is required to not have a seam in the armpit, which would line up with the jacket seam and provide a weak spot.
Glove, with a gauntlet that prevents swords going up the sleeve and causing injury, as well as protecting the hand and providing a good grip
Breeches, which are a pair of trousers. The legs are supposed to hold just below the knee.
Knee-length socks, which cover the rest of the leg.
Mask, including a bib which protects the neck. For competition, the bib must be sewn into the mask frame to eliminate a hole that might admit a blade. Thus, masks with snap-in bibs are not legal for competition. The mask can usually support 12 kilograms of force, however FIE regulation masks can stand much more, at least 25 kg. Plastic chest protector, mandatory for female fencers. While male versions are also available, they were, until recently, primarily worn by instructors, who are hit far more often during training than their students. Since the change of the depression timing, these are increasingly popular in foil, as the hard surface increases the likelihood of point bounce and thus a failure for a hit to register. Plastrons are still mandatory, though.

Football

2007-02-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

Football

Football (also known as association football or soccer) is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each. It is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. A ball game, it is played on a rectangular grass field, or occasionally on artificial turf, with a goal at each end of the field. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal; only the goalkeepers may use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extended time, depending on the format of the competition.
The modern game was codified in England following the formation of the Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The most prestigious international football competition is the World Cup, held every four years. This event, the most widely viewed and famous in the world, boasts twice the audience of the Summer Olympics.

Nature of the game

Football is played in accordance with a set of rules, known as the Laws of the Game. The game is played using a single round ball (the football) and two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal, thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals, then the game is a draw. There are exceptions to this rule, however; see Duration and tie-breaking methods below.
The primary rule is that the players (other than the goalkeepers) may not intentionally touch the ball with their hands or arms during play (though they do use their hands during a throw-in restart). Although players usually use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any part of their bodies other than their hands or arms.
In typical game play, players attempt to propel the ball toward their opponents' goal through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a team-mate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through tackling the opponent who controls the ball; however, physical contact between opponents is limited. Football is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play, or when play is stopped by the referee. After a stoppage, play recommences with a specified restart.
At a professional level, most matches produce only a few goals. For example, during the English 2005-06 season of the FA Premier League, an average of 2.48 goals per match were scored.
The Laws of the Game do not specify any player positions other than goalkeeper, but a number of player specialisations have evolved. Broadly, these include three main categories: strikers, or forwards, whose main task is to score goals; defenders, who specialise in preventing their opponents from scoring; and midfielders, who dispossess the opposition and keep possession of the ball in order to pass it to the forwards; players in these positions are referred to as outfield players, in order to discern them from the single goalkeeper. These positions are further differentiated by which side of the field the player spends most time in. For example, there are central defenders, and left and right midfielders. The ten outfield players may be arranged in these positions in any combination (for example, there may be four defenders, four midfielders, and two forwards, or three defenders, three midfielders, and four forwards), and the number of players in each position determines the style of the team's play; more forwards and fewer defenders would create a more aggressive and offensive-minded game, while the reverse would create a slower, more defensive style of play. While players may spend most of the game in a specific position, there are few restrictions on player movement, and players can switch positions at any time. The layout of the players on the pitch is called the team's formation, and defining the team's formation and tactics is usually the prerogative of the team's manager

History and development

Games revolving around the kicking of a ball have been played in many countries throughout history. According to FIFA, the "very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China." In addition, the Roman games Harpastum may be a distant ancestor of football. Various forms of football were played in medieval Europe, though rules varied greatly by both period and location.
Whilst football has continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, the English public schools (fee-paying schools) are widely credited with certain key achievements in the creation of modern football (association football and the rugby football games - rugby league and rugby union football). The evidence suggests that during the sixteenth century English public schools generally, and headmaster Richard Mulcaster in particular, were instrumental in taking football away from its violent "mob" form and turning it into an organised team sport that was beneficial to schoolboys. Therefore, the game became institutionalised, regulated, and part of a larger, more central tradition. Many early descriptions of football and references to it (e.g. poetry) were recorded by people who had studied at these schools, showing they were familiar with the game. Finally, in the 19th century, teachers and former students were the first to write down formal rules of early modern football to enable matches to be played between schools.
The rules of football as they are codified today are effectively based on the mid-19th-century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played at the public schools of England. The first ever set of football rules were written at Eton College in 1815. The Cambridge Rules were a code of football rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, which have influenced the development of Association football (also known simply as "football", or soccer) and subsequent codes.
The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1848, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools, but they were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world to play various forms of football. Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club (formed by former pupils from Harrow) in 1857, which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised an influential set of rules.

These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863 which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemason's Tavern in Great Queen Street, London.The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse. The Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which eventually produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting, the first which allowed for the running with the ball in hand and the second, obstructing such a run by hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins), tripping and holding. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA but instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, went on to ratify the original thirteen laws of the game. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s.

Names of the game

The rules of football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863, and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time, specifically rugby football. The term soccer first appeared in the 1880s as a slang abbreviation of Association football, often credited to Charles Wreford-Brown.
Today the sport is known by a number of names throughout the English-speaking world, the most common being football and soccer. The term used depends largely on the need to differentiate the sport from other types of football played in a community. Football is the term used by FIFA, the sport's world governing body, and the International Olympic Committee. For more details of naming throughout the world, please refer to the main articles above.

Gymnastics

2007-02-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, balance and kinesthetic awareness, such as handsprings, handstands, forward rolls, aerials and tucks. It developed from beauty practices and fitness used by the ancient Greeks, including skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and circus performance skills. In ancient times the term implied exercise taken in the nude by men in a gymnasium, a venue for intellectual and physical education.
Gymnastics is considered to be a dangerous sport, due in part to the height of the apparatus, the speed of the exercises and the impact on competitors' joints, bones and muscles. Artistic gymnastics injuries have been the subject of several international medical studies, and results have indicated that more than half of all elite-level participants may eventually develop chronic injuries. In the United States, injury rates range from a high 56% for high school gymnasts to 22% for club gymnasts. However, the rates for participants in recreational or lower-level gymnastics are lower than that of high-level competitors.

Disciplines

Modern gymnastics, as regulated by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique incorporates seven distinct disciplines:
Artistic gymnastics (further classified as Men's Artistic Gymnastics and Women's Artistic Gymnastics)
Rhythmic gymnastics
Aerobic gymnastics
Acrobatic gymnastics
Trampolining
General gymnastics
Power Tumbling
Of these disciplines, the two sub-disciplines of artistic and rhythmic gymnastics are the best known, having been part of Summer Olympic Games competitions. Individual Trampoline has been included in the Summer Olympics since 2000.

Artistic gymnastics

Artistic Gymnastics is usually divided into Men's (MAG) and Women's Gymnastics (WAG), each group doing different events; Men compete on Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar, while women compete on Vault, Uneven Bars, Beam, and Floor Exercise. In the past in some countries women competed on the rings and the high bar too, at least at the national level (for example, in the 1950s in the USSR). Though routines performed on each event may be short, they are physically exhausting and push the gymnast's strength, flexibility, endurance and awareness to the limit. In the past,at the international level, competitive women's gymnastics consisted of two different categories: compulsory and optional. At the compulsory level, the gymnast performs routines that are pre-choreographed for all gymnasts. At the optional level, the gymnast performs routines that she herself choreographed or choreographed with the help of a dance choreographer. Every gymnast's routine at this advanced level will be different. Different countries may use compulsory and optional routines at their discretion in the training of young gymnasts.

Rhythmic gymnastics

The discipline of rhythmic gymnastics is competed only by women (although there is a new version of this discipline for men being pioneered in Japan, see Men's rhythmic gymnastics), and involves the performance of five separate routines with the use of five apparatus — ball, ribbon, hoop, clubs, rope — on a floor area, with a much greater emphasis on the aesthetic rather than the acrobatic. Rhythmic routines are scored out of a possible 20 points.

Aerobic gymnastics

Aerobic gymnastics (formerly Sports Aerobics) involves the performance of routines by individuals, pairs, trios or groups up to 6 people emphasizing strength, flexibility, and aerobic fitness rather than acrobatic or balance skills. Routines are performed on a small floor area and generally last 60-90 seconds, being judged out of a total of 10 points.

Trampolining

Trampolining consists of four events, individual, synchronized, double mini and trampoline. Only individual trampoline is included in the Olympics. Individual routines involve a build-up phase during which the gymnast jumps repeatedly to achieve height, followed by a sequence of ten leaps without pauses during which the gymnast performs a sequence of aerial tumbling skills. Routines are marked out of a maximum score of 10 points. Additional points (with no maximum) can be earned depending on the difficulty of the moves. Synchronized trampoline is similar except that both competitors must perform the routine together and marks are awarded for synchronicity as well as the form of the moves. Double mini trampoline involves a smaller trampoline with a run-up, two moves are performed and the scores marked in a similar manner to individual trampoline.

Acrobatic Gymnastics

Acrobatic Gymnastics (formerly Sports Acrobatics), often referred to as acrobatics, acro sports or simply sports acro, is a group gymnastic discipline for both men and women. Acrobats in groups of two, three and four perform routines with the heads, hands and feet of their partners.

