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Shooting Team Criteria

The five Olympic rings represent the five cont...

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Gaining membership on the Junior Olympics shooting team is an involved process. In addition to being excellent shooters, youth must also exhibit academic excellence through good grades and school attendance. the USA Shooting National Shotgun Coach is responsible for selecting the best and brightest youth to represent the country in Olympic games.

A candidate should not expect to be considered for team membership if he is not skilled. Shooters are trained by an Olympic coach who looks for style and technique in students. Individuals unable to control shots are not considered for the Junior Olympics. In addition, skilled candidates failing to attend several practice sessions should expect to be overlooked by a coach. The Unites States Junior Olympic shooting team is meant to be comprised of highly skilled and dedicated youth. As such, individuals who fail to attend and exhibit quality performances at practice will be denied entry to the team.

Quality and dedication should extend beyond practice into the classroom. Individuals who perform well in practice but fail to achieve academic excellence may be disqualified as a candidate. When evaluating school performance, coaches search for consistency and balance. While it is exceptional to have a person obtain a 4.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) in one semester, it is more notable to see a student maintain a 3.7 GPA over five semesters. Students capable of maintaining an excellent GPA while participating in various clubs and sporting activities are given preference over persons who merely attend school.

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Why Team Sports are Important to Young People

 

It's not just about soccer training, it's also... 

Image by Development Works Photos via Flickr

As a young child grows and develops, there are certain traits that the child should be exposed to in order to be able to survive as an adult. Team sports offer a child an excellent way to develop many of the life skills that will be necessary in later years. There are many good reasons why parents should strongly consider allowing their young child to play team sports.

1) Understanding the value of teamwork.

A person who tries to succeed in life on her own will find it difficult. When someone is exposed to team sports at a young age, she starts to understand the value of working within a team. She is taught how team dynamics can affect the outcome of an event, and she learns to rely on her teammates to help insure success. More importantly, she learns how her role is just as important as anyone else on the team.

2) Evaluating strengths and weaknesses.

When you go through life, you spend time trying to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of people. It helps you to understand who you can rely on to get certain jobs done. Working in a team as a youngster makes evaluating strengths and weaknesses easier.

3) The value of winning as a team.

Playing team sports as a child teaches a person how to treasure winning as a group, and how trying to act as an individual can cause the team to lose. These are valuable life lessons that can be applied later in life in business and personal settings.

Team sports offer valuable life lessons for youngsters, and can make your child better-equipped to handle adulthood.

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How to Buy Inexpensive Athletic Equipment

 

Sports equipment 

Image by ECU Digital Collections via Flickr

In order to play sports safely, you must have the right equipment. There are places you can look that will help you to get the sports equipment you need at a price you can afford. In some cases, all it takes is asking the right questions to get your child on the field and out there playing.

1) Check with the league.

In some regions, all you need to get your child involved in sports is to buy them the right sporting shoes. Some football, baseball and hockey programs lend out the equipment to families that cannot afford it. Ask the organization’s administrators if the equipment is provided.

2) Second hand equipment is just as good as brand new.

There are chains of sporting goods stores that specialize in buying used sports equipment and reselling it. The discounts on buying used equipment over brand new can be significant. You can also ask your local thrift shop if they have any sports equipment for sale. Don’t forget to look at garage sales, yard sales and estate sales as well.

3) The Internet is your sports equipment friend.

The Internet is full of stores that offer deep discounts on sporting equipment and websites with people offering to sell used equipment. Do not buy any equipment until you get a chance to look at a picture of it. But if it looks good, and the price is right, then you should go for it.

Buying sporting equipment does not need to be expensive. With the right resources, you can find sports equipment at a discount that will have you in the game.

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What Defines a Sport?

Young couple dancing cha-cha-cha at a junior L...

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Many people roll their eyes at the so-called “girly” sports in the Olympics: figure skating and ice dancing, for example. What defines a sport? Is it the “feel” of the sport? Does it have to involve teams? Why do some consider cheerleading a sport and others call it a dance team? Is dancing a sport?

No matter if you agree on whether figure skating or ballroom dancing is a sport, these well-toned professionals who participate in such activities must be considered athletes. Dancers often are more toned and muscular than athletes in some of today’s most popular sports because dancing requires them to use their entire body in ranges of motion in ways that a defensive linebacker in football or a golfer would never dream of. Dancers also undergo much more training and discipline to excel in their profession.

When compared to other sports like shooting, pool, or curling, it may seem ridiculous that dancing isn’t a sport in the Olympics, especially when sports like ice dancing or figure skating are. Figure skating involves precision, fluidity, timing, and a keen sense of music–sound like dancing at all? Ice dancing makes no pretense in its comparison to its non-ice counterpart, ballroom dancing. The sport fully acknowledges that it has its roots in the art of ballroom dancing. All of these activities (skating, dancing, cheerleading) involve a judging system of points, distinct skills, and a highly competitive field of participants.

So at the end of the day, why is dancing not considered a sport? Why is figure skating laughed at? Why do people roll their eyes at cheering competitions? Is it because many of these sports are wrongly considered to be a mainly female activity? Who drew the line and said if something is aesthetically pleasing, it cannot be a sport? If this were the case, football would be an art, not a sport, because of the intense attention drawn to uniforms, commercials, and cheerleaders.

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