International Sports Essay, Research Paper

International Sports

Polo – How the game is played

A polo match lasts about one and one-half hours and

is divided into six 7 minute periods or chukkers. Since

a horse in fast polo can cover two and one-half to

three miles per period, he’ll be too tired to play a

second one right away. After resting for two or three

periods, some horses can return to the game. Still, in

championship polo, a player will come to the field with

at least six horses. The mounts are horses, mostly

thoroughbreds, not ponies. The object of the game is to

score as many goals as possible. There are four players

on a team and each assumes a specific position either

offensive or defensive. However, given the enormous

size of the playing fields, the momentum of the

galloping horses and the ball’s unexpected changes of

direction, the game is very fluid, and the positions

continuously change. There are few set plays in polo,

and good anticipation is almost a sixth sense. With

thousand pound animals running at speed there is a

pre-eminent necessity for a right of way rule. The

central concept in the rules of polo is the line of the

ball, a right-of-way established by the path of the

traveling ball. Like the rules of the road, there are

do?s and don’ts governing access to this right-of-way

and crossing it. Within these limitations, a player can

hook an opponent’s mallet, push him off the line, bump

him with his horse or steal the ball from him.

Penalties are awarded as free hits. The more severe,

the shorter the distance to the goal. The closer hits

are almost certain goals. After every goal is scored,

the teams change sides in order to compensate for field

and wind conditions. A typical score would be 10-7.

Polo games are played on the flat or the handicap.

Every registered player is awarded a skill rating from

C (-2, the lowest) to 10 (the highest). When a match is

played on the handicap basis, the sum total rating of

the players on the team is subtracted from that of the

opposition. Any difference is then awarded to the lower

rated side in goals on the scoreboard.

Polo – The history

Possibly the oldest team sport, polo’s genesis is lost

to the eye of history. An Asiatic game, polo was first

played on a barren campground by nomadic warriors over two

thousand years ago Valuable for training Cavalry, the game

was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages.

Known in the East as the Game of Kings, Tamer lane’s polo

grounds can still be seen in Samarkand. British tea planters

in India witnessed the game in the early 1800’s but it was

not until the 1850’s that

the British Cavalry drew up the earliest rules and by the

1869’s the game was well established in England. James

Gordon Bennett, a noted American publisher, balloonist, and

adventurer, was captivated by the sport and brought it to

New York in 1876 where it caught on immediately. Within ten

years, there were major clubs all over the east, including

Newport and Long Island. Over the next 50 years, polo

achieved extraordinary popularity in the United States. By

the 1930’s polo was in the midst of a Golden Age it was an

Olympic sport and crowds in excess of 30,000 regularly

attended international matches at Meadow Brook Polo Club on

Long Island. The galloping game produced athletes who would

doubtless have achieved greatness in any sport. Cecil Smith,

the Texas cowboy who held a perfect 10-goal rating for a

still-record 25 years. Devereux Melbourne, instrumental in

formulating modern styles of play and Tommy Hitch cock, war

hero and the best of the best in international competition

for two decades. In the past 20 years, polo in the United

States has undergone an unprecedented and remarkable

expansion. At present, there are more than 225 clubs with

over 3,000 players.

Cricket – The rules

There are 2 teams which have 11 players each. They play

on a large circular or oval field batting area pitch at

the center. At each end of the pitch is a 28inch-high

wicket consisting of three vertical poles called stumps

and two small horizontal sticks called bales.

Wicket is an old word for a small gate. One

team bats and the other team fields or bowls. All

eleven members of the fielding team are on the field at the

same time in various positions. Two members of the batting

team are on the field at a time, one batsman standing near

each wicket. One member of the fielding team, called the

bowler, the bowler throws the ball overran from one wicket

towards the other with the aim of hitting the target wicket.

The batsman at that end tries to hit the ball with his bat.

The aim of the batsmen is to score runs for his

team. There are 2 ways a batsman can get these runs:

1. By hitting the ball out of the field. If the ball does not bounce before it crosses the

boundary he scores 6 runs and if it does bounce he scores 4 runs.

2. By hitting the ball within the field and running from one end of the pitch to the

other. The other batsman runs in the opposite direction. One run is scored for each

length of the pitch they run.

The aim of the fielding team is to get each batsman out.

There are 3 main ways a batsman can be out:

1. If he is caught

2. If the batsman is run out

3. If a ball delivered by the bowler hits any part of the batsman and it is judged by the

umpire that the ball would have hit the wicket if the batsman had not been in the way.