History

The Ancient Greeks, physical fitness was paramount, and all Greek cities had a gymnasia, a courtyard for jumping, running, and wrestling. The Greeks tried to introduce gymnastics to the Romans, but the Romans found it immoral and banned the practice. For centuries, gymnastics was all but forgotten. In the nineteenth century, however, interest in gymnastics soared, and a men's gymnastics competition was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Over the years, gymnastics has undergone many changes. Originally, men's competition included swimming and running events, and did not acquire its present form until the 1924 Games in Paris. During the 1920s, women organized and participated in gymnastics events, and the first women's Olympic competition was held at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam. Both men's and women's gymnastics now attract international interest, and excellent gymnasts can be found on every continent. The first person to win a perfect ten in gymnastics was Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian gymnast, who now is married to Bart Conner ,a retired gymnast, and they now have a baby boy named Dylan. They live in Oklahoma. However, in 2006, a new points system was operated. Instead of being marked out of 10, the gymnasts' start value depended on the difficulty rating of the exercise routine. Also, the deductions became higher: before the new point system developed, the dedution for a fall was 0.5 and now it is 0.8. The point of a new point system was to decrease the chance of gymnasts getting a perfect score.
The first "perfect ten" was awarded to Nadia Comaneci at the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada. She was coached by the famous Romanian, Bela Karoli. Nadia had practiced for these games since she was only six years old. Her practice paid off when she became the first gymnast to ever achieve perfection. According to "Sports Illustrated", Comaneci scored four of her perfect tens on the uneven bars, two on the balance beam and one in the floor exercise. Unfortunantely, even with Nadia's perfect scores, the Romanians lost the gold medal to the Soviets. Nadia will always be remembered as "a fourteen year old, ponytailed little girl" who showed the world that perfection could be achieved.

Handball

2007-02-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Handball

Handball (also known as team handball, field handball, European handball, or Olympic handball) is a team sport where two teams of seven players each (six players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball trying to throw it in the goal of the opposing team.
The game is similar to football (soccer), though as the name implies, the basic method of handling the ball involves the player's hands rather than their feet. It has been played internationally since the first half of the 20th century.

Game play

A standard match duration consists of two periods of 30 minutes each during which each team may call one time-out. Normal league games are usually allowed to end in a draw, but in knockout tournaments, such as the final stages of the Olympics, two extension periods of 10 minutes are played, and if they also end in a draw another two times five minutes has to be played. If each of these ends in a tie after the extra time the winner is determined by an individual shootout from the 7-meter line, where each team is given five shots. The rules of the shootout is similar to the one of soccer, where, if a winner is not found within the first ten shots, the players return to the shooting, until one team has missed and the other scored. In two Olympic Finals of womens handball penalty shootout had to be used - both of them with Denmark participating (against Hungary in 1996 and South Korea in 2004); and both of them with Denmark as the winner.
The game is quite fast and includes body and contact as the defenders try to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. Only frontal contact by the defenders is allowed; when a defender stops an attacker with his or her arms instead of his or her torso, the play is stopped and restarted from the spot of the infraction or on the nine meter line, with the attacking team in possession.

Penalties are given to players, in progressive format, if the contact between the players is particularly rough (even if it is indeed frontal). The referees may award a nine-meter free throw to the attacking team, or if the infraction was during a clear scoring opportunity, a seven-meter penalty shot is given. In more extreme cases they give the defender a yellow card (warning), a 2-minute penalty, or a red card (permanent expulsion). For rough fouls they can also order two-minute expulsions and a red card expulsion without having to warn the player first. Alternatively, if a player insults the referee - either by touching him with the intension to push or with verbal abuse, or if a player kicks or hits an opponent deliberately, the referee can expel the player forming a cross over his head with his arms, which will tell the player that he/she will have to leave the gym hall completely. Both a red card or an expulsion will - if the referee does not regret his decision within twenty-four hours - result in a quarantine for the player shown out. A team can only get three warnings (yellow cards); after that they will only be able to be penalised with 2-minute suspensions. One player can only get three 2-minute suspensions; after that he/she will be shown the red card, and cannot participate in that game anymore. A red card from three 2-minute suspensions does not result in a quarantine, such as a direct red card does. A Coach/Official can also be penalised progressively. After a yellow card and a 2-minute suspension, the red card is shown straight out, and unlike players, coaches cannot be shown a complete expulsion, but of course also be given a match quarantine. When shown a 2-minute suspension a coach will have to pull out one of his players for two minutes - note: the players is not the one punished and can be substituted in again, because the main penalty is the team playing with a man less than the other.

History

Dimensions of a field of field handball played with 11 players at 1936 Summer Olympics compared to a football field.
Team handball has origins reaching as far as the antiquity: urania in ancient Greece, harpaston in ancient Rome, fangballspiel in medieval Germany, etc. There are also records of handball-like games in medieval France, and among the Inuit on Greenland, in the Middle Ages. By the 19th century, there existed similar games of haandbold from Denmark, hazena in Bohemia and Slovakia, gandbol in Ukraine, torball in Germany, as well as versions in Ireland and Uruguay.
The team handball game as we know it today was formed by the end of the 19th century in northern Europe, primarily Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The Dane Holger Nielsen drew up the rules for modern handball (håndbold) in 1898 (and published them in 1906), and R.N. Ernst did something similar in 1897.
Another set of team handball rules was published on October 29, 1917 by Max Heiser, Karl Schelenz and Erich Konigh from Germany. After 1919 these rules were further improved by Karl Schelenz. The first international games were played under these rules, between Germany and Belgium for men in 1925 and Germany and Austria for women in 1930.
In 1926, the Congress of the International Amateur Athletics Federation nominated a committee to draw up international rules for field handball. The International Amateur Handball Federation was formed in 1928. The International Handball Federation was formed later in 1946
Men's field handball was played at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin at the special request of Adolf Hitler[citation needed]. It was removed from the list of sports, to return as team handball in 1972 for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Women's team handball was added as an Olympic discipline at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Field Hockey

2007-02-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

Field Hockey

Field hockey is a popular sport for men and women in many countries around the world; it is the second most popular team sport after football (soccer)[citation needed]. Its official name and the one by which it is usually known is hockey . However in some countries and in some encyclopedic references by way of distinguishing it from other sports with the same name it is formally known as Field hockey.
Hockey has several regular and prestigious international tournaments for both men and women. These events include the Olympic Games, the quadrennial World Hockey Cups, the annual Champions Trophies and World Cups for juniors.
Indian and Pakistani national teams dominated men's hockey until the early 1980s, winning four of the first five world cups, but have become less prominent recently with The Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Spain gaining importance since the late 1980s. Other strong hockey playing nations include Argentina, England and South Korea. The Netherlands was the predominant international women's team before hockey was added to Olympic events. In the early 1990s Australia emerged as the strongest women's country although retirement of a number of key players has weakened the team. Other important women's teams are China, Korea, Argentina and Germany.
Many countries have extensive club competitions for both junior and senior players. Despite the large number of participants, club hockey is not a particularly large spectator sport and few players can afford to play professionally.
In North America field hockey is widely regarded as a girls' and women's sport, especially as many schools and universities field teams. However, there are many men's and mixed leagues, especially in Canada.
In those countries where winter conditions prevent play outdoors field hockey is played indoors during the off-season. This indoor variant, known as indoor field hockey, differs from its outdoor parent in a number of respects. For example, it is 6-a-side rather than 11, the field of play is vastly reduced to approximately 40m x 20m; the shooting circles are 9m not 14.4m; players may not raise the ball outside the circle nor hit it. The first Indoor World Cup was held in Leipzig, Germany in 2003, where the home nation won both men's and women's gold medals. They defend their championships in Vienna, Austria in 2007.

History

Games played with curved sticks and a ball have been found throughout history and the world. For example, there are 4000-year-old drawings in Egypt of the game being played, hurling dates back to before 1272 B.C. and there is a depiction from 500 B.C. in Ancient Greece. There were various hockey-like games throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and the word 'hockey' was recorded in the Galway Statutes of 1527.
The modern game of hockey grew from the game played in English public schools in the early 19th century. The first club was created in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London, but the modern rules grew out of a version of hockey played by members of Middlesex cricket clubs for winter sport. Teddington Hockey Club, arguably, formed the modern game that we know today by introducing the striking circle and changing the ball to a sphere from a rubber cube. The Hockey Association was founded in 1886. The first international took place in 1895 (Ireland 3, Wales 0) and the International Rules Board was founded in 1900.
Hockey was played at the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920. It was dropped in 1924, leading to the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon (FIH) as an international governing body by seven continental European nations, and hockey was reinstated in 1928. Men's hockey united under the FIH in 1970.
The game had been taken to India by British servicemen and the first clubs formed in Calcutta in 1885. The Beighton Cup and the Aga Khan tournament had commenced within ten years. Entering the Olympic Games in 1928, India won all five of its games without conceding a goal and went on to win from 1932 until 1956 and then in 1964 and 1980. Pakistan won in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
The Netherlands and Germany have dominated the sport at the Olympics.
Women do not seem to have played hockey widely before the modern era. Women's hockey was first played at British Universities and schools, and the first club, Molesey Ladies Hockey Club, was founded in 1887. The first national association was the Irish Ladies Hockey Union in 1894, and though rebuffed by the Hockey Association, women's hockey grew rapidly around the world. This led to the formation of the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) in 1927, though this did not include initially many continental European countries where women played as sections of men's associations and were affiliated to the FIH. The IFWHA held conferences every three years, and the tournaments associated with these were the primary IFWHA competitions. These tournaments were non-competitive until 1975.
By the early 1970's there were 22 associations with women's sections in the FIH and 36 associations in the IFWHA. Discussions were started about a common rule book. The FIH introduced competitive tournaments in 1974, forcing the acceptance of the principle of competitive hockey by the IFWHA in 1973. It took until 1982 for the two bodies to merge, but this allowed the introduction of women's hockey to the Olympic games from 1980 where, as in the men's game, The Netherlands, Germany, and Australia have been consistently strong.

