Archive for the ‘Basketball’ Category
What is Ski Jumping?
Ski jumping is a sport where the athlete skis down an “inrun” with a take-off ramp, which is the jump, trying to travel as far as possible. The skier is measured based on length and style. The skis used are quite wide and long. (260 to 275 centrimetres).
Ski Jumping Olympic Event History
Ski jumping is one of the first ski competition events. Norway held winter celebration events that included ski jumping competitions starting as early as the 1870s and ski jumping was included in the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924.Since the sport started in Norway, it’s no surprise that the Norwegians won every gold medal and five bronze medals in the Olympic Winter Games from 1924 to 1952.The large hill competition was introduced at the Innsbruck 1964 Winter Games.
The Evolution of the V-style Position
With the great desire to jump further, in 1985 V-style was innovated, where the skier holds his skis in a V-shaped position (instead of parallel) while in the air. The Swedish ski jumper, Jan Boklov, created this style; albeit, it was not favourable accepted at first. Most other skiers laughed at Boklov and he was penalized for his eccentric style. It seems that Boklov was miles ahead of his time, as a closer investigation proved that the V-style produced 28 per cent more lift.
How Ski Jumping Works?
The skier skis down a long ramp, known as the in-run, and then launches off into the air at speeds of up to 95 kilometres per hour. A very well-timed takeoff is determined by the athlete’s technique. After the takeoff, flight takes place and then landing. If the skier lands beyond the K point, it is considered dangerous and points are lost based on how far beyond this point the skier landed.The scoring is based not just on the length, but also the style of the jump.
- The length score is calculated from the K point. A jump up to the K point is awarded 60 points. Each metre beyond in multiplied by 1.2 for the large ramp and x2 for the normal ramp.
- The style score is determined by 5 judges awarding a score out of 20. The highest and lowest scores are ignored and the middle three are added together. Points from the jumps are used as time advantages for the cross country race.
Types of Ski Jumping Events in the Olympics
- Individual Normal Hill Event: Beginning before the day of the competition, the normal hill individual event starts with a qualification jump. The 15 best ski jumpers from the World Cup are pre-selected and are not required to participate in the qualification event. All other skiers must be in the top 35 to qualify. On the day of the event, there are two sets of jumps. The first set has 50 skiers (15 pre-qualified and 35 qualified) and the best 35 from this set will go to the final round. The second set starts with the lower performing athletes starting first and the top ski jumpers for the end.
- Individual Large Hill Event: With the exception of the event being on the large hill, this event follows the same format as the normal hill individual event.
- Team Large Hill Event: In this event, a team is made up of four members and there are two competition sets. In the first set, one team member from each team jumps. Then, the second team member from each team jumps. Then the third, followed by the fourth. In the second set, only the top eight teams from the first set compete. As in the individual events, the lower performing skiers start and the best skiers go last. The team with the best total score over all eight jumps wins.
Ski Jumping in the 2010 Whistler Olympics
The ski jumping event is scheduled to be in the 2010 Winter Olympics starting February 12th to 22th, 2010. The competition will be held in the brand new Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley located 18 kilometres southwest of Whistler on the Sea to Sky highway.
1940s:-Several years before the war, an aquaplane race was run on an annual basis from the isthmus at Avalon to Hermosa Beach, California. It was a race and a test of endurance for both man and boat and usually less than 20% of the field ever managed to finish. The remainder dropped out due to boat problems or because the aqua planer couldn’t hold on any longer. The last race prior to the war, on June 20 1941, was won by Bob Brown, towed by Don Berry, in a time of 1 hr 51 min.
In 1947, the Long Beach Boat and Ski Club was formed and almost immediately took over sponsorship of the race, renaming it the “Grand National Water Ski Race”. In 1949 the contest became a round trip run, starting at Hermosa Beach pier, the skiers raced to the isthmus, circled a turn-boat and returned non-stop to the pier. A skier was disqualified if at any time they touched the boat or anyone in the boat. Ed Stanley of Orange was the winner of this first round trip race with a time of I hr 41 min.Of course, this event is well known these days as Catalina, and just for the record, Chuck Steams first won the event at the age of 16 and he went on to win it a staggering eleven times over the next few decades.
