Harrison didn't let it stop her

Queen Harrison claimed one of three spots on the Olympic 400 meter hurdle team when she came in second during the Olympic Trials. Harrison has overcome many obstacles to make it this far, including injuries and a race day obstacle.

Harrison prepared for the race with an injured hamstring that she had injured only 18 days earlier, but she didn’t let that stop her. She was considered an underdog from the start and nobody expected her to do well in this race, but she didn’t let that stop her. During the race, a runner in the lane beside her fell into her lane, but Harrison didn’t let that stop her. She jumped over the other runner and kept her eye on the prize, not letting anything stop her from finishing second and advancing to the Olympics.

I really admire Harrison’s drive and ability to overcome obstacles to achieve her dreams. She did not let her injury, her obscurity, or the other runner stop her from achieving her goal. As a hurdler myself, I find it amazing that she was not fazed when the other runner fell into her lane. She is an inspiration to not only other hurdlers, but to all athletes. By finishing second and overcoming so many obstacles, she has proved that anything is possible if you set your mind to it and try your hardest.

Have you ever had to overcome any obstacles in order to play a sport? Comment below and tell me about it.

Giving Back...and still breaking a sweat

Every day we read in the newspapers and hear on television about how another sports superstar has landed a huge-money contract, paying them hundreds of millions of dollars to play their game for whatever team has the deepest pockets. These guys and gals are great athletes, but I think the people who truly show what sports are supposed to mean are those who get a simple “thanks” at the end of their hard day’s work of playing.

I read online that the running club that I want to join in the fall spends a couple nights a week holding practices for middle school kids who want to run but don’t yet have a high school team to represent them.

Thinking of these adults coming out to the track after their work day to run laps in the muggy Midwestern heat just “for the kids” made me realize how special volunteers are to sports. Mostly they’re coaches, but these volunteers also are also the people who get those tracks ready for the runs, bring water for the tired out kids and even the people cheering them on.

All of these people give something to a sport to make it more enjoyable for someone else because they are thankful someone made sports fun for them too. I’m definitely looking forward to this part of the club, because a lot people made my first runs really special, all at no cost to me.

I know a lot of kid athletes dream of landing that big contract with the New York Yankees or the San Francisco 49ers or the Los Angeles Lakers. But I think everyone should at least start their careers by volunteering to help others in sports. Not only does this pass along the joy of teaching someone to compete, but it also puts those big numbers in perspective: that simple “thanks” from a day’s work is worth more than all the millions in this world could buy.

Fan Power

Fans are a very important part of the sports world – without them professional sports would not be the same.

The few times I have been to professional sporting events, I have seen a few dedicated fans who were decked out in their team’s colors. These fans had also painted their faces and bodies with their teams colors or symbols. They looked like they were having a great time they and generally increased the level of excitement in the stadium.

I also see fans like those when I watch sports on TV. Some fans get so into supporting their team that they make huge banners, drape themselves in flags and cover themselves with paint. The closest I have ever come to something like that is when I went to a soccer game with my soccer team and we all wore our favorite team’s colors. I’ve always thought that going all out would be very exciting and I want to try it sometime. If I ever get the chance to watch a really great game in person including a team that I fervently support, I think I will do it.

I’m sure we will be seeing fans of that nature this summer because of the Beijing Olympics. National pride and excitement for a team will encourage people to get dressed up and go out to celebrate their teams.

How do you support your favorite teams? What kind of fan are you? Do you belong to a fan club? Do you go to games or watch them on TV? Do you spend time talking about, debating, and researching your favorite teams?

Sports in Disguise

The things we do that we know as “sports” are probably the same things we see on Gatorade commercials or SportsCenter: guys and girls breaking a major sweat by sprinting across fields, diving onto grass for the spectacular play or leaping for awesome slam dunk.

But what about sports that most people don’t think of as “sports”? What about athletic efforts that a lot of folks don’t see as breaking that major sweat or making a sudden heroic play? Are they still sports and their players still athletes?

I personally had a brush with one of those gentler sports today in sailing. Think about it: does coasting along on rippling waters under sunny skies sound like sport to you. I didn’t think so either, until our boat flipped on its side and I splashed into the water.

I didn’t get hurt, but I understood why boating’s a sport when my instructor pulled me back into the boat. He told me to watch him carefully as he turned and pitched the boat. I noticed that his actions actually took a lot of fine muscle coordination and focus.

When we came back ashore, I came back with really a new sense of what sport is. Yes, it is those games that make you sweat and your heart pump. But it’s also those that challenge your mind and make you focus on using your body to its best. That’s the kind of sport sailing is.

Have you ever watched or been part of a sport that you didn’t think was the same workout as the “normal” sports. Tell us what you did and how you think of sports now that you did it.

Family Tradition

Gymnast Anastasia Valeryevna Liukin, more commonly known as Nastia, is part of the United States gymnastics team and will be competing in Beijing. She was born in Moscow in the fall of 1989 and moved to the United States when she was only 2 ½ years old. Her parents, Anna and Valeri Liukin, were both Olympic gymnasts themselves and became gymnastic coaches once they moved to the United States. While training other athletes to be gymnasts, they would bring Nastia along. When they saw how much potential she had, they began coaching her as well.

I think many people start to play sports because of their family’s interest in sports or because of a history their family has with a sport. Often times it is because they grow up in an environment where that is the predominant sport being played or talked about. For example, I know two families in which the parents are huge soccer fans and grew up playing soccer, in fact, those parents are still playing soccer today. All the children in both of those families play competitive soccer now and love the game. Another more personal example has to do with my mother and I - My mother used to dance when she was growing up and when I was five years old, she signed me up for the same type of dance classes.

Do you play any sports that someone else in your family likes or plays? How did you get introduced to some of the sports you play?

Better Than on Paper

I’m really excited today. It’s not just because I had a great six-mile run to start off my day, although that was definitely a plus. I got excited because of what I saw laying on the floor under the mail slot in our house, seconds after the postman’s hand clattered through, delivering a gift I look forward to every month:

My issue of Bicycling Magazine.

Now, I should say that even though I am a big Bicycling fan and a cyclist myself, it’s not that particular magazine that makes me happy every month. In fact, there are three or four days a month that I am so excited, because on those three or four days, one of the many sports magazines I subscribe to comes clattering through the mail slot.

I know what you’re thinking: Dude, it’s just a magazine. But for me these magazines are more than glossy pictures and blabbering text about a sport I am interested in. For me, such magazines are a connection to the outside world of experts and pro athletes who have taken these sports to another level. It is between these covers that the best of the best spill their training secrets and share what they think about their sport, staying in shape and just about life in general and how they connect to it. The best part for me is when I can connect with what they think and realize that sometimes our thoughts on sports are almost the same.

I, like most people, probably won’t grow up to be a professional athlete and my morning ride through the hills may be as close as I get to the Tour de France, physically. But mentally, I can feel closer the pro cyclists just by knowing what they think. That makes all the sweat and grind of being a biker worth it in the first place.

