50 days to go – World Athletics Relays Silesia21

More than 1000 athletes on 150 relay teams from 45 nations are getting ready for the World Athletics Relays Silesia21, with just 50 days to go.

Among them is local favourite Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, who will be looking to add to her 4x400m success when she forms part of the home team for the event at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow, Poland, on 1-2 May.

Poland won the women’s 4x400m at the last edition of the World Athletics Relays in Yokohama and secured silver in the event at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, with Swiety-Ersetic on both teams.

Retaining the title on her home track is the aim.

“I know I’m now facing another crucial stage in my Olympic preparations,” said Swiety-Ersetic, a Silesian Sports Ambassador who recently claimed 400m silver and broke her own national indoor record at the European Indoor Championships in Torun. 

“I am going back to training and in 50 days I will face the opposition in my favourite stadium, on my track. I live nearly next door to here. I love running in the Silesian Stadium. I have nothing but good memories from here and I’m looking forward to making history here once again. 

“On 1-2 May, together with the other girls from the team, we will be aiming for another great race. We will be fighting to defend our title from Yokohama 2019 and to beat the US team again.”

Swiety-Ersetic was one of 10 Polish medallists in Torun and many of the main protagonists will be joining her in relay action in the Silesian Stadium. 

Four of the medals were won in the 800m events as Joanna Jozwik finished second in the women’s final and Patryk Dobek sensationally defeated his more experienced rivals to take gold in the men’s event. Jozwik’s experience and the newcomer quality of Dobek, a former 400m hurdles specialist, is bound to electrify the audience during the 2x2x400m race. In this rarely-run event, each of the two athletes run 400m twice.

“Torun is now history, I’m now focusing on new goals,” said Jozwik. “One of them is competing at the World Athletics Relays in Silesia. 

“Me and Patryk Dobek on one relay? That spells a huge challenge, an adventure and a sense of excitement. I have tons of experience in the 800m, while he represented Poland in another event for years and became the European champion at my distance. It will be like fire and ice, a combination of experience with a touch of madness. The fans will not be disappointed.”

The World Athletics Relays also serves as qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. As such, it is an important competition for the Polish men’s 4x400m team who were denied the chance to race in Torun due to a positive coronavirus result.

“We were excluded from Torun by the pandemic. Now it is time for speedy recovery, regeneration and intense training,” said Jakub Krzewina. “After what happened to us at the European Indoor Championships, we will come back stronger. We are not giving up. A fight for Olympic qualification, in our stadium, that gives you extra motivation.”

Silesian voivodeship assembly chairman Jakub Chełstowski said: “Fifty days from now we will meet at the World Athletics Relays. It is a major event, the first global athletics meet since the start of the pandemic. It is an honour for our region to host an event of such prestige and international significance. 

“Naturally, many challenges are also involved. Today, with one-and-a-half months remaining, we are working hard on the preparations. We are currently hosting a delegation from World Athletics. In May we will prove Silesia is capable of putting together great sporting events, even in these difficult times. 

“Keep in mind that the Silesian Stadium will be hosting top athletes twice in May. Four weeks after the World Athletics Relays, the European Team Championships will be taking place here.”

The participants in the World Athletics Relays will be supported by another special team. Four animals, which can be visited by the Silesian locals in the Silesian Zoo, are the mascots of the event. The animal relay is composed of Maji the cheetah, Sprinter the ostrich, Julian the lemur and Lunani the giraffe. The World Athletics Relays Silesia21 team has been taking care of the four friendly creatures, representing various qualities needed to succeed in relay races.

 

Headbanger Sports Named Wilson 2020 Dealer of the Year

Headbanger Sports, an online provider of baseball and softball bats, gloves, gear, and apparel, is proud to announce that it has been awarded one of the highest honors that Wilson Sporting Goods can bestow: Wilson has named Headbanger Sports as Wilson 2020 Dealer of the Year.

This exclusive award is present to select merchants from top-performing accounts across the country, among sellers of Wilson baseball gloves and other Wilson sporting goods. Wilson, the parent company of DeMarini, Louisville Slugger, EvoShield, and Atec, presents this honor based on a strict set of qualifying standards and criteria.

Dealers who exhibit excellent customer service and account management and show promising gains in sales and overall account growth are evaluated for the award. This year the honor went to HeadBanger Sports, better known as HB Sports, much to the delight of their staff, customers and supporters.

