I'm a bit of an extreme sports nut :P Freediving and Freestyle BMX are tied for first place (I Freedive and BMX on a regular basis).
Freediving "Freediving or breath-hold diving is a type of advanced snorkeling and water adventure that allows enthusiastic men, women and youth to experience the sights, sounds and challenges of the most natural of underwater experiences.
Human evolution and development has ingrained us with an underwater potential the same as our marine cousins, whales, seals and dolphins. Without the use of underwater breathing apparatus, freedivers on a single breath of air can explore the underwater realm for minutes at a time with relative comfort.
Freediving is about the comfort and exploration of the ocean realm for recreation, spearfishing, competition or personal discovery."
BMX "BMX (Bicycle Moto-cross(X)) is a form of cycling on specially designed bicycles which usually have 20-inch wheels (sometimes referred to as iron horses or steel ponies). The sport includes races on sandy and hilly tracks—BMX racing—as well as the performances of tricks on flat ground, wooden ramps, trails (jumps made of dirt) or obstacles found on the streets—BMX freestyle." _________________ My site:http://www.AntonKemmeren.com
I make a distinction between spectator sports and sports which I participate in. But since I don't really follow too many sports, I'd rate them according to the amount of pleasure which they give me in the capacity of either a partisan fan or an enthusiastic participant.
1. Football
2. Squash
3. Golf
4. Cricket
5. Tennis
I do not really consider running or swimming as sports but just necessary conditioning for me to keep fit.
PS: Does anyone play squash here? _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
Akoni: Were you a commando in the army? People with such pursuits here have a high chance of being drafted into the Commando battalion, provided they meet other criteria.
Greg: I noticed that all of your chosen sports are ones which pit you against....yourself. Doesn't it get a little stale after awhile? And since you are a swimmer, do you wear boardshorts or conventional swimming trunks to the pool? _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
Akoni: Were you a commando in the army? People with such pursuits here have a high chance of being drafted into the Commando battalion, provided they meet other criteria.
Unfortunately not, it would be the perfect job for me to be honest. I like to live on the "edge", but in daily life that isn't the case. When I'm doing an extreme sport I feel completely at home _________________ My site:http://www.AntonKemmeren.com
We have compulsory 'games' on a Wednesday afternoon at school — most people play something like rugby, football (soccer), hockey or basketball, but I just play table tennis informally. However, I don't think that that really counts as a 'sport', lol.
And I have to say that I don't watch any sport either.
1. figure skating
2. hockey (on the ice, and only when it's live)
3. gymnastics
4. skiing
5. diving
I'd like to see figure skating removed from the sports world -- it should be a performing art, like dance.
IDK about that Deborah. Figure skating takes a LOT of athletic skill. It's hard enough to skate on ice as it is, let alone do all the amazing acrobatic feats they perform. _________________ Operation Northwoods - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
Favorite languages = English/Spanish
Followed by Italian/French/Dutch
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject:
Porthos wrote:
Deborah wrote:
1. figure skating
2. hockey (on the ice, and only when it's live)
3. gymnastics
4. skiing
5. diving
I'd like to see figure skating removed from the sports world -- it should be a performing art, like dance.
IDK about that Deborah. Figure skating takes a LOT of athletic skill. It's hard enough to skate on ice as it is, let alone do all the amazing acrobatic feats they perform.
Ballet also takes a lot of athletic skill, but I don't consider it a sport. If they want to judge figure skating as a sport, then they should judge only on the technical feats. Let the men spend their whole time trying to do quadruple jumps, since that's what seems to matter most, and not bother trying to be "artistic". It bothers me to see that constant switching back and forth between dancing on the ice and doing athletic feats that are set off by a few seconds' worth of skating backward, looking over your shoulder, in preparation for your big jump.
Let's meander a bit and tell me what you think are the top 5 sports of your peers. For something tells me that many of the sporting interests of our distinguished members here can be a little too esoteric for the mainstream community. Figure skating, for one. Freediving, for another. Surely they do not have a lot of cachet with the man on the street?