What sports magazines do you read and for what sports? Tell us about athletes you’ve enjoyed reading about and what they thought of the game so we can share too!

8/8/08

August 8, 2008 will be the first day of the Beijing Olympics. Olympic hype has been everywhere for months now, but the real deal is about to begin. Some of my friends are traveling to Beijing and will be there during the Olympics. I wish I could travel to Beijing and see everything in person, but even though I will be watching everything on the TV from my living room couch, I am very excited.

One event that I can’t wait to watch is soccer. I play soccer and I also love to watch it. I can’t wait to see which teams come out on top and watch all my favorite players matched up against each other. I remember the last big tournament that I followed closely was the World Cup in 2006. I watched as many games as I could and made sure I caught the final. And boy am I glad I did, the final was filled with suspense and drama and resulted in an extremely tense ending of penalty kicks. I hope the Olympics will be just as exciting and fun to watch!

Another event which I always watch is gymnastics. The things those gymnasts can do completely amazes me! Whenever I watch gymnastics, I sit transfixed. The balance, flexibility, flips, jumps, and turns are incredible to watch. Diving is another sport that fascinates me and I am looking forward to seeing divers from around the world compete together in Beijing. Synchronized diving amazes me – not only can those athletes perform remarkable movements with their bodies, but they can do it perfectly coordinated with another person!

I am so excited that this year is an Olympic year and that we can watch tons of sports on TV! What Olympic events will you be tuning into? Which events do you find the most interesting and exciting to watch?

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Take me out to the ball game.

Take me out to the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.

I don’t care if I ever come back.

We probably all know those words as the theme song of baseball, our nation’s favorite game. We’ve sung them since we were little kids and through all of our little league games. But today, I got to live those words in front of the best men of the game in the entire world.

I’ve been to a few baseball games before, but today felt really specially. I watched my favorite team, the San Francisco Giants, at their home stadium. I even got a bobblehead figure of the team’s best pitcher, Matt Cain because I was one of the first 20,000 fans to get to the game. I ate the stadium’s famous garlic fries and had seats along the third base line. I even saw the things that make it world famous. The stadium isn’t old and legendary like some of the best ballparks in the league, but that stadium is a home with many cool features. During the game I was able to walk around the stadium and see the giant Coke bottle and baseball glove in left field. They’re kind of like the stadium’s trademarks and show where the ball would travel to 500 feet if a home run was hit that far.

I should say that the Giants did lose, 7-2. But more important than the outcome of the game was actually being there in person for my team and seeing all the important places that make them my favorite.

What sports games have you been to? What was your favorite part of being their for your team. Tell us all about it!

Staying Up with Sports

So, everyone’s got their game, the sport they love and have practiced at and are good at because they’ve worked on developing their skills to an awesome level. But what about other sports? And what about still being a part of sports even after you’re out of your playing days? What’s an athlete do to keep up with the fun and games that make up competition after the adrenaline stops pumping.

After I ran four years of cross country and track in high school, I decided I wanted sports to be a major part of my life. I knew I could still run for teams around town, but I wanted even more. So I looked for ways to follow sports, even if I wasn’t doing them. I wrote for the sports section of my high school’s online newspaper and even got a job selling sports equipment for the summer.

Both things I did have been a lot of fun, mostly because they helped me stay around the athletes and the games I grew up loving, plus they have helped me learn about new ones. When I started writing for the school paper, I first got assigned to cover the water polo team. It was a sport I’d never heard of and knew nothing about, but that made me even more determined to learn it. I studied water polo harder than I studied for school! Eventually, I got to know the game and was able to write about it well, and that felt really exciting because I was now able to say I learned something that I really wanted to know.

Is there a sport you’ve learned about or would like to know more about? What are you doing to study that sport or stay involved with others? Tell us all about them so that we can help you learn with what we know!

What is Polocrosse?

What is polocrosse? Not many people know the answer to that question because of polocrosse’s relative obscurity. The sport has been around for over 60 years but most people have never heard of it.

Polocrosse, considered a horse sport, is played on horseback and is said to improve riding skills. Its most simple definition is a combination of polo and lacrosse. The objective of the game is to throw the ball between the goal posts using a stick with a thread net on the end.

Polocrosse began in England but the modern game was invented in Australia. Even though it is not a high profile sport, it is played in many countries around the world. In the United States, Texas has the largest number of polocrosse clubs although they are beginning to become more common around the nation. Infact, a few Colleges including Dartmouth and Colorado State now have polocrosse teams.

Polocrosse is unique in that players of any age level can play together. Do you know of any sports where this happens?

Have you ever heard of polocrosse? Do you know about or play any sports on horseback?

Back Down to Earth

Every team in the National Football League is at least a month away from its first practice game of the 2008-09 season, but I think right now is the most exciting time for pro football fans all over the country. I know I’m excited, because right now football players have come back down to earth.

No, I don’t mean that football players have been playing in space, of course. But in the “training camp” part of the football season, players aren’t playing in huge cities, in expensive stadiums hundreds of miles from you, the fans. In fact, most teams are practicing at small colleges or stadiums in the towns near the big cities where they play, which lets more people catch a piece of the action live, instead of just on television.

One team I’m really excited about is the San Francisco 49ers. They’re my favorite team and, given where I live, the home team. Normally, to catch a game, and see great players like running back Frank Gore, I’d have to take an hour-long train ride into the big city. But now, in the lazy days of summer, the Niners are playing just down the highway in Santa Clara, about 20 minutes away from me. They’re so close, in fact, that I’ll be able to watch one of their training camps later this week and maybe even ask a few players for autographs. At the very least, I get to see how my team is shaping up for the season.

In this era, where football players and other athletes are such big stars, fans rarely get a chance to be part of the team, besides paying expensive ticket prices. Training camp is one of those great chances fans get to make memories with the hometown squad.

What’s your favorite football team and do you plan to see their training camp practices? Tell us all about your favorite parts of the camp workouts!

Inspiring Sports Figures

Many people play sports because of inspiring coaches, players, or parents. Of course a love for the game is necessary, but having a sports idol often times encourages a person to continue playing the sport. A sports figure that I find very inspiring is my dance teacher. I admire her qualities both as a person and as a dancer, and she has inspired me to continue dancing.

When I was six years old, my mother signed me up for dance classes and I went because she told me to. The years passed and going to dance class became more of a personal decision for me – I no longer went because my mother wanted me to but because I wanted to go. My dance teacher always expected us to practice well and come to class prepared. She helped me develop as a person and was an inspiration to me.

When I used to watch my dance teacher dance, I was amazed at her skill. Not only did I admire her for her dancing but for her other qualities. Her poise, self confidence and put-together manner were all qualitites I aspired to have. I think that dancing played a role in her developing those characteristics and I have found that dance has taught me to become more self confident.

Who got you into sports and inspired you to play? Do you have a sports idol – it can be someone famous, a coach or teacher, or even a parent - or someone that you admire?