HB Sports, which provides baseball and softball bats and equipment from top names including Wilson, Rawlings, Easton, DeMarini, Worth, and Marucci maintains a commitment to provide them at excellent prices while keeping customer service at the forefront of their focus. Their team attributes some of their success to this commitment.

They believe in treating their customers and supporters like family and make it a point to donate to local leagues and organizations devoted to player development and success. Driven by a passion to deliver quality gear at great prices and make players’ lives better, HeadBanger Sports has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years that have ultimately culminated in this honor from Wilson Sporting Goods.

Chris Bastien, one of the owners of HB Sports, reflected, “We are extremely proud of this achievement. We have grown so much as a company in the last 4 years, reaching milestone after milestone. We could not be in this position without our Loyal Customer Base, Sales Reps Nationwide, the USSSA Military Association, Friends, and Family.”

He added that the honor to the organization would push them to find additional ways to improve their customer service while continuing to supply the hottest new bats, Wilson baseball gloves, and batting gloves and equipment in baseball and softball.

He also communicated his immense gratitude to his customers, partners, and other supporters and remarked that with their continued support, HB Sports aims to grow through expanding and improving the overall customer experience and by providing the best new equipment in baseball and softball. HB Sports already maintains one of the most impressive catalogs of gear and equipment, but their goal is to make it even more impressive with the addition of the most in-demand bats, fielding and batting gloves, and other new equipment, all at great prices.

Customers interested in extending congratulations, or those with questions or other comments, are encouraged to reach out to Headbanger Sports by phone or email. They can be reached at 1-888-540-2287 or by email at info@headbangersports.com.

You Should Know in Detail About Badminton Courts?

Badminton has long competed as a competitive sport. However, right yet there are still many people who treat badminton as a backyard sport. A sport that is only for enjoyment and not much effort is required. But the fact is Badminton is as competitive and as tough as any other sport. Badminton players are as fit as tennis players, football players or any other sportsmen or women. Game that indicates speed, stamina, power and delicate skills. It is also a game of tactics and mental fitness. Badminton is also known as physical chess.

Shuttle travelling at a speed upwards of 400kph or the fragile of drop shots, the margin for error is just about nada! Hence the understanding of the court and how to use the space makes the decision of winning or losing. A badminton court is usually a wooden floor with synthetic mats used as the surface of the court. The courts are intended to provide comfort to players who use the playing surface to trick their opponents with clever shots and win points. Therefore, keeping the court surface prim and proper is mandatory.  A badminton court is for two types of competition – singles and doubles. 

Synthetic surface:

    1.  This surface is the most common surface used in most top-class Badminton venues. For professional matches, this surface comes with a wooden base on top of which synthetic mats are laid. These courts provide a good bounce and protect your knees from injuries and scale back strain.

Wooden surface:

    1.  Other than synthetic surfaces most venues support wooden courts.  This surface provides a good setup to play with good bounce.

Acrylic surface:

    1.  They   are most similar to synthetic surfaces. The amount of shock absorption is not as smart as the synthetic courts or the wooden courts. They come in various colours.

Cement surface:

     Cement surface was used in the past for Badminton courts.  This surface is mostly used in outdoor badminton matches where the surface is made using concrete. It is not suited for regular play as the surface is very hard and might result in injuries to the players. The surface should be made of either hard wood or synthetic material.

 

There are benefits common to all sports. Badminton has some positive points that differentiate it from others. There are some very specific reasons for playing this game. Speedy shuttlecock develops physical and mental agility. The combined agility of mind and body results in breeding fantastic reflexes and advances the ability to process thoughts and accurately develop a plan of action both on and off-court. Over time this improves the mind and body balance.

Badminton is largely an indoor game played on a surface which is extremely important in its shock absorption ability. Badminton courts can be either synthetic or a hardwood system. Olympiados provides all kinds of BWF (Badminton World Federation) approved surfaces like PVC, PU and wooden maple floor systems. We are also specialized in providing and installing sports lighting with complete design and graphic representation focusing on eliminating glares and shadows to achieve desired lux levels. We also provide badminton poles, nets and equipment.

About Us:

OLYMPIADOS is a Sports Infrastructure company passionate about sports and even more passionate about customer service.  Our aim is to provide a one-stop solution for all indoor/outdoor Sports Infrastructure requirements across India. We ensure to deliver the best quality products and services at market leading prices, with unrivalled customer service. Throughout our process, we maintain a high level of standard.

