Baseball

12 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City, Sport Reading Time:  6 minutes

American cultural icons: Apple pie, baseball, and the American flag © USDA ARS - Scott Bauer

American cultural icons: Apple pie, baseball, and the American flag © USDA ARS – Scott Bauer

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding (Baseball rules). The batting team attempts to score runs by hitting a ball that is thrown by the pitcher with a bat swung by the batter, then running counter-clockwise around a series of four bases: first, second, third, and home plate. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases and returns to home plate (Baseball positions).   read more…

Sailing

13 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  10 minutes

Trimaran L'Hydroptère in Long Beach © Thomas Lesage/cc-by-sa-3.0

Trimaran L’Hydroptère in Long Beach © Thomas Lesage/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sailing comprises wind propulsion of a craft by means of sails or other airfoils and steering it over water, ice or land, depending on the type of craft. A sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails by adjusting their angle with respect to the moving sailing craft and sometimes by adjusting the sail area. The force transmitted from the sails is resisted by forces from the hull, keel, and rudder of a sailing craft, by forces from skate runners for an iceboat, and by forces from wheels for a land sailing craft to allow steering a course on a point of sail with respect to the true wind. While there are still some places in the world where sail-powered passenger, fishing and trading vessels are used, these craft have become rarer as internal combustion engines have become economically viable in even the poorest and most remote areas. In most countries sailing is enjoyed as a recreational activity or as a sport. Recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, and daysailing.   read more…

Ice hockey

8 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  17 minutes

Secretary Kerry prepares for ceremonial puck drop with U.S. Olympians Wheeler and Carlson © U.S. Department of State

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepares for ceremonial puck drop with U.S. Olympians Blake Wheeler and John Carlson © U.S. Department of State

Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent’s net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team. A fast-paced, physical sport, ice hockey is most popular in areas of North America (particularly Canada and the northern United States) and northern and eastern Europe. Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. In North America, the National Hockey League (NHL) is the highest level for men’s hockey and the most popular. The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is the highest league in Russia and much of Eastern Europe. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is the formal governing body for international ice hockey. The IIHF manages international tournaments and maintains the IIHF World Ranking. Worldwide, there are ice hockey federations in 74 countries.   read more…

Golf

6 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  18 minutes

Golf Costa Teguise - Golfers on green © flickr com - Sands Beach Lanzarote/cc-by-2.0

Golf Costa Teguise – Golfers on green © flickr com – Sands Beach Lanzarote/cc-by-2.0

Golf is a club and ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, does not require a standardized playing area. The game is played on a course with an arranged progression of either nine or 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a tee box to start from, and a putting green containing the actual hole or cup (4.25 inches in width). There are other standard forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough (long grass), sand traps, and hazards (water, rocks, fescue) but each hole on a course is unique in its specific layout and arrangement. Golf is played for the lowest number of strokes by an individual, known as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual holes in a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play. Stroke play is the most commonly seen format at all levels. The rules of golf are internationally standardised and are jointly governed by The R&A, spun off in 2004 from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (founded 1754), and the United States Golf Association (USGA).   read more…

Field hockey

3 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  15 minutes

Rio 2016 - Spain vs Netherlands © flickr.com - Jonas de Carvalho/cc-by-sa-2.0

Rio 2016 – Spain vs Netherlands © flickr.com – Jonas de Carvalho/cc-by-sa-2.0

Field hockey is a team sport of the hockey family. The earliest origins of the sport date back to the Middle Ages in England, Scotland, France and the Netherlands. The game can be played on a grass field or a turf field as well as an indoor board surface. Each team plays with eleven players, including the goalie. Players use sticks made out of wood, carbon fibre, fibre glass or a combination of carbon fibre and fibre glass in different quantities (with the higher carbon fibre stick being more expensive and less likely to break) to hit a round, hard, plastic ball. The length of the stick depends on the player’s individual height. Only one end of the stick is allowed to be used. Goalies often have a different kind of stick, however they can also use an ordinary field hockey stick. The specific goal-keeping sticks have another curve at the end of the stick, this is to give them more surface area to save the ball. The uniform consists of shin guards, shoes, shorts, a mouth guard and a jersey. Today, the game is played globally, with particular popularity throughout Western Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and parts of the United States (such as Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania). Field Hockey is the national sport of India and Pakistan. The term “field hockey” is used primarily in Canada and the United States where ice hockey is more popular. In Sweden the term landhockey is used.   read more…

Cricket

27 January 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  11 minutes

© flickr.com - Pulkit Sinha/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Pulkit Sinha/cc-by-sa-2.0

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket (a set of three wooden stumps) sited at each end. One team, designated the batting team, attempts to score as many runs as possible, whilst their opponents field. Each phase of play is called an innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a fixed number of overs have been completed, the innings ends and the two teams then swap roles. The winning team is the one that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, during their one or two innings. At the start of each game, two batsmen and eleven fielders enter the field of play. The play begins when a designated member of the fielding team, known as the bowler, delivers the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, towards the wicket at that end, in front of which stands one of the batsmen, known as the striker. The striker “takes guard” on a crease drawn on the pitch four feet in front of the wicket. His role is to prevent the ball from hitting the stumps by use of his bat, and simultaneously to strike it well enough to score runs. The other batsman, known as the non-striker, waits at the opposite end of the pitch near the bowler. A dismissed batsman must leave the field, and a teammate replaces him. The bowler’s objectives are to prevent the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman. An over is a set of six deliveries bowled by the same bowler. The next over is bowled from the other end of the pitch by a different bowler.   read more…

2017 Formula One season

18 January 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  16 minutes

Formula 1 @ Carter Wong Design

Formula 1 @ Carter Wong Design

Formula One (officially the FIA Formula One World Championship) is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the premier form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950, although other Formula One races were regularly held until 1983. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, to which all participants’ cars must conform. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (from French, meaning grand prizes), held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a points system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA. The races are required to be held on tracks graded 1 (formerly A), the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in rural locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world, with the Monaco Grand Prix being the most famous example.   read more…

Tennis

16 January 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  12 minutes

International Tennis Hall of Fame - Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island © Daniel Case/cc-by-sa-3.0

International Tennis Hall of Fame – Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island © Daniel Case/cc-by-sa-3.0

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent’s court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as “lawn tennis”. It had close connections both to various field (“lawn”) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the term “tennis” referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis: for example, in Disraeli‘s novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will “go down to Hampton Court and play tennis.”   read more…

Polo

11 January 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  16 minutes

Varsity Polo 2013 - Oxford vs Cambridge © Andreas Polo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Varsity Polo 2013 – Oxford vs Cambridge © Andreas Polo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Polo (Persian: chogān) is a team sport played on horseback. The objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team’s goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played on a grass field up to 300 by 160 yards (270 by 150 m). Each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is played with a solid plastic ball which has replaced the wooden version of the ball in much of the sport. In arena polo, only three players are required per team and the game usually involves more manoeuvreing and shorter plays at lower speeds due to space limitations of arenas. Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similar to a small football. The modern game lasts roughly two hours and is divided into periods called chukkas. Polo is played professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly an Olympic sport. Polo originates from ancient Persia. Its invention is dated variously from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD. Persian Emperor Shapur II learnt to play polo when he was seven years old in 316 AD. Naqsh-i Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran, is a polo field which was built by king Abbas I in the 17th century. The modern game of polo is derived from Manipur, India, where the game was known as ‘Sagol Kangjei’, ‘Kanjai-bazee’, or ‘Pulu’. It was the anglicised form of the last, referring to the wooden ball that was used, which was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam, India, in 1833.   read more…

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