For my mates, football is indisputably the king of all sports, be it for participation or viewing. Of course, it is healthy to have a little wager or two with the bookmaker when you're watching a soccer match. The English Premier League invites close scrutiny here and the simmering tension between Shevchenko and Jose Mourinho in Chelsea is an endless source of discussion in the sporting pages. Of course, since Andriy Shevchenko scored two goals yesterday and created an assist for Frank Lampard, things might be different now.
Tennis is very popular among the middle classes and some of my friends are really crazy over it. For me, I am not too passionnate about the watching part; I am more interested in the playing bit. Unless it's the Wimbledon or the French Open, I don't really watch too much tennis. Unless of course, it's girls' varsity tennis in the local school league. Can never get enough of their cute skirts, you know.
Cycling as a sport is a niche thing here. Cycling as a mode of transportation is quite common among old men wearing boaters and a singlet. Usually, the only cyclists who bother to dress up in spandex coupled with helmut and guards are those crazy Europeans who simply love to hog the first lane on major roads.
Squash is declining in popularity here and it's lamentable. Nonetheless, most of my mates play it - a lot of my friendship is based on the sport we play. There is something primitively exciting about hitting a small black ball against a wall, don't you reckon?
Badminton is quite popular only in the primary school as well as the baby boomers' generation. It is supposedly one of our national sports since we had -emphasis on past tense here- an illumintating history of excellence in it. But sadly, our top shuttler crashed out to world number 4 Peter Gade Christensen in straight sets last week. Doesn't say much if an Asian can lose to a European in badminton!
In our family, table-tennis holds a vice-like grip over our imagination. I used to be really caught up in this ping-pong passion. I am a bit embarrassed to say that I was a school player for two years. A bit stereotypical for a Chinese to play ping-pong, I know. But whenenver I play ping-pong against a non Chinese, I feel obliged not only to prevail, but to comprehensively trounce him. I don't know why - it just feels like an ethnic obligation.
Not to sound prejudiced here, but do people of African descent actually play table-tennis seriously? They always seem to get a vicious hiding in the world opens.
A survey results once showed that golf is the most popular sport for men over 30. I find it strange that despite such a high golf participation rate, we have not produced a world class golfer. I suppose it stems from the fact that most players here only picked it up in their late teens (like I did) or after they've retired and collected their pension. To reach the acme of sporting success, it is necessary to start early and not many are doing it here.
Of course, other sports here would necessarily be fringe sports. Hockey -not ice hockey- is very popular at school level and it's something we used to play often in PE. Cricket is also another sport that lacks support at the grassroots level but otherwise manages to survive and thrive at the school level. Rugby is a sport that surprisingly has a lot of clout and influence here, especially in schools which were modelled after the English public school system. Croquet, on the other hand, is played by old fogies and I can never in the world understand the appeal of this sport with its intricate arcane rules.
Possibly the only indigeneous sport here which is played somewhat at the grassroots level is sepak takraw. It is basically volleyball with legs: the rules are broadly similar, but you use your leg to hit the ball over the net. Just in case anyone goes away thinking that it is a crude imitation of volleyball, sepak takraw is indigeneous to mainland South-east Asia and is also played in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
I do not consider swimming, athletics and other endurance events such as the marathon to be a sport. To me, they are nothing more than professional conditioning exercises.
On the other hand, Formula 1 is definitely a sport. Anyone here supports the Renault construction team? _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
Let's meander a bit and tell me what you think are the top 5 sports of your peers. For something tells me that many of the sporting interests of our distinguished members here can be a little too esoteric for the mainstream community. Figure skating, for one. Freediving, for another. Surely they do not have a lot of cachet with the man on the street?
Freediving is not a known sport. There are about 150 people in the Netherlands who do it (around 300 in the UK). Most people don't like the idea of going as long/as far/as deep as possible on one breath of air. Most people call me nuts, but I think it's a beautiful sport.
In the Netherlands Soccer, also known as Football, Voetbal in Dutch is the most popular sport. The Dutch, British and German Premier Leagues are regularly on TV and a lot of people watch it. I myself find Soccer boring and only watch the World and Euro cups.
Tennis, well it's like this for me: lol but it's quite popular with the Dutch population.
