My Sport

Sport Management

2008-11-11T19:46:00.001-08:00

Abstract
In this article the problem of sport management is discussed. Firstly, a brief definition to the notion of Sport management is given followed by an excurse to history. Than the background and origin of sport management is discussed the second part of the article is dedicated to the current situation and prospects of sport management. A special attention is paid to the educational sphere and career opportunities that potential employees may have in the field of sport management. Finally, the article is concluded by prospects of sport management.

Introduction
Sport management existed for quite a long period of time and it always accompanied sport as its essential part. Naturally, it had different forms and differed from the notion of sport management as it is defined nowadays but such activity is known from ancient times. At least ancient Greeks practiced such an activity and probably they may be called one of the founders of sport management. This fact proves the importance of sport and sport management for people of all times. It was and it remains to be as important for people as their health sine sport provides health for people and sport management provides effectiveness of sport for all its participants. Nowadays sport management becomes more and more important because as many other things in the modern world sport is business and consequently it needs effective management that, in its turn, demands the preparation of well-qualified specialists in this domain. At the same time sport management is not only business. As sport so sport management are social phenomena for it involves not only professionals, for whom sport is their main source of earnings and actually it is their life, but also there is a huge category of amateurs, for whom sport is just a hobby but they still need sport management to practice sport as effectively as possible. So, taking into consideration the role of sport and sport management in the modern world, I would like to discuss this phenomenon in my article and focus my attention on the notion of sport management itself, its history, and prospects for all those who either on their way or already work in this field.

The Notion and Role of Sport Management
First of all, it is necessary to start with the definition of sport management. In order to understand any phenomenon, we have to know what is implied by its definition and interpret it correspondingly. Speaking about sport management, it is possible to say that there may be different interpretation of this notion but the main point of all definitions remains practically the same, in other words it may change its form but its content, its basic principles remain the same.
On analyzing different points of view on sport management, it is possible to make a general conclusion and give certain conclusion what it actually is. On doing this, I would prefer to define sport management as follows: "Sport management is a goal-oriented social process within a sport enterprise using pragmatic self-determined goals involving the selection of appropriate strategies and provisions for directing the work of the sport enterprise, and the control of performance in an effort to meet the objectives of the organization." (Parkhouse 1996:47). Such a definition provides probably the best description of sport management and its main characteristics which permit to understand the essence of this phenomenon.
Naturally, there may be different view on sport management but it is obvious that any sport organization have to have its goals to achieve. The latter may be done only with the help of sport management that can organize all the staff of the sport enterprise and mobilize all its forces for achievement its goals. At the same time, simply to organize the work of a sport organization is not enough. It is necessary to control the fulfillment of the main tasks each department or even each person within the organization has to do.
But such a definition helps to realize what sport management is at large. At the same time it is necessary to take into consideration the position of those people who work in this field and for all those people who are currently working or are going to work in this sphere sport management is not just a profession it is rather a set of different professions, basically of administrative character which provide a person's ability to fulfill his or her duties as a sport manager.
Obviously, management remains management even in such a specific domain as sport, particularly if we speak about professional sport which nowadays is more than sport. It is a great business and it is enough to have a look at such monstrous sport associations in North America as NHL, or NBA, for instance, it will be evident what kind of business it is and how profitable it may be, naturally on the condition if the management is effective, well planned and the execution of the main tasks is thoroughly controlled. At the same time we should remember that sport or any sport organization is more than a commercial enterprise it is also a social phenomenon since very often sport plays very important role in the life of certain groups of people or even whole countries. For instance, in the ancient world, namely in Greece, any wars were forbidden during the period of the Olympic games. So the organization of the Olympic games played a significant peacemaking and consolidating role in the ancient Greek society.
Unfortunately, nowadays we can hardly find an example like this but still sport remains very important for any human society and proper organization of sport events as well as effective functioning of numerous sport enterprises remains extremely significant for people in any country in the world.

Sport Management: Education and Career Opportunities
Taking into consideration the role sport and consequently sport management play in the modern world, we can presuppose that sport organizations need a great number of well-qualified specialists that could be provided only by professional education of such specialists on the highest level. The current situation actually proves that the growing demand engenders the growing offer of sport management education which matches the basic demands to specialists in this field. But it is necessary to point out that such a trend has appeared recently, within the last fifty-sixty years.

Author: John Nilson

The Karate Secret No One Wants You To Know

2008-11-11T19:45:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the History Channel's new show Human Weapon yet? Its pretty friggen good.

The concept is that these two athletic dudes (one an MMA fighter, the other a former football player and wrestler) travel all over the world to train with, and then test out various cultures' martial arts. And while only two episodes have aired as of this writing, the show already has proven itself to be a very revealing diagnostic tool to those who are able to look beyond the romanticism and isolate the truth. Let me explain...

Last week's episode was on Karate. And not the kiddie Karate nonsense you see down on the street corner. No, the Human Weapon boys traveled straight to Okinawa (Karate's birthplace) to train with three of the world's most respected, toughest, and best teachers.

