Archive for March 5, 2010
Choosing the Right Soccer Cleats
Comfort is the most important factor by far. Choose a boot that has a slightly tight fit when buying because they’ll expand overtime. There should be a gap of 7mm-10mm between the longest toe and boot material. Also, choose a pair appropriate to your foot type. Some boots are more suitable for narrow feet and some are best for wide feet. If you’re not sure about your foot type, have your feet assessed by an expert.
Playing surfaces range from soft ground, firm ground, hard ground, Astroturf and indoors. An extension in the model name (SG, FG,HG, TF, IN) indicates the most suitable playing surface. What determines the suitability is of course, the studs. SG boots will have round studs which are best for soft or wet playing surfaces. HG and FG have ‘bladed’ studs, best for dry and hard surfaces. Astroturf boots have many rubber studs and indoor boots might not have studs at all. The wrong usage of boots can lead to drop of performance, reduced life span of boots and/or injuries.
Some boots enhance your performance in a particular area more than others. Find out which of your playing attributes you’d like to enhance . Be it first touch, accuracy, speed, swerve etc. there’s always a boot which helps you improve on any particular aspect(s).
The higher your level of play, the more hi-tech your boots should be. If you’re playing on a lower level or play recreationally, you wouldn’t want to waste a lot of money on high end boots.
With football boots, you get what you pay for. The more technology incorporated into them, the higher the price. But do remember that higher-priced boots are not necessarily better.
Style is not the most important of aspects, but you do want to look stylish.
Shop for boots in the afternoon. This is the time when your feet’s volume are maximum.
Get recommendations from others who’ve used a particular boot before. You won’t get the feeling of playing on a football pitch by running around the store.
Do some research before buying. Don’t let store owners rip you off. Read the reviews posted on websites, blogs and magazines.
If you want high-tech boots without the expensive price tag, go for the predecessors of current high end boots.
Shop online. You’ll have more choices and might get better deals.
Once you’ve made the purchase, DO remember to break them in.
Soccer Psychological Coaching – Techniques and Strategies
With the individual and team goals set, the actual training begins. Physical training is not to be undermined but the important cognitive skills to be emphasized include relaxation techniques and task concentration. Handing down specific relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation is more effective than just telling them to relax. Equipping them with applicable means to follow your instructions instead of just expecting them to comply on every command is more effective.
Relaxation technique is crucial to performance because stress and anxiety is inevitable in every competition so the individual members should learn to handle this. Many distractions also arise in actual games so the members should learn how to block out unnecessary factors including negative feelings from inside and just stay focused on the actual task. They have to learn not to try controlling the uncontrollable factors during the game and not to put too much emphasis on winning or losing as this is the root cause of most of the players’ stress. These require paramount mental effort and so, an adaptation of appropriate mind set is necessary. Staying positive about one’s abilities and having faith in his teammates is one. Teaching the “here and now” rule is another which basically means anything that is not part of the task should be set aside. Learning the connection between stress and level of performance would probably be helpful too. The higher your stress is, the lower your performance goes.
A good coach should also be able to help the players understand that there is nothing to lose by trying instead of opting to be paralyzed with anxiety. And last but not the least, conditioning the athlete’s minds to view adversity in a positive way, however difficult, will ease the transition from being a novice player to a more professional and successful athlete.
Baseball at Its Best: the Guerreros of Oaxaca, in the Mexican League
Alvin Starkman M.A., LL.B.
Where else but in Mexico can you park two blocks away from the ballpark, buy a pair of field level seats beside the dugout, eat a personal size pizza, have a beer, pastry, lollipop and tic-tacs, and be entertained for more than three hours during a warm, breezy evening, all for about $15 USD.
The Mexican baseball season begins each March, with Oaxaca’s team (the Guerreros, being one of 16 in this two division league) playing its games at the Lic. Eduardo Vasconcelos stadium, a short walk from downtown. When my wife and I attended our first game ever, we were thoroughly impressed, not without noting some both interesting and amusing differences as compared to attending Skydome (now known as The Rogers Centre) to see the Toronto Blue Jays. I preface my comments by indicating that the league is equivalent to Triple A, meaning that the quality of play is extremely good, with potential and former Major Leaguers on the teams…in 2005 the Guerreros had Felix Jose, former quality batter for the Cardinals in the early 90’s.
I attended at the park to buy tickets a couple of days in advance of the scheduled game, wanting to ensure that I got premium seats, only to be told that tickets go on sale at 4 pm, game day. To my surprise, the ticket wicket opened shortly before the hour. My wife asked for a pair of “the best”. When she returned to the car, I noticed that the 55 peso tickets did not appear to be in sequence, so I sent her back to inquire, and exchange the seats if necessary. I was right…one seat was a row above the other. Who knew that when you ask to buy a pair of tickets, you should stipulate that you want them beside each other? The attendee gave my wife a hard time, but finally relented and exchanged the seats.
We returned to the park for the 7:30 opening pitch, easily finding a parking space on the street…no $20 charge to park in a lot. But where exactly were our seats? We asked no less than four stadium employees, no one being able to point us to our seats, until finally someone took the effort to direct us appropriately. WOW. Not only field level beside the visitors’ (Mexico City) dugout, but covered in the unlikely event of a drizzle, and alongside the bull pen.