Cycling is nice, but only on dirt with a mountainbike! Or on a BMX doing Trickjumps and other adrenaline causing activities on a bicycle. Racing is popular with the Dutch, especially the "Tour de France".
Squash is something my girlfriend does and she likes it a lot, I've never done it, nor watched it.
Badminton same opinion as tennis for me, popular with a lot of old people.
Table-tennis is fun when you can whack the **** out of the little ball to annoy the one you're playing against Not very popular with the Dutch.
Golf has the image of being for rich people, not many people play, or watch it. You have to pay major fees to be able to golf. Midgetgolf however is popular with the Dutch kids.
"Sepak takraw" as Loic calls it, is called Voetvolley (Footvolley) here and is a popular activity to do on the beach. Fun as well.
Endurance sports are sports in my book, takes a lot of concentration and of course endurance to be successful at it.
Formula 1 is popular here as well, but I don't really like it. _________________ My site:http://www.AntonKemmeren.com
Seriously? Sepak takraw is not an unknown entity in the Netherlands?
I wonder if they were imported by Indonesian immigrants.
Not at all unknown, we have a competition in it and every time you go to the beach you see people play it. The name however is unknown to me because we call it "Voetvolley" _________________ My site:http://www.AntonKemmeren.com
Ahh....ik begrijp het. Still, it is quite a bit of revelation to me that a supposedly obscure sport that is sepak takraw is actually followed afar.
Quote:
Squash is something my girlfriend does and she likes it a lot, I've never done it, nor watched it.
Your girlfriend can recognise a good thing when she sees one. You should follow her to the courts - you never know how potentially addictive it is until you've tried.
Quote:
Endurance sports are sports in my book, takes a lot of concentration and of course endurance to be successful at it.
I do not mean to disparage such sports. I recognise that skill and stamina are also very important. It is just an absence of eye-hand co-ordination that is otherwise omniprescent in most conventional games. _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
Your girlfriend can recognise a good thing when she sees one. You should follow her to the courts - you never know how potentially addictive it is until you've tried.
I've been wanting to follow here there, but time is scarce for me at the moment, but I will go for a game of Squash when I can.
Quote:
I do not mean to disparage such sports. I recognise that skill and stamina are also very important. It is just an absence of eye-hand co-ordination that is otherwise omniprescent in most conventional games.
True, the eye-hand co-ordination is missing in Endurance sports. But I think it's a matter of opinion if you find it sports or not. If you ask a marathon runner he will definatly say running is a sport. Most people (like me) call it a sport when you get tired of what you do or feel the muscles. _________________ My site:http://www.AntonKemmeren.com
Since loic asked, I will describe to what extent certain sports seem to be popular in England, and more specifically near to where I live. I'll start with actual games:
Football (soccer) — by far the most popular sport here both to watch and play; the only one which I'd say that most of the population seems to be at least somewhat interested in, and the only one which seems to transcend socio-economic divisions.
Rugby — associated with tall and well-built men and teenage boys; both middle/upper class men who went to private schools, and working class 'northern' men. Most people don't seem to watch rugby, except for those who are very interested in sport generally. My school actually has four rugby pitches.
Cricket — roughly the same popularity as rugby; often seen as more 'sophisticated' than either rugby or football by the social élite.
Tennis — a rather élite game professionally, but popular amongst amateurs from a range of backgrounds.
Basketball and hockey — very common in schools, but very unusual to watch professionally.
Squash and badminton — common at leisure centres amongst people who like to do something like that after school/work in the evening.
Golf — not actually as popular in this country as may commonly be imagined by outsiders. Similar to what Akoni said, it's often associated with wealthy older people here.
Bowls — common amongst older people, but it would be very unusual to see younger people playing this.
Benjamin: With respect to cricket in England, I was told that is mainly a middle class sport save for the north, especially Yorkshire. In Yorkshire, cricket is also as working class as rugby league and football.
_________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
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is the most popular sport. The Dutch, British and German Premier Leagues are regularly on TV and a lot of people watch it. I myself find Soccer boring and only watch the World and Euro cups.
lol 