Visit Us: www.olympiados.in , Contact : 09579743420, info@olympiados.in

 

How Adjustment Takes Away Our Core Competence in Sports?

Why India with 1.4 billion people can’t produce an athlete who can be a serious competition to any international standard?

Have you stopped wondering why India lags pathetically low in the medal tally in Olympics?

Do you want to know how Adjustment takes away our core competence and produces mediocre sportsmen for our country? 

Let’s take Basketball for a case study. Basketball is played in most schools across India, then why haven’t we heard of any progress or achievements in this sport internationally? The obvious answer can be, we lack sports infrastructure at the grass root level, or else we say we have limited access to quality sports facilities where we can train and nurture our talents. The truth is we kill our nation’s talents with our Adjustment mentality. 

Arguably 90% of the schools that claim to have a basketball court have a concrete surface and have just poles fixed. These are Adjustment courts with the only purpose of claiming to have basketball courts. There is no proper thought or vision going behind these so-called facilities. Seldom do they realize It does more harm than any good. Basketball is a game of sudden starts, stops, cuts and accelerations. It involves excessive running and it is very important to offer the right surface to improve the game performances.

Concrete Courts

Concrete courts have poor bounce and shock absorption. They also become slippery, if there is dust on them, which makes it more injury prone. People with weak knees and ankles should avoid playing for long periods of time on concrete courts, as the impact can hurt the knees, ankles, shin bone and feet, which leaves us with wooden and synthetic flooring materials as the only obvious choices.

 

More Info: https://olympiados.in/basketball-court/ 

If your basketball court has uneven patches where concrete is sticking up out of the ground, this is a huge safety hazard that could trip someone up during a game. Not many people appreciate a crash landing on concrete, and that’s what you set people up for if you don’t fix the situation. Even if the players know the court has some issues, someone might get caught up in the heat of the game and forget that a certain section should be avoided when they run for a loose ball. A twisted ankle or a face-first plant into the concrete can be likely.

If your concrete basketball court falls into such a state of disrepair that it is actively dangerous to play on, you are soon going to have a situation where no one wants to play on it at all. Synthetic courts have good bounce and anti-slip properties and gives good traction for shoes, which is why it’s used in international circuits. Synthetic courts are economical and durable and also give excellent abrasion resistance and uniform texture. Time has come to demolish your concrete court and build a new or transform uninspiring functional areas into vivid, attractive sports space. 

Olympiados are experts in building both indoor and outdoor basketball courts. We construct outdoor courts from the asphalt base up to the synthetic surface. We also manufacture the basketball pole, fencing and provide lighting systems as per the requirements. An acrylic surface is largely used for outdoor basketball courts and the alternative surface is made using PP Tiles. Olympiados uses certified acrylic 5 and 8 layer systems for outdoor courts. We also provide indoor wooden courts as per FIBA specifications using PVC/PU synthetic materials..

For More Details: https://bit.ly/3rwAqnN

About Us:

OLYMPIADOS is a Sports Infrastructure company passionate about sports and even more passionate about customer service. We ensure to deliver the best quality products and services at market leading prices, with unrivalled customer service. Throughout our process, we maintain a high level of standard.

Visit Us: www.olympiados.in , Contact : 09579743420, info@olympiados.i

Hong Kong – New phase of Online Interactive Sports Training Programmes to open for enrolment (with photos)

 

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will launch a new phase of the Online Interactive Sports Training Programmes in April. Enrolment for the programmes will be open from March 17 (Wednesday).
      
     The Online Interactive Sports Training Programmes are conducted by coaches through an online platform in real time, enabling participants to learn interactively and practise physical activities at home, and to establish a healthy lifestyle. Ten types of sports programmes will be offered. They are aerobic dance, fitness exercise, “Body-mind Stretch”, parent-child fitness, tai chi, fitness yoga and “Hip Hop Dance” as well as the newly organised courses on badminton, “Play Tennis” and table tennis, introducing the basic grip, shuttlecock or ball control, footwork and physical co-ordination skills of these games. Participants who complete the online classes of these three types of games will be invited to attend a practical session to practice the skills learned in the programmes. The courses are designed by relevant national sports associations and are suitable for people of all ages.
      
     Participants can join the online courses at home by using their desktop or tablet computers or their mobile phones, with Zoom software downloaded in advance. Both daytime and night-time courses will be held, with each course consisting of two or three one-hour sessions.
           