The part of the body usually hit is the leg and so this type of out is called LBW.

When a batsman is out he is replaced by another member of

his team. Once the fielding team gets 10 of the 11 batsmen

out, or the over limit is reached, the

fielding team becomes the batting team and vice versa. The

new batting team then has to try to beat the other team’s

score. The game may last for one or two innings for each

team. The team with the highest number of

runs at the end of the game wins.

Cricket – equipment

Bat

For a young boy to learn the art of batting, the choice

of a bat, of suitable size and weight, is of the most

importance. It is best for the young batsmen to use a bat

which feels light rather than one which fells heavy. There

is little benefit to be had from using a heavy bat too

early, especially when one is just beginning. Don’t get t

aken in by the talk of heavy bats in modern cricket. You can

use it but only when you are sufficiently strong to be able

to handle it.

Pads

Careful instruction should be give by the coach on the

importance of selecting batting pads that will be suitable

to young players. Pads should provide adequate protection

from injury, fit comfortably on the legs, should not be

cumbersome or too heavy and must not impede or restrict

quick and easy movement.

Player Code

Players should always be neatly and correctly dressed.

All boots should be clean and properly sprigged, either with

spikes on the soles and heels or with spikes in the soles

and hardened ribbed rubber on the heels. Bad sprigging may

easily be the cause of a spilled catch or a run out. A

bowler will not be able to get a good foothold on a hard or

wet surface. No player should wear a wrist-watch or ring on

the field or should one carry a cap in a pocket. A protector

should be worn at all times by the batsmen and the

wicket-keeper and the fielders right near the bat.

Comfortable well fitting socks should be worn. In the case

of fast bowler, it is quite often good policy to wear two

pairs of socks. It is recommended that batsmen and keepers

wear only short socks. Not only do they give a smarter

appearance but are also more comfortable. Fold the trousers

in front of the legs and strap the pads tight to them.

Batting gloves should be worn at all times in all grades of

the game. This gives the player protection as well as

comfort in gripping the bat. Bad equipment or lack of

equipment in a match or at the nets can often be very

damaging to a player’s confidence. Often, players who are

hurt in the nets would have been spared the agony had they

been wearing proper equipment. Such shortage of equipment

can also lead a player into gaining the bad habit of not

getting behind the line of the ball. No Bowler can do

justice to himself and his team if his boots are

ill-fitting, if his toes are being pinched, if the sprigs

are piercing the material and keep getting at his feet, if

blisters are being caused by chafing and if toenails are

being compressed. A proper grip of the ground is also vital.

Pay a lot of attention when you are buying your first pair

of cricket boots. Boots must be laced tight to give support

to the ankles. Blisters must be avoided. An additional

innersole is often helpful. A little talcum power sprinkled

into the socks or a little Vaseline applied between the toes

may help avoid friction and stop the blisters. Aids to foot

comfort are not sufficient in themselves. Boots must fit

well. Helmets may become necessary at a later stage when

young batsmen come across bowlers who are really pacy. It

would be much better to learn to play the game without them.

It is not too difficult to adjust to the helmet once you go

up the ladder and you need the protection of this modern

headgear.

Rugby – Introduction

Rugby is a popular game played by men and women of

every race, from under age five to well over fifty, in over

100 countries of the world. In a few of those countries it

is the national sport – some say religion. The basic game

involves 15 players. The object of the game is to score as

many points as possible by carrying, passing, kicking and

grounding an oval ball in the scoring zone at the far end of

the field called the in-goal area. Grounding the ball, which

must be done with downward pressure, results in a try, worth

5 points. After a try a conversion may be attempted by place

kick or drop kick. If the ball passes over the bar and

between the goal posts the conversion is successful and

results in a further 2 points. Points may also be scored

from a drop kick in general play, worth 3 points and a

penalty kick worth 3 points. The ball may not be passed

forward (though it may be kicked forward) and players may

not receive the ball in an offside position, nor may they

wait in such a position. Players may not be tackled without

the ball. Play only stops when a try is scored, or the ball

goes out of play, or an infringement occurs. When the ball

goes out it is thrown back in at a line-out where the

opposing forwards line up and jump for the ball.

Infringements result in a penalty, or free kick, or scrum.

In a scrum the opposing forwards bind together in a unit and

push against the other forwards, trying to win the ball with

their feet. Substitutions are only allowed in case of injury

and there is no separate offensive and defensive unit.