Running Technically speaking running is a rapid locomotion on foot where both feet are off the ground. Running is a faster way to get around than walking and it is healthy. Running can reduce body fat and improve cardiovascular health. Running is mainly jogging, long distance marathon running, or track. In high school there is cross country which is long distance running, and track which is short distance. Cross country runners run a 5k in high school and in college can move to the 10k. Cross country runners are also typically marathon runners running marathons from 2 miles to 100 miles. 100 mile marathons are called ultra marathons and are completed by people who run all day and everyday. Ultramarathons are any marathon longer than the typical 42k so an ultramarathon can be longer than 100 miles. Ultramarathoners face the difficult task of completing these long distance races without injuring themselves. Therefore running does involve a certain amount of skill and form. To run properly without injuring yourself you must move your legs in a fore ward back alignment without moving them too much to the left or right during your stride. Also you should not have your stride too long or it could cause shin splints. A common injury in athletes who train too hard which strains the tendons connected to the shin. Also proper arm movement is important while running if you move your arms in a straight line you will tire slower and be able to run quicker. Long distance runners also face the difficult challenge of eating a balanced diet with the proper nutrients to sustain their massive activities. Carbohydrates are the main staple of a runner and provide lots of quick energy for their muscles in a race. After the carbohydrates are burned protein fills in for long lasting energy. Also runners must eat the right amount so that they do not loose too much weight and muscle mass.
Transcript
RunningTechnically speaking running is a rapid locomotion on foot where both
feet are off the ground. Running is a faster way to get around than walking and it is healthy. Running can reduce body fat and improve cardiovascular health. Running is mainly jogging, long distance marathon running, or track. In high school there is cross country which is long distance running, and track which is short distance. Cross country runners run a 5k in high school and in college can move to the 10k. Cross country runners are also typically marathon runners running marathons from 2 miles to 100 miles. 100 mile marathons are called ultra marathons and are completed by people who run all day and everyday. Ultramarathons are any marathon longer than the typical 42k so an ultramarathon can be longer than 100 miles. Ultramarathoners face the difficult task of completing these long distance races without injuring themselves. Therefore running does involve a certain amount of skill and form. To run properly without injuring yourself you must move your legs in a fore ward back alignment without moving them too much to the left or right during your stride. Also you should not have your stride too long or it could cause shin splints. A common injury in athletes who train too hard which strains the tendons connected to the shin. Also proper arm movement is important while running if you move your arms in a straight line you will tire slower and be able to run quicker.
Long distance runners also face the difficult challenge of eating a balanced diet with the proper nutrients to sustain their massive activities. Carbohydrates are the main staple of a runner and provide lots of quick energy for their muscles in a race. After the carbohydrates are burned protein fills in for long lasting energy. Also runners must eat the right amount so that they do not loose too much weight and muscle mass.
A strong debate between long distance runners is wether or not running barefoot is helpful or harmful. While running barefoot is said to improve your overall stride and reduce the chance of injury many people do not buy into it. Especially because it would take a lot of toughening up your feet before you could run down a asphalt street comfortably. many praise the benefits of barefoot running and curse modern running shoes but it really boils down to preference everyone’s stride is different so everyone will always need different running techniques.
PaintballThere are two types of paintball; woodsball and speedball. Woodsball
is a scenario game played in woods or in an urban field. Speedball is played on a open course with bunkers for support. Woodsball is a tactical game where you use real tactical effort to eliminate your enemy, whereas speedball is a frontal assult by both teams to eliminate the other’s players as quickly as possible. Because of this speedball matches can last for a few minutes or a few seconds and woodsball can last hours. The main focus in both games is to eliminate the opposing players with your paintball gun. The paintballs it fires are filled by a water soluble dye which splatters on contact to mark the hit. The military also uses paintball as training for its soldiers to practice tactics and simulate non lethal battle. Law enforcement uses paintball technology for riot control. A typical tool for riot enforcement is paintballs filled with pepper spray.