General play

For the purposes of the rules, all players on the team in possession of the ball are attackers, and those on the team without the ball are defenders.
The match is officiated by two field umpires. Traditionally each umpire generally controls half of the field, divided roughly diagonally. These umpires are often assisted by a technical bench including a timekeeper and record keeper.
Prior to the start of the game, a coin is tossed and the winning captain can choose a starting end or start with the ball. The game time is divided into two equal halves of 35 minutes each, with five minutes for half-time. At the start of each half, as well as after goals are scored, play is started with a pass from the centre of the field. All players must start in their defensive half, but the ball may be played in any direction along the floor. Each team starts with the ball in one half, and the team that conceded the goal has possession for the restart.
Field players may only play the ball with the face of the stick. Tackling is permitted as long as the tackler does not make contact with the attacker or his stick before playing the ball (contact after the tackle may also be penalised if the tackle was made from a position where contact was inevitable). Further, the player with the ball may not deliberately use his body to push a defender out of the way.
Field players may not play the ball with their feet, but if the ball accidentally hits the feet, and the player gains no benefit from the contact, then the contact is not penalised. Although there has been a change in the wording of this rule from 1 January 2007, the current FIH umpires' briefing instructs umpires not to change the way they interpret this rule. [4]
Obstruction typically occurs in three circumstances - when a defender comes between the player with possession and the ball without first performing a legitimate tackle; when a defender's stick comes between the attacker's stick and the ball or makes contact with the attacker's stick; and also when (usually deliberately) blocking the opposition's passage to the ball (called third party obstruction).
When the ball passes over the sidelines, it is returned to play with a sideline hit, taken by a member of the team whose players were not the last to touch the ball before crossing the sideline. If it crosses the backline after last touched by an attacker, a 15 m hit. A 15 m hit is also awarded for offenses committed by the attacking side within 15 m of the end of the pitch they are attacking.

Judo

2007-02-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

Judo

Judo (柔道, jūdō?, "gentle way") is a martial art, combat sport, and philosophy which originated in Japan. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Judo as compared to many other martial arts is that the primary goal in a Judo competition is to throw one's opponent to the ground; kicks, punches, and other strikes are not allowed in Judo competition or sparring (known as randori). Judo was founded by Dr. Jigoro Kano in 1882. The sport became the model for the modern Japanese martial arts, gendai budo, developed from old koryu schools. Practitioners of judo are called judoka.
According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), judo is one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today, the other three being Greco-Roman wrestling, Freestyle wrestling and Sambo wrestling.
See Judo techniques for a list of techniques by technique classification and Judo lists for the official Kodokan syllabus.

Combat Phases

Judo assumes that there are two main phases of combat: the standing (tachi-waza) and the ground (ne-waza) phase. Each phase requires its own mostly separate techniques, strategies, randori, conditioning and so on, although some special training is devoted to 'transitional' techniques to bridge the gap. Some judoka can become quite skilled in one phase and be rather weak in the other, depending on where their interests most lie, although most are rather balanced between the two.

Tachi-waza ends and ne-waza starts once the judoka go to the ground. The throw pictured is Ouchi Gari.

Judo's Balanced Approach

Judo's balance between both the standing and ground phases of combat gives judoka the ability to take down opponents who are standing up and then pin and submit them on the ground. This balanced theory of combat has made Judo a popular choice for many.

The Standing Phase: Tachi-Waza

In the standing phase, which is considered the initial phase, the opponents try to throw each other to the ground. Even though standing joint-lock and choke/strangulation submission techniques are legal in the standing phase, they are quite rare due to the fact that they are much harder to apply standing than throws are. Some judoka, however, are very skilled in combining takedowns with submissions, where a submission technique is begun standing and finished on the ground. Strikes (i.e. punches, kicks etc) are not allowed due to their certainty of injury, but judoka are supposed to 'take them into consideration' while training by, for example, not fighting in a bent-over position for long, since this position is vulnerable to knee-strikes and others striking attacks.

The Ground Phase: Ne-waza

In the ground phase, which is considered the secondary phase of combat, the opponents try to pin each other, or to get the opponent to submit either by using armlocks (leglocks are not allowed due to safety regulations) or by chokes and strangulations.

Gradings

White
Yellow
Orange
Green
Blue
Brown
Black

Judoka are ranked according to skill and knowledge of judo, that grade being reflected by belt color: There are two divisions of grades, the student grades (kyu 級), and the advanced grades (dan 段). The kyu - dan grading system was introduced into the martial arts by Kano and has since been widely adopted. As initially designed the six student grades were ranked in decending order (rokyu, gokyu, yonkyu, sankyu, nikyu, and ikkyu) with ikkyu being the last before promotion to Shodan, the first dan rank. There are commonly 10 dan ranks are in ascending order; shodan, nidan, sandan, yodan, godan, rokudan, shichidan, hachidan, kudan, judan. For dan grades the first five are coloured black , rokudan, shichidan, and hachidan were to have alternating red and white panels beyond kudan the belts were to be solid red.

Modern Pentathlon

2007-02-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

Modern Pentathlon

The modern pentathlon is a sports contest consisting of 5 events, hence the name pentathlon. The events are épée fencing, pistol shooting, 200 m freestyle swimming, a show jumping course on horseback, and a cross-country run. The epithet modern is important to discern it from the ancient athletics pentathlon – none of the events of modern penthatlon were part of the ancient Olympics.
The modern pentathlon was invented by the Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight with pistol and sword, swim, and run.
The event was first contested at the 1912 Olympic Games, and was won by a Swede named Gösta Lilliehöök. Future American World War II General George S. Patton finished fifth.
The modern pentathlon has been on the Olympic program continuously since 1912. A team event was added to the Olympic Games in 1952 and discontinued in 1992. An event for women was added in 2000. In non-Olympic years, a World Championship is held, instigated in 1949. Originally the competition took place over four or five days; however in 1996 a one-day format was adopted in an effort to improve the event's commercial image. In spite of the event's strong pedigree in the modern olympics, and its status as the only event created specifically for the modern olympic games, its lack of widespread popularity outside of Eastern Europe has led to calls for its removal from the Olympic games in recent years.
However, a vote by the IOC on July 8, 2005 keeps it in the Olympic Program at least till 2012.
The sport is governed by the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), the International Modern Pentathlon Union.

Disciplines of the Modern Pentathlon

Shooting

The shooting discipline involves using a 4.5 mm air pistol in the standing position from 10 metres distance at a stationary target. Each competitor has 20 shots, with a maximum of 40 seconds between each shot.

Fencing

The fencing discipline uses the épée. The competition is a round-robin, with each competitor facing all of the others. Each bout lasts for one minute, with the first to score a hit winning. If neither fencer scores within one minute, the bout is scored as a double loss.

Swimming

The swimming discipline is a 200 m freestyle race. Competitors are seeded in heats according to their fastest time over the distance.

Riding

The riding discipline involves show jumping over a 350-450 metre course with between 12 and 15 obstacles. Competitors are paired with horses in a draw 20 minutes before the start of the event.

Running

The running discipline involves a 3,000 m cross-country race. Competitors are ranked according to their score from the first four disciplines and given different start times, with the leader going first. The first person to cross the finish line is the overall winner of the pentathlon.

Rowing

2007-02-10T17:06:00.000-08:00

Rowing

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each another, over bodies of water. The boats are propelled by the athletes levering the boat through the water with oars. The sport can be either recreational or competitive. In the United States and Canada, high school and collegiate rowing is sometimes called crew.
Whilst rowing, the athlete sits in the boat facing backwards (towards the stern), and uses the oars which are attached to the boat at the rowlocks to propel the boat forward (towards the bow). This may be done on a river, lake, sea, or other large body of water. It is a demanding sport requiring both physical strength and cardiovascular endurance.
Although the action of rowing and equipment used remains fairly consistent throughout the world, there are many different types of competition. These include endurance races, time trials, stake racing, bumps racing, and the side-by-side format used in the Olympic games. The many different formats are a result of the long history of the sport, and its development in different regions of the world.

Basics

The distinction between rowing and other forms of water transport, such as canoeing or kayaking, is that in rowing the oars are held in place at a pivot point. This allows the oars to act as a lever of force, rather than a paddle. In flatwater rowing, the boat (also called a 'shell' or 'fine boat') is narrow to avoid drag, and the oars are attached to rowlocks at the end of outriggers extending from the sides of the boat.These boats also have sliding seats which allow the rower to engage his or her legs during the drive phase of the rowing stroke.
There are two forms of rowing. In Sweep or Sweep-oar rowing, each rower has one oar, held in both hands. Each rower in a sweep boat is referred to either as "port" (aka "strokeside") or "starboard" (aka "bowside"), depending on which side of the boat the rower's oar extends to. In Sculling each rower has two oars (one in each hand). The oar in his or her right hand extends to the port side, and the oar in his or her left hand extends to starboard.

History

Even since the earliest recorded references to rowing, the sporting element has been present. An Egyptian funerary inscription of 1430 BC records that the warrior Amenhotep (Amenophis) II was also renowned for his feats of oarsmanship and in the Aeneid, Virgil mentions rowing forming part of the funeral games arranged by Aeneas in honour of his father.
In the 13th century, Venetian festivals called regata included boat races among others.

The finish of the Doggett's Coat and Badge. Painting by Thomas Rowlandson.
The first known ‘modern’ rowing races, began from competition among the professional watermen that provided ferry and taxi service on the River Thames in London. Prizes for wager races were often offered by the London Guilds and Livery Companies or wealthy owners of riverside houses. During the Nineteenth Century these races were to become numerous and popular, attracting large crowds. Prize matches amongst professionals similarly became popular on other rivers throughout Great Britain in the Nineteenth Century, notably on the Tyne. The oldest surviving such race, Doggett's Coat and Badge was first contested in 1715 and is still held annually from London Bridge to Chelsea.In America, the earliest known race dates back to 1756 in New York, when a pettiauger defeated a Cape Cod whaleboat in a race.
Amateur competition in England began towards the end of the Eighteenth Century. Documentary evidence from this period is sparse, but it is known that the Monarch Boat Club of Eton College and the Isis Club of Westminster School were both in existence in the 1790s. The Star Club and Arrow Club in London for gentlemen amateurs were also in existence before 1800. At the University of Oxford bumping races were first organised in 1815, while at Cambridge the first recorded races were in 1827.The Boat Race between Oxford University and Cambridge University first took place in 1829, and was the second intercollegiate sporting event (following the first Varsity Cricket Match by 2 years). The interest in the first Boat Race and subsequent matches led the town of Henley to begin hosting an annual regatta in 1839.
During the Nineteenth Century, as in England, wager matches in North America between professionals became very popular attracting vast crowds. The Detroit Boat Club was established as the first rowing exclusive club in 1839. In 1843, the first American college rowing club was formed at Yale University. The Harvard-Yale Regatta is the oldest intercollegiate sporting event in the United States, having been contested every year since 1852 (excepting interruptions for wars).

