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Category: Sport of the day (page 3 of 3)

Sport of the Day – Water Skiing

Ailsa Harvey

 

You may have encountered water skiing in its recreational form, but have you ever seen a water ski competition?

Water skiing is a surface water sport involving an individual being pulled at high speeds behind a boat, whilst on one or two skis. The skier needs good balance and great upper body strength to stay upright on the water.

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Sport of the Day – Sandboarding

Ailsa Harvey

 
Imagine snowboarding…on sand! Sandboarding is an extreme sport, very similar to snowboarding, minus one component; the snow. The sport involves riding down, or across, sand dunes whilst standing on a board. It is most popular in desert and coastal areas, where beach dunes are found.
 
One of the reasons in which sandboarding is not as popular as snowboarding is due to the difficulty in being able to build a ski lift mechanism in the sand. Therefore, dune riders are required to walk up the dunes or use a dune buggy. However, a relatively small sand mountain called Monte Kaolino in Hirschau, Germany is equipped with a lift (the only sand lift in the world). The mountain reaches up to 120m and has hosted many of the annual Sandboarding World Championships.

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Sport of the Day- Dog Sledding

Ailsa Harvey

The sport of dog sledding involves racing on sleds pulled by dogs, usually over snowy cross-country courses.

The dogs in the dog sled teams have different roles when racing. Lead dogs, at the front of the pack, must have common sense and be able to find route in bad weather. ‘Swing’ dogs and ‘point’ dogs are responsible for guiding the rest of the team through curves in the trail. They run directly behind the leader. ‘Team’ dogs are primarily used for their power, running in the middle and ‘wheel’ dogs stay close to the sled to pull it out of deep snow.

When practising the sport in countries without constant snow, wheeled carts are used instead of the sleds.  The person who races the dogs on the sled is called the ‘musher’. Their main roles come before the race in taking care of the dogs, preparing them and training them to perform at their best. Continue reading

Sport of the Day- Lacrosse

Ailsa Harvey

 

Lacrosse is a team sport, played with a lacrosse stick and ball. The aim of the game is to score the most points by shooting the ball into the goal. Players pass the ball from stick to stick, catching it in the top of the stick. The lacrosse sticks are called crosses, and are sharply bent at the top to form a hook. A pocket is formed at the top in order to handle the ball.

The sports four varieties (field lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, box lacrosse and intercrosse) all have different rules and equipment. While the men’s games and the field and box lacrosse are contact sports and require more protective gear, the women’s game does not allow body contact. Intercrosse is a mixed-gender variety and uses a much softer ball.

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Sport of the Day- Ice Climbing

Ailsa Harvey

Ice climbing, a sport evolved from rock climbing, involves ascending ice formations such as cliffs and rock slabs covered in ice, ice falls and frozen waterfalls.

The ice can be divided into two categories for climbing; alpine ice and water ice. Alpine ice climbing usually involves mountainous environments with the aim being to reach the summit. Alternatively, water ice is found mainly on cliffs or areas beneath water flow. Whilst alpine ice is created from frozen precipitation, water ice is frozen liquid flow and is generally more technically challenging.

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Sport of the Day- Biathlon

 

Ailsa Harvey

This olympic winter sport is a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Taking place in race format, the biathlete with the shortest total time wins.

Racers ski accross hilly terrain, stopping at fixed targets in order to shoot. If a shot is missed in the shooting, either extra time is added to the contestant’s result or a further distance is enforced.

There are many challenging aspects to be considered in the sport, such as the control in breathing required to shoot the target following the demanding ski course.

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Sport of the Day – BMX Racing

Ailsa Harvey

BMX is an abbreviation for bicycle motocross. There are two forms of competitive BMX; racing and freestyle.

BMX races are off-road sprint races which take place on single-lap tracks. The extreme sport is highly dangerous as riders travel at around 30 mph and collisions with other racers are far from uncommon. Contact in the sport is legal but not recommended.

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Sport of the Day- Surfing

Ailsa Harvey

 Tokyo 2020 will see the sport’s Olympic debut with 40 surfers expected to compete for medals, but how much do you know about surfing? How often have you seen it feature in sports news?
Surfing is a surface water sport, first observed by British explorers at Tahiti in 1767. The sport involves incredible balance to be able to ride powerful waves while executing maneuvers such as turns and cutbacks towards the breaking wave.

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