Making Faces

Thanksgiving is still the best! I had all my cousins over for a big feast and we made and ate a lot of really good delicious healthy food. Then, after dinner- all my cousins and I were playing around. We had a funny face contest and made some really hilarious ones. Check out this one in the picture.

What's your favorite funny face to make? Sad? Happy? Surprised? IN YOUR FACE- LOL!!!!

Have you guys heard the story about the kid who made a funny face and it stayed that way??? It's TRUEEEEE!!!!

Also- then we played football afterwards with all my cousins, uncles, and aunts. It was a LOT OF fun. My brother made a really good play when we were on opposite teams (I was quarterback). He swatted the ball up in the air, intercepted it, and returned it for a touchdown. I was a little embarrassed, but it was a really good play.

What have you done on Thanksgiving? Any good sports? YAYYYY!!!!

Thanksgiving Turkey Day Challenge

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Tons of family come over for a big feast. It's a relaxed and nice Thursday. And there's nothing to do besides give Thanks, be thankful, and enjoy your family. Oh yeah, and one more thing- EAT!!!

SO, for me, my funny Thanksgiving Eating Challenge is to eat all I can! I eat turkey, and cranberry sauce, and squash, and corn, and bread rolls, and some green bean casserole. It's delicious!!! And then I haven't even gotten to the dessert yet! Eat tons of dessert- pumpkin pie, apple pie, blueberry pie and more!

What are your favorite types of pie? How many plates are you going to eat?

And then after dinner- you got to watch and enjoy lots of football. That's fun too.

Actually, I'm going to go run right now so that I have more room for eating!! LOL.

Obstacle Courses

Good to see that there was a lot of interest in sledding. That's definitely one of the best winter activities. Another fun activity you can do is play inside.

My brothers and I have two great activities. We have a friend with a big cement floor in the basement. There are two big poles in it and we put on our rollerblades and go round and round as fast as we can. Sometimes we play floor hockey. But usually it's just skating around in circles.

The other thing we do is set up obstacle courses- kind of like one event in American Gladiators- where a person is dodging and running to get to one end of the room. We play in a bedroom where there are two beads to dive around and use for cover. It's a lot of fun. We take turns being the person throwing the objects and the person trying to get through.

Are there any made-up games that you play? What are the rules? They can get pretty complicated I'm sure- LOL. Let us know!

Sledding Time

One of my favorite things about the winter and cold weather is SLEDDING! We just had our first snow and I couldn't help but get really excited. I'm just waiting for enough snow so that my friends and I can hike up the biggest hill we can find and bomb on down.

We love racing and making big jumps. That's the best part about snow- it's so soft that you can jump and land anywhere and you'll be okay. Better than jumping on the bed! Ha.

Do you like to sled? What's your favorite type of sled? Toboggans go really fast, but you need to have hard snow that the skis can sit on. Inner tubes are really good. Saucers are fun but a lot of the times you can get dizzy when they start spinning like crazy! I think my favorite are just the big plastic sheets. How about you?

See you on the slopes! I'll be the one flying past like a rocket!

Sports Injuries

As everyone knows, injuries are part of sports.

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.

Have you ever gotten hurt during a sport? How did you react?

It's Sunday!!!

(Feelin' kinda Sunday, feelin' kinda Sunday, feelin' kinda Sunday)
(Feelin' kinda Sunday, feelin' kinda Sunday, feelin' kinda Sunday)
Hey Mr. Sunlight, don't outshine your bright,
I'm talking out of my head, I'm so high on life.
Don't you know that it's gonna be a "thousand-and-one" day.
And I'm feeling kinda Sunday, (feeling kinda Sunday), feeling kinda Sunday.
Pardon my glow-on, out on the high all night,
I see myself in a world right where I belong,
There's nothing can hold me down , it's a "get-up-and-run" day.
And I'm feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday), feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday),
Feeling kinda Sunday, (Sunday).
The bells I hear in me say I should be getting up late,
Been traveling all morning long, but I'm still here in my room.
Not to give in to (in to) this feeling I'm on to, (I'm on to)
I'm looking at love from a window, to lighten the view,
It's just the beginning of happy go Sunday,
And I'm feeling kinda Sunday (feeling kinda Sunday),
Feeling kinda Sunday (feeling kinda Sunday),
Feeling kinda Sunday (feeling kinda Sunday).
(La, la la la la, la la la la, la la la la la la la,)
It's just the beginning of happy "go-off" one day,
And I'm feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday), feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday)
Feeling kinda Sunday.(Sunday), feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday)
Feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday), feeling kinda Sunday (Sunday)...