The game followed the typical AL format, with designated hitter (Felix Jose for the Guerreros), and the announcer doing the same job as his counterpart in the Majors, not without prefacing each upcoming batter’s name and position with an advertisement for one of the numerous sponsors whose presence is up front and center, both on the players’ uniforms and across the field walls. The scoreboard provided no surprises, but it took a while to figure out some of the positions of the players by merely seeing the letter designations…no problem with SS, 1B, 2B and 3B. But what about JI, CF and JD? I thought I had it down pat with the Center Fielder, but the other two threw me off. Then the announcer introduced the Right Fielder, the Jardinero Derecho (JD), which literally translates to “Right Gardener”. It made sense after a moment since he does tend to the grass in right field…but why is the Center Fielder’s position not similarly adapted to the Mexican style of designation? All fell into place in short order, with each player having a number on his jersey, but with VOLKSWAGEN being the only name appearing on the backs.
The ten cheerleaders were a pleasant surprise, doing an admirable job, albeit neither choreographed nor synchronized as well as in the NFL or NBA. However, what a treat to see these young women at the ballpark with a bit of flesh on their bodies, instead of the anorectic look which we have become accustomed to see and regretfully accept north of the border. The music on the audio system was a unique mix of what one finds at MLB and NHL games with the standard “CHARGE” preambles and the like, traditional Oaxacan tunes including the Pinotepa, and well-known American and Canadian numbers by artists such as M.C. Hammer and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The fifth inning cleaning crew did their job, although without the Lone Ranger theme song to egg them on; there was the traditional on-field contest for the kids; and hawkers prevailed upon us to buy raffle tickets.
While I must confess that while baseball is the most boring of the main North American spectator sports (the list in descending order being basketball, hockey, football, soccer and baseball), since the gradual changeover in Major League ballparks to permitting the consumption of alcoholic beverages I’ve come to enjoy getting out to the game from time to time to chat with a friend or business associate, soak up some rays and fresh air (when the retractable dome in Toronto has been left open), and have a beer and my fill of dogs, doughnuts and deliciously rich ice cream bars. Pigging out Oaxacan style proved to be similarly orgasmic, although not being able to imbibe a mezcalito or three does put a damper on the libido. There was the tempting taco stand a few steps from our seats, in addition to the customary vendors winding their way through the stands. The range of fare includes, naturally Corona, soft drinks, hot tacos by the plastic and foil wrapped plateful, warm personal size boxed Domino’s Hawaiian pizza with all the ketchup packages you want, a wide variety of cellophane packaged nuts, seeds and dried fruit colorfully presented on a display card, esquites (piping hot large corn kernels in a Styrofoam cup topped with mayonnaise, chili powder, lime and grated cheese), as well as the typical street corner stand items including gum, chocolates, hard candies and cigarettes.
Perhaps the greatest similarity to attending an MLB game was that the home team lost… just like in Toronto after the two aberrations in the early 90’s. While I wouldn’t expect that attending a Guerreros game would be on a list of priorities for tourists spending only a week in the city, for both residents and travelers vacationing here for longer stays baseball in Oaxaca provides an entertaining and relaxing way to spend a few hours. The regular season runs through the end of July, with the four playoff series beginning thereafter, running through the beginning of September. You can attend at the stadium to learn more about the promotions including T-Shirt and Cap days, and Mothers Day and Fathers Day.
General Improved – Leawo Mac Video Converter Series V1.1.0.0 Released
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WATCH INDIA VS SRI LANKA TRI SERIES CRICKET STREAMING LIVE ONLINE ON 5 JANUARY 2010
India will play Sri Lanka in the BANGLADESH The second game will be played on Saturday at Mohali. The Indians will be on a high after having achieved the number one slot after having beaten the Sri Lankans rather easily by an innings in two successive games.
So far, the new stadium in Nagpur, at Jamtha, has so far, hosted two games; one ODI and one test match. And both games have been high-scoring encounters, with India scoring 354 in the ODI and almost 450 in the test match. Coincidentally, India has won both the games, and now, the ground will see its first ever T20I played here!
India has made quite a few changes to their squad and it is difficult to gauge what their playing eleven will be. There are a few first timers as well, as the likes of R. Ashwin, Ashok Dinda and Sudeep Tyagi make it for the first time into the T20I team, whereas S. Sreesanth makes a return to the side as well. Pragyan Ojha has also been selected to the side in place of Amit Mishra too. After having missed the third and the final test due to his sister’s marriage, Gautam Gambhir will also make a comeback to the side.
YOU CAN WATCH LIVE TRI SERIES CRICKET MATCHES ONLINE ON THESE WEBSITES:
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir should continue to open the innings, while Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma should definitely make it to the playing eleven for India. Yusuf Pathan should be a certainty as well, now that Ravindra Jadeja has been chucked out of the side, whereas amongst the bowlers, Ashish Nehra and Sreesanth look certain. The other two positions in the side should, in all probabilities, go to a spinner and a quick bowler, and in that case, Pragyan Ojha and one of Tyagi, Dinda or Ishant Sharma should be taken into the eleven.
For the Sri Lankans, the captain was sore about the review system not being used for the series and hence he losing out on almost 500 runs. The same trend is going to continue for this T20I series as well, and he may well need to make the most out of the new guys in the side. T.Dilshan will continue to open and in all probabilities will have Sanath Jayasuriya as his partner, but it will be the bowling of Lasith Malinga that the captain will use to unleash against the hosts.
There cannot be any doubt that it is difficult to pinpoint favourites, and the same will continue in this series. However, India has not had a great time in the T20Is ever since the times of winning the ICC World T20.
Necessary Things for Soccer Goalkeeping
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