1950s:-Now it was time for the Aussies to establish a piece of history in ski racing and in the 1950’s, the Bridge-to-Bridge Water Ski Race was launched. The 68-mile course on the NSW Hawkesbury River is now one of the most prestigious races in the world.
1960s:-In 1966, Britain made a move to get involved in the sport of water ski racing and a meeting took place at the Mandeville Hotel in London, where 30 clubs were represented and a Racing sub-committee of the BWSF was formed. The legendary Chuck Steams of California happened to be in London at the time and he provided a copy of the Californian racing rulebook, which formed the foundation for British racing rules.Alan Taylor recalls; “we knew that racing had taken place in Belgium three or four years earlier, on the Scheldt at a place called Rupelmonde. The following year, a few people from Whitstable Club went to Belgium and had a look at this race and we invited a Belgian team to compete in the first official cross-channel race”.On May, 29 1967, the Whitstable and Varne Club water ski clubs organised the first cross-channel water ski race and no less than 56 teams, including one from Belgium, took part in the 42 mile run from Greatstone, Kent, to a trawler marker-boat, anchored three miles off Cap Griz Nez and back.
Boats were allowed to take up to three or four people to ski in relays. The skis were ordinary standard slalom skis for speeds of around 30 mph, as well as pairs, and the ski line had to be between 75 ft and 100 ft in length. Teams were also allowed to relay with more than one skier per team.
If you own an online business, you need to have a business email list because it is much easier to sell to your existing clients compared to new ones. An email list works so well because when you are in close contact with your clients, you will ensure the products and services you provide are always on their minds.
Having a list of email addresses from all your clients is effective because you can regularly remind them about the services and products that you offer through email. A business email list is also effective because it is possible to customize each email that you send out.
To get an email list that will work to your advantage and drive up your sale, you have to come up with creative ways of to encourage visitors to the site to sign up for your newsletters. The best ways to attract people is by offering them gifts to entice them to leave their email addresses. These gifts can be e-Books or reports. The gifts you give have to be relevant to your customers. This strategy is being used by a majority of online businesses.
Once you have come up with a list, you should make sure you communicate with the subscribers on a regular basis. If you decide to send them updates on a weekly basis, you should not skip a single week. This will form a habit and the subscriber will always look forward to your updates. The updates you give should be interesting and involve issues that are important for the subscribers. The customers should also have a channel through which they can get responses when they have questions.
Encourage the people on your emailing list to add you to their safe senders so that the updates that you send are not sent to their spam folders.
The Nintendo Wii allows people to get up and moving from the couch instead of sitting there like a bump on a log. Wii Sports games make this especially fun, so I have created a list of the top ten Wii Sports games, to help you choose better.
Wii Fit – This game has over forty activities and mini games that will keep you moving. It is very fun and you can easily get your daily exercise this way.
vWii Sports – This is the pack of sports games that came with the Wii. Bowling is especially fun.
Wii Ski – The balance board from Wii fit is used in this game to ski through the fourteen different courses in this game.
Super Swing Golf – This game makes it fun to swing the remote like a real golf club while trying to hit the ball around obstacles
Top Spin – Tennis is very fun to play either alone or with friends. Unfortunately, this game does not have an online playing feature, but it is great for Wii parties.
Hooked – This fishing game is really fun and you can work your way up the ranks from amateur fisher to pro.
Summer Sports – Seven games to choose from including Lawn Darts, Badminton, Volleyball, Mini Golf, Basketball, Horse Shoes and Croquet.
Tiger Woods Golf – Quite possibly the best and most fun golf game ever. This game can even help you improve your real life game.
Madden NFL – if you love football then you will love this game. You can play like a pro no matter what your skill level is.
Active Life Outdoor Challenge – A great game for the outdoorsman in you. Mine carts, log jumping, river rafting and more makes this a great game.