Dave and Lisa just got back from Hawaii, urging me to get there and try the canyoning.
It looks fantastic!
Category: sport – amateur
kids OVERPROTECTED in 2007
I posed this question on my gymnastics blog. And got a big reaction from a number of coaches.
Everyone (so far) agrees that our kids are suffering long-term from not being more challenged.
I’m not looking for SPARTA, but it is time for a backlash. The benefits gymnastics coaches and parents see in competitive gymnasts are exactly those needed by all children.
Wordsmith from Nantucket wrote:
I think the fear of lawsuits has dictated much of what I consider to be “bad” changes in our society. It’s insulated us from “hurting ourselves”, but in so doing, has disarmed us of the tools we would otherwise develop as part of the maturation process in dealing with life…with learning to cope with adversity and conflict.
It’s similar to how we developed all these anti-bacterial products, from soap to baby toys – all in the hopes that it would protect us from getting sick. But exposure to some sicknesses, early on in life, is what makes our immune system stronger. ….
Here are some articles and studies that might be of interest:
Yep, life’ll burst that self-esteem bubble”
Enough already with kid-gloves
The Power and Perils of Praising your kids
I really do think that there is something about our society (at least what I see with kids here in Los Angeles) that is developing soft, mushy kids. Emotionally and physically. ….
Read the post and the rest of the comments.
source – New York Magazine
Calgary Olympic Legacy
Kate delivered a big baby.
Actually, three big babies.
Her 3 final reports on the legacies of the 3 most recent North American Winter Olympics are posted on-line linked on her Kate is Always Late blog.
Certainly VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) — shouldn’t that acronym be VOCFT2OAPWG, Kate? — selected Kate to draft these invaluable documents because she is so passionate about sport. And legacy.
I was particularly interested in her Calgary report:
Two billion people worldwide watched the opening ceremony of the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games.
Vancouver 2010 – Legacies of North American Winter Games – Calgary
I was one of the coldest of 2 billion, sitting in the frozen arena. (Thanks Katrina for scoring tickets!)
Kate’s done a great job of cataloguing the many benefits of the Olympics for Calgary. It was wonderful for the city. Good luck to Vancouver!
Vancouver 2010 Olympics – official website
video – making baseball less boring
A 3-time MVP of the Saskatchewan Moose Lodge Hockey League, Clark wanted to try something new for the off-season.
He took the Canadian hockey mentality to American baseball.
Click PLAY to see a hockey goalie playing shortstop or watch the video on YouTube.
Thanks George.
Curling World Championships
Another TV sports post. (Can you tell I’ve been sick this week?)
I can watch men’s curling. I find it fascinating and dramatic. It’s a terrific television sport. (Much like golf!)
The Canadians are normally the country to beat in this obscure activity that somehow became an Olympic event.
Our skip at Worlds, Russ Howard, dominated tournament play at Worlds.
Howard puts the hammer down. Win over U.S. vaults Canada into Sunday’s final.
This was likely the most dominant round robin performance in World curling history. Howard’s rink was awesome. Good luck in the final against Germany!
Tour de France dead to me
I want to thank Bjarne Riis. Good on you for coming clean.
What shred of credibility remained about elite pro cycling has disappeared as 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis of Denmark on Friday became the first Tour winner to admit he used banned performance-enhancing drugs.
… Riis said in a news conference Friday he had taken the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) from 1993 through 1998, including during his Tour victory. He also confessed to using human growth hormone and cortisone.
“The time has come to put the cards on the table,” Riis said. “I have done things I now regret and I wouldn’t do again. I have doped. I have taken EPO. For awhile it was part of my life.”
Riis, currently manager of the Danish CSC cycling team, expected to be stripped of his Tour de France title.
“My yellow jersey is in a box at home. You can come and collect it,” Riis said of the jersey worn by the Tour de France leader.
I’ll never watch race cycling again.
Iraq has a women’s beach volleyball team?
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — When Salim Al-Nabit and his friends went to see beach volleyball for the first time, they left their wives home.
Al-Nabit said he would watch the bikini-clad women, but he certainly wouldn’t want his wife to do so. He was there, he added, because it was a matter of national honor.
“We don’t see this a lot in Qatar,” Al-Nabit said. “I think most people think it is outrageous. But we accept it because it is important for our country. We want others to see us as a generous and hospitable people, willing to accept their ways, even if we don’t agree.”
Beach volleyball’s penchant for bikinis has touched off a bit of a cultural clash in this conservative Muslim city, which by hosting the Asian Games, a regional sports extravaganza, is trying to bolster its bid to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to the Middle East.
The city has transformed itself in an effort to woo the Olympics. It has spent billions on infrastructure and sparkling new sports facilities, including the 50,000-seat “Aspire” stadium. …
Though 16 Muslim nations are represented at the Asian Games, only one, Iraq, is competing in women’s beach volleyball. And its team, sisters Lisa and Lida Agasi, are Christians.
Beach volleyball bikinis shake up Asian Games in Qatar – CNN.com
university football – Saskatoon loses Vanier Cup, again
Those breaking Huskie hearts sounded so much worse in the crisp air of a minus-30-degree windchill.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies lost their fourth Vanier Cup game in five years Saturday at Griffiths Stadium, then watched glumly as the Laval Rouge et Or — 13-8 winners — jumped madly around their host’s frozen turf.
…
Laval has won three Vanier Cups in four seasons, including a 7-1 victory over Saskatchewan in 2004. The Huskies, meanwhile, are fed-up with a growing record of futility — this latest lamentable chapter playing out before a capacity Griffiths Stadium crowd of 12,567.
The loss left players and coaches teary-eyed — some reduced to sobs — and immensely frustrated.
Too bad.
The hometown team lost in front of their own fans.
Saskatchewan loves football. A victory would have been great for the Province.
world’s longest surf board
Brazilian surfer Rico de Souza set a world record for the longest ever board, 8.05m (26.4ft).
Canada 6th at World Gymnastics Championships
Everyone happy happy about the best ever performance of the Canadian men’s team at Worlds. It’s no fluke. These guys are good.
Five of seven team members are from Alberta.
Kyle Shewfelt added to his medal collection with a Bronze on Floor Exercise and the first Canadian female gymnast medalled at the Worlds — Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs on beam.
Details on KyleShewfelt.com
Rick McCharles 