Are you a Sports Junky

Disabled sports, like the term suggests, are sports played by people with some disability or the other. The disabilities are categorized as physical or intellectual. These ports are regular sports reinvented. The existing sports are modified in a way to meet the needs of disabled persons and hence these sports are also sometimes referred to as adapted sports. However, it is important to understand that not all the disabled sports are adapted sports. There are several independent variations of different sports that have been specifically created for such persons with disabilities. The whole idea is to create competition for people who unfortunately have no equivalent in able-bodied sports.

The levels of competition though in the disabled sports are no different from the regular sports. The motto remains: May the best man win! These sports have given the disabled community a rostrum to display their effort towards striving for excellence in spite of their disability.

The sports leagues are all headed and managed by professionals in the sports concerned and the players are very well protected within the individual league’s The whole concept of sports leagues has added new value and meaning to the games. Some of the professional sports leagues are listed below. Information on each is available in detail online, 24×7.

Automobile racing:

• A1 Grand Prix

• NASCAR or the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

• British Touring Car Championship

• Formula One – Grand Prix racing

• Indy car Series

Baseball:

• MLB or Major League Baseball

• Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League

• Arizona League

• ApL or Appalachian League

• CalL or California League

Basketball:

• A1 Liga

• ACB or Association de Clubs de Baloncesto

• ABA or American Basketball Association

• BBL British Basketball League

• BBL or Basketball Bundes Liga – Germany

Football:

• Albania Association Football

• Kategoria Superiore Association Football

• Primera Division Argentina Association Football

• Hyundai A League Association Football

• Armenia Association Football

regulations.

Sports of all types and played at all levels are covered by large television and radio audiences who are commonly attracted to the telecast, not because of being far away from the place where the event is taking place, but for the love of sport. Today, the media plays a big role in the world of sport and rival broadcasters now bid large amounts of money for the exclusive ‘rights’ not only to broadcast a game, but also to show certain edited fixtures and phases of the game. The FIFA World Cup is a classic example. Association football attracts a global radio and television audience, whose number literally runs into hundreds of millions.

Records reveal that the finals of the FIFA World Cup in 2006 attracted an estimated worldwide audience of more than 700 million! The Super Bowl championship game of the NFL in the United States of America has gone on record as ‘one of the most watched television broadcasts of the year’!

Spectator sports refer to any sport being played before an audience. Though technology has now changed this concept and many chess and other indoor sport competitions are being conducted online, with spectators at their computer screens! Most sports are a form of recreation for the participants. They are played in front of a live audience.

In the case of most professional sports, they are played in a ‘theatre’ like arena like a stadium or race track. Sports are also played at golf courses, arenas, on open roads, with of course the provision for public convenience. Most sports are spectator sports. Whether the audience witnesses the game live, at the stadium or arena, or is a passive one, watching the relay on television or online, all sports have spectators. This aspect of sports adds to the quality and competitive spirit of sports, with the spectators being just as involved in the game plan as the players themselves !

Sports terminology hasn’t changed much, but continues to retain its importance on and off the field. Advancing technology has created new opportunities for the implementation of new sport terminology and research in sports. Specific terminology is used to analyze aspects of sports, capture an athlete’s movement, or for advanced computer simulations to model physical scenarios. In British English, sporting activities are commonly called ‘sport’, while in American English, the word ‘sports’ is used, in plural. In all the English dialects, “sports” refers to more than one sport.

Terminology also differs region-wise, like it is different in North and South America and in England and North America. Ideally, around the world, the term “sport” is extended to encompass all competitive activities. It is not dominated by level of physical activity involved. The many of the characteristics of physical sports include skill and sportsmanship. Irrespective of the adopted terminology, at the highest levels, professional sponsorship is associated with physical sports and influenced by regional preferences.

The closeness of art and sport is now further experienced in the evaluations highlighted by sport technology. Technology has been enhanced to provide celebrations of both sporting and artistic achievements and even sculpture and architecture. A sport like golf, where moving has a much lesser part than dexterity, has been able to reach the multitudes all across the globe via the easy-to-play methods made available via sport technology.

Technology plays a very important role in sports today, irrespective of whether it is applied to an athlete’s well being, technique or equipment characteristics. In the case of the latter, the competitive edge that sports provide has led to the demand for better equipment and hence equipment like golf clubs and football helmets have all seen considerable application of new technologies. In the world of sport, ranging from nutrition to the treatment of injuries, technology and the knowledge of the human body has deepened, increasing potential of the athletes to play to an older age