Equipment

Boats

Racing boats (usually called "shells") are long, narrow, and semi-circular in cross-section in order to reduce drag to a minimum. Originally made from wood, shells are now almost always made from a composite material (usually carbon-fiber reinforced plastic) for strength and weight advantages.
There are a large number of different types of boats. They are classified using:
Number of rowers. In all forms of modern competition the number is either 1, 2, 4, or 8.
Position of coxswain. Boats are either coxless ("straight"), bow-coxed (also called bowloaders), or stern-coxed.
Although sculling and sweep boats are generally identical to each other (except having different riggers), they are referred to using different names:
Sweep: straight pair (2-), coxed pair (2+), straight four (4-), coxed four (4+), eight (8+) (always coxed)
Sculling: single (1x), double (2x), triple (3x) (very rare), quad (4x), octuple (8x) (not very common, always coxed, and mainly for juniors)

Oars

Oars are used to propel the boat. They are long (250–300 cm) poles with one flat end about 50 cm long and 25 cm wide, called the blade. An oar is often referred to as a "blade" in the case of sweep oar rowing and as a "scull" in the case of sculling. A sculling oar is shorter and has a smaller blade area than the equivalent sweep oar. Classic oars were made out of wood, but modern oars are made from synthetic material, the most common being carbon fiber. The most common makes are Concept2, Croker, and Dreher.

Rowing Machines

Ergometer rowing machines (colloquially erg or ergo) are pieces of equipment used to supplement rowing in a boat by providing a simulation of it. Used for both fitness training and when water time is restricted, they allow for technique to be practised to some extent. Indoor rowing has become popular as a sport in its own right with numerous indoor competitions (and the annual World Championship CRASH-B Sprints in Boston) during the winter off-season.

Competition

Rowers may take part in the sport for their leisure or they may row competitively. There are different types of competition in the sport of rowing. In the U.S. all types of races are referred to as "regattas" whereas this term is only used in the UK for head-to-head races which take place in the summer season. Time trials occur in the UK during the winter, and are referred to as Head races.
Rowing is unusual in the demands it places on competitors. The standard world championship race distance of 2,000 metres is long enough to have a large endurance element, but short enough (typically 5.5 to 7.5 minutes) to feel like a sprint. This means that rowers have some of the highest power outputs of athletes in any sport. At the same time the motion involved in the sport compresses the rowers' lungs, limiting the amount of oxygen available to them. This requires rowers to tailor their breathing to the stroke, typically inhaling and exhaling twice per stroke, unlike most other sports such as cycling where competitors can breathe freely.

Sailing

2007-02-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

Sailing

Sailing is the skillful art of controlling the motion of a sailing ship or sailboat, across a body of water. Sailing vessels are propelled by the force of the wind on sails. Today, for most people, sailing is recreation, an activity pursued for the joy of being on the water and pursuing the mastery of skills needed to maneuver a sailboat in varying sea and wind conditions. Recreational sailing can be further divided into Racing, Cruising and "Daysailing."
Throughout history sailing has been instrumental in the development of civilization. The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on an Egyptian vase from about 3500 BC.

Introduction

A sailboat or sailing ship moves forward because of the action of the wind on its sails. Since the dawn of history this vital technology has afforded mankind greater mobility and capacity for fishing, trade and warfare. From moving the stones of the great pyramids from Aswan to Giza to allowing man to migrate throughout Polynesia to Nelson's defeat of the French Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, mankind's history has been intertwined with this seemingly simple technology.

Sailboat racing

U.S. Sailing team at the World Military Games Sailing Competition, December 2003
Sailboat racing ranges from single person dinghy racing to large boats with 10 or 20 crew and from small boats costing a few hundred dollars to multi-million dollar Americas Cup or Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race campaigns. The costs of participating in the high end large boat competitions make this type of sailing one of the most expensive sports in the world. However, there are relatively inexpensive ways to get involved in sailboat racing, such as at community sailing clubs, and in some relatively inexpensive dinghy and small catamaran classes. Additionally many high schools and colleges offer sailboat racing programs through the Inter-Scholastic Sailing Association and the Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Under these conditions, sailboat racing can be comparable to or less expensive than sports such as golf and skiing. Sailboat racing is one of the few sports in which people of all ages can regularly compete with and against each other.
Most sailboat racing is done in sheltered coastal or inland waters. However, in terms of endurance and risk to life, ocean races such as the Volvo Ocean Race, the solo VELUX 5 Oceans Race, and the non-stop solo Vendée Globe, rate as some of the most extreme and dangerous sporting events. Not only do participants compete for days with little rest, but an unexpected storm, a single equipment failure, or collision with an ice floe could result in the sailboat being disabled or sunk hundreds or thousands of miles from search and rescue.
The sport of Sailboat racing is governed by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), and the rules under which competitors race are the Racing Rules of Sailing, which can be found on the ISAF web site.

Types of sails and layouts

Traditional sailing off the northern coast of Mozambique.
A traditional modern yacht is technically called a "Bermuda sloop" (sometimes a "Bermudan sloop"). A sloop is any boat that has a single mast and a headsail (generally a jib) in addition to the mainsail. The Bermuda designation refers to the fact that the sail, which has its forward edge (the "luff") against the mast (the main sail), is a sail roughly triangular in shape. Additionally, Bermuda sloops only have a single sail behind the mast. Other types of sloops are gaff-rigged sloops and lateen sloops. Gaff-rigged sloops have quadrilateral mainsails with a gaff (a small boom) at their upper edge (the "head" of the sail). Gaff-rigged vessels may also have another sail, called a topsail, above the gaff. Lateen sloops have triangular sails with the upper edge attached to a gaff, and the lower edge attached to the boom, and the boom and gaff are attached to each other via some type of hinge. It is also possible for a sloop to be square rigged (having large square sails like a Napoleonic Wars-era ship of the line). Note that a "sloop of war," in the naval sense, may well have more than one mast, and is not properly a sloop by the modern meaning.
If a boat has two masts, it may be a schooner, a ketch, or a yawl, if it is rigged fore-and-aft on all masts. A schooner may have any number of masts provided the second from the front is the tallest (called the "main mast"). In both a ketch and a yawl, the foremost mast is tallest, and thus the main mast, while the rear mast is shorter, and called the mizzen mast. The difference between a ketch and a yawl is that in a ketch, the mizzen mast is forward of the rudderpost (the axis of rotation for the rudder), while a yawl has its mizzen mast behind the rudderpost. In modern parlance, a brigantine is a vessel whose forward mast is rigged with square sails, while her after mast is rigged fore-and-aft. A brig is a vessel with two masts both rigged square.
As one gets into three or more masts the number of combinations rises and one gets barques, barquentines, and full-rigged ships.
A spinnaker is a large, full sail that is only used when sailing off wind either reaching or downwind, to catch the maximum amount of wind.

Shooting

2007-02-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

Shooting

The International Shooting Sport Federation recognizes several shooting events, some of which have Olympic status. They are divided into four disciplines: Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun and Running Target.
The main distinctions between different Rifle events are the distances to the target and the shooting positions used. For the other disciplines, the position is always standing, and changes include limits to shooting times and different types of targets.

Common principles

All ISSF shooting events consist of precision shooting in the sense that only the position of the shot on the target determines the result, not the time used to produce that shot (provided the time was within the set constraints, of course). This separates them from

IPSC events and other kinds of action shooting. In rifle, pistol and running target events, the maximum score for each shot is 10. In shotgun events, there is only hit and miss.

Elimination, Qualification, Final

In the 300 m rifle events and the 50 m rifle and pistol events, all participants of a main competition must compete at the same time. If the range capacity is not enough for this, an elimination round is conducted the day before the main competition. From this round, only so many shooters advance as the range capacity can allow. The program of the elimination round is the same as that of the match or qualification round.
The match, or qualification round in case of Olympic events, is then the major part of the competition. In all events except those where elimination rounds are held, shooters are divided as necessary into relays and shoot the match at different times during the competition day. In matches consisting of two stages, all shooters must complete the first stage before the second stage may commence. The stages are not seldom completed on two consecutive days (especially so in

25 m Rapid Fire Pistol, the shotgun events, and the running target events).
In larger matches, but only in the Olympic events, a final is added to the qualification round. (On the national level, there may be finals even in some non-Olympic events, such as 50 m Rifle Prone for women.) The top eight contestants (or top six in case of the shotgun events and 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol), qualify for the final. The final consists of 10 shots in the 50 m and 10 m events, 20 shots (four five-shot series) in the 25 m events, and one series in the shotgun events (that is, 25 shots in Trap and Skeet, and 25 doubles in Double Trap). In rifle and pistol finals, the score zones are divided into decimals, so that each final shot may give up to 10.9 points. In shotgun finals, there is still only a hit or a miss, but a special type of clay target with coloured powder is used to make it easier for spectators to immediately see the result. In all cases, the final score is added to the score of the qualification round, and the winner is the shooter with the best aggregate score. Ties are resolved by shooting as many additional shots (or series at 25 m) as needed to break them.

Scoring and tie-breaking

In all rifle, pistol and RT events results are recorded in ten-shot series, despite the fact that none of them are actually shot this way; the pure precision events at 300 m, 50 m and 10 m are shot at the shooter's own pace, the 25 m pistol events are shot in five-shot strings, and the RT events are shot one shot at the time. However, the recorded ten-shot series are used for tie-breaking, so that the participant with the better last series comes before the other. In events without finals this tie-breaking system can decide championships, while in Olympic events it only decides the qualification and starting order for the finals (or starting order only, in the case of six-shooter finals, where a special shoot-off is held if shooters are tied for the last final place). In 25 m Center-Fire Pistol and 25 m Standard Pistol, ties for medal places are resolved by a one-string shoot-off.
Shotgun events are recorded in series of 25 targets (Trap and Skeet), 40 targets (Women's Double Trap) or 50 targets (Men's Double Trap).