Roller Hockey

Tomorrow I'm going to play in my very first roller hockey game as a goalie! I'm so excited to play, but I'm a little nervous because I haven't had time to practice in a real hockey rink. I've skated around my driveway to practice, but found that it is hard enough to put on all my goalie pads in under half an hour, let alone move once I get them on! My goal is to play like my favorite NHL goalie Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. He has won a total of 544 games in his career and I am just amazed how well he has played for 18 years in the NHL.

Who is your favorite athlete and why do you like him or her so much?

Tell us YOUR Story!

Fill in the bubble with YOUR sports story!

All right. For the next couple of days in the ZooKazoo Sports Lounge Sports Blog (SPORTS all the time) we want to hear some of YOUR sports stories. Tell us your first memory of sports, why you like sports, or what's going on with YOUR sports team.

We'll pick some of the really neat responses and post them as the main comment over the next couple of days. Also, you can write some suggestions of future ideas you'd like to see discussed in this sports blog.

Come on people. What are you waiting for? Write in to tell us something interesting about you and sports. Or write the next interesting entry! We can't wait to read everything. It's going to be good.

Please label your email subject "my story" and send all of your great stories to:
artists@zookazoo.com

Pie vs Cake

Who would win in a fight? Pie or Cake? This is a very interesting question. Even though they are not the healthiest food options for sports- they sure are delicious. Sometimes I run extra hard because I know that at the end of the run a pie will be waiting for me. A big delicious pie, or a cake.

I'm not sure which I like better- pie or cake. What are your thoughts? Are you more of a pie person or cake person?

Would it be crazy or better if in the Olympics- instead of giving away gold, silver, and bronze medals- they gave cherry, apple, and coconut cream pies? Which would be 1, 2, and 3?

I love pie! And cake!

Waiting for my ride

First of all, I was never flexible enough or good enough to do the gymnastics move in the picture. That is incredible, right?

But now to the story. I first did gymnastics when I was in kindergarten and first grade. We'd go on the mats and do a lot of tumbling exercises. A lot of somersaults, cartwheels, even some hopping! It was great fun jumping into the pit of foam bricks- don't worry the foam means it's really soft- as good as jumping into a pool of pillows!

I have this really vivid memory of my mom dropping me off at the gym one day for a gymnastics session. Somehow there was a mistake and there was nobody at the building! I remember waiting by the doorway not sure what to do- thinking I would just have to wait an hour for my mom to show back up. While waiting for the time to pass I saw two spiders fighting in a spiderweb. It was an epic battle! That occupied my time for a while and then my mom picked me up. She asked me how gymnastics was and I said, "Good! Actually, I was the only one there- I did learn some good moves from spiders though." Ha ha.

Hopefully you've never been left at a practice, but do you have any gymnastics stories? What's your favorite part?

Real ZooKazoo Sports Hero!!!

This post is going to talk about one of my sports heroes! Brett Favre! He is now 100 years old and is still a starting quarterback in the NFL. He has to be one of the toughest players of all-time. Playing in 267 straight games- over 16 years without missing a game. He's been the qb of the Green Bay Packers my whole life. Now, he is qb for the New York Jets after a messy dispute in the off-season. I'm glad that he's still playing and I hope he continues to play well.

One of the reasons I like him so much is that he seems to have such a good time playing the game. He seems to really enjoy it and treats it more as a game than a job. You can see it when he's laughing and celebrating after throwing td's. There was a snowy game last year where he made a snowball and threw it at a rough. There was another time when he celebrated a great play by a wide receiver by giving high fives to another ref nearby.