Panic Attack!

Last week I hurt my foot. Not badly, but I definitely couldn’t dance. I was panicking.

Normally I wouldn’t be too worried about the kind of injury I had because it would heal in a couple days - at most by the end of the week. This time was different because of a huge dance performance I had coming up. The performance was not for another month or so but I needed every day to practice. Lets just say that taking a week off was not an option.

I was doing everything to make my foot better as soon as possible - I iced it 5 times a day and then heated it like the doctor told me to. The doctor also took a scan of my foot to make sure that there was no hairline fracture or anything serious that would take weeks or months to heal. While I was waiting for the results of the scan to come back, I was very nervous because I couldn’t afford to take many days off of practice if I was going to perform in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully it is ok and I can dance on it now, but if it had been more serious and had not healed as quickly as it did, I would not have known what to do.

Have you ever gotten hurt before a big game or performance? Comment below and tell me what you would do in that situation.

Comeback Wins

It was a two-run double into the left-field gap. The ball soared off the bat and into the green space between two outfielders and the stadium roared. Two San Francisco Giants runners sprinted home, the third-base coach screamed at them to get down and slide and the scoreboard flashed once, then twice. The Giants got the lead 6-4 over the Washington Nationals! The Giants were an inning away from walking off with a comeback win tonight. It was a beautiful moment.

Comeback moments are some of my favorite in sports. They don’t just change the fans by pumping them up at seeing their team take a lead; they change the players in the game and give them the emotional charge to hit harder, run faster and make the plays they need to secure the win. In the game that I watched tonight the Giants were entirely changed by that one hit. The sadness of being behind by a run was gone, replaced by the energy of trying to secure the win.

The other reason I love comeback plays is that they are so sudden. You can’t see them coming; you can only hope they do. You sit on the edge of your seat, staring at the runs on the scoreboard, wishing that you’re team could just push one more guy across the plate. You start to lose hope, and think about the next game and then, with a crack of the bat, all that hope is back! The runs dash across the plate and just seconds after you were so sad, you are now so happy.

That’s what makes sports so fun I think, that sudden change in emotion. Has your favorite team ever made a comeback win? Tell us all about it and how you felt as it happened!

High Pressure Sports Situations

Have you ever been really nervous before a big game or sporting event? Right now I am pretty nervous for a big dance recital that I have coming up. The recital includes me dancing in front of 300 people for 2 and half hours BY MYSELF!

I have been preparing for this performance for the last couple of months and I have another 5 weeks to keep improving. I know that I will be prepared because I have been practicing everyday and working really hard. Everything is coming together but that doesn’t stop the butterflies in my stomach when I think about such a big performance. As the day comes closer, I am realizing more and more the reality of how big an event this will be and I find myself getting more nervous.

Now, I am not nervous-scared, instead I am more nervous-excited. I love dancing and performing and I have performed in front of hundreds of people before…but never alone. That is what makes me most nervous about this performance. I have spoken to other people who have given similar performances to the one I will give. They all tell me that I will not be nervous on the day of the performance if I prepare well and am confident in my ability to dance. I sure hope they are right!

Have you ever played in a high pressure game or performance where you were nervous beforehand? Comment below and tell me about it.

The Big One

Tomorrow is the Big One. At least, it’s the Big One for me. Tomorrow, I am going to take an important step in my training for a half-marathon (13-mile) race that I am going to run in early October. I’m going to run my longest run of the summer, about nine miles. For me this is a big step toward an important goal that I’ve been working toward for a long time now. For me, those steps in that kind of hard work are a big part of sports.

Really, it’s moments like tomorrow morning that athletes live for. When you’re really set on a goal for how fast you’ll run, how well you’ll hit or throw or shoot for a score. I am not really nervous about tomorrow morning. I’m breathing a little faster, sitting a little straighter and lost in a little more thought tonight because I can’t wait to get to work on knocking down this next goal. I know I’m ready.

And in truth, it’s moments like those that make sports so incredible that so many people are drawn to watch them. These moments are few and far between in sports, even among the professionals. Some great moments are pure luck—a sheer accident of bat striking ball, ball gliding through hoop or kick spinning through the goal posts. Others, the ones that happen so often that they make an athlete great (like basketball’s Lebron James or football’s Jason Taylor) , are the ones that come from the skill built up by hard work and those are the true thrillers.

What are you working on as an athlete? How long have you been practicing to make the perfect play? Tell us all about it so we can root you on!

Working Out On The Beach

I just got back from a trip to Hawaii with my soccer team where we competed in a tournament with local teams. While I was there this past week I had many new experiences, one of which was a beach workout.

My team did plyometrics on the beach to improve our strength. That means we did specific exercises to strengthen our leg muscles and our cores. Then we went for a run along the shore. Have you ever run at the beach? If you have, you know how hard it is because of all the sand. It takes extra effort to run at the beach and is hard on your legs. That workout was one of the hardest workouts I have ever done even though it was a comparably short distance to my usual runs. At the end of our beach workout everyone on my team was exhausted. My legs felt wobbly and like they were going to give out at any moment. I was so tired and I had to take deep, long breaths. Thankfully, there is a plus side to working out on the beach in Hawaii – the ocean is only feet away! Also, the water is the perfect temperature – warm but still refreshing and cooling on a hot day or after a hard workout. We took advantage of being at a Hawaiian beach and went swimming right after our workout to relax and cool down.

Comment below and tell me about workouts you have done or interesting places you have done them.

Playing Through the Pain: Is it smart?

It’s the dog days of summer and with the Olympics and playoff baseball closing in fast, a lot of athletes are just now reaching their prime. Those that aren’t in the game right now are off training and going through grueling workouts to get themselves ready for the challenge of the next year. It seems like the perfect time for everyone working as hard as they can.

And then....an injury.

It could be soreness in a knee. Sharp pains in the side. Total, unbreakable stiffness in the shoulders. The great athlete comes crashing down, the toned muscles and refined joints crumpling in a heap of pain...and worry. Down on the ground, the athlete who has been working so hard faces a tough choice: stop training to get better or play through the pain, and push themselves to ignore a really high urge to quit.

How do they make a choice like that?

Really, I think choosing to play through the pain comes down to how well you know your own body and its ability to come back day after day to get the job done and also how serious the injury really is. Take me, for example. I’ve been running almost every day to train for a race, but last Sunday I woke up with a terrible head cold.

I thought about the six miles I was supposed to put in for the day. It would be a shame to miss the workout, but I’ve still got months until that race. I know from another time that I had this choice that running through a cold means it could take a lot longer to heal. I knew that taking one day off to recover would do a lot more good than breaking myself down for several days in a row.

Have you ever played through an injury? Tell us all about what goals you were working toward as an athlete. How did you decide what to do knowing about that goal?

Sports Around the World

I love traveling and seeing new places as well as playing sports. So when I found out that I would be going to Hawaii during the summer with my soccer team I was very excited because it was a combination of two of my favorite things.