Softball

2007-02-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

Softball

Softball is a team sport in which a ball, eleven to twelve inches (or rarely, 16 inches) (28 to 30.5 centimeters) in circumference, is thrown (pitched) underhand by a player called a pitcher and hit by an offensive player called a batter with a round, smooth stick called a bat (usually wooden, metal or composite). Scoring is accomplished by the batter running and touching a series of three raised markers on the ground called bases, and then touching the final base, called home plate. Thus in the shape of a house facing away from the pitcher. Softball is a direct descendant of baseball, which is sometimes referred to as hardball to distinguish the two, but differs from it in several ways. This article assumes no knowledge of baseball.
The sport's governing body, the International Softball Federation holds world championships, held every four years, in several categories.

Types of softball

There are three general forms of softball: slow pitch, modified pitch and fast pitch.
Fast Pitch softball is a very defensive, pitcher-oriented game. The pitcher delivers the ball at maximum speed with little to no arc. The ball is colored bright yellow. The pitch is very similar to that of one thrown by a baseball pitcher, but the two differ primarily in their throwing styles and release points: baseball pitchers release the ball from a point higher than the catcher's glove (overhand), whereas fast pitch softball pitchers release at a point that is lower than or equal to the height of the catcher's glove (underhand). Speeds of 70+mph (110+kph) are not uncommon at the professional level. Due to the increased difficulty in hitting the larger, less dense ball, fast pitch softball games are typically played on much smaller fields than their slow pitch counterparts (typically 200 feet [61 metres] from home plate to the center field fence).
Modified Pitch softball strikes a balance between fast and slow pitch. The speed of the pitches are limited by not allowing the pitcher to raise their arms above their shoulders.
Slow Pitch softball gives batters more dominance by making it easier for them to hit the ball. The ball type in women's and youth competition is usually smaller and more dense than that of the fast pitch variety, making for a harder hit ball to the defense. This type of ball is often referred to as a "Green Dot", due to the green dot on the ball that marks its size range. Men's slow pitch ball type is very similar to that of the fast pitch ball type. Men's slow pitch softballs are often referred to as "Blue Dot", due to the blue dot on the ball that marks its size range. Typically, slow pitch softball fields are much larger (300 feet [91 metres] from home plate to center field) due to the slow pitch batter's increased advantage of range and power over their fast pitch counterparts. The increased hitting advantage to the batter combined with new technology in softball bat manufacturing has forced many softball leagues to impose rules on the number of over-the-fence home runs that may be counted during a game.

The field

The playing field is divided into fair territory and foul territory. Fair territory is further divided into the infield, the outfield, and the territory beyond the outfield fence.
The field is defined by foul lines that meet at a right angle at home plate. The minimum length of the baselines varies classification of play (see below for official measurements). A fence running between the baselines defines the limits of the field; this fence is equidistant from home plate at all points.
Behind home plate is a backstop. It must be between 25 and 30 feet (7.62 and 9.14 meters) behind home plate.
It is a five-sided figure, a combination of a rectangle and triangle, 17 in (43 cm) wide. The sides are 8.5 in (22 cm) long. The triangle fits into the right angle formed by the baselines.
Home plate is one corner of a diamond with bases at each corner. The bases other than home plate are 15 in (38 cm) square, of canvas or a similar material, and not more than 5 in (13 cm) thick. The bases are usually securely fastened to the ground. The bases are numbered counter clockwise as first base, second base, and third base. Outside first base (that is, in foul territory) and adjacent and connected to it is a contrast-coloured "double base" or "safety base". It is intended to prevent collisions between the first baseman and the runner. The runner runs for the foul portion of the double base after hitting the ball while the fielding team tries to throw the ball to the regular first base before the runner reaches the safety base. However, not all softball diamonds have these safety bases and they are much more common in women's softball than in men's. The double base is required in ISF championships.
The infield consists of the diamond and the adjacent space in which the infielders normally play. The outfield is the remaining space between the baselines and between the outfield fence and the infield. The infield is usually "skinned" (dirt), while the outfield has grass in regulation competitions.
Near the centre of the diamond is the pitching plate. In fast pitch, a skinned circle 8 feet (2.44 meters) in diameter known as the pitching circle is around the pitching plate.
A field is officially supposed to have a warning track between 15 and 12 feet (5 and 4 meters) from the outfield fence. However, if the game is being played on a field larger than required, no warning track is required before the temporary outfield fencing.
Located in foul territory outside both baselines are two Coach's Boxes. Each box is behind a line 15 feet (5 meters) long located 12 feet (3 meters) from each baseline.

Equipment

Equipment required in softball includes protective gear, a bat, gloves, a ball, helmets with face guards, cleats and uniforms.

Swimming

2007-02-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

Swimming

Swimming is a technique that humans and other animals use to move through water using only movements of the body, often for exercise, fun and competition. There are health benefits of swimming, but also risks.

History

Drawings from the Stone Age were found in "the cave of swimmers" near Sura in the southwestern part of Egypt. Written references date back up to 2000 B.C. In 1538 Nicolas Wynman, German professor of languages, wrote the first swimming book. Competitive swimming in Europe started around 1800, mostly using breaststroke. The front crawl, then called the trudgen was introduced in 1873 by John Arthur Trudgen, copying it from Native Americans.
Swimming was part of the first modern 1896 Summer Olympics games in Athens. In 1900 backstroke was included as an Olympic Event. In 1902 the trudgen was improved by Richard Cavill, using the flutter kick. In 1908, the world swimming association Federation Internationale de Natation was formed. Butterfly stroke was first a variant of Breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952.

Technique

The human body is composed primarily of water, and thus has a very similar density to water. Roughly, 70% of the body is water; while the lungs are filled with the air, the body is slightly less dense than the surrounding water, which exerts a buoyant force on it. Thus staying afloat requires only a slight propelling of water downward relative to the body, and transverse motion only a slight propelling of water in a direction opposite to the direction of intended motion. This propelling is accomplished by using the hands and forearms as paddles, and by kicking the legs to push water away from the body (though kicking accounts for relatively little overall). Since salt water (e.g., the ocean) is denser than fresh water (e.g., most swimming pools), less effort is required to stay afloat in salt water than in fresh water.
A number of swimming styles have been developed based on the implementation of some or all of the following principles:The torso and the legs should be kept as parallel as possible to the surface of the water. Dropped legs or a slanted torso dramatically increase drag. The hand should be extended forward of the head as much as possible. This increases the average length at the water-line, substantially increasing speed.
Recent research [citation needed] has shown that hand force applied to the water is really generated by the rotation of the hips, and not by the muscles of the arm. The muscles that pull the arm through the water are attached within one inch of the top of the arm. With a 21" arm, the lever ratio is 1:20, which means that a 100 lbs. of pull by the shoulder muscles produces only 5 lbs. of force at the hand as it pushes back against the water. The torque generated by the larger, stronger hip muscles, on the other hand, whips the hands through the water, much like golfers or batters whip their clubs and bats through the air with a fast turn of the hips. Elite swimmers who were able to make modest increases in the acceleration of their hips doubled their peak hand force output.
The time spent on the side should be maximized because the torso is narrower front-to-back than side-to-side on most swimmers. This reduces the frontal cross-section, reducing drag further, and also increasing the ratio between the body's water-line-length and width. Similar improvements are possible by orienting the narrowest direction of head, hands, legs and arms into the water. The torso is by far the most critical. The motion of the hand, arm, and leg from the back to the front should be in the air for as much time during the recovery stroke as possible, and in the water, oriented as hydrodynamically as possible, because the returning appendage has to move at least twice as fast as the swimmer, and in the water generates eight times the drag (which increases with the cube of the speed) of an equal amount of torso frontal area. Rotating your shoulders also adds power to your pull by using your abs to help pull your arm through the water.
The basic "catch" of the water is not nearly as critical as the above items. Most swimmers simply grab water with their hand flat, or the fingers slightly spread, and then draw it smoothly down their body. None of the above techniques require improved strength. With strength training, the hands and feet can be extended further into the water, gaining more propulsion. For beginners, increased strength brings only small improvements if the above strategies (minimising drag and lengthening water-line) are not optimal.

Competitive swimming

The goal of competitive swimming is to be the fastest to swim a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century, and currently comprises 34 events - 17 male events and 17 female events. Swimming is a popular event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 m pool. Competitive swimming's international governing body is FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation), the International Swimming Federation.
The four competitive strokes are the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. These strokes can be swum individually or together in an individual medley (IM). The IM order is: 1) butterfly, 2) backstroke, 3) breaststroke, and 4) freestyle. There are two types of relays: medley and freestyle. The medley relay order is: 1) backstroke, 2) breaststroke, 3) butterfly, and 4) freestyle. Each of the four swimmers in the relay swims a predetermined distance, dependent on the overall length of the relay. The three relay lengths are 200 meters or yards, 400 meters or yards, and 800 meters or yards (which is only swum freestyle). In a 50 meter pool, each swimmer swims one length for the 200 relay, two lengths for the 400 relay, and four lengths for the 800 relay. In a 25 meter or yard pool, each swimmer swims two lengths for the 200 relay, four lengths for the 400 relay, and eight lengths for the 800 relay. Many full-size competition pools in the United States have a length of 50 meters and a width of 25 yards, allowing both short course (25 m or 25 yd pool) and long course (50 m pool) races to be held.
In the United States and the United Kingdom communities may sponsor competitive swimming leagues for children and teenagers, made up of swim teams. These leagues for the most part adhere to recognized swimming rules, swim the standard strokes, but swim shorter lengths as events in swim meets. These leagues are usually active in the warmer months, and are not directly associated with a national or world swim organization. However, swimmers who begin their competitive swimming experience on such a local swim team may go on to join a nationally-governed team.

