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Tip #1: Invest in your safety by choosing a good skydiving school. Do your research in advance, by learning what safety procedures and certifications are to be followed. Dig deep into the school’s safety record and reputation. The United States Parachute Association (USPA) is a necessary certification, look for a school whose instructors are certified by this standard. Talk to trainers personally, meet ex-students of a school prior to joining up and try to attend a demo class, so you get a feel of how things are handled in the institute.

Tip #2: Read the fine print. Skydiving does have its restrictions and dangers. The age limit is 18 years and above, weight limit is 220 lbs (men) and 200 lbs (women). Plus, you need to be healthy enough to jump. Heart problems, low or high blood pressure, motion sickness, nervous breakdowns etc. with such health issues, skydiving is not the sport for you. You will need to fill out a medical form, citing your medical history. Be truthful with such forms, the school is just looking out for your safety. If needed, seek a doctor’s approval for skydiving.

Tip #3: Pay attention during the training procedures. See what your instructor is doing and try to copy him/her as closely as possible. Do not hesitate to ask questions, clarify your doubts and make sure you have understood everything clearly. Take notes if you want. Do not dream during training and take the procedures seriously.

Tip #4: For a first time experience, even with training and instructions, skydiving can be very daunting. So choose the right method of jumping. You can jump solo or skyjump in tandem, where an instructor shares your parachute harness and controls its deployment. He/she will also instruct you on the correct procedure and you learn more and gain confidence. Sometimes you are given a choice, some schools will allow only tandem jumping for first timers.

Tip #5: Learn basic signs and gestures to communicate during your free fall. You cannot speak clearly due to the force of the wind and most probably, no one will be able to hear you either! So use sign language to communicate. Read the rest of this entry »

Out of the many squash tips, here are a few concerning the grip that may help you out.
•Hold the racquet handle in the middle for obtaining a versatile grip.
•Holding the handle more towards the bottom, will allow you to reach the shots that are just out of your reach otherwise. The ones that whiz past your racquet, even when your arms are stretched out. But the control of the shot is compromised a little in this case.
•Gripping the handle higher up (i.e. towards the head of the racquet) will give you more control and make the racquet seem lighter in your hands, thus making your reaction time less, so that you can play drop shots and volleys better. In this grip, the reach and leverage is compromised.
•You can try some unorthodox grips after you’ve mastered the basic grips. Sometimes an unorthodox grip may be more comfortable for you. Unorthodox grips may include making a fist around the handle, double handed grip, etc.
Grip of the Handle
This ‘Grip’ refers to the padding on the handle. The right thickness of the padding ensures that you get the right hold on the handle. The best way to check the thickness of the grip and make sure that it is right for you, is to curl your fingers around the handle. If your fingers press into your palm, then the grip thickness is small, and you could add another layer of padding to the handle. If the fingers don’t even reach the palm, then the grip is too thick and you may be more comfortable removing a layer. The ideal thickness is where your fingers are just touching your palm. Grips come with a variety of features and you can choose whichever suits your needs best. There are many popular brands which manufacture grips for the racquets, so you have a choice.

Adapting to a particular style of playing is easy enough. That is why you should get the right techniques at the onset, so that you save yourself the trouble of changing your habits later on. The right techniques can take your game to a whole new level and give you that much more satisfaction. Enjoy your sport.

We’ll see the method of obtaining the right grip, and also how to get the right grip size to suit your hand.
•Step 1: Hold out your palm like you would, when giving a handshake. Place the racquet handle on your palm, parallel to your outstretched thumb.
•Step 2: Curl your fingers around the handle of the racquet. Spread your fingers a little to get a good grip.
•Step 3: Extend your thumb and index finger a little more towards the head of the racquet, so that they form a ‘V’ shape.
•Step 4: The part of the ‘V’ formed by your thumb should be parallel to the handle of the squash racquet. The index-finger should be diagonal to the handle.
The most important point to remember is that you should keep your wrist flexible when hitting shots. If you keep your wrist too stiff, then you may unnecessarily build tension in your forearms and your arms will tire easily and quickly.