The gear needed to play common paintball is a gun, C02 or compressed air, paintballs, and a hopper. Most paintball guns can run off either c02 or compressed air which is fed into the gun from a cylinder attached to a nozzle at the back of the gun. The hopper is the device on the top of the gun which feeds the paintballs one by one into the gun’s chamber to be fired by the compressed gas. A optional piece of gear is paintball grenades which are like large paintballs which spray paint on contact. For speedball it is common to have a semi automatic gun but with something called an E-Trigger. This is an attachment which connects to a computer inside the gun and allows the gun to be fired without squeezing the trigger all the way. Therefore rounds can be fired off by the slightest touch of the trigger, allowing the semi automatic gun to fire at a rate of fire close to an automatic. Woodsballl guns typically do not need this attachment since the games are much slower paced. A typical woodsball gun may have a extended barrel on it or a stock for increased accuracy. Woodsball guns in general are more realistic with attachments like flashlights and sights.
Both forms of paintball are fun and physically demanding but typically it is speedball players who go pro. There are speedball tournaments all over
the world which shows that many people play it. It is also beneficial in society and has been the reason for several technological advancements.
Cheerleading Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport. It is based on organized
routines usually around 3 minutes consisting of cheers, dances, jumps, tumbling, and stunts. Cheerleading originated in the United States and still remains an American activity. It originally started out as an all male sport. However women joined the sport prior to 1907 and dominated the sport. Estimates show that about 97% of modern cheerleading participants are female. At the collegiate level there are about 50% of participants are male. Cheerleaders are usually known as to just cheer at football games and pep up the crowd and football players but cheerleading has gone way further than that. In the 1960’s National Football League teams started creating professional cheerleading teams. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders became popular with their revealing outfits and talented dance moves and changed the image of cheerleaders permanently. Most people don’t even consider cheerleading a sport anymore but they should it is just as dangerous as any other sport. In the 1980’s they started adding more gymnastics into routines. More all-star teams started to show. ESPN broadcasted the first National High School Cheerleading Competition nationwide in 1983.Cheerleading organizations started applying universal safety standards to decrease the number
of injuries and prevent dangerous stunts or tumbling being included in routines. Even with its athletic and competitive development cheerleading at the school level has retained its ties to the spirit leading traditions starting in the 1980’s and are leaders among the student body. In high school there is usually two different teams a Varsity and a junior varsity (J.V.) usually the 9th and 10th graders are on J.V. and 11th and 12th graders are on Varsity. There are other types of cheerleading rather than just high school and college there is middle school cheerleading. Middle school cheerleading is a lot like high school cheerleading it has the same idea, which would be to pep up the players and the crowd at football and basketball games. Depending on how advanced the squad is they can do some of the same stunts and routines as high school cheerleading. There is also All Star cheerleading which their main objective is competition. The first organization to call themselves all stars and go to competition were the Q94 Rockers from Richmond, Virginia and founded in 1982. The number of participants on an all star cheerleading team are usually between 6-36 males and/or females. They practice year round for competitions that happen throughout the year but they only perform up to about 2 ½ minutes. The usual number of
competitions a team competes are about 8-12 a year. There is also professional spirit squads which cheer at other games like hockey, baseball and wrestling. There are only a few of these around the world. But overall cheerleading is a hard, tough
sport that definitely takes talent.
GymnasticsGymnastics is a sport that involves the performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination and balance. Children can start as little as 4 years old doing kinder gym and it goes up to competitive gymnasts at different levels of skill and world class athletes. The words gymnastics originated from greek and it means “naked” because athletes used to train without clothing. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic sports. It usually involves the woman’s uneven bars, floor routine, balance beam and vault. Men’s events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and high bars. Other types of gymnastic exercise include: trampolining , tumbling, rhythmic gymnastics, aerobic gymnastics and acrobatic gymnastics. in the Vault events gymnasts run down a 25 meter runway and perform a round off entry onto a springboard, land momentarily and flip over the vault with hand on the vault and land on two feet. This can include multiple flips of different kinds. On the uneven bars gymnast perform a routine on two horizontal bars set at different heights. These bars are made of fiberglass covered in wood laminate to prevent them from breaking. The width of the bars can be adjusted though. Gymnasts perform swinging, circling, transitional and release moves, that go over, under and through the two bars. Gymnasts usually mount the bars by a springboard. On the balance beam, the gymnast do a routine up to 90 seconds consisting of a
series of leaps, acrobatic skills, somersaults, turns, and dance moves on a padded beam. This event takes balance, skill, flexibility and strength. On the floor exercises gymnasts perform up to a 90 second choreographed routine consisting of dance moves, flips, and leaps. This event can be really hard because you cannot step out of the white line. You also have to be really sharp to get good scoring and stick every move. The floor routine for a male is like the women’s but still different the men’s routine consists of about 60-70 seconds they still tumble like the women but men don’t use music like the women do and they have to touch each corner of the mat during their routine. Men us the pommel horse which women do not and this uses both single leg and double leg work. The gymnasts swing both of their legs in a circular motion (clockwise or counter clockwise depending on preference) and perform such skills on all parts of the apparatus. The still rings are suspended from a wire cable 5.75 meters from the floor, and adjusted in height so the gymnast has room to hang freely and swing. He must perform a routine on balance, strength, power, and dynamic motion while preventing the rings themselves from swinging. At least one static strength move is required. Other than that they do about the same routines. Judging and scoring is the same.