Clothing

Modesty led to the development of the swimsuit (and in Victorian times, the bathing machine).
Men's swimsuits tend to be trunks, surf or boardshorts, competition briefs, or more improvised cut-off shorts. Almost always, the upper body is left uncovered. However, in the early part of the 20th century, it was illegal for men to be topless in the USA.
Women's swimsuits are generally either one-piece swimsuits of traditional or competitive style (such as the racerback) or bikinis. Another option would be a Tankini, more conservative than a bikini but still not a one-piece.
Bodyskins are special whole body swimsuits for competitive swimming, designed to reduce skin drag.

Synchronized Swimming

2007-02-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

Synchronized Swimming

A hybrid of swimming, gymnastics, and ballet, synchronized swimming involves competitors (either individuals, duets, trios or teams) combining strength, endurance, flexibility, grace and artistry with exceptional breath control while upside down underwater.
Synchronized swimming is an Olympic sport open to women since 1984. Olympic and World Championship competition is not open to men, but other international and National competitions allow male competitors. Both USA Synchro and Synchro Canada allow men to compete with women.
Competitors point to the strength, flexibility, and aerobic endurance required to perform difficult routines.
Synchronized Swimming is governed internationally by FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur). All official Synchronized

History

While there is evidence of swimmers performing ballet-like maneuvers in the water in ancient times, the origin of synchronized swimming as an organized, competitive sport dates to the early 20th century. In 1890 and 1891 we find the first competitions in Berlin and in 1892 in London. At that time, only men could start at those competitions. The first mention of women participating in a competition is 1907. The names range from artistic, ornamental, figure or pattern swimming to scientific swimming. In the 1920s, a group of Canadian women, led by water polo player and diver Margaret Sellers, developed what they called 'ornamental swimming' from life saving and swimming techniques.
In 1907, Australian, Annette Kellerman, performing in a glass tank, had attracted national attention at the New York Hippodrome as the first underwater ballerina. Katherine Curtis, a student at the University of Wisconsin, experimented with diving actions and stunts in the water in 1915. Curtis started a water ballet club at the University of Chicago, called the Modern Mermaids, in 1923 and later performed in the lagoon at the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago. The display at the 1934 Chicago World's Fair drew rave reviews.
Kellerman was an inspiration to a woman who would become a Hollywood phenomenon: Esther Williams, U.S. freestyle champion and Olympic contender, portrayed Kellerman's life in the musical Million Dollar Mermaid. She also performed in a string of MGM "aqua musicals" in the 1940s and '50s, which inspired young girls everywhere to begin learning synchronized swimming.
Over the next 20 years the sport grew, became very technical and athletic, music was added to the routines, and the name changed to "synchronized swimming". In 1960, after a world tour, U.S. swimmers demonstrated the sport at the Olympic Games in Rome. Synchronized swimming became an Olympic Sport in 1984 with solo and duet competition. Only duets (2 swimmers) and teams (8 swimmers) currently compete at the Olympic Games. The US is the only country, internationally, that competes trios (3 swimmers) at a national level.

Routine

In competitions swimmers have to do routines. This routines are composed of "hybrids", figures, and arm sections. The swimmers are graded on their performance based on technical merit and artistic impression. In a technical routine swimmers are required to perform "routine elements" in their routine. These elements are different for junior and senior competitions. The free routine does not have any required elements and is put together by the swimmer(s) and coaches. Routine can also have lifts or throws, in which a group of swimmers lift or throw another swimmer out of the water.
The type of routine and competition level determine the length of routines. Routines typically last two and a half to five minutes long in either solos, duets, trios, or teams, with solos being the shortest and teams being the longest. Swimmers are synchronized both to each other and to the music. During a routine swimmers can never use the bottom of the pool for support, but rather depend on sculling motions, and eggbeater kick to keep afloat.
Routines are scored on a scale of 10, with points for both artistic impression and technical merit. In some competitions, routines are required to have specific technical elements performed in a pre-determined order, much like figure skating. Athletes may also compete individually, performing technical elements in front of a panel of judges. Depending on the competition level, the swimmers will perform a free routine (no specific choreography requirement)and either a technical routine (with predetermined elements) or figures (a sequence of positions performed individually in from on a panel of judges.)
A new category has recently been incorporated into international Synchronized swimming called the Combo Routine. Up to 10 swimmers compete a single continuous routine with 2 segments of team (8 swimmers), 2 segments of duet and 2 segments of solo (1 swimmer) while the additional swimmers swim off to the side and tread water without touching the side or bottom of the pool. It is up to the discretion of the coach to determine the combinations of swimmers who will swim. For example, a single swimmer may compete in both duet segments with two different partners or a swimmer may perform just a single solo segment. This event is new but is gaining popularity with teams and audiences on an international level.

Table Tennis

2007-02-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

Table Tennis

Table tennis (also colloquially and commonly known as ping pong, a trademark in the U.S. of Parker Brothers) is a sport where two or four players hit a ball back and forth to each other with paddles. The game takes place on a table divided by a net. Players must allow a ball played towards them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opponent’s side. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart spin to the ball, which makes its bounce and its reaction on the opponent's bat difficult to predict or return with confidence.
Table tennis is very popular in East Asia and is the most popular sport in the world in terms of player numbers, as well as one of the newest of the major sports.

General description

A standard table tennis table, together with paddle and ball.
Table tennis is an Olympic sport where two or four players hit a ball with a bat back and forth to each other on a table, in a manner similar to tennis. The rules are slightly different, but the concept is basically the same. Ball spin, speed, placement, strategy and tactics play an important part in competitive table tennis matches. The speed of the ball can vary from slow serves with much spin to smashes that travel as fast as 112.5 kilometers per hour (69.9 miles per hour).
The game is played on a 274 cm × 152.5 cm × 76 cm high (approx 9 ft × 5 ft × 30 in high) hard rectangular table with the surface usually colored green, black, or dark blue. A 15.25 cm (6 inch) tall net divides the table in half (similarly to tennis) and is strung to extend 15.25 cm (6 inches) beyond the table on each side.
Table tennis requires a large enough room so that players can move freely. In international competitions, the International Table Tennis Federation requires an area not less than 14 m (46 ft) long, 7 m (23 ft) wide and 5 m (16 ft) high. The 4 corners may be covered by surrounds of not more than 1.5 m (5 ft) length.
The bats, also known as paddles or racquets, are usually about 10 inches long, with a hitting surface that is approximately 6 in × 6 in (15.2 cm × 15.2 cm), although the rules specify no limitations in size or shape. Modern bats usually have a thin layer of rubber covering the paddle's striking surface. The rubber may have pimples pointing outwards or inwards, as well as a thin layer of sponge between the plywood center and the rubber surface. Since spin plays a large role in the modern sport of table tennis, the composition of the rubber and the combination of sponge and rubber is designed to maximize the amount of spin and speed a player can impart onto the ball. Other technological improvements include the use of carbon or other synthetic layers as part of the blade to increase the sweet spot or the stiffness of the blade.
The ball used in table tennis has a diameter of 40 mm, is made of celluloid, and is completely hollow. A three star rating on a ball usually implies a top quality ball, in relation to its bounce, roundness and their respective consistency between balls of the same make and type.
The winner is the first to score 11 points, with each player alternating serves every two points. At 10-10 (or deuce) the players alternate with every serve; the winner is then the first person to gain a clear two points advantage over his opponent. The 11 point game is an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) change which occurred in 2001. All games played at national level and at international tournaments (ITTF) are played to 11 points in either a best of five (5) games (preliminaries) or best of seven (7) games format (championship matches).

History

Table tennis making an 'impression' on the world of sports
Table tennis has its origins in England as an after dinner amusement for upper class Victorians in the 1880s. Mimicking the game of tennis in an indoor environment, everyday objects were originally enlisted to act as the equipment. A line of books would be the net, a rounded top of a Champagne cork or knot of string as the ball, and a cigar box lid as the bat.
The popularity of the game led game manufacturers to sell the equipment commercially. Early bats were often pieces of parchment stretched upon a frame, and the sound generated in play gave the game its first nicknames of "whiff whaff" and "Ping pong". A number of sources indicate that the game was first brought to the attention of Hamley’s of Regent Street under the name "Gossima". The name ping pong was in wide use before English manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. The name ping pong then came to be used for the game played by the rather expensive Jaques equipment, with other manufacturers calling theirs table tennis. A similar situation came to exist in the United States where Jaques sold the rights to the ping pong name to Parker Brothers. The term is now used as a generic name for table tennis.
The next major innovation was by James Gibb,an English enthusiast of the game, who discovered novelty celluloid balls on a trip to the U.S. in 1901 and found them to be the ideal balls for the game. This was followed by E.C. Goode who in 1903 invented the modern version of the racket by fixing a sheet of pimpled, or stippled, rubber to the wooden blade. Table tennis was growing in popularity by 1901 when table tennis tournaments were being organized, books on table tennis were being written, and an unofficial world championship was held in 1902. During the early 20th century the game was banned in Russia due to the belief that was held by the rulers at the time that playing the game had an adverse effect on players eyesight. In 1921 the Table Tennis Association was founded in England, and the International Table Tennis Federation followed in 1926. London hosted the first official world championship in 1927. Table tennis was introduced as an Olympic sport at the Olympics in 1988. In the 1950's rackets that used a rubber sheet combined with a underlaying sponge layer changed the game dramatically, introducing greater spin and speed. These were introduced to England by the sports goods manufacturers S.W. Hancock Ltd. and the Hancock bat gave Johnny Leach the edge when he became World Champion in 1949. The use of speed glue increased the spin and speed even further, resulting in changes to the equipment to "slow the game down".

