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.

Tennis: Australian Open 2012 Predictions

The 2012 Australian Open is off to a great start on both the Men’s and Women’s sides. The top 4 seeds are still alive in both draws. With Andy Roddick bowing out due to an injury, and John Isner falling in 5 sets, there are no longer any Americans left in the Men’s Draw.

Here are our predictions:

Playoff Predictions: the road to Super Bowl XLVI

Contributed by Tim Te-Bob (our NFL insider!)

Click here to see our Week 10 Super Bowl XLVI predictions.

The week between the Wildcard and the Divisional playoff games is a time of reflection. The impact of injuries are magnified, as Steelers fans can’t help but think they would have made it to the Super Bowl if it wasn’t for Big Ben’s uncooperative left ankle or Brett Keisel’s sprained beard. It’s also a time for contemplating how your outside-looking-in team (I’m looking at you Jets and Cowboys fans) would have fared compared to the Bengals or the lowly Falcons.

We would like to think the Super Bowl race is clearer than before the regular season finale, but is it? We now know that the Packers could win with Robin Matt Flynn at quarterback, that the Giants’ Jason Pierre-Paul is in fact Optimus Prime, that Julian Edelman (Patriots WR) is probably a better DB than Ike Taylor (Steelers CB who was burned repeatedly by the Broncos) and that “Tebowing” may soon replace high-fives as America’s celebration of choice. But do we actually know who is on track to win the Championship? In my opinion, there are too many questions surrounding each team to say that there is a clear favorite on the board.

Use Concrete Language to Help Kids Visualize a Sports Skill

Another great post from IYS about how to engage kids and make sport fun whilst coaching!

Use Concrete Language to Help Kids Visualize a Sports Skill