The show showed amazing feats of human strength, discipline, conditioning, and training. And the Okinawan Senseis were absolutely incredible to watch, and even learn from through the miracle of television. In other words; It was pretty darn cool. But why I really loved the show was that while it respected the individual practitioner, it was not afraid to give an unbiased, accurate history of the art (just like me).

Karate is a peasant art of farmers. Learned from the Chinese and combined with their own cultural fighting art of "Te", the Okinawans did not rename "Kudo Te" (Chinese hand) to Karate (empty hand) until adopting the Japanese language after occupation. Did you catch that? OCCUPATION. (That means they were conquered)

Karate did not stop the Japanese Samurai from coming in and occupying the island, nor was there any successful peasant revolt to overthrow the Samurai. Sure, there were a few famous isolated instances of Karate guys successfully defending themselves against an armed Samurai, and Karate training is admittedly grueling ( I do, by the way, have a black belt in Goju Ryu Karate) but the facts are facts...Okinawa, once an independent kingdom, is now part of Japan.

Now, what is great for modern practitioners of Karate, is that the Japanese influence on Okinawa was also infused into their native martial art. (Karate has even implemented Japanese Judo uniforms and belt rankings) While Okinawan Karate is still primarily a striking art, Japan's Samurai methods of jujutsu have become part of Karate's standard training curriculum. Therefore almost making it a perfect martial art...except for one, tiny detail.

Due to the fact that EVERY technique of Karate is a complex motor movement (using multiple muscle groups), it would take 2 or 3 LIFETIMES to be good enough in Karate to guarantee victory under kill or be killed combat stress conditions.

The perfect example of this brings us back to the Human Weapon TV show as the climax of every episode is one of the two hosts actually competing against a skilled practitioner of the art they've been studying throughout the show.

In Karate's case, it was to participate in a Kumite (full contact fighting- no safety equipment, no punches to the face, kicks to the head allowed) against a second degree, 225 pound, Okinawan black belt champion. Let's break this situation down...

A Karate man who has trained his entire life vs. a not very flexible, but tough former football player who had been studying karate for only a few days...Both about the same weight...Fighting under Karate rules...Should be a no-brainer right? You would think that the Karate guy would easily win.

WRONG.

Not only did the fight go to a stalemate after a full timed match, but the football player at one point in the fight still managed to knock the Karate guy off his feet with a heavy handed punch. Trust me, the Karate guy was one tough cookie (at one point he shrugged off getting punched square in the jaw), but how could a lifetime of training not beat someone simply big, tough, and mean?

Because, like we discovered before...Karate is simply a farmer's method of conditioning himself to survive, not to win. When the occupying Samurai came to take the farmer's rice, livestock, or daughter, Karate would have definitely helped to temporarily fend off the oppressor...but is that enough?

Is it okay that a sparsely trained, big "tough guy", could go toe-toe with a so-called "Human Weapon" and walk away unharmed? No, it is not.

While I look forward to watching the rest of the Human Weapon television series from an unbiased professional point of view, I have the distinct feeling that the zealots of each cultural fighting art presented will still defend and excuse their methods even when beaten by the show's hosts. Too bad...Maybe they'd actually learn something usefull.

Author: Chris Pizzo

Car Racing

2008-11-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

Car racing, a form of motor racing involving cars built to combine aspects of racing and touring cars. Although there are many conflicting definitions of sports cars, it is usually conceded that in normal production form they do not resemble Grand Prix (Formula I) racing machines. Whereas the latter is a single.seat design carrying spartan cockpit furnishings and utterly functional equipment throughout, the sports car is usually a two- seater, sometimes a four, characterized by its nimble abilities (if not speed and power) together with general suitability for high- speed touring on ordinary roads. Unlike a Grand Prix car, it is usually series-produced,handmade. Some manufacturers of Grand Prix machines, such as Ferrari and Lotus, also make sports cars. Other makes include MG, Jaguar, Aston Martin, AustinI Healey, Triumph, Porsche, Lancia, Morgan, and Chevrolet Corvette. Although not usually designed exclusively for racing, sports cars are nevertheless able racing machines and are often entered in competitions with their own kind, Most of the world’s sports-car racing is conducted for amateur drivers by local and regional organizations. Some of the world’s tccsctcam cot taesng, tsptciaiy in suc’n important as Mans, where the reputations of manufacturers are very much at stake, has brought about some prototype sports cars that are, in reality, little different in their power and speed potentials from Formula I machines. A world sports-car championship was awarded from 1953 to 1961. It was replaced in 1962 by a manufacturer’s championship, for which grand touring and prototype cars also compete, awarded annually to the make of car that achieves the best record in a specified series of races.

Author: Alex Bradburry

Air Guns

2008-11-11T19:43:00.002-08:00

Air guns are not airsoft guns, as they function quite differently and are much more powerful. They are classified as pneumatic (that means using gas to do work in science and technology, thank you Wikipedia) guns, and they have many different operational styles.

One must know that air guns are not new, in fact, they go back as far as the 1400s. They were favorable to alternative types of firearms because of their speed (back then it was fast), quietness, and low visibility. Air guns could be fired more times than other times of guns and did not make very loud sounds or put out clouds of smoke. They are also very powerful, and that is what is covered next.