It seems like all the other players in the league really respect him to because he plays so hard. The usual stereotype of qb's is that they're not as tough as the other REAL players. That they don't like to get hit (that makes sense to me) or to do any hitting. Well, Brett Favre is the opposite. Sometimes on running plays, he actually tries to block 300 pound linemen. These are just some of the reasons I like Brett.

Do you like Brett Favre? Or do you not like him because you're a Minnesota Vikings or Chicago Bears fan (sorry if you are)? Do you have any other sports heroes? Let us know!

Behind the Scenes

I love playing sports, and I am grateful for my parents and my school because they help make it possible for me to play sports. My parents sign me up, pay, and take me to practices and games. If they didn’t take care of all that stuff, then it would be really hard for me to play sports. Also, if the school didn’t have sports teams, then I wouldn’t be able to run track and play soccer for my school.

In fact, all sports and sporting events would not exist if it wasn’t for all those people and all that work that goes into making sports amazing. There are committees that make up and update the rules of various sports. There is an immense amount of organizing and planning that goes into sports

Comment below and tell me about the people that make it possible for you to play sports.

Dance!

Sports are a lot of fun! You can meet new people through sports and make new friends. Sports are also a great way to get some exercise and participate in an activity that you love.

I love to dance, but not many people know about the dance that I do. It is called Bharatanatyam (I know, it can be a little hard to say) and it is a type of Indian classical dance. It is a very old style of dance and people have been dancing Bharatanatyam for hundreds of years. Even though it is a dance, I have to act a little bit because a lot of the pieces that I perform are stories that I tell through dance.

Where I live, only a few people know about Bharatanatyam. It can be hard to explain to other people what kind of dance Bharatanatyam is, so sometimes I invite my friends who have never heard of it to come and watch me perform. Performing in front of lots of people can be scary and it makes me nervous. Has anyone ever told you to pretend the audience is in their underwear to make you less nervous? That idea doesn't work for me! I just practice a lot and try my best!

I love playing sports, the ones that no one has heard about and also more popular ones. Have you ever heard of or played any sports that not many other people know about? What sports do you like to play or watch? What are your favorite things about sports?

Chelsy the MVP

Here's another great story from a ZooKazoo player. Thanks for all the great stories. Keep them coming!

Hey, when I was like 6 I was in a soccer league. I usually played goalie because I had such great reflexes and defensive skills- I'm pretty much like a cat. Anyways, in one game I was hurt a little bit. A kid was about to shoot while I was still hurting and laying on the ground. As the goalie- obviously your #1 goal in the whole world is to not let any balls cross that goal line! Not ever!

So even though I was hurt, I just got up and bulletted right to this kid and blocked his shot with an amazing diving save. Everyone cheered like crazy because I saved the team from losing. Anyways- I was named the team's MVP and got extra orange slices. YAYYYYYY! Go ZooKazoo!

Wow- great story Chelsy! Thanks very much! Any comments on this story? Do you have your own? Any other sports stories you want to mention?

First Story from one of YOU!

Here's the first story from a ZooKazoo player just like you. This one's from Albatross. Thanks a lot Albatross for writing in!

My first soccer goal! by Albatross

I've been playing soccer for about 5 years now. I've always loved it. It's a great sport with a lot of running and strategy. Usually, I play defense because I'm really fast. At practice though, I've been working on my skills a lot though- a lot of passing and shooting and dribbling. I always want to go forward and try to score a little bit more, but I have to remember my defensive responsibilities.

Anyways, I asked the coach if he could put me in as striker one game, just to try it. I had to be persistent and keep asking and it finally worked. I played striker for the first time and with the 2nd half almost over- I got a great pass halfway that led to a breakaway. It helped that I'm pretty fast because I kept running and running and it was just the goalie and me. I didn't even have time to think about being nervous- it happened so fast. When I got near the goalie I tried this move that I'd been working on and it actually worked!

I totally faked out the goalie and scored!!!! It was so much fun. Thanks for reading and I hope you post this!

Wow- great story Albatross! Thanks very much! Any comments on this story? Do you have your own? Do you remember your first goal?

