My latest whinge...

Tamyka Bell wrote:
Terry Collins wrote:

Tamyka Bell wrote:

Given that obesity levels in Australia are pretty appalling, and getting
worse, does anyone else think that, instead of the govt spending money
so much money on elite athletes, we should probably focus on encouraging
EVERYONE to play sport?

Well, not sport, but certainly more recreational[1] activities.
but that isn't a popular attitude. I do not support kids engaging in
competitive sport outside their local area as i think until they are
adults, it should be about fun, then they can decide if they want to
compete heavily.
snip

Well, see here's the thing - when did "sport" become something that had
to be highly competitive?


It's a metaphor for life. And life is intensely competitive. For me,
my sport is a way to channel my competiveness into an arena where it's
controlled and useful.

Tamyka Bell wrote:
Bleve wrote:

snip
The way I look at it is that a bike race is not a zero sum game (or in
the case of bike racing, less than zero sum!). You "win" in a race
when you achieve what you set out to achieve, and that's not
necessarily first over the line. How you set your goals is a key.

Ah, how many times did I try to explain that to hippy...

One of the aboc "secrets" is how to do that

Tamyka Bell wrote:
TimC wrote:
snip the rant

And what if the "sport for everyone" program had a cycle awareness
program, an active transport (walking/cycling) program, etc?

veering steadily OTHey do you reckon a kayak counts as active
transport? I could kayak to uni every day...


Bloody oath! Will they let you park it in the office?

I almost could kayak to work too, the Yarra's not -that- far from here
and
it runs right past my day job office's door! Bugger of an uphill
paddle home though ...

Kathy wrote:

Tamyka Bell wrote:

Bleve wrote:
snip

Compulsory school sport is not "the" answer, but it's got to be part of
an overall strategy. Our school had wednesday afternoon "elective
sport" where we could do all manner of things - some of the kids played
golf (and aparently that's a sport?!), some football, soccer, table
tennis, 10 pin bowling, windsurfing, kayaking, rowing, running ..
*anything* as long as it was vaguely physical. That's not realistic
for onehorse country schools, but I'm sure a lot of other things
-could- be done in that context. The aim being to show kids what's
available, and let them try (and learn) as many as possible.

snip
We had that, each term or semester we could pick a new sport. I never
picked a competitive sport again. I tried martial arts and then moved to
and stuck with aerobics at a local gym. We had to walk half an hour to
get there as well.

Tam

Not picking on you Tam but at least a few people would consider martial
arts as the ultimate competetive sport.

Dave

Not the way I play 'em! That would be more like slapstick...

Tam

Tamyka Bell wrote:

Kathy wrote:

Tamyka Bell wrote:


Bleve wrote:
snip

Compulsory school sport is not "the" answer, but it's got to be part of
an overall strategy. Our school had wednesday afternoon "elective
sport" where we could do all manner of things - some of the kids played
golf (and aparently that's a sport?!), some football, soccer, table
tennis, 10 pin bowling, windsurfing, kayaking, rowing, running ..
*anything* as long as it was vaguely physical. That's not realistic
for onehorse country schools, but I'm sure a lot of other things
-could- be done in that context. The aim being to show kids what's
available, and let them try (and learn) as many as possible.

snip
We had that, each term or semester we could pick a new sport. I never
picked a competitive sport again. I tried martial arts and then moved to
and stuck with aerobics at a local gym. We had to walk half an hour to
get there as well.

Tam

Not picking on you Tam but at least a few people would consider martial
arts as the ultimate competetive sport.

Dave


Not the way I play 'em! That would be more like slapstick...

Tam

Yeah I get it I have a (female) Karate instructor who is a black
belt second dan who I think I could take on a day I had a hang over.
Technically she is fine (Hugely better than me) But I dont think she has
ever hit or been hit in her life. Its a "Nice" karate (GKR) But you
know at some level its 'suposed' to be competetive even if thats only
the 3 seconds in your entire life you need to fall back on it when you
just hope that all the training does its job and you just do the right
thing.

Dave

On 2006-05-11, Bleve wrote:
The way I look at it is that a bike race is not a zero sum game (or in
the case of bike racing, less than zero sum!). You "win" in a race
when you achieve what you set out to achieve, and that's not
necessarily first over the line. How you set your goals is a key.

This is true. But when the entire school sees "winning" as "coming
first", and this is held up as a shining example, it's pretty damn hard
for a thirteen year old kid to figure out that particular point.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@" to "usenet".

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 12 May 2006 06:29:20 +0800
Plodder wrote:
So, how about some stories about plodding, chatting and smelling the roses?
Not just here, but in contact with other people? Instead of boasting about
how you can ride quicker than a car for in peak-hour traffic, how about
chatting about how it's a good feeling to get some air and turn the pedals?

Hear hear!

I won't ever be fast on the bent, especially up hills! But today I
went to work on it, despite the threat of rain (a threat carried out)
because I hadn't had a chance to take it out all week due to
scheduling issues.

What with rain, and backtracking because the ruddy path around Glebe
is blocked again (and the offroad bits are very off) and long waits at
lights, and resting after having got further up Walker St, I didn't
exactly beat my best time.

Had a nice ride, and enjoyed myself though. Got passed by bods more
committed than I am, talked to peds while waiting at crossings, got a
lot of smiles from people as they watched me go by, and was waved through
two intersections by cars who had right of way so I didn't have to stop -
one 4WD and one taxi.

Should have packed spare tights though, going to be a clammy ride
home!

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone wrote:
snip
Should have packed spare tights though, going to be a clammy ride
home!

A clammy ride is fine so long as it's a safe ride home!

(Plus they're okay once you're in them, right? It's putting them on wet
that's horrible.)

Tam

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 12 May 2006 10:35:11 +1000
Tamyka Bell wrote:
Damn straight, and a big thumbs up to you for it as well. My boxing
coach was just like that - everyone was important regardless of their
talent, provided they wanted to be there - and everyone who went wanted
to come back, because the encouraging atmosphere, where everyone was
important, was great!

My fencing master the same.

He loves teaching beginners, and makes people happy to do the drills.
He is also full of stories about how he took ages to learn things.
He's very patient and encouraging, and will do the same thing over and
over and always smiling.

And he teaches all his students who show interest how to teach in the
same way. He's convinced (after over 20 years teaching) that teaching
a physical skill is something you have to be taught how to do. and
that teaching it well takes a lot of time and effort.

Most talented people don't know what they are doing, they jsut do it.
When confronted by someone having trouble, it's hard to work out where
the start of the problem is unless you have a very good understanding
of the body mechanics and how people do things. I have had to teach
male fencers who were teaching female fencers about boobs and their
effect on arm movement If they were looking, they weren't looking
at the arms maybe....


Zebee

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 12 May 2006 10:38:27 +1000
Tamyka Bell wrote:
Big thumbs up to the fact that the sport of cycling gives participants
different grades in which to race, so that you can do it at a level
which is challenging, without being depressing. And a big thumbs up to

One of the big grassroots motorcycle racing categories is the one
called "bracket racing". Where they group people together into lap
time brackets. So it doens't matter what you are riding, you are
racing with people who are about as fast as you are.

The variety of machines is amazing and people don't have to spend
heaps on their bikes. Plus the racing's always close. I presume
machine cost isn't as vital in cycle racing as in motorcycle racing,
because motorcycle racing in other classes has grades but the
expensive bikes do a lot of winning.

Zebee