Sports Blogs | The People's Sports Network | ecachockeycoachesvscancer.com

Archive for September, 2010

If you are like me, you are looking to get in a little better shape. What better way to do that than to start taking up martial arts. There are literally hundreds of different types of martial arts styles, and you want to make sure that you are getting a good deal on your karate lessons. Karate studios vary in quality, and unless you know what you are doing it might not get the best deal available. There are hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of karate instructors and their quality varies widely. Let’s take a look at three different tips to keep in mind when shopping for a karate studio.

1. How long. This might not seem obvious at first, but the length of time that a karate studio has been in existence is more important than you would think? Why is that? Because many karate studios are like restaurants. People who open restaurants generally are good cooks, and maybe not the best business people. Just because you’re an Olympic athlete doesn’t mean you are a good business person. So what if a karate studio is brand new, the odds of its staying around for a long time, are fairly low. But if the karate studio has been around for a little while. You might be a lot safer, signing a long-term contract with them.

2. Instructor. Who is the instructor? Is he or she a well-known name? Is in a chain of karate studios? The instructor makes all the difference. Finding a good instructor is like finding a nugget of gold. The good ones are hard to find, but when you find them, you should really stick to them. Ask the instructor or what his qualifications are and how long he’s been practicing karate. A little legwork goes a long way.
Read the rest of this entry »

There are many golfers who have been exposed to many a golf swing video and yet there has been no effect on their game. At least not a positive one.

In fact for some their game has consistently gotten worse whenever they try to implement stuff that they learnt from a golf swing video somewhere. So the truth of the matter is that there are many golfers who do not believe that a golf swing video can have any sort of impact in a golfer’s game or even its’ quality.

There are several reasons for this. For instance there is no way a golfer can perform consistently or even hope to see their game gradually improving, without being physically fit or at least golf fit. The truth of the matter is that the game has changed tremendously in recent times.

For example the trend towards larger club heads and therefore heavier ones has put additional strain on the required physical strength and endurance that a typical golfer requires to perform at any level and not just the highest. Is it any wonder that the golf swing video does not impact most games?

The fact is that the golf swing, for example is a very unnatural swing action to the body. In fact the more unnatural it is, the better effect and results a golfer will tend to have.

This is the reason why it is usually difficult for most golfers to implement the swing techniques they view frequently in golf swing videos. There really is only one effective solution to the problem and that is exercising and conditioning the golf muscles in the body to find the golf swing as natural as possible.
Read the rest of this entry »

It was one of those fishing trips. You know, everyone catches fish but you, you loose six or eight of your most expensive streamers, it rains buckets, and you sink the boat. That’s right; I got skunked at Steamboat Lake over Memorial weekend.

I was determined to show those meat huckers (worms and power bait) that a well chosen and strategically placed fly was as effective as anything a conventional fisherman could load on a hook and hang under a bobber. Well, no such luck, I got stomped.

The fish were rising like mad on a midge hatch, and I threw everything in the box at them. I could swear I saw a hefty rainbow nudge my fly to the side to eat the natural laying only centimeters from my damn near perfect replica. As we watched the group of 12 year olds add another 18” fish to their stringer (full loaded, I might add) I decided it must be a lake thing. I don’t fish lakes often.

I usually have good luck with a streamer in faster moving water, so I head for one on the several tributaries hoping to get the boat up far enough to make a make a few good casts. No such luck, here comes the wind. Determined and frustrated, I proceed to lose several of my best streamers in the dense shrubbery surrounding the mouth of the creek (can’t retrieve them since the current is too strong to get the boat any further up the creek).

On the way back to camp we are passed by a couple of boats with stringers of fish crashing off the bows of their boats (hmmm, are they just rubbing it my face, or are they tenderizing the meat?)Questioning my decision to become a fly fisherman, I head over to the dock to pick up my 5 year-old son and a fresh styro of night crawlers. I’ll let my son fish the meat before I crumble and load one up on the spinner myself. Surprising, no luck with the meat either, and hear comes the rain. I throw my arms up and ponder my karma activity of the past year.
Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps you’ve considered actually jumping from a perfectly good airplane, from time to time, in your past. Perhaps you are the unwitting recipient of a skydiving gift certificate from a friend. Whatever the case, despite the good advice to the contrary from sane people all around you, you’re actually going to go through with it…..

So now what? Finding a top-notch skydiving school can seem like a daunting task. Every skydiving school web site you visit seems great at first blush, but then you start to see a trend develop, namely, they seem to all claim to be the best, friendliest, safest, and highest-jumping drop zones in the world. Though your friends, still coming to grips with your decision, might argue that you clearly have no common sense, you know full well that you do. That same common sense is telling you that not all of these schools can actually be the best. So how does one actually choose? How do you read through the hype and come away with the best thrill of your life?

It’s a good question, and deserves a good answer because you only get a first jump once in life. Here then, is the answer to that question, a short guide to selecting the best skydiving school for you. The best way to begin is by actually defining what your desired end result of this experience is to be. Seems like a no-brainer; the end result is to simply jump out of an airplane and float to the ground, right? Wrong. There’s a lot about how you get from air to there that can influence your experience and ultimately your opinion of the sport.

The first step to making this decision is in understanding the types of jumps that are available to you. I will explain each, along with the pros and cons.

1) Tandem Jump:
A tandem jump is a method of jumping where you exit the plane not with a parachute strapped to your back but an entire instructor. This is the most popular choice for new divers and is highly promoted by drop zones. The reason for this is multi-faceted; there is no responsibility on the new skydiver’s part, they simply go with the flow and the instructor does all the work. This diminishes nearly all new-diver fault risks but also has a higher profit margin for the drop zone. Given the responsibility-free nature of a tandem jump for the new skydiver, the ground portion can be done in an hour or less, and requires only a one-to-one instructor/jumper ratio, where Accelerated Free Fall initial jumps require two instructors and far more ground school. If you are simply jumping to be able to buy the tee shirt from having done it once in your life, this method is for you. The relief of putting all the worry into the hands of a capable pro is terrific. If, however, you think you may want to take up the sport beyond this first jump, it might be well worth your while to consider investing your money into the first required dive of your AFF (Accelerated Freefall) certification. Your tandem jump, in most cases, will not apply towards this series of jumps, making your investment in the tandem jump somewhat of a waste if you pursue licensing. Only you know the answer to that question, and as long as money isn’t an issue (and if it is you might want to find a cheaper sport) you can just do the tandem jump anyway.
Read the rest of this entry »