We played in a tournament there and got to participate in customs we had never even heard of before. For example, in Hawaii it is customary to give the team you play a small gift when the game is over. We made hair bands for all the girls we played against and got great gifts in return including charms and snacks. Learning about sports in other places and the little differences in how people play those sports is very interesting to me. Have you ever played sports in a different state or country and is it different?

The trip was also very exciting because we participated in sports other than soccer while we were there. One of my favorite ones was surfing! I had no idea how tiring surfing could be and even though it completely tired me out, it was exciting and definitely worth it! Surfing lived up to my expectations and I hope I can do it again sometime soon. Do you remember your feelings after playing a sport for the first time?

Comment below and tell me about your experiences with playing sports in different places.

Get Ready for Action!

So the big game is approaching...fast. Fast, like it’s two or three hours away. Two or three hours, and you’ll be out there with your muscles flying and heart pumping and you’ll be winning, challenging, defeating, dominating your opponent. Or...not?

To me, it’s what you do before that big game that separates you from winning and dominating or losing because you’re off-focus. A lot of players have a routine of things they do before a game, called a “pre-game ritual”. They do the same thing, the same way before every single game. Usually, it’s the same things they did before the last time they had a great game, because they believe the same good luck will come back to them.

I ran cross country for my school’s team in high school. Before my first race, I warmed up with stretching, a couple sprints and then two final stretches. Then tied my shoes twice and clicked through all the buttons on my watch. Then I took the starting line, and I finished with the best time on the entire team for that day.

From that day on, I’ve always done the same start-up routine before every race, from the stretches to the shoes to the buttons on the watch, and it’s worked pretty well. I had a great career running and even finished with a 3-mile time of 17 minutes, 30 seconds. I now say that I believe in the luck of the pre-game ritual. It’s something I’ll always do.

Do you buy the luck of a pre-game routine? Do you have one? Tell us about what you do and how you can to that same routine; maybe we can try your rituals and see if it works for us, too!

What I think about 8-8-08

It’s. Finally. Here....almost. On the eighth day, of the eighth month, of this eighth year of the 2000s, the Summer Olympics begin in Bejing, China. One the goals of the Olympics is to show how people from all different parts of the world can come together to create something really exciting, like competition in sports. Here in the United States, we are lucky enough to actually have 33 examples of this on its own team; these nearly three dozen athletes were born somewhere other than America. I think they hold a special place on Team USA.

I myself have had a teammate who immigrated to this country. She came to my high school from Zimbabwe, a country in southern Africa. I had never met someone from Zimbabwe and wondered if she was as serious an athlete as I am. It turns out that she worked just as hard at running and enjoyed it as much as I did. She was a great teammate and one of my best friends. I found that the desire to win is something everyone around the world feels—not just Americans.

That eighth day will be the start of hearts pounding and muscles flexing and sweat dripping, but it should also be the start of something else: minds thinking. When I think of the games and of that teammate from Zimbabwe who ran with me, I think about how lucky we are to be able to come together every four years and make something good with many different types of people. This summer, I say that we should honor these foreign-born athletes as an example of what the Games are all about.

Mixin' up "The Usual"

Ok, Ok, I know. You’re getting really good at your favorite sport because you’ve been practicing every day and you’ve been taking care of yourself just like your coaches tell you to. But you still think that you could get a little bigger edge over your opponent or that guy who’s also fighting for your favorite position. How can you do it?

One tip that I take from the pros is cross-training. Cross-training is doing another sport that works different muscles while letting the ones you count on all the time have a much-needed rest. Those other muscles, that cross-training builds up, support the muscles you use in your favorite sport and can help you not only stay in shape but also prevent some injuries.

My favorite sport is running. For my cross-training, I bike a cool loop that I mapped out through the river trails in my town. When I bike instead of running it lets my quadriceps (front thigh muscles) rest, because they take most of the pain from my running. Instead, I build up my calves, which helps support those quadriceps on really long runs. I’ve read in some running magazines that every three miles of biking has the same effect on your body as running one mile.

Lots of summer sports make great cross-training sports. Swimming works great as a way to cool off and rest your muscles after baseball or football. Biking is a nice way to rest after any sport and even a hike through some soft wooded areas can help give your body a break. So if you’re looking for a way to keep building up your talent without getting injured, try some cross-training this summer and see how it works for you!

Trying something new for you

When I was a kid, I loved baseball. I played for ten seasons. By my count, that’s about 170 games, almost 200 afternoons of crunching on sunflower seeds, sliding hard into third and cheering at the other team’s final out. I did that for about half my life and loved every minute of it. And then one day around Christmas when I was 15, I changed completely.

You have to first know that when I was a little kid I thought I would be a professional player in the big leagues someday. I couldn’t hit very well, but hey, I’d played 10 seasons already, so I had experience, right? I thought I’d just rack up some awesome stats in high school and college and before I knew it I’d be staring at a San Francisco Giants jersey with my name on the back.

That was before December 15, 2005. That day I went to the team meeting for my high school’s baseball team. Only about 20 people there would make the team and the room was packed. And it wasn’t packed with just anyone, it was filled with players who’d been legends in my Little League years. These were guys who were All-Stars every season and I’d never even gotten it once. With a little sadness, I realized that baseball was over for me.

Well, now what?

I was looking for something to do and I had a great math teacher who noticed I was down. I told my dream was over and he told me that if I wanted to stay in shape, I should run with his cross country team. Everyone who ran would make the team, even if they weren’t all-star level. I decided it was worth at least a try.

For the first few days, I was intimidated. I hung near the back and just focused on getting through the runs, panting all the way. Then, one day, I passed a friend I made on the team and stayed ahead for the whole run. It was then that I knew I was hooked. I found something I could be pretty good at just by enjoying it. I knew this was the sport for me and I’ve stayed with it for four years.

Summer is a great time to get out and move, even if your favorite sport isn’t in season. Just try something new and think about the parts of the new sport that make it fun. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up finding a sport that you grow to love!

Brett's Next Step

I have never been a quitter, at least not because of problems in sports that made me quit. I’ve always tried to work through those problems by training harder, running faster and staying mentally tough. But when an athlete has made his mark on a sport and has built himself a great reputation, I think he should know when enough goodness is enough and when it is time to quit so that they aren’t a distraction to the team they’ve built themselves on.

What I’m talking about is whether Brett Favre, the legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback, should come back to football for another season after quitting and then coming back so many times.

Now, I’m a 49ers fan. I’ve grown up always rooting against Brett and the way he could mow down a San Francisco defense to rack up points. But more than any silly rivalry, I root for the good of the game, like a lot of fans. Part of that “good of the game” is the good of its players, mostly its stars—stars like Brett. The way he goes down in history is really important to how football of the 1990s is going to be remembered.

