Globe Trotting: Bossaball

Contributed by Emma Booth.
Regional Director, USA Sport Group.

This sport looks amazing. It is a mixture of beach volleyball, soccer, gymnastics and dancing... And it is played on huge inflatable trampolines!

Bossaball is played between two team of 3, 4 or 5 players each side. There is a net in the middle separating them, similar to volleyball, and this can be adjusted depending on the age or ability of the players. The aim of Bossaball is simply for each team to get the ball to hit the opposition’s side. Each team can take up to six touches on the ball, and any part of the body can be used. If the ball hits the Bossawall, the ring around the trampoline (I know, great name!) it doesn’t count as a score, but the trampoline area is worth 3 points, so the player on the trampoline’s main job is to keep the ball out of there.

Ultimate Frisbee

Contributed by Nicola Sichi.
Regional Director, USA Sport Group.

Ultimate Frisbee is a fun, low cost game that can be enjoyed by everyone. Ultimate Frisbee was created in the summer of 1968 by Joel Silvers. The game was developed whilst Joel was attending an enrichment program in Northfield, Massachusetts. Joel returned to Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ where he got the new sport added into the curriculum.

Ultimate Frisbee, or Ultimate as it is also known, has expanded to colleges around the country and gained enough popularity where unofficial National Championships were held in the mid to late 1970s.

2012 Formula 1 Preview

Contributed by David Raybould.

Regional Director, USA Sport Group.

The two biggest talking points prior to the 2012 season kicking off on March 18 in Australia have to be the regulation changes (as always) and a staggering 6 world champions competing this year. Long gone are the days of ground effect aerodynamics and Michael Schumacher dominating the top step of the podium as teams look for millisecond advantages over their opponents.

The return of Michael Schumacher to Formula 1 in 2010 after a 3 year hiatus saw a record-tying 4 world champions lining up on the grid together. The 2010 season was closely fought with fellow German Sebastian Vettel narrowly edging out Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the final race in Abu Dhabi to take the Driver’s Championship. 2011, therefore, saw a record 5 world champions lining up on the grid together with much uncertainty over new tire supplier, Pirelli.

Globe Trotting: Curling

Contributed by Emma Booth.
Regional Director, USA Sport Group.

Curling is a mixture between bowling, shuffleboard, bocce and sweeping the floor... It is played on ice between two teams of four players, who take turns to slide large heavy stones towards a circular target that has been marked out on the ice. The aim is to get the highest score by getting your stone closest to the centre of the target; and not get knocked out of the way by opponents.

The curler will push the stone down the ice, and there are two sweepers who brush to ice to make the stone move faster, or slower, or change the direction, to ensure the stone lands in the best position possible. It is a very tactical game, and requires a lot of skill and precision. A strategic game, each curler knows exactly where they want their stone to land, and know how to make it land there with inch perfection precision.

Globe Trotting: Netball

Contributed by Emma Booth.
Regional Director, USA Sport Group.

When I was in school, everybody wanted to be on the netball team, more than they actually wanted to get good grades or friends... At least, that’s what I told people when I had poor grades and no friends. But hey, at least I made it onto the netball team...

Netball is one of the most popular participant sports around the world, and is the world’s most popular female team sport. It is played mainly by girls and women, and there are seven players on the court at any one time for each team; goalkeeper, goal defense, wing defense, center, wing attack, goal attack and goal shooter. These positions have set areas they can move around in on the netball court, which is split into thirds. A goal shooter, for example cannot run all the way up the other end, they have to stay in the attacking third.