Competition

Competitive table tennis is popular in Asia and Europe and has been gaining attention in the United States. China continues to dominate most world titles. France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan also have many world-class players.
Skilled players exhibit extraordinarily swift reaction times, footwork and body control. Also, bat construction and new rubber technology (skilled elite players typically select and attach the rubber to their own bats and glue them before every match) contribute significantly to the amount of deviation from the expected ball flight path. The fairly recent development of speed glue speeds up the departure of the ball from the rubber considerably, though at the cost of some ball control. There are also competitions in table tennis variants: "Hardbat", in which all competitors use a paddle with small pips-out rubber (sponge is not allowed); and "Large ball", where a 44 mm ball is used to decrease the speed.

Taekwondo

2007-02-09T16:11:00.000-08:00

Taekwondo

Taekwondo (also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do) is a martial art originating in Korea. Having become the most widely practiced martial art in the world, it is the national sport of Korea as well as an Olympic sporting event.
In Korean, derived from hanja, tae means "foot"; kwon means "fist"; and do means "way". Hence, taekwondo is loosely translated as "the way of the hand and foot" or more loosely, "the art of kicking and punching". Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the divergent evolution of the martial art. As with many other martial arts, taekwondo is a combination of combat technique, self-defense, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy.
Although there are great doctrinal and technical differences among public and private taekwondo organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, using the leg's greater reach and power to disable the opponent from a distance. In sparring, turning (roundhouse), 45 degree, front, axe, reverse turning and side kicks are most often used; advanced kicks include jump, spin, and skip kicks, often in combination. Taekwondo training also includes a comprehensive system of hand strikes and blocks, but generally does not emphasize grappling.

Ranks, belts, and promotion

Like many martial arts, taekwondo has ten student ranks (called a gup, also

romanized as geup or kup) and nine or ten black belt ranks (dan) or (degree). New students begin at 10th gup (white belt) and advance down in number to 1st gup. At many schools, students then advance into an intermediate rank called cho dan bo or dan bo, meaning "black belt candidate". After some prescribed amount of time has passed, the student takes a dan test, after which the student becomes a 1st dan.
Dan ranks then increase to a maximum of either 9th dan (ITF) or 10th dan (Kukkiwon). The Kukkiwon does not allow students under 15 to attain dan ranks. Instead they earn poom ranks, or "junior black belt". Underage students may earn up to 4th Poom, and all poom ranks convert automatically to dan ranks when the student comes of age and passes his or her next promotion.
The grading in taekwondo consists mainly of patterns, techniques and theory. The patterns are a display of punching and kicking techniques, and may also contain others such as breathing and stances. Theory is displayed verbally and expresses information on Korean words, vital information (such as vital points and rules) and a general understanding and knowledge of taekwondo.

Gup ranks and belt colors

The colored belt system is an artifact of Japanese influence on Korea during the occupation, and thus ultimately from Jigaro Kano, the founder of judo. Some organizations' leaders, like General Choi Hong Hi, assigned meanings to the various colors of the ranks,[6] representing the progression of a student from white, the innocence of a beginner, into the maturity of the black belt, who is impervious to darkness and fear. The interpretation of the colors of the belt vary from school to school, and are sometimes omitted from instruction, as they did not have meaning when they were originally chosen. Neither the World Taekwondo Federation nor the Kukkiwon assign official meanings to the colors.
The correspondence of belt color to Gup varies drastically from school to school, and can even change within the same school over time. Belt colors are most useful in allowing students and instructors within a school to quickly determine rank. The traditional and most common rank-color correspondence found in both Kukkiwon and ITF schools are:

10th White Belt
9th White with Yellow Stripe
8th Yellow Belt
7th Yellow with Green Stripe
6th Green Belt
5th Green with Blue Stripe
4th Blue Belt
3rd Blue with Red Stripe
2nd Red Belt
1st Red with Black stripe

Olympic competition rules

The sparring regulations of the WTF, adopted by the International Olympic Committee, emphasize full contact blows, allow knockout and other logistics of the Olympic sports. These rules are different from taekwondo sparring based on poomsae technique, grabbing self-defense. There are over 18 different types of taekwondo sparring.

Rachel Marcial of the US Armed Forces team (blue) competing in a taekwondo match.
The official, current WTF competition rules can be found at the WTF website.[12] These rules govern many aspects of tournament sparring, summarized below:
The competition area measures 10m x 10m.
The contestant shall wear the trunk protector (hogu), head protector, groin guard, forearm guards, shin guards, and a mouthpiece.
The duration of the contest is non-stop three rounds of two minutes each, with a one-minute rest period between rounds. In case of a tie score after the completion of the 3rd round, a 4th round of two minutes will be conducted as the sudden death overtime round.
Permitted and prohibited techniques:
Fist techniques are only allowed with a closed hand, and only with the leading part of the hand (no backhand or hammer techniques).
Foot techniques are only allowed by using the parts of the foot below the ankle bone (no shin or knee techniques).
Permitted areas
Trunk: Full force attack by fist and foot techniques on the areas covered by the trunk protector are permitted. Attacks on the part of the back not covered by the trunk protector are permitted so long as they are not direct hits to the spine.
Head: Full force, knock out attack to the head is only allowed by foot techniques. Attack to the back of the head is prohibited, as are all hand techniques to the head.
Points are awarded when permitted techniques deliver full force, abrupt displacement and trembling shock to the legal scoring areas of the body. Points may be awarded by judges for a successful technique as follows:
One point for attack on trunk protector.
Two points for attack on the head.
One point if a punch is thrown and stops the opponent in their tracks.
One additional point if the opponent is knocked down and the referee counts.
Declared winner if knock-out of the opponent with foot kicking to the legal area of head and face.
Deduction of points. Two types of penalties may be assigned for prohibited acts, "kyonggo" (warning penalty) and "gamjom" (deduction penalty). Two "kyonggo" deduct one point, rounded down (an odd "kyonggo" is not counted in the grand total), and a "gamjom" deducts one full point. When a contestant has been deducted four points, the referee shall declare him/her loser by penalties.
"Kyonggo" penalties include: evading by turning the back to the opponent; falling down; avoiding/stalling the match; grabbing, holding, or pushing; attacking below the waist; pretending injury; butting or attacking with knee; hitting the opponent’s face with the hand.
"Gamjom" penalties include: attacking the opponent when the round is stopped; attacking a fallen opponent; intentionally attacking the opponent’s face with the hand.
In the event of a tied score after the sudden death round, the judging officials decide the match based on the initiative shown during the final round.

Tennis

2007-02-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Tennis

Tennis is a game played between either two players ("singles") or two teams of two players ("doubles"). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis or court tennis), an older form of the game that originated in France in the Middle Ages and is played indoors on a very different court. Originating in England in the late 19th century, lawn tennis spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now once again an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society, by all ages, and in many countries around the world. Except for the adoption of the tie-breaker in the 1970s, its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the 1890s. Along with its millions of players, millions of people follow tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments.

History

Tennis can be traced as far back as the ancient Greek game of sphairistike (Greek: Σφαιριστική). Major Walter Wingfield borrowed the name of this Greek game, in order to name the recreation he patented in 1874. It was soon converted into a three-syllable word rhyming with “pike” and afterwards abbreviated either to sticky or the mock-French stické. At the suggestion of future British prime minister Arthur Balfour, Wingfield eventually decided on "lawn tennis," a name that he had also patented for the game.
Its establishment as the modern sport can be dated to two separate roots. In 1856, Alex Ryden, a solicitor, and his friend Joao Batista Pereira, a Portuguese merchant, who both lived in Birmingham, England played a game they named "pelota", after a Spanish ball game. The game was played on a lawn in Edgbaston. In 1872 both men moved to Leamington Spa, and with two doctors from the Warneford Hospital, played pelota on the lawn behind the Manor House Hotel (now residential apartments). Pereira joined with Dr. Frederick Haynes and Dr. A. Wellesley Tomkins to found the first lawn tennis club in the world, and played the game on nearby lawns. In 1874 they formed the Leamington Tennis Club, setting out the original rules of the game. The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall (demolished 1948).
In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield devised a similar game for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate at Nantclwyd, Wales. He based the game on the older sport of indoor tennis or real tennis ("royal tennis"), which had been invented in 12th century France and was played by French aristocrats down to the time of the French Revolution.
According to most tennis historians, modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of royal tennis and applied them to his new game:
Tennis comes from the French tenez, the imperative form of the verb tenir, to hold: This was a cry used by the player serving in royal tennis, meaning "I am about to serve!" (rather like the cry "Fore!" in golf).
Racquet comes from raquette, which derives from the Arabic rakhat, meaning the palm of the hand.
Deuce comes from à deux le jeu, meaning "to both is the game" (that is, the two players have equal scores).
Love may come from l'œuf, the egg, a reference to the egg-shaped zero symbol; however, since "un œuf" is more commonly used, the etymology remains in question.
The convention of numbering scores "15", "30" and "40" comes from quinze, trente and quarante, which to French ears makes a euphonious sequence, or from the quarters of a clock (15, 30, 45) with 45 simplified to 40.

Play of a single point

The players (or teams) start on opposite sides of the net. One player is designated the server, and the opposing player, or in doubles one of the opposing players, is the receiver. Service alternates between the two halves of the court.
For each point, the server starts behind his baseline, between the center mark and the sideline. The receiver may start anywhere on his side of the net. When the receiver is ready, the server will serve, although the receiver must play to the pace of the server.
In a legal service, the ball travels over the net (without touching it) and into the diagonally opposite service box. If the ball hits the net but lands in the service box, this is a let service, which is void, and the server gets to retake that serve. If the first service is otherwise faulty in any way, wide, long or not over the net, the serving player has a second attempt at service. There is also a "foot fault" which occurs when a player's foot touches the baseline or an extension of the center mark[1] before the ball is hit. If the second service is also faulty, this is a double fault and the receiver wins the point. However, if the serve is in then it is considered a legal service.
A legal service starts a rally, in which the players alternate hitting the ball across the net. A legal return consists of the player or team hitting the ball exactly once before it has bounced twice or hit any fixtures except the net provided that it still falls in the server's court. It then travels back over the net and bounces in the court on the opposite side. The first player or team to fail to make a legal return loses the point.