I’ve been following the news about Brett and his latest comeback. I’ve seen the clips of his announcing his retirement. He looked like he meant it to me. Now I’ve heard that he says the team pressured him. I think it’s time for this to stop. Brett Favre is great and always will be, even to 49ers fans. I think it’s time that he settle for that reputation and enjoy being a star without getting greedy and trying to add even more to his legendary records.

Workin' It--Summer Style!

As the long, lazy days of summer approach, with no school and no homework and all kinds of fun at your fingertips, there is something athletes of all ages should remember: Sticking with something you enjoy and have put a lot of hard work into is important, especially in sports. The only way to really get better at a sport, and gain a step on your opponents is to keep working and practicing, even when they’re not.

I started doing this for my cross country running team in the summer after my freshman year of high school. I grew up in a town where the summers are very, very hot. I wanted to make the varsity cross country squad for the next school year. My training secret: I ran when no one else would. In weeks where the sun blazed down on the town, I worked through long runs and hills because I knew that the only way I could make the team would be if I knew that I had worked harder than anyone else who was there.

You know what the best part was?

The best part was that my plan worked. I was able to get through the team organized workouts with no problems and ended up winning several races between me and my teammates. My coach was really proud and happy that I hard worked so hard. He made me part of the varsity team. By the end of the year, my hard work helped me run a three-mile race in 17 minutes, 30 seconds. It felt awesome! I guess hard work, even when it the lazy summer makes it hard to talk yourself into it, is a pretty good idea.

Update: The Blade Runner

A few weeks ago, when I first began writing for this blog, I wrote about a man named Oscar Pistorius. Oscar is a South African man who was born missing major bones in both of his legs. He lost his legs and runs with the help of manmade ones. This week, he has been trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Until Oscar came along, people with manmade legs had never been allowed to run in the 400-meter dash. But Oscar did it, and even though he hasn’t qualified yet, I think he has already made a huge difference.

The big difference Oscar made was bigger than the fact that he didn’t run the time he needed to qualify for the Olympic race (he needed a 45.5-second finish; he ran a 46.62). The big difference was that Oscar changed the way athletes with no manmade parts see those who do need them.

Some of Oscar’s competitors said that the manmade legs gave him an unfair advantage and that that somehow made him less of a true athlete. I completely disagree. Whatever legs he had, I think Oscar showed more courage and hard work by continuing to train and fight for his chance to compete, even when others looked down on him. I think that, whatever time he ran, Oscar showed us all the attitude that the Olympics and all sports should try to teach people: sticking with a dream through everything.

The good news is that Oscar isn’t completely out of chances yet. He can still qualify for the South African 4x400-meter relay team (for which six men are chosen instead of just the top three). I’ll be watching that race because I hope a man like this gets an honest shot at the world’s games. Don’t you agree?

Stars And Their Fans

We all have our favorite sports players and teams but how many of us actually get to meet them? Not all players take the time out to meet their fans and sign autographs. Corey Maggette of the Warriors is one player that does.

The first day Maggette officially became a Warrior he spent the entire morning signing autographs and speaking to coaches and players. He visited a youth basketball camp and took photos and answered questions the campers had for him.

As an avid soccer fan myself, there are certain players that I would love to meet. I have been to a few games where I have seen some of these players play but I have never gotten the opportunity to meet any of them. I saw many amazing U.S. players when I went to a USA v. Japan game and I also saw the famous Beckham at an Earthquakes v. LA Galaxy game. While I was watching these games I realized that just watching all the talented players play was rewarding in itself and I didn’t need to get an autograph. I hope I get the opportunity to watch more of my favorite players play in the future and maybe even meet them.

Comment below and tell me about your favorite sports players and if you have ever gotten any autographs from him/her.

Just Keep Swimming!

Imagine this.: you’re24, strong from your training for Olympic swimming events and excited about the Olympic Trials in one week. You go to your doctor’s office and think everything is going to be fine because you’re strong as a horse right now. Then the doctor comes in with a sad frown on his face and tells you that you have cancer.

At that moment, I think anyone who decides to keep on swimming has the kind of guts that make sports beautiful. In fact, that is exactly what American swimmer Eric Shanteau decided to do after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Eric found out that he had cancer one week before he was supposed to try and qualify for the Olympics in the 200-meter breaststroke. If I’d been him, I’d have thought about going home and beginning the long recover process ahead. Not Eric however. He found out the cancer isn’t going to spread and focused on the Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.

At the trials, Eric surged past the race’s favorite and into second place. He made it and he says he’ll put off his treatment for a few months to compete in the Olympics for his country.

I think Eric’s mental toughness is something everyone should try to have. He didn’t give up when he was in a tough spot. Instead, he put any negative energy he might have had into doing his best to achieve his dream. Then, when he was successful, he didn’t just sit around and celebrate. He’s chosen to work even harder to make sure this opportunity is worth it. Eric’s ability to work hard is what I think separates him as one of the greatest athletes in the Games, no matter what the final results.

Starting the Streak

So we know what it takes to be a great athlete, right? A big body, huge muscles, toughness and, of course, talent. Maybe that’s all we can think of off the top of our heads, but I think there’s one important thing missing from that list: dedication. Mainly, dedication like sticking with something for a long time until you achieve your goal, no matter what.

I hope dedication is part of being a great athlete, because I don’t have the huge body or the muscles. It’s something I’ve really worked on as I’ve practiced running. Running doesn’t seem that hard; everyone knows how to do it. But being able to run for a long time without the pain bothering you takes practice day after day after day. To make this a little more interesting for myself, I set a goal: I want to catch up to some of the best “streakers” in the sport of running.

What’s a streaker? A streaker is simply someone who’s on a running “streak”. It means they’ve run at least one mile every day for a long period of time. The longest streak I’ve heard of is 38 years. For 38 years, the guy ran at least a mile a day (including six weeks with a broken foot). Why did he do it? Just to prove (to himself) that he could do it and that he loved running so much that he would put time into it every day, no matter what happened.

So here’s the deal: After I go to college, I’m going to go on a streak. I’m going to try to run at least a mile every day, because I love this sport and want to show it. Now you’ve got to tell me, is there any sport you’re dedicated to? Would you do it every day? How long could you keep it up? Tell us below!

Teamwork

Many of the players on the San Jose Saber Cats football team have played together for years. Quarterback Mark Grieb, reciever James Roe, defensive lineman George Williams, center Dan Loney, fullback Brian Johnson and defensive backs Clevan Thomas and Omarr Smith have played in many championship games together since 2002. It seems that being on the same team for such a long time has its benefits as the Saber Cats have been doing well.

Like the Saber Cats, my soccer team has many core palyers who have remained on the team for almost 6 years now. We have become very good friends and we know each other very well on and off the field. This comradrie has familiarized us with each others playing styles and has drastically affected how we play the game. We know who is good at what and who is not so good at what and this knowledge has really helped us make good decisions during our games. Not only does playing together for so long make us successfull on the field, but it also makes us closer and better friends off of the field. Although having that core group has been amazing, my team would not be the same without the new people that we get every now and then. I find that they usually fit in well and transfuse new energy into the team. They introduce us to new styles and ways to play the game and i think this adds greatly to the value of the team.

Comment below and tell me your opinion about teamwork and what you think the ideal team would be: a team of players who have played together for a long time, new players brought together on the same team, or a combination of both?

Titletown, USA?

Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles...Palo Alto? What do those first three big cities and the small town just south of San Francisco have in common? They're all part of the ESPN (the sports channel) contest to find TitleTown, USA. According to them, TitleTown is the place where there are more championships and bigger dramatic moments than any other town in America.

Don't let the quiet rolling hills and rocky bay shores of my hometown fool you. Palo Alto is TitleTown and, even though we don't have any professional sports teams, I only have to use two words to tell you why: Stanford Cardinal.

Stanford has always been one of my teams, especially for basketball and baseball. But for Stanford University, the particular sport doesn't really matter; Palo Alto has been the home of almost 100 sports team titles in its history (58 for men's teams, 37 for women). Plus they've got a great (if rowdy) band who made a comeback last year with its wild music and halftime football shows.

Think your city is better than mine? Tell us all about your teams and what they've done lately and why that makes them part of TitleTown. Sitting on my kingdom over here, I'll bet you can't do it.

Friends On And Off The Court

Former Stanford basketball player Brook Lopez and former Cal basketball player Ryan Anderson now both play for the New Jersey Nets. Because of the schools they attended, Lopez and Anderson used to be rivals, but now that they are playing for the same team they have become friends. They were both chosen during the first round of the NBA draft and have found that they work well together on the court.

Even though sports are competitive and rivalries are formed, I find that they are a great way to make new friends. When I started high school I didn’t know anybody at my new school and I was really nervous. I joined the school’s soccer and track teams and that helped me make lots of new friends with people I wouldn’t have met if I didn’t play soccer and run track.

I also met many of my closest friends through my soccer team (outside of school) that I have remained friends with for a very long time. I am going to Hawaii with that soccer team next week to play in a soccer tournament but it will also be like a vacation since I am friends with everyone on my team. Being on a sports team outside of school allows you to stay in touch with your friends that don’t go to school with you anymore. For example, my dance class is in a different city so all the people in it don’t live near me or go to school with me but we still stay in touch through dance classes.

Have you ever made any friends through sports? What do you think about sports teams rivalries? Comment below and share your experiences and thoughts with me.

Inspired by the Race

Today is a great day. Not just because it’s sunny outside or the middle of summer vacation (no homework for another month!). No, today is great because I have someone to look up to.

I’m actually not looking that far. This guy is only 23, just a few years older than me. But this man, Mark Cavendish, a bicycle racer from Britain. He’s riding in the world-famous Tour de France race. Experts and fans around the sport were stunned with his win yesterday, after surging in the final 900 feet of a miles-long stage of this enormous race.

Young guys like that inspire me. I love to ride my bike through the grassy rolling hills around my town, where there are a lot of people who ride for professional bicycling teams. A lot of these guys say that you have to ride for many, many years before you get a chance to get close enough to the front to win a stage of the race.

That seemed to be true when Lance Armstrong won seven straight Tours de France, but only in his late 30s. Mark’s win in this stage doesn’t change Lance’s years of greatness a lot, but it does show that anyone can win on any given day if he puts in the hard work that is needed.

Coming from behind

It was the final round of the Olympic Trials in the 800 meter event. There were only 200 meters left in the race when the runner in last place sped up and overtook every other runner on the track except one to claim second place. That runners name is Andrew Wheating and he has just won a spot on the Olympic team.

Wheating’s story and progress as a runner is amazing. The high school he attended did not have a track team and he didn’t even start running track until his senior year in high school. Once he did start running it was obvious he had great natural talent as well as a unique strategy that has been working very well for him. Now 20 years old he is known for his running style: he starts out slow but then near the end he drastically speeds up. He runs this way because he does not have as quick of a start as many of the elite runners he competes against. Instead he uses the advantage he gained during high school when he ran longer events - the endurance he built up because of those long events has aided him in making comebacks near the ends of races.

Have you ever witnessed a sporting event in which the losing team or person makes an amazing comeback? Do you have any unusual strategies that you use when you play sports? Comment below and tell me about them.

Boys of Summer at Their Best

Hey, everybody! It’s hot outside and hot dogs are sizzling on barbecues all over the neighborhood. You know what that means (at least if you’re a baseball fan).

That’s right. It’s summer. Actually it’s almost the middle of July, just about time for the All-Star game. That’s the time of the year when I think it’s most exciting to be a fan. Watching games every day is great fun, but I love the suspense and wondering that goes into picking who the very best players—the All Stars—are on every baseball team, not even just my home team.

Some guys get it every year and you can almost call it straight from Opening Day. Other guys earn it, fighting to get a spot in the lineup, running hard every time and coming through big in the clutch. Those are my favorite guys. I think the All-Star game is a really special reward for all the hard work that goes into being a great player. Sometimes I think it’s the guys who work for it and earn the right to be in the game who play better and truly love the game more than the guys who know their automatically in for it.

So, how do the All-Star teams get more guys who want it and are out there working for it? With us, that’s how. That’s right, even though most of us will never be able to hit a 90 mph fast ball or steal on the league’s best catcher, we get to make the teams by voting for who gets on there. Last year, the MLB got 23 million votes from fans who love the game and this year they think it’s going to be way more. It’s these people who get to have a huge say in who’ll be making the biggest play in the game of baseball’s best. That’s the great part about voting for the teams, that you can make your voice be heard by the pros. If this sounds like something you want to do, ask your parents about visiting pro baseball’s website (http://www.mlb.com) and voting for your family’s favorite stars this summer.

Tour de France

Can you imagine biking hundreds of miles a day? Well that is exactly what the competitors in the Tour de France will be doing for days on end. Many people know how to bike but only a few have what it takes to participate in the Tour de France, the world’s largest cycle race.


This year the Tour de France began on July 5, will end on July 27, and is a brutal 2,175 miles. Like in most other cycle competitions, people enter the Tour de France race as part of a team. Each team consists of 9 people. The race is split up into stages - each stage is one day long and the times of the stages are combined at the end of the race to determine the winner.


Samuel Dumoulin won the third stage of the race which took place on July 7. The third stage was…are you ready for this…129 MILES! All the places that I bike to are in the city that I live in and not more than a few miles away and so 129 miles in one day is completely unfathomable to me! I can’t imagine how unbelievably fit you have to be to bike the 2,175 miles of the Tour de France.


Do you bike a lot? When you bike is it usually for fun, transportation, or as a sport? What do you think about the Tour de France and the huge distances they have to bike?

Goodbye, Favorite Team

What would you do if the team you loved moved to a different city? A different state? How about 2,000 miles away, clear across the country? Would you stay true to the team and the players you had known for so long or would you give up on them and hope for another team to come along and bring the joy of winning back to your town?