BaseballIn 1845 the first baseball field was created. Ever since then
the world has loved the sport. It was invented by Alexander Cartwright and the members of his baseball club. The Knickerbockers Baseball Club came up with the rules and regulations for the sport. The first baseball game was October 6th, 1845 when the Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club at Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1869 along came the Cincinnati Reds, and they were considered the first professional team. In 1857 the first baseball convention was created and “Doc” Adams was elected president of it. He was also the leader of the Committee on Rules and Regulations. “Doc” instituted new rules, such as nine innings for a full game, thirty yards between the bases, forty five feet between home plate and the pitcher’s mound, and that nine men should complete a team. In the 1800’s baseball bats were made by the players. As time went on, and attempt after attempt they found that rounded baseball bats were the best. The first Louisville Slugger baseball bat was invented in 1884 by John Hillerich. Metal bats came along in the 1920’s, almost 50 years before they were used in baseball. In the 1880’s baseball cards were created. They were used as advertisements to help the sale of tobacco. African Americans were introduced to baseball in the 1880’s, but Moses Fleetwood Walker is known as the first. He played for the University of Michigan then later on the Toledo Blue Stockings. In 1887 the whites pushed all the blacks out of the league. In 1901, the minor league team, the Western League, created a new major league and called themselves the American League. They picked up many new teams, and became more known than the National
League. In 1903 the two leagues made peace and held a series. It was a 9 game series consisting of 2 teams, Boston and Pittsburg. In the end Boston won 5 games to Pittsburgs 3. After that series they decide to do it every year, it is now known as the World Series. As time progressed baseball changed. Players started to use performance-enhancing drugs, and many didn’t think that was fair. When Major League started to crack down on the use of steroids home run numbers declined, and the pitchers began to look better. That just shows that things will never be the same as they used to be.
SoccerSoccer, also known as football, is one of Europe’s and the
Americas favorite sports. The word soccer is from an abbreviation of the word association football. The soccer ball actually came from a human head. It has been said that it was played during the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China. The early growth of modern soccer started in England. It was said that soccer used to not have many rules. They would kick, punch, and bite each other to get to the ball. It grew so violent that King Edward III banned it in 1365 because of too many incidents of violence. In 1815 it became popular to colleges so they created some rules. Some colleges liked Rugby Rules and some like the Cambridge Rules. What we know as soccer today, was established in 1863. In October of 1963 11 representatives from clubs and schools in London met and set up the common rules to play fair matches. The Rugby Rules were finally abolished in December, 1863. Later on in 1869 they finally decided to ban the use of hands in soccer. After that soccer began to grow and became known in many parts of the world. In 1904 FIFA was finally established. By the 1930’s there were many different leagues from many countries. The first World Cup for FIFA was in Uruguay. Women leagues were established in the 1930s by Italy and France. From then on many women leagues have been created. Germany organized the first women European championship in 1957. In the US women’s soccer didn’t come around until 1951. The first women’s league was founded in 1951 and from then on it has grown. The 20th century really made women’s soccer begin to really grow. The first national women’s league didn’t come around till a recent year of 1995, and the first professional women’s league in the US came in 2001. The US began to grow late in the world of women’s soccer. Some interesting things that happened in soccer history are the first
bicycle kick was in 1914 and also the first goal scored from a corner kick was in 1924. The first bicycle kick was kicked by Ramon Unzaga at El Morro Stadium. The corner kick was made by Cesareo Onzari, who played for argentina. The youngest soccer player to go professional was Reuben Noble-Lazarus at 15 years old. There are many interesting things about soccer, and if people learned more about they wouldn’t think it was a bad sport.