Scoring

A tennis match usually comprises one to five sets. A set consists of a number of games, and games, in turn, consist of points.
Matches consist of an odd number of sets, the match winner being the player who wins more than half of the sets. The match ends as soon as this winning condition is met. Some matches may consist of five sets (the winner being the first to win three sets), while most matches are three sets (the winner being the first to win two sets).
A set consists of a sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending when the count of games won meets certain criteria. Typically, a player wins a set when he wins at least six games and at least two games more than his opponent. It has become common, however, to play a "twelve-point tiebreak" or "tiebreaker" when each player has won six games. A tiebreaker, played under a separate set of rules, allows one player to win one more game and thus the set, to give a final set score of 7-6. (See Tennis score for a description of both tie-break scoring and its history.)
A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving, and is won by the first player to have won at least four points and at least two points more than his opponent. The running score of each game is described in a manner particular to tennis: scores of zero to three points are described as "love" [The term "love" derives from the figure Zero looking like an egg; in French, the egg is "l'oeuf" which is pronounced "leuf", and that sound a bit like "love"] or "zero," "fifteen," "thirty," and "forty" respectively. When at least three points have been scored by each side and the players have the same number of points, the score is "deuce." When at least three points have been scored by each side and a player has one more point than his opponent, the score of the game is "advantage" for the winning player. During informal games, "advantage" can also be called "ad in" or "ad out", depending on whether the serving player or receiving player, respectively, is ahead. (See Tennis score for further explanation of how to score a game.)
A game point occurs in tennis whenever the player who is in the lead in the game (the smallest unit of play) needs only one more point to win the game. The terminology is extended to sets (set point), matches (match point), and even championships (championship point). For example, if the player who is serving has a score of 40-love, he has a triple game point (triple set point, etc.).
A break point occurs if the receiver, not the server, has a game point. It is of importance in professional tennis, since service breaks happen less frequently with professional players. It may happen that the player who is in the lead in the game has more than one chance to score the winning point, even if his opponent should take the next point(s). For example, if the player who is serving has a score of 15-40, the receiver has a double break point. Should the player in the lead take any one of the next two points, he wins the game.
For two years before the open era, in 1955 and 1956, the United States Pro Championship in Cleveland, Ohio was played by the Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System (VASSS) rules, created by James Van Alen, who later invented the tie-breaker. The scoring was the same as that in table tennis, with sets played to 21 points and players alternating 5 services, with no second service. The rules were partially created in order to limit the effectiveness of the powerful service of the reigning professional champion, Pancho Gonzales. Even with the new rules, however, Gonzales beat Pancho Segura in the finals of both tournaments. Even though the 1955 match went to 5 sets, with Gonzales barely holding on to win the last one 21-19, apparently it took only 47 minutes to play. The fans attending the matches preferred the traditional rules, however, and in 1957 the tournament reverted to the old method of scoring.

Triathlon

2007-02-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Triathlon

Triathlon is an ancient Greek word that refers to an athletic event made up of three contests. In contemporary usage, the name triathlon is mostly applied to a race consisting of a combination of swimming, cycling and running, in that order. In most modern triathlons, these events are placed back-to-back in immediate sequence and a competitor's official time includes the time required to "transition" between the individual legs of the race, including any time necessary for changing clothes and shoes. As a result, proficiency in swimming, running, and cycling alone is not sufficient to guarantee a triathlete a competitive time: trained triathletes have learned to race each stage in a way that preserves their energy and endurance for subsequent stages.

Specialization of swimming, cycling and running in triathlon

Each element of the triathlon is a little different from those sports if encountered alone. While amateur triathletes who also compete in individual swimming, cycling or running races generally apply the same techniques and philosophy to triathlon, seasoned triathletes and professionals have specialized techniques for each discipline that improve their race as a whole.

Swimming

Triathletes will use their legs less vigorously and more carefully than other swimmers, conserving their leg muscles for the cycle and run to follow. Many triathletes use altered swim strokes to compensate for turbulent, aerated water and to conserve energy for a long swim. In addition, the majority of triathlons involve open-water (outdoor) swim stages, rather than pools with lane markers. As a result, triathletes in the swim stage must jockey for position, and can gain some advantage by drafting, following a competitor closely to swim in their slipstream. Triathletes will often use "dolphin kicking" and diving to make headway against waves, and body surfing to use a wave's energy for a bit of speed at the end of the swim stage. Also, open-water swims necessitate "sighting": raising the head to look for landmarks or buoys that mark the course. A modified stroke allows the triathlete to lift the head above water to sight without interrupting the swim or wasting energy.
Because open water swim areas are often cold, specialized triathlon wetsuits have been developed. In addition to warmth, wetsuits add buoyancy and cut water resistance, both of which increase swimming speed. Wetsuits are only legal in sanctioned events with a water temperature equal to or below 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25.5 degrees Celsius). Some events allow wetsuits regardless of water temperature, and sometimes they are required. Or, in a single event, wetsuits may be allowed for "age groupers" but not for professionals, as the temperature rules differ slightly between the two groups.

Cycling

Triathlon cycling, with the exception of Olympic triathlon and ITU World Cup races, is very different from most professional bicycle racing because it does not allow drafting, so racers do not cluster in a peloton. It more closely resembles individual time trial racing. Triathlon bicycles are generally optimized for aerodynamics, having special handlebars called "aero-bars" or "tri-bars", aerodynamic wheels, and other components. Triathlon bikes use a specialized geometry, including a steep seat-tube angle both to improve aerodynamics and spare muscle groups needed for running (see also Triathlon equipment). At the end of the bike segment, triathletes also often cycle with a higher "cadence" (revolutions per minute), which serves in part to keep the muscles loose and flexible for running. It is believed, though, that the primary benefit to spinning in a triathlon is that the strain of the effort is placed disproportionately on the slow twitch muscle fibers, preventing the athlete from accumulating an oxygen debt before the run.

Running

The primary distinguishing feature of running in a triathlon is that it occurs after the athlete has already been exercising in two other disciplines for an extended period of time, so many muscles are already tired. The effect of switching from cycling to running can be very profound; first-time triathletes are often astonished at the bizarre, sometimes painful sensation in their thighs a few hundred yards into the run, and discover that they run at a much slower pace than they are accustomed to in training. Triathletes train for this phenomenon through transition workouts or "bricks": back-to-back workouts involving two disciplines, most commonly cycling and running. (The term "brick" has multiple claims of origination/derivation. Among those is the derivation from a partial anagram of Bike-Run. Also, it may simply be a descriptive term for how your legs feel for the first part of the run. Another is credited to Mark Sisson and Scott Zagarino (1988), who associated the term brick with the idea of "Just another brick in the wall"... as noted in a song by the group "Pink Floyd". Another association of this term has been claimed to originate from a New Zealand athlete by the name of Matt Brick.)

History

According to former Ironman Champion, triathlon historian and author Scott Tinley, the origin of Triathlon is anecdotally attributed on a race in France during the 1920-1930s that was called "Les trois sports", "La Course des Débrouillards" and "La course des Touche à Tout". Nowadays, this race is held every year in France near Joinville le Pont, in Meulan and Poissy. In 1920 the French newspaper "L´Auto" reported on a competition called "Les Trois Sports" with a 3 km run, 12 km bike and a crossing of the channel Marne. Those three parts were done without any break. There are also articles in French newspapers about a race in Marseille in 1927. There is a 1934 article about "Les Trois Sports" (the three sports) in the city of Rochelle, a race with: (1) a channel crossing (c. 200 m), (2) a bike competition (10 km) around the harbor of Rochelle and the parc Laleu, and (3) a run (1200 m) in the stadium André-Barbeau. Since the 1930s, very little was heard about triathlon until 1974 at San Diego's Mission Bay in Southern California, where a group of friends began training together. This occurrence is well-documented and was not based on the French events. Amongst them were runners, swimmers and cyclists and before long training sessions turned into informal races. Directed and conceived by Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan, the first Mission Bay Triathlon was held on September 25th 1974 and welcomed 46 athletes. This date is celebrated as the day modern triathlon began.
The first modern long-distance triathlon event (2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) swim, 112 mi (180.2 km) bike ride, and a 26.2 mi (42.2 km) run) was the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon, the idea for which arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay (a running race for 5-person teams). Among the participants were numerous representatives of both the Mid-Pacific Road Runners and the Waikiki Swim Club, whose members had long been debating which athletes were more fit: runners or swimmers. On this occasion, U.S. Navy Commander John Collins pointed out that a recent article in Sports Illustrated magazine had declared that Eddy Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist, had the highest recorded "maximum oxygen uptake" of any athlete ever measured, so perhaps cyclists were more fit than anyone. Cdr. Collins and his wife, Judy, had taken part in the triathlons staged in 1974 and 1975 by the San Diego Track Club in and around Mission Bay, California, as well as the Optimist Sports Fiesta Triathlon in Coronado, California in 1975. A number of the other military athletes in attendance were also familiar with the San Diego races, so they understood the concept when Cdr. Collins suggested that the debate should be settled through a race combining the three existing long-distance competitions already on the island: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.862 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.219 mi./42.195 km). It is worth noting that no one present had ever done the bike race so did not realize it was a two-day, not one-day, event; Cdr. Collins calculated that, by shaving 3 miles off the course and riding counter-clockwise around the island, the bike leg could start at the finish of the Waikiki Rough Water and end at the Aloha Tower, the traditional start of the Honolulu Marathon. Prior to racing, each athlete received three sheets of paper listing a few rules and a course description. Handwritten on the last page was this exhortation: “SWIM 2.4 MILES! BIKE 112 MILES! RUN 26.2 MILES! BRAG FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE®!" With a nod to a local runner who was notorious for his demanding workouts, Collins said, "Whoever finishes first, we'll call him the Iron Man." Of the fifteen men to start off the in early morning on February 18th, 1978, twelve completed the race and the world's first IRONMAN®, Gordon Haller, completed in 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds