tennis, golf, various of ball news, Iran sport news, famous coaches, NFL team history, rules of NFL, history of tennis racquets, the Olympic games

Code of Conduct for Sports Coaches

In sports, a coach directs the players' activities in the game. Coaching, as an emerging profession, must demonstrate at all levels a high degree of honesty, integrity and competence. The need for coaches to understand and act on their responsibilities is of critical importance to sport, as is the need to protect the key concept of participation for fun and enjoyment as well as achievement. This is implicit within good coaching practice and promotes a professional image of the good practitioner. This code of conduct defines all that is best in good coaching practice.

Rights

Assist in the creation of an environment where every individual has the opportunity to participate in a sport or activity of their choice.

Create and maintain an environment free of fear and harassment.

Recognise the rights of all athletes to be treated as individuals.

Recognise the rights of athletes to confer with other coaches and experts.

Promote the concept of a balanced lifestyle, supporting the well-being of the athlete both in and out of the sport.

Humanity

Coaches must respect the rights, dignity and worth of every human being and their ultimate right to self-determination. Specifically, coaches must treat everyone equitably and sensitively, within the context of their activity and ability, regardless of gender, ethnic origin, cultural background, sexual orientation, religion or political affiliation.

Relationship

The good coach will be concerned primarily with the well-being, safety, protection and future of the individual performer. There must be a balance between the development of performance and the social, emotional, intellectual and physical needs of the individual.

Competence

Coaches shall confine themselves to practise in those elements of sport for which their training and competence is recognised by the appropriate NGB. Training includes the accumulation of knowledge and skills through formal coach education courses, independent research and the accumulation of relevant verifiable experience.

The National Occupational Standards for Coaching, Teaching and Instructing (and/or the approved NGB coaching awards) provide the framework for assessing competence at the different levels of coaching practice. Competence to coach should normally be verified through evidence of qualifications. Competence cannot be inferred solely from evidence of prior experience.

Coaches must be able to recognise and accept when to refer performers to other coaches or agencies. It is their responsibility, as for as possible, to verify the competence and integrity of any other person to whom they refer a performer.

Coaches should regularly seek ways of increasing their personal and professional development.

Coaches should welcome evaluation of their work by colleagues and be able to account to performers, employers, NGBs and colleagues for what they do and why.

Coaches have a responsibility to themselves and their performers to maintain their own effectiveness, resilience and abilities. They should recognise when their personal resources are so depleted that help is needed. This may necessitate the withdrawal from coaching temporarily or permanently.

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Basketball U on NBA Coaching Styles

Many NBA players become coaches once their playing careers are over as a way to stay involved in the game. These coaches, such as the Orlando Magic's Doc Rivers, command respect from their players, who remember watching and admiring them as players. Such coaches' playing experience provides a distinct credibility at practice, in the locker room and during a game's final minutes. They understand how hard the sport is and what the players are going through.

Like Rivers, many current NBA head coaches are former point guards, who often are referred to as the "coach on the floor." This list includes Rick Adelman and Larry Brown.

Some other NBA head coaches were bench players who may not have had the success of star players, but understood the game. As coaches, they are able to relate to non-starters and understand the importance of role players. They learned the game by sitting and observing, and have become students of the game. Such coaches include Don Nelson, Paul Silas and Phil Jackson. Although bench players, each of these coaches experienced the NBA Playoffs and winning an NBA title as a player.

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Famous Coaches

Philip Douglas Jackson

Philip Douglas Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) was the head coach of the NBA Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998, and of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999 to 2004. Jackson has a total of 11 NBA championship rings: two as a player with the New York Knicks, six as coach of the Bulls, and three as coach of the Lakers. His nine NBA championships as a head coach ties him with Red Auerbach for the all-time lead in that category. He is well known for his approach to coaching, which is influenced by Eastern philosophy, notably Zen.

Jerry West

Basketball player, manager, and coach Jerry West, right, was a member of the 1960 gold-medal-winning United States Olympic basketball team. Nicknamed "Mr. Clutch" and "Mr. Consistency," Jerry West (born 1938) is considered one of the best shooting guards in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. He excited fans during his playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and later enjoyed great success as an executive for the team.

Scotty Bowman

Canadian hockey coach Scotty Bowman has led three different clubs to Stanley Cup championships: the Montréal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Detroit Red Wings. He is pictured here with the Red Wings in a game against the Dallas Stars in the 1998 Western Conference Finals.

Bear Bryant

American college football coach Bear Bryant broke the record for most college coaching victories in 1981. Bryant spent much of his career coaching at the University of Alabama and he led that team to 25 winning seasons.

Alex Ferguson

Alex Ferguson is one of the most successful football managers in the world and he owes it all to his time with the Boys' Brigade. Sir Alex began forging a reputation in football management by guiding Aberdeen to European Cup Winners' Cup honours in 1983, beating one of the elite names of world football, Real Madrid. It remains the last European trophy won by a Scottish team. In the summer of 1998, Alex Ferguson spent a total of £28 million on three major signings: Aston Villa's Trinidadian striker Dwight Yorke, PSV's Dutch defender Jaap Stam and Parma's Swedish winger Jesper Blomqvist. Long serving players Gary Pallister and Brian McClair both left the club to seek pastures new for the final few years of their careers.

Iran Sport News

Iran wins Deaflympic football silver

Melbourne, Jan 16, IRNA -- Iran took a silver medal as it finished runner-up in the football competitions of the 20th Deaflympic Games in Melbourne Sunday.

Iran, which came from 1-0 down in Olympic Park, was stunned in the additional time by Britain that grabbed the winner with a free-kick awarded by the linesman.

Britain's opener came on 47 minutes following a goalkeeping blunder by Akbar Sadeqi, who quit the woodwork and let Steven Gardener's high-flighted cross find the net after hitting the far post.

Iran garners Deaflympic freestyle wrestling medals, top spot

Melbourne, Jan 13, IRNA -- Iranian freestyle wrestlers completed their fellow countrymen's brilliant performance in Greco-Roman event of the 20th Deaflympic Games, bagging six colorful medals in Melbourne on Thursday. Iran snatched four golds, one silver, and one bronze, standing top with 64 points.

Four golds came in 55, 60, 66, and 96 kg categories while the bronze was won in 74 kg and the silver in 120 kg event.

Fighting in Aquatic Center, Iran's 55 kg wrestler Mohammad Siahpoush defeated Niazi Basaran from Turkey 4-1 in the final.

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Various of Ball News

Tennis

The third round of the 2005 Australian Open is underway in Melbourne, with matches on the chedule for defending champion Roger Federer, 2004 runner-up Marat Safin and four-time winner Andre Agassi. The top-seeded and reigning Aussie champ Federer will meet Finn Jarkko Nieminen in search of his 24th straight match victory. The fourth-seeded Safin will encounter 28th-seeded Croat Mario Ancic, while the eighth-seeded Agassi will meet 29th-seeded fellow American Taylor Dent.

BASEBALL

The Atlanta Braves and second baseman Marcus Giles avoided arbitration Thursday by agreeing to terms on a one-year contract. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Giles, 26, batted .311 with eight homers and 48 RBI during an injury-plagued 2004 season in which he missed 52 games following a brutal collision with teammate and centerfielder Andruw Jones on May 18. Giles' .314 average over the last two seasons ranks second among all major league second baseman.

GOLF

American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman used a back-nine 29 to fire a 10-under- par 62 on Thursday and take the lead after one round of a star-studded Buick Invitational. This event is the first battle of golf's "Big Four" in 2005 as Phil Mickelson made his season debut. The only player in the top-five in the World Rankings not present this week is reigning U.S. Open champion Retief

Goosen (No. 4). Ernie Els, ranked third in the world, carded a seven-under 65 and is tied for fourth place, while Tiger Woods, a two-time winner and No. 2 in the rankings, shot a four-under 68 and is part of a group tied for 35th.

NBA

New Jersey Nets forward Richard Jefferson underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in his left wrist, team president Rod Thorn announced Thursday. Hand specialist Dr. Charles Melone performed the 70-minute procedure at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, NY. Jefferson will be in a cast for two months before he starts two more months of rehabilitation.

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NFL Team History

The forerunner of American football may have been a game played by the ancient Greeks, called harpaston. In this game there was no limit to the number of players. The object was to move a ball across a goal line by kicking it, throwing it, or running with it. Classical literature contains detailed accounts of the game, including its rougher elements, such as ferocious tackling.

Most modern versions of football originated in England, where a form of the game was known in the 12th century. In subsequent centuries football became so popular that various English monarchs, including Edward II and Henry VI, forbade the game because it took interest away from the military sport of archery. By the middle of the 19th century, football had split into two distinct entities. Still popular today, these two sports were soccer and rugby. American football evolved from these two sports. The sport called soccer in the United States is still known as football throughout much of the world.

Knute Rockne As a player and team captain, Knute Rockne developed the forward pass, opening new areas of offense and helping popularize the game of football. As a coach, Rockne brilliant strategies and inspirational talks made him one of football most successful coaches ever.

Most football historians agree that the first organized football game took place on November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton universities met in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In the early games, each team used 25 players at a time. By 1873 the number was reduced to 20 players, and by 1876 it was further reduced to 15 players. In 1880 Yale coach Walter Camp set the number at 11 players. He also created the quarterback position and the system of downs.

In the early 1900s college football games were popular sports spectacles, but the professional game attracted limited public support. College games were extremely rough, and many injuries and some deaths occurred. Educators considered dropping the sport despite its popularity on campuses, and United States president Theodore Roosevelt, an ardent advocate of strenuous sports, declared that the game must be made safer. As a result, football authorities revamped the game, and many of the rougher tactics were outlawed.

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Rules of NFL

Definitions

• Chucking: Warding off an opponent who is in front of a defender by contacting him with a quick extension of arm or arms, followed by the return of arm(s) to a flexed position, thereby breaking the original contact.
• Clipping: Throwing the body across the back of an opponent leg or hitting him from the back below the waist while moving up from behind unless the opponent is a runner or the action is in close line play.
• Close Line Play: The area between the positions normally occupied by the offensive tackles, extending three yards on each side of the line of scrimmage. It is legal to clip above the knee.
• Crackback: Eligible receivers who take or move to a position more than two yards outside the tackle may not block an opponent below the waist if they then move back inside to block.
• Dead Ball: Ball not in play.
• Double Foul: A foul by each team during the same down.
• Down: The period of action that starts when the ball is put in play and ends when it is dead.
• Encroachment: When a player enters the neutral zone and makes contact with an opponent before the ball is snapped.
• Fair Catch: An unhindered catch of a kick by a member of the receiving team who must raise one arm a full length above his head and wave his arm from side to side while the kick is in flight.
• Foul: Any violation of a playing rule.

Digest of Rules

Safety

1. The important factor in a safety is impetus. Two points are scored for the opposing team when the ball is dead on or behind a team own goal line if the impetus came from a player on that team.

Examples of Safety:

• Blocked punt goes out of kicking team end zone. Impetus was provided by punting team. The block only changes direction of ball, not impetus.
• Ball carrier retreats from field of play into his own end zone and is downed. Ball carrier provides impetus.
• Offensive team commits a foul and spot of enforcement is behind its own goal line.
• Player on receiving team muffs punt and, trying to get ball, forces or illegally kicks (creating new impetus) it into end zone where it goes out of the end zone or is recovered by a member of the receiving team in the end zone.

The Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece, in 1896, two years after French educator Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games of ancient Greece be revived to promote a more peaceful world. The program for the 1896 Games, including only summer events (the Winter Olympics were not established until 1924), included about 300 athletes from fewer than 15 countries competing in 43 events in nine different sports. By contrast, when the Summer Olympics returned to Athens in 2004, more than 10,000 athletes from 202 countries competed in 28 different sports.