Pin Bombardament

Sometimes in gym class we would play really fun games in the gym. Games like Medic or team handball. Those special days were always my favorite. The very best game was Pin Bombardament. In the game- the class would be divided into two teams- on either side of the gym. At the baseline of the basketball court- each time would evenly space out 5 pins.

This is where the fun starts. Then the teachers unleashed what seemed like hundreds of big playground balls. The object of the game was to defend your team's pins, but knock over the other teams. You couldn't cross the halfway line and you couldn't stand directly in front of the pins. So there was a lot of defense and balls flying around! It was so much fun.

Do any of you play that game or a similar one? What are your favorite games to play in gym? Don't worry about the picture- we weren't actually throw bowling balls around (ha- that would hurt!).

Also- don't forget to send in your personal sports stories, about your soccer team's season- or the transition to indoor- whatever YOU want!

We want to hear from YOU!

All right. For the next couple of days in the ZooKazoo Sports Lounge Sports Blog (SPORTS all the time) we want to hear some of YOUR sports stories. Tell us your first memory of sports, why you like sports, or what's going on with YOUR sports team.

We'll pick some of the really neat responses and post them as the main comment over the next couple of days. Also, you can write some suggestions of future ideas you'd like to see discussed in this sports blog.

Come on people. What are you waiting for? Write in to tell us something interesting about you and sports. Or write the next interesting entry! We can't wait to read everything. It's going to be good.

Please label your email subject "my story" and send all of your great stories to:

artists@zookazoo.com

Finding Friends Through Sports!

We all know that sports are good for your body. They build muscles, expand the lungs, and strengthen the bones of athletes of any age, from kids to older adults like your parents. But sports help you do another thing, as I’ll be finding out this fall: they can help you make some great friends!

It turns out that there is a huge club of people in my town who run together every day. I’m really into running long distances and training for races like marathons, just like they are! They let people from anywhere join their club and run with them, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

I feel really lucky to find people like the folks in this club. Sports are fun, but they are even better when you’ve got friends to share that excitement with. Not only will the runners in this club help me get over homesickness, but they’ll help me learn about and have more fun with the sport I love. I can’t wait to join!

Have you made some good friends playing sports?

Practice Makes Perfect

If you play soccer, you understand how exhilarating it is to fake a player out with a move and then speed by them. I have always loved doing that but it takes a lot of practice to be able to fake someone out successfully.

I remember learning new moves during soccer practice and then practicing them so that I could execute them successfully during a game. I remember learning moves like the scissor move, cuts, stepovers and croifs. We also used to learn new plays at practice like the wall pass and overlap. My team used to do these moves and plays over and over during soccer practice so that we knew them really well and they became second nature to us. Once we felt comfortable with them, we would use the moves and plays in a game. It was always very exciting when a move or play that I had practiced worked during a game.

I haven’t learned any new soccer moves lately but I did just learn a new dance piece and I am very excited to practice it and get better at performing it. Today I danced that piece about 10 times because I wanted to make sure it was ingrained into my brain and that I wouldn’t forget it.


Have you ever learned a new move or play? Comment below and tell me if those moves or plays ever worked in a game.

Eating Right

Playing sports takes a lot of energy and it is important that we eat right so we can play our best. I remember my soccer and track coaches always telling us to eat well, drink lots of liquids, and rest up before a soccer game or track meet. My soccer coaches especially would emphasize eating carbohydrates (stuff like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes) the night before a big game.

When I played on my school’s soccer team we would have team dinners the night before a game. During these dinners we would usually eat tons of pasta and get excited about the game. I loved those team dinners, also called pasta feeds, because I love pasta and they were great for team bonding.

When I went to soccer tournaments with my club team (traveling team), everyone was always cautious about what they ate. For example, during one tournament we had a game a couple of hours after lunch so when we were making our lunch decisions we steered away from the Mexican food. Now, I absolutely love Mexican food but we thought it would be unwise to eat burritos and chips before a game because of the oil and heaviness of Mexican food.

Sometimes what we eat before a game can affect how we play – we can be tired and too full to play our best or energized and ready to go. What is your favorite pre-game meal? Are there any food items that you never or always eat before a game?