There are many variations in the type of grip that you can use. The main factor to keep in mind is that you should be comfortable stroking the ball with the type of grip you choose to adapt. Some variations used in the grip are:
•Eastern Forehand/Backhand Grip
•Continental Grip
•Western Grip
•Semi-Western Grip
Confirming Your Grip
Hold the racquet tight enough, so that any side-to-side movement of the racquet in your hand, will be prevented by your palm and your firm grip. Holding the handle at the bottom is better to prevent the sideways motion of the racquet. Follow these two steps to ensure that you have understood the method of gripping the handle.
•Step 1: Apply pressure on the head of the racquet, in a direction perpendicular to the face of your palm, like the way the oncoming ball will hit your racquet. If you can resist this pressure with your index finger, then your grip is correct.
•Step 2: Now apply pressure from the other side. Like when the ball will hit the racquet when you are hitting a backhand shot. If you are able to balance the pressure with your thumb without having to keep your wrist stiff, then your grip is correct.

Another obvious benefit of team sports is to build teamwork and social skills. Working with a team towards a common goal – winning the game – is almost unintentionally teaching your teenager how to get along with his or her teammates. This is a very useful skill that can translate into doing group work with classmates, solving problems with siblings, and, later in life, participating in a team in his or her job. As the team works together, students learn valuable problem solving skills. On the team, they figure out how to get what they need and how to reach their goals. These problem solving skills can also benefit them in school and in their careers. Along with teamwork and problem solving comes the building of social skills. In order to participate on a team, athletes must communicate with their teammates. Practicing these communication skills can benefit teenagers as they figure out appropriate and not appropriate ways of communicating.

Family Time

A benefit of participation in team sports that is not entirely obvious is the extra family time that comes with sports. When a teenager is honing his or her skills for the team, this can be an excuse for parents and siblings to play catch in the yard and bond over the shared love of a sport. Watching your kids play sports can also lead to great family time in the bleachers, as well as when you go get some ice cream after the game. Families can also bond while being spectators at professional sporting events. Taking your student to see professional athletes can be a great family activity, as well as a fantastic learning activity for your young athlete.

Let us start with some basics like that of the snowboard and the halfpipe. This type of snowboarding is different from regular snowboarding. The equipment required will be more flexible, like the boots, that must be flexible for the twists and turns in the tricks. The board should also be wide and flexible for adequate balance. Now talking about the halfpipe, the dimensions will be as follows: length – 100 to 150 meters, width – 15 to 19 meters, height – 4 to 6 meters. The curvature of the angle of slope of the halfpipe will be around 16-17º, width of the deck (the horizontal flat space on the top of the wall) will be 6 – 7 meters. Now for the rules, let us start with equipments. As mentioned above, boots and skateboards must be flexible and suitable for halfpipe snowboarding. Some other important rules are:

✥ A helmet is a must during this sport even as an activity and in competitions. This will save from any accidents with high falls. The helmet should be a specially designed protective head gear, with quality internal padding.

✥ Only when one rider has finished and is exiting the pipe, should the next one enter. Any hand gesture or any other signal can be made to alert your entry in the halfpipe.

✥ As for the game, it is divided in three rounds. The first one being the qualifier round, that allots every rider with 2 runs to display their skills. With judging each rider, the panel of judges filter the best among the participants for the semi-final round and further for the final round.

✥ The scoring and judging of halfpipe snowboarding is unlike many sports. There are 7 judges that assess the sport. This is not based on time or the exact level of difficulty. The assessment of halfpipe snowboarding is completely based on certain aspects that determine a specific criteria. The most common ones are: ■Execution – this includes all the tactics that are performed, the flips and rotations near the lip of the pipe and aerials, etc.
■Difficulty – that includes the tricks performed and their level of complexity, the twist and flips with grabs or without grabs, etc.
■Amplitude – this makes a relatively simple criteria. It emphasizes on the height of the tactics at the lip and additional scores for maneuvers above the lip of the halfpipe. Read the rest of this entry »