By swan480 on Aug 27, 2008 in Sports | comments(0)
By NGO on Aug 23, 2008 in Sports | comments(0)
I love baseball. Do you? If you do you’ll know what I’m talking about. No other sport has quite so intense and compact a moment of sheer athleticism. Hours upon hours of Tampa baseball school and training are compressed into one ninety mile per hour moment. The pitcher and batter loosen up, get their heads together, and get in the game. The pitcher looks straight into the eyes of the batter. Spits. The catcher sizes everything up, makes some instantaneous calculations, and flashes a sign. The pitcher doesn’t need to assent, just lets it fly with all his might and wiles. It all happens in one second. The batter reads the pitch, looks for spin, tracks the trajectories, and makes the all-important decision. Swing or hang steady? The wrong decision in that split-second of fast-thinking and concentration will make all those thousands of swings in Tampa batting cages and all that time sweating and straining in the weight room amount to nothing. Baseball strength training Tampa, Clearwater, minor leagues, high school team—all that strength and ambition goes into the swing. The hand-eye coordination and reaction time. A whole team of players in the field to try to put a stop to one moment of glorious athleticism. The whole body steps into the swing; the whole mind leaps into the decision. If you love baseball, you know what I mean.
By NGO on Aug 21, 2008 in Sports | comments(0)
My son always liked to go fishing any chance he got. When his uncle invited us to come to Georgia to fish with him he was very excited because we were going to go fly fishing. The summer before that my son talked to one of the Georgia fly fishing guidesto learn as much as he could on the subject. By the time we took our GA fishing trip he was a little more knowledgeable about flies, knots, etc. After his uncle taught him so much about fly fishing is when he made the decision to go for the Boy Scout Merit Badge in Fly Fishing.
There are many requirements to earning a Merit Badge in Fly Fishing. First he had to explain the treatment of cuts, puncture wounds, dehydration, heat reactions, hypothermia, and removing a hook in your skin. These are all things that could happen while fly fishing. Next he explains care of equipment, use and types of fly lines. He has to demonstrate an arbor knot, nail knot, blood knot, clinch knot, needle knot. Next he explains how wet flies, dry flies, streamers, nymphs, poppers, and bass bugs are used. He demonstrated his ability for consistent roll cast and overhead techniques. He was required to go to the river and observe the kinds of insects that fish might eat. A Boy Scout must learn the code about littering, obeying regulations, trespassing, etc. Using techniques he had learned he caught two kinds of fish, identified them, released one harmed, cleaned and cooked the other. When he received his badge he thanked me for taking him fishing in Georgia!
By AZ on May 29, 2008 in Sports | comments(0)
By NGO on Feb 19, 2008 in Sports | comments(0)
I used to play baseball in high school. I was pretty good at it, too. So when I had a son, it was always my dream that he’d follow in my footsteps. I could just picture us playing catch in the backyard, practicing swings and pitches.
When he got to be about 5, it seemed time for him to join a team. But much to my dismay, our community didn’t have one. I’d have to drive him 25 minutes just to get to practice. After talking with some of the neighbors, I nominated myself to the job of coach. We were on our way.
It turned out to be a much tougher job than I thought it would be. I had to make all kinds of decisions. For instance, I didn’t even know that for practice we needed fungo baseball bats instead of regular game bats. Should we use old-fashioned ash bats or maple bats? Or, should we go with something easier to use and higher tech? Yes. I really was that clueless.
I figured it out eventually. We only won two games that season. By the next, we had doubled that. Two years later, we placed 3rd in our division. But I’ll never forget that first year.
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