Today, people in Seattle, Washington faced that choice. One team that they loved, basketball's Supersonics, moved from the Evergreen state (where they had been for 30 years!) and started over as the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Supersonics. The team got a new owner this year and he demanded that the city of Seattle build a new $500 million stadium for his team. When the city didn't have the money, he moved the team to his state almost four hours away by plane.

Many Seattle fans were really angry about the deal. In addition to losing their green and white hoopsters, the fans are losing what I think is the best part of a team: a rivalry. Normally, Sonics fans waited and waited until their squad played the Portland (Oregon) Trailblazers, in the biggest game of the year. I know from growing up here in Central California that my favorite games are those where the San Francisco Giants face off against the Oakland A’s. Everyone around me has so much energy about their favorite team (because for most people it’s one or the other) that going to games and even watching on TV is awesome fun!

I think the most interesting part of the season will be seeing how the new Oklahoma City Supersonics start off and what kind of energy they get from their fans. Oklahoma City doesn’t have as much history with the team, but maybe a change is good for them to shake up new talent. What do you think? Can a team get off to a good start in a new place easily? How would you feel about rooting for your favorite team if they moved?

Dealing with defeat

What would you do if you wanted to make a team and worked really hard to do so and then you didn’t make it? Well, that is the situation Raj Bhavsar finds himself in.

Four years ago during the Athens Olympics, Bhavsar made the Olympic team as an alternate. This year he again made the team as an alternate although he was extremely close to automatically making the team. He performed well on the rings and the vault in which he secured third place and on the parallel bars where he scored second. He would have automatically made the team if he had been second instead of third in the all-around competition and missed making the team by .08 of a point.

Being an alternate means that Bhavsar will only be allowed to compete if one of the six members on the team cannot compete for some reason. Paul Hamm, a member of the men’s Olympic gymnastics team, has a broken bone in his right hand and if it does not heal in time for the Beijing Olympics, Bhavsar may have a chance to compete in place of Hamm. Both Hamm and Bhavsar have worked very hard and have come so close to competing in Beijing that it will be a tragedy for one of them.

Not making a team is hard to deal with, especially if you have worked hard and put your all into it. Bhavsar came very close twice but did not make the team twice even though he is such an accomplished gymnast. Comment below and tell me about your experiences with trying out for a team and competing.

Tennis: The Long Haul

Today, two great tennis players faced off in the longest singles match of all time, maybe even the greatest. Rafael Nadal (NAH-doll) beat Roger Federer (FEH-dur-ur) after Federer made a comeback from being two sets down in the Wimbledon championships. The whole thing—including two rain delays—took four hours, 48 minutes. Serious tennis fans are saying it’s a legendary battle that will be remembered forever.

Some people might say that a tennis match—or any sporting event—taking almost five hours is a waste of time and even quite boring. I disagree. I think that it is the longest games that show the best in great athletes because they have to prove that they can still be the best through any conditions. Many athletes may have moments of greatness that show up in the highlights later, but the true test is to see if they can keep cranking out those moments one after another even as their mind is telling them to stop and they realize that they’re in a place no one has been before by going so long.

Rafael (in the picture at left) and Roger are recognized as the two of the most talented stars in men’s tennis today. I think the only way to tell who was the better man was to really have a sort of athletic war between them, with enough time for each man to come up with a new strategy and then the other man to come up with something against it. They weren’t just players then, making up moves for the moment; they were in that moment true athletes, showing off how much they have worked to know this game to play with such perfection.

So the next time there’s a long-running tennis match (or any kind of game), I think its important for everyone watching it to remember the work it takes and admire the players for sticking with it and staying their best.

Sports Injuries

Tyson Gay collapsed during the quarterfinals of the 200 meter race at the Olympic Trials due to a bad cramp in his hamstring. He will still travel to Beijing to compete in the 100 meter race and 4X100 and 4X400 relays but cannot compete in the 200 meter race anymore. In other sports an appeal can be made for special circumstances but this is not allowed in track and Gay will have to accept defeat and not compete in the 200 meter event in Beijing. This was not the first time Gay did not complete a race due to an injury. The same thing happened in 2004 during the final round of an Olympic Trials race when Gay was unable to complete the race.

Two years ago during a 100 meter hurdle race, a friend of mine hit one of the hurdles and fell face first. She landed on her stomach and had scrapes and cuts on her arms and legs. She didn’t finish the race but after a few minutes she said she felt fine and later that day she ran in another race. Another friend of mine hit a hurdle during a race last year and also fell as a result. She got right back up and continued the race. Even though she had fallen she recovered so quickly that she almost caught up with the rest of the runners. I always thought it was really brave of her to finish running that race and I decided that if I ever fall during a hurdle race I would continue if I could.

Track Town, USA

Most people don't know exactly where the town of Eugene (you-JEEN), Oregon is. But for America's runners, jumpers and sprinters, Eugene is the center of the world. This week, thousands of fans from around the country have journeyed west to see the track and field trials for the summer Olympics. As a runner myself, I really can't think of a better place for the center of the world to be.

For most of the kids I grew up running track and cross country with (and some of the adults), Eugene is the place where really fast American running started. Our idol: Steve Prefontaine (in the picture), a legendary distance runner who ran track for the University of Oregon (which is in Eugene) and set several American records for best times on the track. This week I watched one of the many movies about Steve and remembered why we runners look up to him and to this place.

The movie was called Without Limits. That title really says what Steve thought about himself when he was running. Steve knew that he would never be beaten because he stayed positive all the way through his races. He never wasted energy thinking about how he wanted to give up or being scared that he couldn't pull down a win. He just concentrated on what he could do: run hard.

That's the lesson that a lot of people admire Steve for. He showed us the power of just looking at what we can do and putting aside any fears about things we don't think we can. People can use this for a lot more than just running; they can think about the difficult parts of their lives this way. As Steve's coach, Bill Bowerman, once said: “Running, one might say, is a crazy thing upon which to be exhausting ourselves. If you can find meaning in running, perhaps you’ll find meaning in another crazy pastime: life.”

Overcoming odds

Jordan Hasay and Dara Torres will stand out during the 2008 Olympics because of their ages. Hasay, a track and field star, will stand out because of her youth. Torres on the other hand, will stand out as the oldest American swimmer to ever qualify for the Olympics.

Even though Hasay is only 16 years old, she managed to secure a spot on the Olympic team by finishing 5th during the 1500 meter finals of the Olympic Trials. She finished in 4 minutes and 14.5 seconds and by doing so broke the national high school record in the event.

Dara Torres won the 100 meter freestyle as a 41 year old mother of a 2 year old. She only began training months before the trials and has still managed to come out on top.

Age usually seems like a barrier in sports. Sometimes people think they are too old or too young to participate but Torres and Hasay have proved them wrong. Being older or younger can make it harder to participate in certain sports but I know many adults who continue to enjoy sports and play them on a regular basis. A friend of mine has a mother and father who regularly play soccer in an adult league because they love the game and don’t think they should stop playing just because they are getting older.