Three main methods are available for powering air guns; spring-piston, gas-ram, and pneumatic. Spring piston air guns are pumped by cocking the barrel or a level. The strength required to cock is directly proportional to the power of the air gun. Typically, spring pistons shoot pellets at the speed of sound. They operate through an internal spring-loaded piston, which is pulled back and locked into a sear. After pulling the trigger, the piston is released and compresses air heavily in a chamber directly behind the pellet, and that pressure pushes the pellet out through the barrel. Many modern spring piston guns have a battery to automatically cock the gun, and although many are single-shot and are loaded through a breech (like a shotgun), advancements have allowed multi-shot spring piston guns.

Gas-ram air guns are quite interesting, in the fact that their spring is gas itself. There is a small amount of gas in a chamber behind the pellet, and after cocking, that air becomes much more pressurized. Gas-rams are much more efficient and overall better than spring pistons because of their durability and advanced accuracy, although they do cost more.

Finally, there is pneumatic, which is separated into several different categories. First of all, pneumatic guns use only gas to project the pellets; you pump, gas is compressed, pull the trigger, gas pushes the pellet out. This sounds a lot like gas-ram but, although it is similar, it is not the same. In gas-ram there is already some gas inside the chamber, and that gas is further compressed, but in pneumatic, each pump there is fresh gas. There are two types of regular pneumatic guns; multi-stroke and single-stroke. In multi-stroke guns, the pump must be pulled over one time for a sufficient shot, while single-stroke guns only require one pump. Multi-stroke pneumatic air guns are the most popular and cheapest kind of air gun.

Pre-Charged Pneumatic air guns, PCP, are filled with air by a high pressure hand pump or a diving cylinder (like what scuba divers use). After filling the gas chamber with gas, you can fire without having to constantly refill the chamber. The amount of shots one gets completely depends on the time of PCP gun used.

Due to the speed and ammunition used with air guns, they cannot be used in a game like airsoft. Unlike airsoft guns, several different calibers, ranging from 4.5mm 6.35mm, are available, and the ammunition includes the lead pellet (most popular) and steel BB. You would not want to get shot with one of those!

Air guns are many times a hunter’s weapon of choice due to the near silence and adequate power of an air gun. Air guns can easily kill small, or, in some cases, large animals, and the shots do not scare away nearby targets (unlike firearms). Air guns are mainly used for marksmanship practice, hunting, pest control (that’s right), and target shooting. The Olympics have featured marksmanship events which utilized air guns, and this attests to their relative popularity.

Author: Justin Kander

Swimming Lessons for Kids

2008-11-11T19:43:00.001-08:00

Most children start taking swimming lessons from around 3 years of age. Here are a few tips for making this whole process of learning swimming a pleasant one:

Picking the Right Swim School: Do your research and pick the right school. You need a school which is caring, friendly plus uses the right techniques to teach swimming. Speak to your friends and get their recommendation as well. Don’t pick a school solely based on its proximity to where you live. Also, different schools use different teaching methods. Some swim schools concentrate very heavily on getting the stroke right - right from the first class. Others concentrate on stroke correction at a much later stage.

Preparation for the Swim Class: It is probably a good idea to buy a water proof swimming bag. - good investment. Before you leave for the class, check that you have a towel, swimming costume, swim cap, googles and a spare outfit to change into.
If you have trouble getting the swim cap on to your child’s head, put some talcum powder into the cap and rub it so that it spreads evenly across the inside of the swim cap. Make sure the swim googles are not too tight. If your child shivers a lot when in water, then this will make your child uncomfortable. Rub Vaseline on your child’s leg and other exposed parts of the body. This will reduce the shivering. If it is still a major problem, then buy a specially designed swim suit – a suit specifically designed to make you feel warmer.
Your child should not have any food for at least 1 to 2 hours before her/his swimming lesson.

Floaties: Different parents have different views about floaties…Some schools don’t mind if your child uses floaties but others strictly frown upon them. They believe that floaties give your child a false sense of security and comfort. They believe that when a child is off floaties, he or she will find it difficult to learn and adjust - they might get too accustomed to them.

During The Swimming Lessons: Don’t put too much pressure on your child. Every child learns swimming in their own time. If you are however unhappy with the teacher, let the teacher or the supervisor know. It is probably good for the teacher to receive some feedback as well. Be patient and encouraging. Don’t push and have huge expectations. Most schools have levels – different kids are at different levels. And as they get better, they advance through the levels. Don’t put pressure on the teacher to move the child forward to a different level. Trust their judgment and this makes it easier for everyone.

After The Swimming Lesson: Give your child a shower after every lesson (however clean the pool is). The kids can get very hungry after a swimming lesson. I normally take a snack with me so that I can give it to them after tidying up.

Holiday Swimming Activities: If you feel your child needs extra classes, then holidays can be a good time to book the child in for extra lessons. Holidays are quite relaxed and your child can improve their swimming at a quicker pace - without any added pressures of home work etc.

Author: Sandy Naidu