     Members of the public can enrol on a first-come, first-served basis from 8.30am on the first day of enrolment through the Leisure Link Internet Booking service (leisurelink.lcsd.gov.hk). The course fee is $20. Please visit the LCSD website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/visavis) or call 2414 5555 for details.
           
     The Online Interactive Sports Training Programmes are part of the interactive “vis-a-vis +01” series under the LCSD Edutainment Channel (www.lcsd.gov.hk/edutainment/en) which promotes leisure, sports and culture through a one-stop online platform covering informative and learning materials.

 

Become A Baseball Expert By Reading These Tips

The sport of baseball is played by lots of people, making it truly a great sport. You can be short or tall, weak or strong, but you still can enjoy playing baseball. To learn about playing better, keep reading.

A coach knows that happy players are good players. Enjoy rewards such as pizza parties or team building activities. It’s just a game, have fun! And also enhance the confidence of team by dressing up with good quality custom baseball jerseys and uniforms.

If you’re a coach and find that you’re struggling to keep your team’s attention during practice, then you need to try mixing things up a bit. If you constantly do the exact drills, the team will get bored. Therefore, mix things up during practices.

To get into the right batting stance, send weight to the rear foot. If you are a right handed batter, this puts your weight onto your right foot, tightening the muscles in that thigh. When swinging, you will get more power from your foot in the rear.

You must keep safety in mind when playing sports. This is especially true for baseball. You should always be aware of where the ball will be so you don’t get hurt. If you fail to pay attention, a ball could hit you in the mouth and result in a broken tooth. Also, when a player is sliding into your base, your legs may become injured.

When hitting a baseball, everyone should wear a helmet. This will protect you from nasty head injuries. Ideally, a batting helmet should have a strong shield that prevents the face from getting hit by a ball that is pitched in the wrong spot and from foul balls as well.

Lead your team with hustle. Try to be the player other players look to for inspiration and example. That is the sort of clubhouse leader who alters the game. You want to be the person that’s seen as the real difference maker.

Pay attention to the signs the base coaches give you. They are able to see the entire field. Make sure your focus is on running the bases rather than on the ball. Follow them with your eyes. If they tell you to stop, stop at the closest base. If they waive you to keep coming, then make sure you run hard.

How the grass is mowed will affect ground balls. Lines that are commonly present in the outfield could make the baseball roll either way on the ground. By figuring out how balls move when they come into contact with the lines, you’ll be able to figure out where the ball is going to be stopping.

Make sure to get your glove in shape prior to a new season. Starting a season with a brand-new glove is a good thing, but you need to take a couple of weeks to work that glove over before hitting the field. Toss a baseball repeatedly into it. Use a leather softener on it. Use your fist to punch the weave. You can practice better with a glove that has been broken in.

Learn how to use your glove to block the blinding sun and stay focused on the ball. Raising the glove over your eyes works to block the sun’s intensity while allowing you to watch to ball as well.

If you play first base and want to use your stretch to the utmost, then keep the foot on the side of your throwing hand glued to the base. Of course, you must keep one foot (opposite your throwing hand) on the base. Stretch your other foot towards the incoming ball and put your glove into position to catch it.

Remember that the ball is in play immediately after a pitch is thrown. Often, it goes to the glove of the catcher and then to you back again. However, you need defensive skills if any contact happens, and you must also react quickly to at times protect yourself.

When bunting, make sure the handle faces third or the head of the bat faces first. The bases are in reverse for left-handed batters. The correct angling of the bat will keep the bunt fair, and it won’t go back to the pitcher.

Use your fingertips to grip the ball if you want to throw a knuckler. That way, you can let go without adding spin, helping it go with the wind and confusing the batter. When the hitter misses the ball, your knuckle ball worked.

To throw off a right-handed pitch, watch the pitcher’s left foot when on first base. When he picks up that foot and starts to swing it around the rubber, he must pitch it. If he does not, he commits what is called a balk, which can buy you a free ride to second base.

You want to make sure baseball cards stay as pristine as possible, so use plastic sheeting. These let you see what’s on the cards while keeping them away from the outside air. You should also be sure they are not exposed to light too much. Those cards that are mint condition tend to be worth a great deal more.

If you want to hide your pitching signs from the third-base coach, hold your open catcher’s mitt over the left knee. This will prevent the coach on third from seeing your signs and tipping off the batter.

There’s a lot to learn if you’d like to become a professional player. You can keep things simple when you learn some basic tips. Consider the tips you have been given next game you play.