What do you think about Torres and Hasay and the odds that they have overcome? Do you think you will play sports when you get older?

Working Hard

David Oliver, a top 110 meter hurdler, has the chance to make it to the Olympic team this year. He has three of the world’s top five times this season including 12.95, a time second to the world record of 12.87. All Olympic athletes are at the top of their game and must be very fit to get as far as the Olympics and Oliver is no exception. His coach, Brooks Johnson, used to give him very hard workouts which Oliver completed without complain. However, the first time he ran one of the workouts he had to throw up during and after because it was so difficult. Even though he knew it would be a tough path, he didn't give up and all of his hard work paid off as he is a favorite to make it to the Olympic hurdle team.

On my soccer team we all used to dread our Monday practices because we always had to complete a really tough workout on Mondays. We all used to whine and hope that the coach would change his mind, but he never did. Every Monday we would run, jump, and sprint until we were completely wiped out and tired. One time I even threw up after a run with my soccer team. I hate that feeling of being so tired and beat after a workout but I still play sports that require conditioning because I think they are fun and the workouts are worth it. When I race and play in a soccer game I am happy that I did all that conditioning during practice because it helped make me better and made it easier for me to run well when it counted.

Do you like playing sports that require lots of stamina and running? What do you think about the conditioning - is it worth it? Comment below and tell me about any times when you worked really hard in preparation for, or during, a game.

A Selfless Star

Yesterday, Gilbert Arenas, a three-time all-star guard for the Washington Wizards, signed a six-year, $111 million contract to stay with his team. It sounds like another basketball star taking in big money, but news reports have said that Gilbert took about $15 million less than he was offered. He is, I think, an admirable example of an athlete concerned about someone other than himself, something that is getting rarer among big-name players.

Arenas turned down the extra money for a simple reason: he wanted the Wizards to have money to get more good players who could help them win a championship. Some might say that Gilbert is being selfish for just wanting to win, but I think he's a lot different from most athletes with his talent. Most guys think they can take the team to the top all by themselves, but Gilbert knows that he has to share the work. He's willing to give up a few extra points or rebounds to bring his team and the fans that support him the joy of winning in future years.

I think being this humble is important for all athletes. No matter how good you might be on your team or in your sport, you can't simply go it alone to bring more glory to yourself. In fact, the best way to get to this glory is to share the work and the fun, too. By doing this you do something better than just win the day's game: you make people feel good about being your teammate and make your sport a better one to play.

Sibling rivalry and the Williams sisters

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis championship in the world and one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. It is held every summer in London, England where the world’s best tennis players come to compete. Venus and Serena Williams are sisters who have dominated the courts for many years and will face off against each other in the Wimbledon Finals…for the third time! It is also the seventh time they both made it to a Grand Slam final match.

Some members of my family are crazy about tennis and I grew up hearing a lot about the Williams sisters. My cousins were especially crazy about tennis and we used to watch it whenever we visited them - especially during the summer when it was Wimbledon time! They used to root for their favorite players and stay glued to the TV until Wimbledon was over. Whenever I saw the Williams sisters play I thought it was so cool how the sisters had to play each other all the time and still had a great relationship with each other.

Have you ever competed against a sibling or a friend? Comment below and tell me if you like or dislike competing against people you know well.

How I See Barry

Today, the ball that Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756^th career home run becomes a part of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. People have argued about the home runs and the record and the ball. But I’d like to talk about Barry. I’d really like to talk about who Barry was when I was a kid and what he meant to me when I was growing up.

I grew up in central California in the late ‘90s and early 2000s as the San Francisco Giants were at their best, winning division races and pennant chases year after year after year. They had a lot of great players and I knew the names of every one of them. But one guy really made crowds everywhere stand up and scream just by coming to plate or trotting to the field.

Barry Bonds, who played left field for the Giants for as long as I could remember watching baseball, was a baseball god. He was different from the other players because you could almost predict his moments of greatness. The Giants would need that one big hit to surge into the lead and you could count: three...two...one...and Barry would snap his bat around in his trademark tight swing. The next shot on the television would be that long shot of the baseball diamond where you could see the tiny baseball disappear over the right field wall.

That’s who Barry Bonds will always be to me, no matter what any one says about his ball or his record or the man himself. In my mind, in my memory, Barry will forever be the guy you could count on in the clutch. Really, I think that’s the kind of baseball player a guy has to be to be defined as a star.

Record Breaking

Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin has broken many records including personal records, U.S. records, and world records. She won 5 medals at the 2004 Athens games and holds U.S. records in four events. She even beat her own world record for the 100 backstroke during preliminary heats for the 2008 Olympic Games. Backstroke is her main event and she was the first woman to break one minute and the first woman to break 59 seconds in the 100 meter backstroke.

We can’t all break world records but we can improve and break our own previous records. Whenever I run a race in track I always hope to beat my personal record. Even if I don’t win, I am usually happy if I do my best and beat my old best time. It feels great to beat your own personal record because it means that you are improving.

What sports do you like to play? Comment below and tell me about times when you played your best or broke your own record.

Coming Back

On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals were up, 7-1, in the 9^th inning over the New York Mets. With a lead that big, TV commentators thought that the Cards might put in closer Mark Mulder. Mulder has been out with a shoulder injury. The announcers said that part of coming back from his injury is coming in easy situations (like with a six-run lead) would help Mark not only get his arm strength, but also to get back into the mental feel of competing.

I am making a comeback from injury of my own right now. I run long distances competitively (1 and 2 mile races) and doctors said that I ran so many miles that I got a stress fracture in both of my legs. The doctors orders were simple and sad: 3-4 months of rest from running. No running at all. I didn’t want to be depressed about not running, so I kind of forgot about running for that time. When I finally got going again in late June, I had a lot of coming back to do. My muscles ached from the first workouts and I was out of breath on the shortest run. But the biggest come back was in my head. Like Mulder, I had to remember what it felt like to be competing again to really push myself hard to do something I hadn’t for a long time.

Have you ever had to come back from a sports injury or a long break from something you enjoy? Tell us about how you felt during your comeback.

Family Fun - Chellsie Memmel

Chellsie Memmel hopes to make it to the U.S. gymnastics team and compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics. She is 19 years old and from West Allis, Wisconsin. One aspect of her life that makes her especially interesting is that her father is also her coach. Both her parents were gymnasts and her dad has always played a part in her training but in 2004 he started to train her full time.

I remember when I was younger that my dad and I used to play sports together also. Sometimes he used to kick around a soccer ball with me or help me work on aspects of the game I wanted to improve on. We also used to have friendly races and he always said that he would beat me...but he never did! My sister and I also play sports together. Soemtimes we play pass with a soccer ball or take turns shooting on goal. When we dance together we give each other feedback and tips on how to improve. I love spending this time with my dad and sister. It's a great way to become closer and bond with your family

Do you ever play sports with anyone in your family? Comment below and tell me about it.