The Olympic Games are organized and governed by the International Olympic Commitee (IOC). It sets the general program, chooses the city where the games are to be held, and determines the standards of amateurism. Each participating country has a National Olympic Commitee that is responsible for arranging the participation of the nation's athletes in the games.

The opening ceremony of each Olympic Games is held in a major stadium. The president of the host nation usually officiates. Led by athletes from Greece, all athletes march around the stadium in the parade of Nations. Then, facing the Olympic Flag, the athletes take the Olympic Oath:

We swear that we will take part in these Olympic Games in the true spirit of sportsmanship, and that we will respect and abide by the rules that govern them, for the glory of sport and the honor of our country.

The Olympic Flame is lit with a torch that is brought by a relay of athletes from the ruins of ancient Olympia in Greece. When the Games are completed, the flag is lowered and the flame extinguished.

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An Evolutionary History of Tennis Racquets

Part I: From Hands to Wood

By most accounts, tennis was first played by French monks in the 11th or 12th century, and the first "racquets" were made of human flesh! By the 14th century, players had begun using what we could legitimately call a racquet, with strings made of gut bound in a wooden frame. The Italians are often credited with this invention. By the year 1500, racquets were in widespread use. The early racquets had a long handle and a small, teardrop-shaped head.

Part II: From Wood to Advanced Composites

A racquet with a metal head existed as early as 1889 (photo), but it never saw widespread use. Wood's use as a frame material didn't undergo any real challenge until 1967, when Wilson Sporting Goods introduced the first popular metal racquet, the T2000. Stronger and lighter than wood, it became a top seller, and Jimmy Connors became its most famous user, playing at the top of men's professional tennis for much of the 1970's using the long-throated, small-headed steel frame.

Part III: Continuing Innovation

The two key properties for a racquet material are stiffness and light weight. Graphite remains the most common choice for stiff racquets, and the technology for adding stiffness without adding weight continues to improve. Probably the most famous of the early graphite racquets was the Dunlop Max 200G, used by both John McEnroe and Steffi Graf. Its weight in 1980 was 12.5 ounces. Over the 20 years since, average racquet weights have decreased to around 10.5 ounces, with some racquets as light as 7 ounces. New materials such as ceramics, fiberglass, boron, titanium, Kevlar, and Twaron are constantly being tried, almost always in a mix with graphite.

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Equipment Tips

Safe Racquet Storage

With the hottest month of the year now upon us, at least in the northern hemisphere, it is very important not to leave your tennis racquets in the car. Synthetic strings begin to lose tension at about 43 degrees C. On a sunny, 32 degrees C day, the temperature inside your car can soar to as much as 60 degrees C which is hot enough to even soften the resins in a frame and distort the racquet. If you are planning a game after work, take your racquet into the office; do not leave it in the car!

Ten Basic Facts about Racquets

• A heavier frame generates more power.
• A heavier frame vibrates less.
• A heavier frame has a larger sweetspot.
• A stiffer frame generates more power.
• A stiffer frame has a larger sweetspot.
• A stiffer frame transmits more of the shock load to the arm than a more flexible frame.
• A stiffer frame provides a more uniform ball response across the entire string plane.
• A larger frame generates more power.
• A larger frame is more resistant to twisting.
• A larger frame has a larger sweetspot

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play tips

• Always warm up and stretch those muscles before you play
• Always cool down after playing by doing some stretching and 5-10 minutes slow jogging.
• Remember to drink plenty of water during practice and play. And sip it, don't gulp down huge quantities in one go.
• Try to maintain good eating habits, both at home and when you are away playing in a tournament. That means having regular, healthy balanced meals with plenty of energy foods like pasta and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Train sensibly and plan your time. You need to ask an expert before setting out on any new training programme. Why not contact the local gym for help?
• When training on or off court, think about the quality of your shots first, then worry about quantity and consistency.

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